Democracy without democrats

There cannot be a better time as a country to review our democratic credentials than a period like this. With a federal government that is five months away from clocking one year out of its four year mandate, and ditto for many state governors who are all confronted with similar challenges of dwindling revenue compounded more by an unrealistic expectation of citizens, elected officials are under more pressure than ever before. Added to this is the constant pressure on our instruments of law and order by the leaders and citizens alike that seemingly would prefer instant justice on accused people rather than allowing the wheels of justice grind slowly.

Throw into the mix corrupt legislators at all levels that have never been able to wean themselves off the executives thereby incapacitating them from performing their constitutionally assigned roles. Naturally, our judges are not from outer space and so we cannot expect them to be different from other actors in the game we call democracy. Now, all of us are complicit and we cannot blame a particular set of citizens for the tenuous democratic credentials of our country since 1999. With the pressure by some citizens who would prefer the suspension of constitutional provisions in order to try – if we can still use that word as there can be no trial without laws- accused persons, we are seemingly on a precipice.

Various groups, activists, scholars, and journalists have documented the disobedient acts of successive governments to the Constitution and court judgments since 1999 and so we will do well not to single out the Muhammadu Buhari government. Even though one is constantly flummoxed by some of its supporters’ arguments that previous governments disobeyed the laws of the land too, so why must we blame the current government forcing one to ask, so what has really changed? We remember too well the Odi and Zaki Biam massacres under the Olusegun Obasanjo government just as the funds of Lagos State government was withheld even in the face of a Supreme Court judgment.

Perhaps an incident that happened at Kogi State University, Anyigba on October 27, 2000 offers a metaphor into the mindset of Nigerian leaders. A security man was beating some people at the venue. Obasanjo, breaking all protocols, walked straight to the point, collected the cane from the man and proceeded to administer at least 12 strokes on him. Nearly all reports of the incident praised the former president for ‘disciplining’ the hapless fellow. Truly, what the man did was horrible but there are extant provisions in our laws to deal with such cases. Democracy involves universal application of laws and cannot be at the whims and caprices of an individual no matter how brilliant or nationalistic such person is as the days of fathers of a nation are over. Fast-forward to the way President Buhari looked at the journalist who asked him a question about a former national security adviser, the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB) leader, and a Shi’a Muslim cleric, Ibrahim El Zakzaky. Pray, what would the president do if the courts do not find any of these people guilty at the end of the day?

This leads to an often-ignored aspect of democracy, nobody can do it alone, as we must work together with others to bring about the desired change. That’s why we must canvass for votes by seeking to convince others that we have a better perspective than our opponents, and that’s why a president or governor must work with legislators, as they all need themselves. Maybe we need to teach the theory of separation of powers again to our elected officials to make them understand how democratic tenets work. It used to be said that those who grew up under military rule were responsible for an ‘immediate effect’ mentality afflicting us but the social media generation appears worse. The culture of persuasion and watching things grow is seemingly lost and that is why we have invested individuals with messianic complex instead of making institutions stronger. When such individuals are now confronted with institutional obstacles, we cry foul and start canvassing for suspension of law and order.

Look around, many government agencies and individuals too often disobey court orders with impunity and nothing happens to them, a reason why it might not stop so soon. We must decide whether we want democracy or not, and decide to abide by its tenets. Just look at the drama playing out among opponents and supporters of Buhari on petitions. The former, in a rather misguided move I think, started collecting signatures asking the president to resign and the latter countered by collecting signatures that he should not, that’s the beauty of democracy. Hopefully we will have more of such in the days ahead as there can be no democracy without democrats.