Nigeria’s imperiled democracy

By Hadiza Mohammed

Clearly, getting away with election rigging portends grave danger to us as a nation. It creates a false feeling of sense of entitlement and impunity such as will make the perpetrators declare unashamedly that it is their turn to rule us. It tends to make the perpetrators think, the citizens are puns that should be manipulated and dispensed with. It creates a culture of lawlessness and hooliganism.
Democracy is seen in the modern world as the preferred system of government because it is believed to be the rule of the majority. In a democracy the organs of the government and the state institutions are developed to promote the will and the interest of the citizens. But, it is a tragedy of an unimaginable proportion when the state institutions that are supposed to promote the will of the people turn around to do otherwise. This approximates to what has happened in the country since the conduct of the Presidential Election in February.
First, it was the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that conducted the election in the most shoddy and questionable manner and then asked the aggrieved to go to court, the courts that gave controversial judgment and the tacit and culpable approval of the National Assembly (NASS) and now the Supreme Court that has upheld the entire shoddy process.
At present, it is glaring that the mood of the nation is melancholic. Democracy in Nigeria is in jeopardy. The judiciary has thrown the nation in disarray with its controversial judgments. There is evidence that the judiciary which is ideally should be the bastion of hope for the people has been compromised. The National Assembly has over time proved to be an assemblage of self-seeking individuals without honor. Our electoral processes are as corrupted as the 419 platform. Crime perjury, forgery and financial malfeasance are accepted as the norm rather the exception. Before the international Nigeria is now a pariah, rogue with criminals as their leaders. What a shame of a nation!
Democracy is nurtured, nourished and sustained by the observance or perceived observance of the principles meant to promote healthy civil engagement. In a democracy the people are the sovereign; those in power exercise it on behalf of the people for the real power belong to the people.
But when the trust is broken, it may lead to many unsavory consequences. Nigerians feel betrayed by the government and the institutions that are supposed to promote the will of the people. The (INEC) failed woefully, compromised the processes of the election thereby subverting the will of the electorates. The security agencies failed woefully to screen the candidates that presented themselves for election thereby allowing those not qualified according to constitutional requirement to contest. They were also used as tools to aid electoral malfeasance. If the INEC hit a deadly blow on our democracy, what the judiciary did via the controversial judgments based on inane technicalities over substantial evidence was to kill and bury our democracy.
Clearly, it is an error of unimaginable proportion not to complete every electoral dispute before swearing-in. To me it sounds ridiculous to swear somebody in and allow him to form a government while his purported electoral victory is still being challenged in the court of law. It means empowering him to use the state power to advance his own interest. Nigerians have watched helplessly as the system is compromised just to affirm illegality because the beneficiary has been sworn in as the head of government.
Perhaps the worst consequence of rigging is that it leads to a breach of public trust. Trust is the force that lubricates the relationship between the people and those that represent them. When this trust is broken it creates discontent, tension and friction that if not carefully managed could lead to a breakdown of law and other.
Indeed, Democracy is sustained by trust.
But when that trust is broken, the result is usually unpalatable. There will various form of unrest and civil disobedience. In our case, we should expect increased youth restiveness because of the failure of the present regime; we should expect the resurgence of separatists’ agitation because of the discriminatory policies of the APC regime. We should expect reduced civic responsibility, less interest in government activities and future elections.
Clearly, getting away with election rigging portends grave danger to us as a nation. It creates a false feeling of sense of entitlement and impunity such as will make the perpetrators declare unashamedly that it is their turn to rule us. It tends to make the perpetrators think, the citizens are puns that should be manipulated and dispensed with. It creates a culture of lawlessness and hooliganism.
Thirdly, it will make those in power irresponsible since they feel that whether they perform or not they can always rig their way back to power. It means official endorsement of failure, lawlessness and illegality. Rigging produces political pettifoggers, charlatans and leaders without scruples. It leads to the enthronement of mediocrity and puppetry.
In the past eight years, the All Progressives Congress (APC) regime had relied on propaganda and distractions to hold on to power. They had employed divide-and-rule and other divisive tactics to cling to power. They had employed ethnicity and religion to disorganize and hoodwink the masses but because of the hardship they had foisted on the people their unorthodox tactics failed them this time round and hence the resort to rigging. Nigerians had endured the APC’s regime eight years of hardship with the hope of voting them out but the APC regime used the state power to perpetuate its obnoxious regime against the will of the people. Obviously, the consequences of this brazen assault on the people are dire.
It is very sad in the extreme that the APC regime has bastardized our democracy, messed up our economy, corrupted our national institutions, left the people impoverished and disillusioned and still forcefully and shamelessly hang on to power despite the rejection by the people. And as a consequence, many have lost hope in the country, in the system and in the national institutions and have expressed this state of hopelessness in many ways including suicide.
The questions agitating the minds of Nigerians now are: what hope for the nation? Where do we stand? How can our battered image be remedied? When will Nigeria break free from the stranglehold of politicians without scruples? When will Nigeria have true Democracy devoid of obtrusive manipulations? The questions are many but the answers and the solution rest with us. Do we continue to allow this state of affairs and continue endless lamentation or do we take our destiny into our hands? Nigeria the choice is yours.
Hajia Hadiza Mohammed can be reached at hajiahadizamohammed@gmail.com