The 2023 election campaigns have started but not much is going on yet in the political sphere. Almost all the political parties are yet to make their manifestoes public. Despite prodding from journalists at different fora, mum is still the word as most of the spokespersons are promising that they would be out very soon. In reality, Nigerians are not used to scrutinizing party manifestoes.
Since the return of civilian democracy in 1999, the electorate seems not to have held the elected to the presentations they made during political campaigns. In some ways, voting is still largely based on primordial sentiments. Ethnicity, religion, regional affiliations, and other coercive sentiments often determine the voters’ choices. Democracy is a work in progress and the hope is that at some point things would begin to be done differently if we expect a different result.
In viable democracies, the role of the legislature at all tiers of government cannot be overemphasized. Those who fashioned the three arms of government had in mind the value of checks and balances in the system. They understood as political philosophers that humans abuse power and absolute power corrupts absolutely. The executive, legislature and the judiciary must work as the tripod that make democracy a viable system as each arm have defined roles that must be strictly adhered to.
The relationship between the three arms of government must be that that puts the people first. All actions must be geared towards protecting the welfare of the people and building a nation. However, in the Nigerian political system, the lack of strong system has seemingly made democracy appear a bit complex. The executive at both federal and state levels act in ways that seem to present both the legislature and judiciary as less powerful arms of government.
The presidency and governors wield so much powers that very often there are actions that question the brand of democracy practiced. This is not surprising, the effects of military incursions in Nigeria seem to show up very often. The command and control system the military taunted the country with still persists in very debilitating ways even with civilian democrats. The intimidation and seeming lack of total autonomy by other arms of government at both state and federal levels have their origins in the past militarization of the governance structures.
The Roundtable Conversation however believes that the Nigerian political system must be weaned of the military mentality where the executive arm acts as though the other two arms are mere appendages. The political class must be deliberate in efforts to strengthen our democracy. Each arm of government must be strong and independent enough to be in a position to develop the country through good governance.
