What To Know About Democracy

By

Jide Ayobolu

Abuja-Nigeria.

jideayobolu@yahoo.co.uk 

It must be known that in the past, particularly under the various forms of military regimes that, we have had in Nigeria, governance is tantamount to the culture of corruption, mismanagement, insensitivity to the plight of the poor and needy, political elite occupation of the state and subversion of traditional values and institutions, coupled with socio-economic deprivation, marginalization of various sorts as well as the institutionalization of development of underdevelopment. That was why people fought the military to a standstill, and shed blood for democracy to blossom.

Hence, democracy cannot thrive without recourse to the wishes and aspirations of the people at all times. Democracy has to do with strengthening government institutions and  democratic processes. It is a style of governance and human relations. It is based on just constitutional laws in the electoral process and active civil society. In essence, democracy is about people and how they organize themselves in society. Modern political democracy is a system of government in which the rulers are held accountable for their actions and by citizens acting indirectly through competition and co-operation of their elected representatives. It is therefore possible to argue that democracy is founded on popular participation, majority rule, human rights, tolerance, free and fair elections, rule of law and political freedom. Where rights include not just political and civil rights, but also the so-called second generation rights, economic, social and culture rights.

All of these were conspicuously absent under the military and even now under the present democratic dispensation; it is for this reason that Professor Chinua Achebe declared that, “Nigeria is not a great country. It is one of most disorderly nations in the world. It is one the most corrupt, insensitive, inefficient places under the sun. It is one of the most expensive countries and one that give least value for money. It is dirty, callous, noisy, ostentatious, dishonest and vulgar. In short, it is among the unpleasant places on earth”.

However, it is not just enough to keep all the blame of misgovernance on the military; the politicians have not done better. They have failed to learn from history. They are more pre-occupied about how they can be financially buoyant through illegitimate means, while the people wallow in abject poverty. But the aim of a democratic government is to satisfy the yearnings and expectations of the people. That is why Sir Karl Popper said, “By a democracy I do not mean something as vague as the rule of the people or the rule of the majority, but a set of institutions (among them especially general election, i.e., the right of the people to dismiss their government) which permit public control of rulers and their dismissal by the ruled, and which make it possible for the ruled to obtain reforms without using violence, even against the will of the rulers.

However, democracy is not possible where poverty is ubiquitous. In Nigeria for example, it is practically impossible to have democracy without true federalism. Hence, democratization is a process of creating an enabling environment in both the polity and the economy that allows people at all levels to exercise control and authority over their own affairs and improve their existential political, social and economic conditions without the intrusion of the state terror and counter-productive policies. To make an impact on the country’s development process, democratization should be holistic, covering the political, social, economic and cultural realms of the society. The ultimate goal of the political and economic democratization process is to create a democratic society in which the fundamental and civil rights and their basic fundamental and needs like water, food, shelter, health etc are met and the access created for the people to meet and sustain these rights and needs. Therefore, in Nigeria, the challenge for the immediate future is the restructuring of the state to be accountable, efficient, effective, transparent, predictable and capable of supporting the necessary projects to encourage private and collective initiative. It is to this end that, Aaron Gana reasoned that, “man’s capacity for injustice makes democracy possible, but man’s capacity for injustice makes democracy necessary”. Indeed, there is a formidable nexus between democracy and stability, which can enhance rapid socio-economic development as well as political stability thereby ensuring a viable polity.

It is instructive to note that Billy Dudley argued that, instability is an inevitable condition of the development process and should not be a necessary and inescapable condition in the creation of political order and in this intimately bound up with the process of modernization and political development. Political instability may therefore have some positive features. It may lead to the realization of a viable political order. Thus, stability to preserve a decadent political order or a corrupt and repressive regime cannot be advocated. Stability is only preferred because it is necessary condition for the attainment of the objectives of a state. Therefore, it can be said that, ordinarily democracy is predicated on the rule of law, constitutionalism, liberty and freedom. However, the illegitimacy of the majority of  constitutions in Nigeria arise from the fact that they were not compacted through a truly open and democratic process that paid attention to the dreams, desires and needs of the Nigerian people, their communities and constituencies. In fact, most of these were directly imposed constitutions or elite-driven processes that treated the people and their ideas with disrespect, if not contempt. The hallmark of imposed constitutions is that they are never subjected to popular debates or referenda. If at any point the constitutions were subjected to public debates, such debates were often brief, carefully monitored and manipulated. Hence, the democratic process apart from the above must include freedom of speech, freedom of association, the supremacy of the will of the electorate, regular elections and accountability.

Some have again contended that democracy is a very nebulous concept; T.S. Elliot observed that, “when a word acquires a universal sacred character…as has today the word democracy, I begin to wonder, whether, by all its attempts to mean; it still means anything at all”. De Jouvenel forcefully posited that, “all discussions about democracy, all arguments whether for it or against it, are stricken with intellectual futility, because the thing at issue is indefinite”. Also, George Orwell noted that, “those who wish to defend some regime, whatever its nature may be, will call it democracy”. And, Guizot said, “Such is the power of the word democracy, that no government or party calves to raise its head, or believes its own existence possible, if it does not bear that word inscribed on its banner”. But all said and done, since 1999, we cannot be said to be practicing democracy, garrison democracy is no democracy at all, it is military dictatorship and unfortunately this is what Nigeria and Nigerians have subjected to since 1999. It is the system of government that etiolated all freedoms; this is why Nigerians must break away from this sordid past through the forthcoming elections.