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HeadlineOBASANJO, YAR’ADUA, JONATHAN, BUHARI, TINUBU: Democracy in Nigeria, 26 Years and Counting…

OBASANJO, YAR’ADUA, JONATHAN, BUHARI, TINUBU: Democracy in Nigeria, 26 Years and Counting…

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June 15, (THEWILL) – It is significant that the first President whose victory transitioned Nigeria from 29 years of military rule to civil rule in 1999 and ruled for eight years, Olusegun Obasanjo, would make a remarkable volte-face on democracy, 26 years after.

At a meeting held in May 2025 and convened by lawmakers seeking a return to the parliamentary system of government, Obasanjo called for the rejection of liberal democracy which he considered foreign to the African culture and her past and advocated “Afrocacy’, a political system that is indigenous to Africa.

Incidentally, it was Obasanjo as military Head of State that midwifed the current presidential system of government for Nigeria in 1976.

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Another school of thought opposes Obasanjo’s viewpoint, which has gained significant traction among notable Nigerians who feel short-changed by democracy. The school of thought asks salient questions: If we can buy and drive foreign cars, wear foreign clothes, import and eat foreign food while making use of alien technology and designed homes. It asks why it is difficult for us to adhere to the rule of law, respect rules governing the separation of powers among the three arms of government, conduct free and fair polls and embrace mass inclusion.

Indeed, the military laid the foundation of the Fourth Republic with compromise, which carried all the seeds of the past that yielded bad fruits for Nigerians. Following the preceding upheaval that marked the aborted June 12, 1993 presidential election presumed to have been won by Chief MKO Abiola, the General Abdulsalami Abubakar regime that supervised the transition to democratic governance in 1999 schemed a programme to pacify the Yoruba of the South-West, who were upset by the annulment of the results of the June 12, 1993 election and the subsequent death of Abiola in prison custody.

The two candidates in the 1999 Presidential poll, Obasanjo who ran on the platform of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP and a former Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Olu Falae were Yoruba like Abiola. Falae was backed by  two major opposition parties, the Alliance for Democracy, AD and the All Peoples Party, APP.

With this beginning, one of the major drawbacks of democratic governance in Nigeria was unwittingly given further boost: That is ethnic identity which has continued to define the voting pattern, feed mutual suspicion among the diverse groups in Nigeria, negatively impact merit over nepotism and above all, fuel systemic corruption in diverse ways.

“Nigeria’s fourth republic has continued to manifest ills of the past,” Professor of Political Economy at the University of Lagos, Sylvester Akhaine, told THEWILL on Friday.  “We identify four major pathologies. One is the absence of free and fair elections. Virtually all the elections since 1999 have been rigged in absolute disregard of the democratic method anchored on the principle of consent of the governed. It got so bad that the Commonwealth observer reported that Nigeria went below the standard it set for itself in 2007. The beneficiary of that election, President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua admitted so and set up the Uwais Panel to reform the electoral process. Before then the third term genie reared its head and was quickly smashed by a combined force of the political elite and civil society organisations.”

Prof Akhaine listed the other three ills plaguing democratic governance as human right violation exemplified by incidents, such as the Odi, Zaki Ibiam and more recently, Okuama massacres, including insurgency and banditry; mismanagement of public funds; the unproductive nature of the economy and a voting pattern dominated by ethnic identity.

FORM NOT YET SUBSTANCE

Generally speaking, 26 years of unbroken democracy in Nigeria indicate possibilities, but the ensuing data is frightening.

With a population of 200 million, Nigeria is the world’s sixth largest country and Africa’s largest oil producer. She is also rich in mineral resources.

Unfortunately Nigeria is yet to maximise its potential and to rewrite the sad story of the past 26 years, particularly in the areas of  unemployment currently standing at 53.04 per cent, double-digit inflation at 23.71 per cent, food insecurity, according to the National Bureau of Statistics.

