Why democracy which has been in Nigeria (aside the era of military interregnum), has never yielded the desired profits, let alone dividends
In the midst of suffering, gnashing of teeth, hunger, squalor, despondency, corruption, insecurity, mass poverty and even hopelessness, many Nigerians have been asking me (both by SMS, phone calls, Watsapp messages, and emails), whether democracy is actually the best form of Government.
They are wondering if successive civilian governments in Nigeria, especially the Muhammadu Buhari government, has demonstrated that democracy actually possesses the assumed talismanic abracadabra magical wand of being the best form of government.
They are wondering why democracy which has been in Nigeria (aside the era of military interregnum), has never yielded the desired profits, let alone dividends. They are convinced that the only difference they have seen between the military adventurers in power and their ally elitist and political buccaneers is in the military’s starched uniform and looting gun, as against the politician’s agbada and babariga, with a looting pen.
It has therefore become pertinent to explore some forms of government, starting with this universally acclaimed type called democracy.
HOW THE SEEDS OF DEMOCRACY WERE SOWN
In the afternoon of Thursday, November 19, 1863, American president, Abraham Lincoln, delivered a famous speech at the dedication of the Soldiers’ National Cemetery in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, 4 and half months after the Union Armies which he led, had defeated the Confederacy Armies at the “Battle of Gettysburg”. The speech was to honour the soldiers who had sacrificed their precious lives for the country.
In just 271 words, Lincoln delivered one of the greatest speeches ever made in history. He told his transfixed audience in a speech that has since become famously known as “The Gettysburg Declaration”, thus:
“That these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation under God, shall have a new birth of freedom – and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth”.
The same Abraham Lincoln was also quoted to have said on August 1, 1858, as follows (the circumstances in which he did so are not quite clear): “As I would not be a slave, so I would not be a master. This expresses my idea of democracy.”
QUESTIONS, QUESTIONS AND QUESTIONS
The questions that beg for answers are: Is democracy really the best form of government? If so, why and how? How many forms, types, systems, forms or structures of government do we actually have? My research on these questions shocked me to no end when I discovered that there are well over 65 forms and structures of government.
But, why has democracy stood out with such luminousness, prevalence and endearing love by most advanced countries of the world? What is it really that makes democracy so tick? Why is it so unique, adored, embraced and adulated by all? Why has it become the yardstick or international best practice barometer with which a ruler or government is weighed and measured?
Today, I am taking my avid readers along with me on a new series concerning the different systems, types, forms and structures of government.
The revelations in my writes-up will shock many readers. From thousands of continuous feedback by reading members of the public, I have come to discover that the readership of this newspaper is quite vast and is no longer restricted to only Nigerians. It has since expanded to a global readership of all persons who thirst for democracy, knowledge, information, history, literature, scriptures, good governance, national affairs, international matters, human rights, Rule of law and constitutionalism.
A litany of daily telephone calls, letters, WhatsApp, Facebook, SMS, LinkedIn, Twitter and other online social media handles and platforms interactions with me readily testify to this wide readership. I am greatly encouraged by these divinely driven positive reactions to this my self-imposed sacrificial, but tasking, mission, of educating members of the public, sharing my little God-given knowledge and research capabilities, to illuminate the dark crevices of our ignorance, sheer hypnotism, brainwashing, and enhance national discourse.
Today, we shall commence this lengthy discourse which will take quite some time. Let us start, arguably, with the mother of all forms and structures of government – democracy. I shall break up from time to time, from this stream of national conversation, to attend to more urgent emergent national issues. When I so do, please, permit and pardon me. So, let us now start with the most cherished concept of government- DEMOCRACY.
DEMOCRACY AND ITS ORIGIN
The word “democracy” has its original roots in the ancient Greek political and philosophical thought in the city-state of Athens. It means ‘demokratia,’ meaning ‘rule by the people’ (“demos” means ‘people’ and “Kratos” means ‘rule’.) It is a political system in which people, not monarchs (King or Queens) or Aristocracies (like Lords) rule.
Democracy also has roots in the Magna Carta, England’s “Great Charter” of 1215 that was the first document to challenge the authority of the king, subjecting him to the rule of the law and protecting his people from feudal abuse.
Democracy, as we know it today, was not truly defined until the Age of Enlightenment in the 17th and 18th centuries, during which time the U.S. Declaration of Independence was penned, followed by the U.S. Constitution (which borrowed heavily from the Magna Carta). The term evolved to mean a government structured with a separation of powers, provided basic civil rights, religious freedom and separation of church and state.
Theodore Parker defines it as “government of all the people, by all the people and for all the people”. Seymour Lipset (1960) gives a working definition of democracy as “a political system supplying regular constitutional opportunities for changing the government by allowing the population to choose between alternative sets of policymakers.”
While delivering a speech on the importance of democracy to the people of Annapolis in 1809, Thomas Jefferson said, “Where the law of the majority ceases to be acknowledged, there government ends; the law of the strongest takes its place, and life and property is his who can take them.”
Continued next week
