Electoral Democracy on Trial: The Third Term Agenda and the Fate of the 2007 Elections in Nigeria

By

Chris Kwaja

Nigeria’s young democracy faces a critical challenge in the run up to the 2007 elections. A palpable air of anxiety and uncertainty has enveloped Nigeria as the country prepares for general elections in 2007. The basis for this agitation is obvious within the context of the ‘alleged Third Term Agenda’ of the incumbent President Olusegun Obasanjo. The questions we are confronted with presently are; will elections hold in 2007? Under what framework will such elections be held since the Electoral Reform Bill 2004 is still before the National Assembly with just a year to the conduct of elections?

 Indeed, several developments in Nigeria’s current democracy all anchored on the ‘Third Term Agenda’ brings to mind the question whether elections will hold in Nigeria in 2007 and how Civil Society and stakeholders in the Nigerian project can best interpret the implication of the ‘Third Term Agenda’ on Nigeria’s democratic consolidation, a move that threatens the realization of a credible, success as well as Free and Fair Elections in Nigeria in the run up to the 2007 elections.

In fact, it is within this context that all stakegolders in the democratic project are engaged in efforts aimed at making sure that the current regime under President Olusegun Obasanjo respect the constitution and constitutionalism towards smooth as well as free and fair elections in 2007. This indeed, is rooted in the Road Map and National Pact to Free and Fair Elections in 2007 developed by Global Rights: Partners for Justice.  Thus continued and sustained advocacy on the Road Map will enable Nigerians come out with a clear plan of action on how to checkmate anti-democratic forces bent on bringing Nigeria’s democracy to grief.

My contention is that the success of the Road Map and National Pact to the 2007 Elections lies squarely on the way the third term agenda issues is appreciated and resolved. This in effect is a challenge that can only be tackled from the view point of the Road Map and National Pact to Free and Fair Elections in 2007, which is in the interest of political stability and social cohesion.

A major challenge confronting us now is the task of reconstituting a stable polity in the aftermath of struggles of resistance against authoritarianism. This is the only and sure way electoral and constitutional democracy can be enthroned and deepened in Nigeria.

In all, the whole world today, depends on electoral democracy for its solution and Nigeria is no exception. Working for the consolidation of democracy in Nigeria also means working for constitutionalism which is rooted in the idea and fact that leaders must emerge through constitutional means. Thus the third term agenda is a subversion of constitutionalism, which we must protect through the National Civil Society Coalition Against Third Term (NACATT).

In conclusion Nigeria is operating within a framework of constitutional and electoral democracy, which spells out clearly the procedure for regime change. Any attempt to subvert such procedure as the case with the third term agenda amounts to illegality, which is unconstitutional. Thus we must strive towards the expansion of the democratic space by rooting out authoritarian democracy and replacing with a credible democratic civilian class. This will checkmate the unpopular attempt at constructing a mafia state

Chris Kwaja

Programme Associate

Global Rights: Partners for Justice

75B Mississippi Street, Maitama, Abuja, Nigeria