2016 DEMOCRACY DAY IN NIGERIA: SHOULD WE BE GLAD OR BE SAD?

  Democracy day is celebrated every 29th of May in Nigeria (it's an annual event); it's a public holiday and is set aside to commemorate the return of Democracy (its first stint was from 1979-1983). This is the 17th democracy day celebration since 1999. You would think that with such a number that we would have  started practicing Democracy in Nigeria , but we have so much left to be desired, so much more to dream of, and a lot less to be proud of.

After the taste of military rule , the emergence of Democracy came with a lot of relief and promises , popular among those are the promises of Freedom (of speech, movement, and religion), Equity , Justice, and Respect for all Human Rights, have we gotten to that stage? I leave it for you to judge. None of these promises are a privilege, none Sir, they are the rights of all Nigerians regardless of Class (political or social), Religion or Tribe.

We are moving forward in age but not growth as a nation, the headache of Nigerians 55 years ago still ache the heads of Nigerians much more 55 years later. Less than two administrations in the past 17 years have made little effort to work towards providing the dividends of democracy.

The reason is not far-fetched , it's obvious and nonetheless detrimental to our democracy that almost 10 out of the 17 years have seen the country ruled by retired Military Generals in civilian clothing and also coincidental that both of them were once Military Heads of State infamous for their total neglect of human rights.

Though, we have had glimpses of what democracy is, with unfortunately short-term governments of Alhaji  Musa Yar'adua and Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, it has been nothing but glimpses and hunger for what we could have been enjoying since 17 years ago.

Today has come and gone and we are not better off than yesterday, to be honest, we are worse. The so called fight of corruption has lead the present administration into deep waters, where we are seeing abuse of human rights, unfairness in government reporting, delayed or denied justice, favoritism, and witch hunting of perceived enemies.

In synopsis, I don't think there is any reason to celebrate democracy this year or in this administration; yet, democracy did not grow upwards at all, except that it goes downwards, so we should mourn and hope May 29th, 2017 will bring deserved celebration.

I believe there is hope for my dear country, I believe we can experience and practice true democracy in Nigeria but I also don't believe it can come to pass when people known to have fought against democracy are the ones leading the road to a democratic land without apology.

Written By: David Spartan Nnajiemere  writes from Nnamdi Azikiwe University,Awka

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