The Implication Of Nigerian Democracy History Essay

The Implication Of Nigerian Democracy History moveAbraham Lincoln in his immortal Gettysburg address may arouse defined land as political science of the people, by the people and for the people, but anybody with eyes on either side of the nose of course k directs that the recent enormous president of the United States did non have the Nigerian brand of republic in understanding when he formulated that definition. What passes for democracy in Nigeria has cipher at altogether to do with people. It is quite alone government activity of ghosts, by ghosts, and for ghosts. A situation where 150 million Nigerians cannot set eyes on their alleged(prenominal) president for 100 days and counting sums up the vast ghost town that the land has been sour into via the grossly abused name of democracy. A secret connection is what democratic figure in Nigeria has been sullen into.The ruling Peoples egalitarian Party (PDP) is quite adept at using the word people to victimise people. But or so Nigerians argon effectively wising up to the fact. For instance, in the recent re-run gubernatorial election in the rebel state of Anambra, when the PDP cried Power to the people the real people ran away to Peter Obis All Progressives gigabyte Alliance (APGA) leaving only ghosts to vote for the PDP Not even Professor Maurice Iwus Independent National electoral Commission (INEC) could account for the fingerprints of the secret ghosts that massively voted for the PDP in that electionIt is in the character of this spooky practice of democracy that Nigeria now boasts of two half-presidents. In the abracadabra sense of the more you look the less you see thither is the invisible president that nobody sees and the acting president who as his title implies merely acts, an ordinary doer just like that funny man Mr. Ibu of Nollywood Not even the best writers of magical realism or science fiction can configure the phenomenon of Nigerias two half-presidents.It is against this ph antasmagoric background that a body that calls itself the Isekiri, Urhobo and Isoko Democratic Union issued a release that runs thus The chaotic melodramatic farce enacted at the Nnamdi Azikiwe International Airport, Abuja, by soldiers personnel on Wednesday, during the reurn of our ailing President Umaru Musa YarAdua from his 90-day absence with by leave (AWOL) can best be described as a dance macabre. That a whole President sneaked into his own pastoral in an ambulance and was hurriedly transferred into an opposite ambulance and taken straight to Aso Rock, without informing the Acting President, speaks volumes somewhat the relentless un jurisprudenceful activities of the infamous cabal that has held the nation to ransom since the President in like mannerk ill and was flown to Saudi Arabia. The open and naked build of brute force exhibited by multitude personnel, who chased and horse-whipped innocent Nigerians from the vicinity is another testament that our nascent democracy is being held captive by a tiny but powerful cabal.As is the field in the mafia, Acting President Goodluck Jonathan has just been remotely controlled to administer the oath of secrecy, aka Omerta, on his ministers. It is now a democracy of speechlessness, just like in any other secret cult. Minister of Information and intercourse Professor Dora Akunyili who had been quite communicating on the incommunicado of the sitting president that necessitated the acting president deception has thus been silenced, much(prenominal) to the applause of the cabal on the jugular of Nigeria. The feudal juggernauts claiming to represent the North are not entirely pacified as they are insisting that the Nigerian cosmos must(prenominal) come obscure if unworthy Dora does not resign her post and apologize to the feudal lords. Shout Up North ye brethren Dora who defers to the sunny Sacrament as a Catholic in doing her beat will soon understand that zero is sacred or blessed in the cultic inferno of the PDP, the quintessential secret society. It all amounts to a family battle of man-eat-man-or-woman As it is written in the Bible and put to song, How can we sing the Lords song in a strange land?The PDP is to all intents and purposes a strange land to personages like Dora and Jonathan. They have been told in no uncertain terms that they do not belong. What with the coffle of the PDP telling Jonathan to his face that he should not dream of contesting the 2011 presidential election The hoary witches and wizards of the coven of the PDP have spokenThis nonsense has lasted for far too long. If there were to be a proper national election in Nigeria I daresay that the PDP can only place a poor third as happened in Anambra State. It is only the secret society code that the goons of the PDP are using to juggle Nigerians with their idle talk of the largest distinguishy in Africa. With the current situation of two half-presidents superintending over the affairs of the woeful nation, the time is nigh to strike at the very portals of their secrecy and open up the Nigerian society for good. The initiative of marching on Aso Rock as enunciated by the Save Nigeria Group (SNG) is a great first step. Lets all join the crusade.The presence of a distinct urbaneian constabulary force, militia, or other para soldiery group eitherwhere may mitigate to an extent that it could intimidate this democracy. Opponents of gun-controlled regime have cited the conduct for a balance of power in order to enforce the civilian control of the multitude. Politicians who personally escape array training and experience but who seek to engage the nation in forces perform may risk resistance of being labeled chicken-hawks by those who disagree with their political goals. The consolidation of democracy is not simply a problem of more or lesser military prerogatives the high take aim of military prerogatives there is a moral quest to reduce such privileges.For all these, members of t he professional ex-military chiefs, their component colleagues and their non-uniformed supporters were participating in Nigerias nascent democracy. They stage bureaucratic bargaining process of the states policy-making apparatus kind in regulatory support and at the same time, attempt to restrict the policy options of elected officials when it comes to military matters. Since Nigerias 1999 recovery from authoritarian rule, members of the police and military were not constitutionally prohibited from voting. Other significant law did not bar