Larceny of democracy

GOVERNMENT termed democracy as given a free hand to some gladiators in the game of politics to oppress and deprive people of their constitutional rights, it has created an illusion of liberty, a freedom existing on paper but failed to manifest in practice which have posed a question to the real intention of democracy or application of the political ideology.

Democracy should be the voice of the people, the rescue place for a common man, the last hope of the masses, the emblem of peace and consensus, spirit of freedom and motive of belonging, the revelation of social contract.

In the world today, democracy should be seen as a medium of development, which is expected to create an atmosphere where economic development won’t clash with infrastructure enlargement and the health sector will be up to task and public opinion and agitation will be highly prioritised and respected.

An ideal democratic government sees politics as a means to the end not the end itself; it should vest the supreme power in the people whereby majority rules by voting for the few to tutor the affairs of the state, unbiased nor sentimental about their dealings.

Democracy has failed mostly where it’s needed, in Nigeria today, democracy has been threatened by many irregularities during elections, corruption cases involving people in government, unfriendly policies, high rate of unemployment, misappropriation and embezzlement of public funds and insecurity posing threat to lives and properties.

What makes democracy unique among other system of government is the atmosphere it creates for public opinion and reasonable level of franchise, it gives the people ability to choose their leaders freely, with opportunity of voting for the candidates of their choice without any threat, manipulation or intimidation, but election in Nigeria has always raised the hope of people not in terms of good governance but the token that the electioneering process will bring to them. Politicians mostly remember the citizens when election is around the corner, seeking reelection or sponsoring candidates for political offices, people should have absolute influence in determine how the political pyramid looks like, from the community stage to the political party which will extend to the state and national governments, it should be citizenry based not stakeholders and godfathers business alone,

One of the top responsibilities of government in any democracy settings is the well-being and security of the people but in Nigeria today this has been questioned, a reasonable number of Nigerians are unemployed.

• Ajayi Oluwaseun Felix

oluwaseunfelixajayi@gmail.com

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