No doubt this year’s President Bola Tinubu’s Democracy Day address was engaging as well as reminiscent of Nigeria’s democratic experience from 1999 till date.
Listening to the president’s address on television, one could see him grapple with the tough reforms of his administration and his worries of when and how Nigeria will get out of the biting economic, political and security challenges facing her.
The president spoke from the point of first-hand knowledge of the nation’s “rites of passage to becoming a ‘true and enduring’ democratic society”, 31 years after.
President Tinubu stated that going through this passage was hard and dangerous. He pointed out that during the faithful six years of the battle and struggle for the rebirth of democracy, Nigeria lost great heroes and heroines on the way to freedom and liberty.
The media was not left out in his appreciation for their decisive and ‘irrepressible’ stand in ‘mounting the barricades’ against dictatorship in the country and for democracy to thrive.
The question is: how then do we prevent the formidable walls that protected the fortress of dictatorship in the nineties in Nigeria from ever rearing its ugly head again?
Yes, President Tinubu rightly pointed out that Nigeria exited the yoke of military rule in 1999 to become the most populous democracy on the African continent, the beacon of democratic self-determination for the black race and indeed, one of the largest democracies in the world. Truly so. But then, can Nigeria pride herself as truly a translation of ‘beacon of democratic-self-determination’ for the black race? What with the inchoate democracy still being practiced, encapsulated in startling corruption and injustice in the overall electoral administration since 1999 when the country returned again to civil democratic rule?
It is now 25 years since, and if the truth must be told, Nigeria is worse off in the communication of democratic ethos and dividends, to wit: good governance for the welfare and security of her citizens. This lack speak volumes of the sorry state of the nation, politically, administratively, economically and financially.
Is our electoral process foundationally well grounded and elections carried out in open and fair manner as the president posited? And has this fairness, this transparency, this openness given credence to our democratic experience since 1999?
I beg to disagree with our revered president that: “Nigeria has established a tradition of transparent, open and fair election”, and that, this has given credence to Nigeria’s democratic bearing.
Yes, Nigeria has experienced peaceful transitions of government since 2003 up until now. Yet, this is not an affirmation of a democratic temperament of good and acceptable stable, peaceful and credible elections as our revered president would want us believe.
May we be reminded of the palpable anger, frustration and protests across the country at the handling of the result of the 2023 presidential election by INEC. But for a peace-loving country and her citizens who embraced President Tinubu’s administration, hoping that the ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ would dramatically turn around things for the better for Nigeria and Nigerians, the story would have been different.
I, however, could not agree more with Mr. President that “democracy shines its light into the daily lives of the people who live under its nurturing wings”. However, if one may ask: For how long shall light continue to shine, and positively too, in the lives of Nigerians for citizens to live and not just exist? Is thirty one years not enough time for such a nurturing of our political seeds to bear good and edible fruits of democracy?
Why are we still rising and falling, learning to walk as toddlers? Are we not tired of continuing with this uninspiring and unimpressive system of electing candidates into political offices through vote buying, violence, ballot box snatching and stuffing, falsification of results and in some cases, security agencies and electoral officers’ connivance with preferred political party members at the polling booths to undo the nation’s electoral process?
The point, therefore, must be made that, such unwholesome acts can hardly guarantee the protection of Nigeria’s hard earned democratic freedom, liberty, and that of the citizens of Nigeria.
This is where the president’s call for the real test to up the ante in our collective drive or push for the enthronement of democratic ethos for good governance, equity and justice, and for free, fair and credible election lies. For, if these time-honoured values are ingrained in the politics of Nigeria, the age long infestation of our law courts as busy markets by our political class before and after elections would be a thing of the past. We should not pretend that Nigerians urgently want a more credible electoral process and an electoral umpire that would stand for competence, uprightness, and one that would play according to the rules; incorruptible in every sense of the word. The country has continued to bear the brunt of badly conducted elections over the years, with clear lack of preparedness on the part of INEC even with the colossal amount of funds yearly pumped into the conduct of these elections. This sad situation has gone unchecked for too long. It should, therefore, no longer be business as usual in future elections.
The reforms the president said his administration initiated are to grow and develop a culture of sustainable socio-economic and infrastructural transformation. It is the hope of Nigerians that these reforms would also put into account the moral and ethical values in governance, equity and justice in the nation’s administration, quick response to the call for the practice of true fiscal federalism and devolution of powers, unbundling of the 1999 Constitution and drafting of a new grund norm, and not the least, addressing the excruciating pains being suffered by citizens due to the sudden down-turn of the economy of the nation on the president’s assumption of office.
It is gratifying to note that the president himself has alluded to the biting hardship occasioned by his tough reforms. May the president’s prayer that the pains of today are a path-way required to repair and fix the economy over the long run come to pass soonest, and that: “Everyone has access to economic opportunity, fair pay and compensation for his endeavour and labour” also come to pass expeditiously.
In doing that, it is the hope that regional endeavours and labour are captured in these reforms, which to most minds, are not comprehensive enough to drive the process of effective growth and development, security and political, economic and financial freedom, especially of the component units of the Nigerian State.
•Ekiye, a publisher, writes from Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.