organizations advocating the overthrow of the government from participating in the political process .These measures, however, were implemented too late to prevent the militarys multiple incursions into Nigerian politics.History shows that the main reasons why democratic systems of government are overthrown are military conquest or military coup. Strong defense is required to prevent or deter conquest, but a strong military can increase the thre at of military coup, so a delicate balancing act is required. Consequently alliances with other democratic countries seem to play a crucial role as tumesce as internal constitutional checks on the military. This paper analyses the exploitation and maintenance of democracy from the perspective of the impact of military considerations. Insurgency arguably has been the greatest threat to Nigerias neophyte democracy. The activities of the JTF and the Niger Delta militants produced domestic anarchy, which directly challenged the governments legitimacy. This in turn led to the national state of emergency and the Draconian governmental countermeasures cited earlier in the human rights portion of this work.Opponents of the movement for democracy in Nigeria have desire to undermine it by on the one hand casting aspersions on the competence of the people to assess what was best for the nation and on the other condemning the basic tenets of democracy as un-Nigerian. There is nothing new i n Third World governments seeking to justify and perpetuate authoritarian rule by denouncing liberal democratic precepts as alien. By implication they claim for themselves the official and sole right to settle what does or does not conform to indigenous cultural norms. Such conventional propaganda aimed at consolidating the powers of the establishment has been studied, examine and disproved by political scientists, jurists and sociologists.But in Nigeria, distanced by several(prenominal) decades of isolationism from political and intellectual developments in the extracurricular world, the people have had to draw on their own resources to explode the twin myths of their unfitness for political accountability and the unsuitability of democracy for their society. As soon as the movement for democracy spread out crosswise Nigeria, there was a surge of intense interest in the meaning of the word democracy, in its fib and its practical implications.More than a quarter-century of narr ow authoritarianism under which they had been fed pabulum of shallow, negative article of faith had not blunted the perceptiveness or political alertness of the Nigerian. On the contrary, perhaps not all that surprisingly, their appetite for discussion and debate, for uncensored information and objective analysis, seemed to have been sharpened. Not only was there an passion to study and to absorb standard theories on modern politics and political institutions, there was likewise general and intelligent speculation on the nature of democracy as a social system of which they had had modest experience but which appealed to their common-sense notions of what was due to a civilized society.There was a spontaneous interpretative retort to such basic ideas as representative government, human rights and the rule of law. The privileges and freedoms which would be guaranteed by democratic institutions were contemplated with graspable enthusiasm. But the duties of those who would bear r esponsibility for the maintenance of a stable democracy besides provoked much thoughtful consideration.It is natural that a people who have suffered much from the consequences of bad government should be control with theories of good government. But the conscious effort to make traditional knowledge relevant to contemporary needs was not confined to any particular circle it went right through Nigerian society from urban intellectuals and small shopkeepers to doughty village grandmothers. Why has Nigerian with its abundant natural and human resources failed to live up to its early promise as one of the most energetic and fastest-developing nations in Africa? International scholars have provided fine answers supported by careful analyses of historical, cultural, political and economic factors. The Nigerian people, who have had no access to train academic material, got to the heart of the matter by turning to the words Zik spoke on the four causes of decline.In the process, the i nterim government could be able to concentrate on reviving the economy as well as restoring fundamental rights and liberties of the Nigerian people including the restoration of democracy through general elections. To that end, the international alliance must continue to apply both economic and diplomatic pressure on Nigerias military junta. This is to look into that the junta does not end up doing what juntas are wont to do make grand promises about restoring democracy without the slightest intention of relinquishing power to the democratically elected representatives of the people.A Historical and Qualitative survey Nigerias armed forces have undermined the democratic processes by either leading or directly supporting every Nigerian coup dtat except one-the coup of 1995, in which civilians overthrew a military totalism . Surprisingly, it is not democratic elections, but the coup dtat that has proven to be the most ordinary means of Nigerian transfer of governmentFor instance, during the 1999 military to civilian rule elections, some Nigerian police officers with their Army counterparts seized polling post, threw out candidates polling agents and stamped the ballots themselves. Critics also pointed to a lack of impartiality shown by the INEC and a failure to take the widespread misuse of state funds by pro-military parties. There was limited time allotted for electioneering, and election rallies by anti-militarized parties were frequently banned or disrupted. The state owned media blatantly promoted the views of the military government view, and some opposition party activists were even gunned down.Complaints made to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) were ignored. At several polling stations in Port Harcourt and Lagos supporters of the military-backed candidates took control of proceedings, threatened the local observers with violence and prevented their entry into polling booths, as they tampered with the ballots. Ballots were stolen , sidestep ID cards were in circulation, and many postal ballots were found in unauthorized hands.At some polling stations in