Amidst calls from several quarters for President Muhammadu Buhari to either step down or consider not seeking re-election in 2019, the immediate past chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega, last week stoked controversy when he said that Nigeria’s democracy is not delivering the needed dividends. Azubike Ogbonnaya looks at the issues raised as activities for 2019 general election gather momentum
Many will actually ask whether this is the right time for Attahiru Jega to say this, but others would want to say that its is not late either. Penultimate Friday, Jega who midwifed the General Elections, which brought Buhari to power in April 2015, had submitted that the country’s democracy was not delivering dividends to the people due to politicians’ autocracy.
Jega who said this while contributing in a panel discussion on “Three Decades of Democratic Transition in Africa’’ organised by the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD) in Abuja, attributed the situation to “politicians’ autocracy’’, adding that democracy was not thriving in Nigeria because of the autocratic nature of politicians, “who obviously were connected to military rule.
According to him, democracy was in a state of flux in African continent and that there were very serious challenges of whether democracy was delivering dividends to the citizens, stressing that instead of providing the dividends to the people, it was now creating instability and crisis.
“The challenges most African countries are faced with is that democratisation in most of the countries are on account of legacies of military rule. Clearly, everybody knows that military rule is an aberration, and if it has done anything in our continent here in Africa is that it has created very dangerous legacies.
“In Nigeria, we have been talking about `militicians’; many of the prominent politicians now are people who learnt politics under military rule, particularly under the Babangida politics of transition.
“Many of them now have a do-or-die mentality of engaging in election and it is a mindset that was imbibed under the military rule,’’ said Jega.
The former university teacher further stated that there was growing frustration that democracy was not delivering what was expected of it whether in terms of legitimacy of regimes, in terms of stability, peaceful coexistence and quality of governance.
“Most times, the electoral process is just a routine because candidates who do not represent the people are imposed on the people.
“So, the lack of integrity of the election coming from a military approach is responsible for undermining democracy in Africa, ’’ he stated, advising that caution should be taken in proffering solution to the challenges of democracy, saying “yes, democracy may be challenging, but we can address this within the democratic framework.’’
He added that military rule was not the solution to democratic challenges because it would only aid in exacerbating the issue because no country had successfully developed with a military mindset.
He said that one of the key tenets of electoral democracy was regularity of elections, adding that though most African countries now conducted elections regularly, the quality of these elections were not sound.
Jega called on Nigerians to rethink the practice of democracy to enable it to drive development and impact positively on the wellbeing of citizens.
One of the issues raised by Jega is the inability of leaders to deal with instability engendered by the autocratic nature of retired military officers in politics. For example, though President Buhari has been able to fight the Boko Haram insurgency in the northeast Nigeria, he has been roundly criticised for the way he has handled the Fulani herdsmen pogrom in some states. His Minister of Defence, Col. Mansur Dan-Ali (rtd) had reportedly blamed the state’s Anti-Open Grazing bill as responsible for the continued attacks by Fulani herdsmen on communities, a comment coming amidst the president’s delayed condemnation of the killings.
That a governor of the ruling party criticised the federal government on the handling of the killings tells a lot about a government that has failed to deliver security as dividend of democratic. Wondering why there were killings attributed to Fulani herdsmen in other states without anti-open grazing law, Governor Ortom of Benue state explained that “this law is a necessity arising from the killings that were taking place and for us, we sought to bring a permanent solution to the perennial problem of herdsmen and farmers’ clashes.”
“So, it’s not about the law. It is deliberate. We live in a country where people will come out in the name of Miyetti Allah and issue threats that they are coming to attack, that they will mobilise people to invade the land and take over the land. And even when you report to the authorities, no action is taken and they expect you to keep quiet.
“When you are a leader elected by the people and they are looking unto you for protection, what do you expect me to do? I should speak. And of course, when I speak, the media is able to alert the whole world and today, the whole world appreciates the magnitude of the problem that I’m going through.
“How can you live in a state and you have seven IDP camps hosting more than 100,000 people and 60 percent of these people are children who should be in their schools. They are being denied their legitimate right, which we as leaders are supposed to give them, because of the non-performance of people who are saddled with sensitive responsibilities in this country to provide security for lives and property.
“So, it is painful and really unfortunate and I expect those people who are responsible for enforcing the laws of our lands and ensuring security for lives and property who have demonstrated incompetence because of what is going on…take for instance, the president directed the IG of Police to relocate to Benue State to ensure that these killings stop,” the governor said about a government that has denied a section of the country the dividends of democracy in terms of security and education and protection because of its autocratic tendencies.
“We must promote the truth. We must respect the constitution and the rule of law. The constitution and the law of our land is the only thing that can guide us to greater height.” This is one area some African leaders have failed including some Nigerian governments because people who Jega described as ‘Militicians’ have dominated democracy.
However, the Director of the Centre for Democracy and Development (CDD), Ms Idayat Hassan, agreed with Jega. She explained that Africa was practicing a hybrid system of democracy, adding that though Africans practiced democracy, it had become authoritarian for selfish reasons.
She said that the freedom of the press in the last two years across Africa, particularly in South Africa and Nigeria, had not been commendable because many people who spoke against some people were dealt with, explaining that successive administrations in the country have continued to use democracy to their personal advantage.
She said that though the Buhari administration assumed power through democratic principles, the government had remained autocratic in its conduct, positing that real democracy should be inclusive and delivering development to the people and that it was beyond building institutions and economic growth.
To address this, some experts believe that more people with less military background should be allowed come into leadership positions. They argue that time to begin that process is now, knowing too well that another election year beckons in 2019.
