Some residents of Bayelsa have bemoaned the slow pace of Nigerian democratic journey from 1999 till date.
The residents spoke to the News Agency of Nigeria on Thursday in Yenagoa, in the build up to Nigeria’s June 12 Democratic Day celebration.
Alambo Datonye, a Political Affairs Analyst and Journalist, said that Nigeria’s democracy has lost ground since 1999, pointing out that basic tenets and principles of democracy were observed more in breach than compliance.
He said that some key institutions in the country are not fair to all political parties, due to interference from politicians in power.
“The judiciary is not independent of executive control and influence, and the media has not developed enough economic power base to hold leaders accountable.
“There is bad governance, vote buying and corruption on monumental scale while Nigerians faced economic hardship and insecurity.
“There is absence of internal democracy in political parties, and the National Assembly has not done well in its oversight functions.
“To entrench genuine democracy in Nigeria, there is need for politicians, especially the political actors in power to play by the rules, the institutions must be independent and assertive.
“INEC should be unbiased, the Judiciary must be independent, the media, and political parties should create an environment of internal party democracy,” he said.
Mr Datonye said that ideally, candidates should not be imposed or emerge fraudulently, noting that those in leadership should be accountable to the people and patriotic enough to utilise the nation’s resources for the people.
He said that political leaders ought to provide security and welfare for the people and that anything short of it is not democracy.
“The leaders must go beyond the fanfare of celebrating 27 years of uninterrupted civilian rule to enthrone real democracy, where Nigerians are allowed to genuinely choose who will govern them.”
On his part, Larry Esure, a Socio-Political Analyst, said that Nigeria has had over 30 years of unbroken democratic experience but said it does not erase the fact that her democratic experience is fraught with myriads of challenges.
“The conditions that make a democratic government to thrive are under serious attack in Nigeria.
“Some of the conditions that guarantee a democratic government are conduct of periodic elections. This doesn’t just mean conducting an election but an election that reflects the wishes of the electorates.
“In a democracy, the outcome of elections must be widely seen as free, fair, transparent and without any form of inducement.
“This means that citizens should be allowed to vote candidates of their choice without inducement or intimidation and the wish of the electorate must be translated into reality in terms of such electoral outcomes.
“In the Nigerian experience, election outcomes always serve as breeding grounds for post election violence and legal contests which in most cases, do not reflect the wish of the voters.
“The judicial arm of government must be free from other arms,” he explained.
Mr Esure explained that capacity of the judiciary to decide on issues without fear is a necessary condition for a democratic government to thrive saying: “this is not the reality in Nigeria as conflicting judicial pronouncements from courts due to inducements and interference from the executive arm explains it.”