Electricity supply, a crucial index of development, has hovered around 5,777 watts in the past 20 years. In a bid to improve the electricity sector for better performance and enhanced service delivery, the Federal Government in 2013 embarked on the privatisation of the electricity sector. It aimed to improve efficiency, enhance overall power supply and attract investment. Sadly the end result has been irregular power supply, which has greatly affected the productive capacity of manufacturers and small scale businesses, no thanks to frequent grid collapse.

In the last four years, the government has secured $3.4 billion loans from international financial institutions, notably the World Bank, Africa Development Bank and the Japan International Cooperation Agency, to improve the sector.

Still, the Minister of Power, Adelabu Adebayo, disclosed recently that Nigeria needs $10bn over the next 10 years to achieve 24-hour power supply across the country.

That is why the World Economic Forum ranked Nigeria 130th out of 141 countries in infrastructure quality in 2024.

This ranking is coming six years after the Muhammadu Buhari Administration in 2013 approved the setting up of a Public Private Partnership styled Infrastructure company named Infra-Co with an initial seed capital of N1trillion.

Expected to “grow to N15 Trillion in assets and capital, Infra-Co, wholly dedicated to Nigeria’s infrastructural development with initial seed capital for the entity coming from the Central Bank of Nigeria, the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority, NSIA, and the Africa Finance Corporation, was meant to address Nigeria’s infrastructure deficit, finance public asset development, rehabilitation and reconstruction, as well as invest in cutting edge infrastructure projects for roads, rail, power and other key sectors.

Nevertheless, Professor of Strategic and Development Studies at the Commonwealth Institute of Advanced and Professional Studies, Anthony Kila, sees some cause for celebration. Although he contends that the governing elite is still confused about what the tenets of democracy governance entails, he said the 26 years of unbroken democratic practice is a significant milestone.

Speaking to THEWILL on Saturday afternoon, he said, “Those born in 1999 will be 26 years-old this year. That means we have practised democracy for almost a generation. Those born 26 years ago have only witnessed democratic rule, unlike many of us who witnessed military rule for a longer time. So, this is a generational shift. For successfully making June 12 Democracy Day, the government has also made a significant symbolic statement.

People who stood up to the junta that annulled that election and generations to come will feel elated that the moment  they fought against tyranny has been etched in the annals of Nigerian history. Then the two major political parties, the APC and the PDP have made a peaceful handover in governance, both at the federal and state levels,”  he said.

PARTICIPATION

Political participation in Nigeria in the past 26 years has, arguably, declined, particularly in matters dealing with citizen’s engagement in the political process, voting, activism and representation in government.

While Nigeria has made strides in promoting political participation, with the Youth Bill, officially known as the “Not Too Young To Run” bill, 2018; Discrimination Against Persons with Disabilities (Prohibition) Act, 2018; National Gender Policy in 2006, revised in 2021 alongside constitutional amendments to relevant sections of the 1999 Constitution to strengthen democratic institutions and protect voting rights, issues like voter apathy, political polarisation and barriers to entry for certain groups, particularly women and youth, persist. Lack of trust in politicians and perceptions that their participation won’t make a difference, has grown among the citizenry over the years.

REPRESENTATION

A functioning democracy must operate a mutual interdependence of the three arms of government, namely the Executive for implementation of law, the Judiciary for interpretation of laws and the Legislature for the making of law and oversight over the executive for accountability and good governance. But most Nigerians over the years have an abusive word, developed over the years with varying application for their National Assembly. It is called “rubber stamp.”

Despite recent denials and explanations of the role of the National Assembly by Senate Majority Leader, Bamidele Opeyemi and President of the Senate, Godswill Akpabio that the NASS exists to make laws, provide representation and oversight, a majority of Nigerians, going by their public debates and social media reactions over the years, continue to see the NASS as “rubber stamp,” a terminology for a willing tool, ready to be manipulated at will, by the executive.

No better person than the ex-President of the Senate, Dr. Bukola Saraki made the point on June 12 when he published on his social media page, a speech that time did not permit him to deliver at the National Assembly after President Bola Tinubu finished his address to a Joint Session of the National Assembly on Democracy Day.

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