Democracy is the rule of the people. It has been described as the best system of government. Even Winston Churchill, who described democracy as the worst system of government, still admitted that it’s better than others. This tallies with the observation of Chief Obafemi Awolowo that the worst civilian government is better than the best military government. Whatever may be the case, it’s undeniable that democracy is the system of government that ensures a peaceful transfer of power from one leader to another, from one party to another, and from one ideology to another.
However, democracy can only afford stability for a country if its main pillars are upheld and respected. These pillars include: free, fair, credible, periodic, and verifiable elections; rule of law; respect for the fundamental human rights of Nigerians; independent and impartial administration of justice by the courts; free and independent media; etc.
Free and fair elections are the cornerstone of every democracy and the primary mechanism for exercising the principle of sovereignty of the people. Free and fair elections bring development and growth to a country because the leaders will be mindful to offer good governance to the people knowing that it is the only route for them to acquire and maintain power through acceptance of authority of the people.
In this regard, the Justice Uwais Electoral Reform Committee said: “Through such elections, citizens participate in the governance of their country by choosing those who govern in the quest for development.” The report was emphatic: “By their choices, the citizens confer legitimacy and authority on those who govern, making it easier for them to mobilize public support and cooperation for the implementation of development programmes.” It went further to conclude that “free, fair and credible elections are therefore a crucial requirement for good governance in any democracy.”
The only reason we do not have good governance in Nigeria today is because we do not have free, fair, and credible elections in Nigeria. Any day we succeed in cleaning up our electoral system and removing people like Prof Yakubu Mahmood, with their technical glitch, Nigeria will make progress. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu became President from a malfunctioning electoral system, which declared him elected in the dead of the night and till today the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) failed to produce the polling unit by polling unit results of the presidential election of February 25, 2023, for the whole world to see, according to section 62(2)(3) of the Electoral Act. Nigerians are seeing how the regime is taking decisions in every sphere of the economy against their interests. The reason is that the regime is not relying on the votes of Nigerians to be returned to power in 2027 but on the technical glitch of INEC to renew the mandate of a failed government.
Tell me how a person who is paying for fuel now at the cost of almost N1,000.00 from a previous price of N195.00; from having electricity power at cheaper tariff to not having electricity power at higher tariffs can contemplate voting Tinubu again in 2027. A nation where people are now scared to go to the farms, go to their businesses, and go for recreation because of insecurity and kidnapping cannot re-elect a government that cannot guarantee their security. Terrorists, insurgents, and bandits are now running roughshod on Nigerians in Benue, Plateau, North West, North East, South East, South South, South West, and the entire Nigeria.
Despite this government removing fuel subsidy under the pretence that it will save more resources to provide urgently needed infrastructures for Nigerians, it has rather borrowed more money than any other government in the past. It inherited about N77 trillion in debts and as at December, 2024, the debt burden had skyrocketed to about N144 trillion. This government is planning to borrow $21.5b to finance its 2025 budget. This will balloon our debt to almost N184 trillion. At the end of the day, there’s no benefit of removing fuel subsidy to the people. It’s a programme channelled towards providing more money for the leadership class to continue to satisfy their insatiable appetite. How can any right thinking person re-elect such government?
Unfortunately, if there are no electoral reforms, this government may wangle itself back to power in 2027. The electronic transmission of results must be enshrined in the Electoral Act, and INEC must be compelled to transmit polling units results electronically from the polling units on election day. No collation of results should be deemed legal if the electronically transmitted polling units results are not used to authenticate the manually obtained results. The courts must nullify any election organised without being electronically transmitted from the polling units. INEC should develop a model of electronic automatic addition of electronically transmitted polling units results to produce the total of the results without human interference. Most democratic countries have these machines that automatically sum up election results without human interference. The United States of America elections operate substantially on this model and presidential results appear within 24 hours of conducting the election. There is no sacrifice that’s too much to guarantee the survival of democracy in Nigeria. We cannot contemplate a journey to Somalia and Sudan, with anarchy and chaos reigning supreme in our land.
Rule of law, according to Professor A. V. Dicey, “means the absolute supremacy or predominance of regular law as opposed to the influence of arbitrary power, and excludes the existence of arbitrariness, of prerogative or even of wide discretionary authority on the part of the government.”
Tinubu broke the law from the inauguration ground. He cancelled fuel subsidy on May 29, 2023 when there was an extant law that provided that fuel subsidy was to be removed by June 30, 2025. Since then, he has been yoked to absolute disregard of the Constitution and laws of Nigeria. This unfortunate disregard for rule of law climaxed with the unconstitutional removal of elected representatives of Rivers State for purported “security concerns and tension.” Tinubu declared martial law and removed the Governor of Rivers State and the elected members of the House of Assembly. Even diehard Tinubu advocates like Ayo Fayose and Prof Wole Soyinka acknowledged that Tinubu breached the law. Today, Tinubu is unconstitutionally and singlehandedly managing the resources of Rivers State with the conspiracy of the National Assembly which unconstitutionally procured purported two third majority of the National Assembly through a voice vote. It’s regrettable that a democratically elected President can undemocratically remove democratically elected government of a federating unit in total negation of the principles of federalism.
In South Korea where a President declared martial law and attempted to remove democratically elected members, he was removed from office through impeachment. The South Korean Constitutional Court, in affirming his removal from office of President, held that political logjams must be settled politically and not through martial law. The President is awaiting trial for treason. The greatest threat to our democracy today is this government which is using manipulation and intimidation to cow people into its party. Governors of federating units are now defecting to the ruling party for fear of a declaration of emergency in their states or for fear of being removed by rigging in 2027.
This government has also fallen short of respect for the fundamental human rights of Nigerians, and respect for free and independent media. Protests are brutally disrupted with even children captured during protests and arraigned for treason. People are detained more than the required days before being taken to court. Journalists are harassed and detained in prison without trial for daring to write opinions different from the position of government.
The independence and impartial administration of justice by the courts have not been assured under this regime. It is still a mystery how the courts reached a decision that INEC has the discretion to electronically transmit polling units results even when INEC itself made a rule that it is mandatory that it will electronically transmit polling units results. The Electoral Act is very explicit that no collation should take place without electronically transmitted polling units results.
As this government has shown reluctance in defending the tenets of democracy, the people must rise up to defend democracy. At the inception of Trump’s second term in America, the people stood up against his anti-people policies. Elon Musk’s Tesla was boycotted in America for supporting the sacking of innocent American workers. Today, just three months after Trump’s inauguration, Musk has resigned from the government. Nigeria must learn to boycott and punish people who support anti-democratic forces in Nigeria. Let us start by insisting that relevant sections of the Electoral Act are amended to ensure free, fair, and credible elections and boycott any entity or business that support anti democratic forces. This government is a bully, and the best way to deal with bullies is to stand up to them.