By Linus Aleke
Federal Government on Sunday rolled out drums to commemorate the nation’s 23rd unbroken year of democratic governance, since the return to civil rule in 1999.

Beyond the yearly Democracy Day broadcast by the incumbent President since 1999, this year’s commemoration also witnessed a military parade amongst other activities lined up to celebrate democracy in Nigeria.

The Federal Government through the Ministry of Interior, also declared Monday 13 June 2022, as a Public Holiday. The military parade will also take place on Monday at the National Cenotaph in Abuja.

The annual ritual was aimed at remembering the day the military handed over the baton of leadership to a democratically elected President on May 29, 1999, after over three decades of military dictatorship in the country.

The incumbent administration, however, changed the date from May 29 to June 12 in honour of the heroes of democracy, especially the winner of June 12, 1993, Presidential election, MKO Abiola who died in the cause of his struggle to reclaim his mandate after the annulment of the election by the then military junta led by General Ibrahim Babangida.

The self-styled evil genius had premised his decision to annul the election on a judicial pronouncement on the election.

But the question on the lips of critical minds in Nigeria is whether there is justification for the continued commemoration of Democracy Day in Nigeria, when successive leaders in the country, since 1999 had not been able to deliver the dividend of democracy to the people.

ThisNigeria sought the view of Nigerians on the above question.

Asked if Nigerians have any reasons to commemorate democracy day in the face of the absence of dividend of democracy, rising insecurity, and unemployment, as well as an unacceptable number of people living in abject poverty amid plenty, a media consultant, Dr Joseph Ozioko, averred that there was nothing to celebrate about Nigeria’s democracy.

He said, “I feel there is nothing really to celebrate. Are we to celebrate the absence of safety in our fatherland? The primary responsibility of every responsible government is the safety of life and property.

“No one is safe anywhere in Nigeria, the daily massacre of innocent lives, rather than abate, is progressively escalating. The massacre in a catholic church in Owo, Ondo State is still very fresh in our minds. Who knows the next location and victims?

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“You can read the mood of the country in President Muhammadu Buhari’s Democracy Day Broadcast where he said: “I am living daily with the grief and worry for all those victims and prisoners of terrorism and kidnapping,” perhaps, we should be celebrating grief and worry, because these insecurity and incessant killings cut across every part of the country. North East, North West, South East, South West name it, the whole country is engulfed in a mess of insecurity”.

Ozioko also lamented the brand of democracy Nigeria is practicing, saying that the kind of democracy Nigeria practices is not only counterfeit but an aberration.

He queried, “With the primaries of the two major political parties in the country over, do you still believe that what we practice is a democracy, considering the open bazaar of vote-buying at the primaries?

On the just-concluded primary elections, Ozioko summarised, “I will say that Nigeria has successfully attained “cash-and-carry,” democracy where the highest bidders get the votes.

“As we just witnessed in the case of the two major political party primaries, like a typical marketplace, the politicians, political parties, and party agents were the vote buyers while prospective voters or delegates were the sellers.

“The commodity on sale was the vote to be cast while the medium of exchange was monetary inducement, (in dollars). The market forces that determined the value or price of the vote were the levels of the desperation of the politicians to win.

“Now, the danger was that as these transactions went on, electorates slowly lost their voting power, winners, therefore, tended to disregard democratic norms because they bought rather than competed for support, and ultimately corruption will be enthroned in the long run.”

Supporting this line of thought, a businessman, Mr. Jeremiah Akpan said that the best way to celebrate democracy is through the provision of the dividend of democracy and not military parade or any other activities aimed at wasting the nation’s scarce resources under the guise of democracy jamboree.

“Are we celebrating the spilling of innocent blood by Islamic terrorists, unknown gunmen, and other criminal elements across the federation, since the APC administration came on board or our terrible ranking in all indices of human development, or what are we commemorating?

“Yes, we have had 23 years of unbroken democratic experience, but how had that translated to good governance and improved standard of living? Nigeria remains the world’s poverty capital. None of our public universities is mentioned among the best 500 universities in the world if not even 1000.

“Life expectancy is very abysmal, infant and maternal mortality are very high, poor access to quality health care, poor access to safe drinking waters, an embarrassing figure of out-of-school children, amongst several others negatives that this administration is known for.

“One may be forced by these negative statistics to conclude that the labour of our heroes past is already in vain. This cannot be the democracy we longed for during the dark days of military incursion into the civic space in Nigeria. I don’t believe in this commemoration. The best way to mark democracy day is to commission multiple projects that will impact the lives of common citizens.

“Take the Nigerian business environment for instance. Nigeria is the worst place on earth to do business. Government policies are aimed at stifling businesses, rather than boosting them. Multiple taxation and difficulty in registering the business in Nigeria cannot be overemphasised.

“Many businesses are relocating to Ghana and other neighbouring African countries because of harsh business policies in Nigeria. The problem of our democracy is not what we can discuss in a day.”

On his part, a civil society activist, Comrade Martins differs from the previous speakers, noting that we have every reason as a country to mark our Democracy Day.

He said, “Indeed, we have reasons to celebrate irrespective of the myriad of challenges we face as a people. We must celebrate our rights to vote and be voted for. It can always get better. We owe our founding fathers the duty of appreciation for their labour past.

“Those who fought for democracy from the hands of the military, we owe them a thank you. So, for me, the Democracy Day celebration is about them and I am happy to say thank you to them. It wasn’t this free to speak during the military era”.

On whether Nigeria’s brand of democracy is qualified as democracy, he said, “yes, we are practicing democracy. Though we do not observe the basic creeds of democracy, it does not minus the fact that we are in a democracy.

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“The fact that the people have the liberty to speak their minds, and participate in elections whether the elections are free, fair, or credible is out of the question. In a monarchy, dictatorship, or other forms of government, these freedoms are not allowed.

“However, our democracy is still evolving, citizens need to take advantage of it and demand accountability, transparency, and openness. Citizens are the drivers of free, fair, and credible elections

“So, they should own up to their role and participate. They are the force behind good governance therefore, they must all rise and hold leaders to account.”

On his advice to the government going forward, Martins said, “I don’t know which government you refer to, we, the people are the government. So, I will rather advise Nigerians especially those of voting age, to get registered and vote based on their consciences, not money inducement.

“We need to be part of the process, that’s the only way to change things, to demand accountability, transparency, and openness at all times.”

He also took a dig at the media saying, “To the media, they must rescue Nigeria from these quagmires of corruption, nepotism, poverty, unemployment, name it. Nigeria is what it is today because the media has lost its steam.

“They had sold out their tooth and can no longer bite hard. They are part of the problem rather than providing solutions. How do I mean, listen to News bulleting across all radio and TV stations, they’re about politicians, read leading headlines on national dailies, they’re about politicians.

“What happens to Development or solution journalism, what has happened to investigative journalism that has proven to be the hope for the development? Citizens especially the media, must rise and speak truth to power.”

No one is safe anywhere in Nigeria, the daily massacre of innocent lives, rather than abate, is progressively escalating. The massacre in a catholic church in Owo, Ondo State is still very fresh in our minds. Who knows the next location and victims?