Wuse inside Abuja (FCT), indelible ink was missing, allowing some voters to cast more than one vote. At other locations, polling stations were changed at the last minute, or valid electoral lists were missing thus preventing sincere voters from casting their votes. Many voters complained that their names had been omitted from the electoral lists even though they had voted in the previous elections and had not changed residence. Others complained that when they arrived at polling stations they were told that their votes had already been cast. In Abeokuta and Minna no responsible authority knew where a particular polling station was.The reforms now being championed by the Obasanjo Presidency touch the military services as vitally as they need civil society. Among the civil populace the reforms are meant to benefit those who prefer to work for a living and n ot live on government patronage. By the same token, the new order is also designed to prefer soldiers who would rather face their profession and define their career path in terms of excellent military service rather than political adventurism.The present dispensation affords us an opportunity to reflect on issues that are relevant to the institutional coherence and operational readiness of the nations fighting forces. As Nigeria continues to undergo challenging transitions in dissimilar facets of life, key national institutions are required to build up their internal structures, capacities and processes towards defending the young democracy with courage and patriotism. The Nigerian military perchs a vital national institution in this regard. It must be helped to restore those core values of cohesion, hierarchy, discipline, esprit de corps and respect for constitutional order that are the hub of professionalism. An investiture in military professionalism is an investment in demo cracy. Under rogue military regimes, Nigeria literally missed out on opportunities for the professional development of its armed forces. It is time once again to build up our military into a formidable fighting force.The death squads, linked to state structures either through active lodge or tolerance, reached such a level of control that they went beyond the level of an isolated or borderline phenomenon to become an instrument of terror, which systematically practiced the physical elimination of political opponents. Many of the civilian and military authorities in power during the 1990s take partd in, promoted and tolerated these groups activities. In spite of the fact that these still latent clandestine structures have not recently made their presence known, they could be reactivated at any time that those in high levels of power were to apprise that a dirty war could be resumed in Nigeria. Since these death squads effected the element that destroyed any remaining vestige of a state of law during the armed conflict, Nigerian government should not only assume an alert and resolved attitude to prevent their resurgence, but also solicit international aid for their total and absolute eradication.In this process, two factors have become short first, some political parties accept and defend the ideal of a protected democracy, in which the armed forces have a significant role in the political system. Second, a characteristic of civil-military relations in the Nigerian democracy has been the generation of informal mechanisms to resolve central issues related to the military autonomy. The second way to canvass preferences is to focus on the level of elite unity about the role of the armed forces. Unified elite that rejects military intervention in politics may inhibit military intervention in politics, time a fragmented elite may permit the creation of anti-democratic coalitions between the armed forces and some sectors of civil society.The Nigerian political transition began in 1998 when the principal parties opposing the dictatorship (Christian democrats, Activists, Radicals, and sundry agreed to participate in a constitutionally mandated plebiscite in which people had to decide whether Abachas government should continue for another eightsome years. Since that time, the political discourse of the transition has been dominated by some political principles that all actors have accepted, including the military actors. These principles are basic ideas that served as guidelines during the period of transition and later, during the establishment of democracy.Respect of the institutional framework. Although opposition parties jilted the Constitution that was imposed in 1993 by the military dictatorship, they accepted the framework it established. Therefore, the new democratic government had to apply norms that it had rejected in its program. For instance, IBBs government did not agree to the constitutional provision that permitted the comm ander-in-chief of the armed forces to remain in charge for eight additional years, but democratic authorities had to accept this constraint because it was part of the Constitution they swore to respect in 1993.Political leaders knew that citizens wanted a peaceful transition. Stability was (and still is) a central goal in the first and second democratic governments. As we will see later, the principle of stability often has been more important than other objectives such as justice, accountability, or responsibility.In cobblers last Nigerian commanders in the United Nations (UN) peacekeeping mission in Liberia and Sudan have been linked to corruption. Their activities have ranged from cutting marketeering and running prostitution rings to actively abate it. Continuation of these practices within the ECOMOG peacekeeping mission worries this government, who veneration that such behaviour could jeopardize the success of such mission in future. Clearly, the battle for democracy in Nig eria has not been won. It will take all the resourcefulness of the Nigerian people to overcome the crafty machinations of Nigerians military and sections of the clerical elite who have thrown their weight behind insurgency. For real democracy to take hold back in Nigeria not only will the people of Nigeria have to fight the internal enemies of democracy, they will also have to overcome the crushing power of the military godfathers, who cynically subvert or stymie moves towards genuine democracy in Nigeria.REFERENCE L.Chinedu Arizona-OgwuFounder Nigeria4betterrule,Writes from Oyigbo Rivers StateNigerias democracy still fragile, US insistsBy mode reporter, Published Wednesday, 7 Apr 2010.