Nigeria's Democracy Today: Mistake of Destiny- 'Dishonesty, Manipulation, Violence, Fraud And Failure'- Uche Okeke

Today Nigeria is not a democratic society, rather full blown dictatorship. 2015 Election of President Buhari was not only sold on deliberate lies and false promises but also on fears of safety and security, but the people are now worse off. The President's 'politics, ideas and views' resent modernity and believes in the doctrine divine rights. 'Myth is Right'. The only AGENDA is consolidating their grips on power. The country's political structure is also at the root of the problems. A monstrous conception designed to keep some people in power for ever, just electoral democracy- election every four years. This is not a good fit for development. Absolute power weilded by the state with weak institutions-Legislature, Judiciary, etc to counterweight the power possessed by the state. No independent institutions and rule of law too weak. Constitutional checks and balances under assault, assault on the judiciary- abduction of judges, Government officials choose which law to obey and mock seperation of power. Some are very arrogant to submit to to constitutional checks and balance. According to a new report, Nigeria has dropped to 97 of 113 countries in rule of law ranking. We have seen the new IMF report on the Economy, Oxfam report on Inequality, Transparency International report on corruption, Amnesty International report on killings, Global terrorism report on the Herdsmen, another one as the worst Electricity supply nation, Bloomberg report on Political Deadlock. We have many other report ratings on Education, Healthcare, etc. The anti-graft agency is used soley to witch-hunt political opponents while corrupt politicians decamp to the ruling political party to become free of corruption, corruption rulings reveresed, selective justice, the houses of some political opponents buldozed without due process, weakened the opposition using cruelty and violence, etc. The political structure has helped autocracy and elections are not expected to be free and fair. There is mass propaganda and lies, conspiracy, private life of the leadership including education, health not subject to public discussion or scrutiny, control of the electoral process, fraudlent election(under-age voters, intimidation of election officials, etc), bribery of media, repression of political opponents, assault on free speech-seeking coercive powers for new legislation-Hate Speech laws to determine what people see and hear  while empowering its media center to attack critics of the government, and endorse government policies, exploitation by cabal, mass corruption, waste in patronage politics and white elephant projects, ransome payments to terrorists, insecurity, kidnapping , killing, terrorism, ethnic minority discrimination, division, nepotism, safety risks, delapidated public services including infrastructure, medical tourism, rejection of reforms, rejection of restructuring, no incentive to invest in the future, deplorable resistance to modernity, etc. They're just more interested in lands for the cow business and the next election. Look around yourselves to see how much jobs that have been created in almost four years. The truth is that there will be more job losses due to globalisation and technology and the government have not made adequate preparations for this. The population is also growing at astronomical rate. We have also identified this issue of single party political culture using the crude 95/5 percent development policy depending on the number of votes obtained by states. This shows the government is unrepetentant and ignorant of the danger it poses to the future.
 Read More :  http://www.theleadprojectfoundation.com/p/blog-page.html We have argued that for democracy to work in Nigeria, it has to be 'properly and transparently' be applied. We must follow the rules of the game.
 Read More : http://www.theleadprojectfoundation.com/2018/02/nigeria-democracy-and-its-crisis.html.

In morden times, everything has changed. We are now in an era of 'expanding individual freedoms', the number of functions execercised by the centre needs to be reduced, as it simply creates wastes due to duplication of autonomous functions. States and regions need greater economic and political power to address their development challenges including security and safety by freeing up resources held by the centre to invest in growth policies. There is urgent need for the restructuring of the current political structure to guarantee inclusiveness, growth and stability. It needs strong leadership certainly not autocratic/totalitarian leadership. "A federal structure whose motive is to maintain security by curbing ethnic and regional influence does not foster development"- African Research Institute. The President presents corruption as the only problem of the country and sees nothing wrong with the current political structure. He presents himself as the only solution whereas the government is now the most corrupt in history given the activities of a hidden cabal which is grossly ignored. A democracy whose mission is only election every four years is not a proper and transparent democracy, rather democracy for the few- their families, friends and associates to share the spoils of power. There is a whole lot ignorance, people are not asking the right questions. There is a lot of injustice and dysfunction of the system which can only be resolved by the restructuring of the current political structure. They're just spending heavily on the media including social media and some greedy people who are only interested in what they will gain to manipulate ordinary people including the idea of nationalism and rotational presidency The entire system is fraudlent, and exploitative. People are denied basic growth policies and told to wait for their turn to become president, while the government is planning to build railway and refinery to Niger, etc.concentrating to grow a particular group using federal resources. Thinking needs to change. Today we have the opportunity to avoid this dilemma by demanding the restructuring of the current political structure and rejecting authoritarian rule. We don't need to have this experience again. In the words of Polly Tonynbee; "Everyone wants fairness''. that's the future in the 21st century. Read More: http://www.theleadprojectfoundation.com/p/blog-page.htm. Some of the most disheartening examples of political stagnation, democratic backsliding and state failure are strikingly evident in today's Nigeria. This is a tragedy. The future of the country hangs in the balance. The country is under siege'. Read The US Department of State Country Reports on Human Rights in Nigeria: https://www.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/humanrightsreport/index.htm?year=2017&dlid=277033#wrapper.  Read this blog regularly so as to be on the right side of history. We will continue to ensure that ordinary people are well-informed to avoid a repeat of the mistake of destiny in Nigeria, that's not the future. Today we have a better alternative so we must embrace it.

Uche Okeke is a Social Entrepreneur and the Founder of The LEAD Project Foundation. We continue to explore why democracy has failed in Nigeria and what can be done about it.