Nigeria’s democratic journey since independence

Nigeria’s democratic experience since independence in 1960 has been a chequered one. From the First Republic to the present political dispensation, otherwise known as the Fourth Republic, it has been a fragile and fluctuating one plagued by military coups and a lack of a sense of national unity on the part of the political class who often resort to divisive tendencies along religious, regional and ethnic lines.

For the first three years of independence, Nigeria was a constitutional monarchy. A British Order-in-Council enacted Nigeria’s first constitution as a sovereign state. Under this constitution, which came into force upon the country’s independence on October 1, 1960, Nigeria retained the late British monarch, Queen Elizabeth II, as titular head of state. It became a republic in 1963, with the late Abubakar Tafawa Balewa as prime minister and Nnamdi Azikiwe replaced the British monarch as the ceremonial president or head of state. Observers are of the view that ethno-religious tension coloured much of Nigeria’s politics in the early days of independence, as it still does today. The bloody military coup of January 15, 1966, terminated the First Republic. After the series of events that followed the coup, including another bloody coup in July 1966, the country was plunged into a civil war that lasted for about three years. This was after the failure of the military authorities to address issues relating to the national question, which was thrown up in the aftermath of the 1966 coups and the events that followed it.

There is a subsisting view that after the war, no serious efforts were made for reconciliation, in spite of the fact that the Gen. Yakubu Gowon-led military government declared that there was no victor and no vanquished after the hostilities. There was also no attempt to return the country to the sort of federal system of government agreed upon by the country’s founding fathers, prior to independence. At the height of the crisis, the federal system was tweaked to make it appear like a unitary system of government. The model of federalism that was adopted by Nigeria at independence in 1960 was agreed upon at the conferences that preceded it both in Nigeria and the United Kingdom. But, the military jettisoned some of these ideas, which were meant to address the minority question.

Following a series of military coups in the post-civil war era in the 1970s, the 1980s and the early 1990s, which plunged the country deeper into corruption and impunity, the country returned to civilian rule in 1999. But, Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar who led the group of military officers that midwifed the process did not consider it necessary to adopt an elaborate process that will get the input of a wide spectrum of the society with regards to fashioning a new constitution for the country. The group, it was said, more or less imposed a constitution which does not grant autonomy to the federating units to handle certain issues like the security that many agree will be better addressed at that level.

Over the years, Nigerians have been calling for a new constitution. It was people like the late Alao Aka-Bashorun, who began the call for a new constitution and restructuring in the mid-1990s. The agitation for a new constitution has not waned, in spite of several attempts by the National Assembly since the return to civil rule to amend the 1999 Constitution. It continues to resurface whenever Nigerians are dissatisfied with the way their affairs are being run by the political class. The efforts by members of the National Assembly to amend the constitution in recent years, observers believe, have always ended in futility because the lawmakers have not shown enough political will to focus on the issues at stake.

Following the return to civil rule in 1999, the country has made some progress. For instance, for the first time in its political history, the country has enjoyed uninterrupted civil rule for 24 years so far. In 2015, there was a transfer of power from one political party to another; this was unprecedented in the country’s political history. There was a lot of enthusiasm among Nigerians, following the introduction of technology in the electoral process ahead of the just concluded general election.

The founding National Chairman of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), Chief Chekwas Okorie, said the country is on a good trajectory democratically and that hopefully the ugly situations we had in the past will not rear their heads again going forward. He said: “I can say that a significant attempt has been made with the introduction of technology to achieve that major objective. I will equally give kudos to the outgoing president; he tried more than any of his predecessors in office in ensuring that INEC enjoyed a measure of independence, as its name suggests. For the first, we had a situation where INEC did not publicly complain about the lack of funds to carry out its functions. We also saw the introduction of bills that were eventually signed into law to facilitate the conduct of free and fair elections. In other words, we now have an improved electoral law. There are indications that the introduction of technology into the electoral process is a move in the right direction.

“The improvement can be gleaned from the fact the 10th National Assembly will be a more balanced one, compared to the ones before it. The aggregate number of votes the opposition parties had in the presidential election is almost twice what the ruling party scored during the election. In other words, this is a signal to the winner of the election that he has a lot more job to do to win over the majority of Nigerians. Before now, we used to have either the APC or the PDP winning an overwhelming number of votes both in the presidential and the National Assembly elections. The incoming President Bola Tinubu must focus on overhauling INEC to improve on its performance. He should also focus on improving the adoption of technology in the electoral process. I will suggest the adoption of full electronic voting during the next election cycle in four years’ time. But, so far, the management of the technology to achieve the desired goal is still a challenge.

“I refuse to join those heaping blames on the outgoing president. He has done his bit; he is not the one that will go to the field to implement the law. Owing to the experience we had under former President Olusegun Obasanjo when there was a strong move for an elongation of his tenure, speculations were rife at a time that the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari was considering to remain in power beyond the constitutionally mandated two terms of office of four years each. In spite of several assurances that he was not cut out for things like that, Nigerians continued to doubt him until now that it has become a reality that a new government will be taking over from him and that the sanctity of the four-year cycle will be respected.”


Okorie said there is a need for an overhaul of INEC. He added: “As it is presently constituted, it is a nest of corruption. Eighty per cent of INEC senior officers are corrupt; they are the ones that have messed up what would have been a very successful general election. As Nigerians approached the election with enthusiasm, INEC began to take some wrong steps. Otherwise, what is the rationale for transferring a certain Chidi Nwafor, the man who designed the commission’s Bimodal Voters Accreditation System (BVAS), an in-house product of INEC, to Enugu to function as an administrative staff? The BVAS is a locally designed technological innovation designed by the said Nwafor; it is not something imported from any other country. So, he ought to have been deployed to ensure the innovation does not fail.”

Okorie is also of the view that one of the major challenges facing the country at the moment is that Nigerians are yet to imbibe the culture of the sanctity of the ballot box. “Elections are regarded as a do-or-die affair where victory is only guaranteed for the group that can decide a way to outdo the others in the area of rigging the contest,” he said.

Similarly, the Director of the Justice Development and Peace Centre (JDPC), Catholic Archdiocese of Lagos, Rev. Fr. Raymond Anoliefo said there is not much to be excited about. His words: “After close to 63 years of independence and several attempts to entrench democracy and get Nigerians to imbibe the democratic culture, there is still so much to be desired. If we go by the definition of democracy as the government of the people by the people and for the people, what we have in place now is a far cry from what should be. I wish the incoming administration all the best because we are all in this country together and we are all hoping that things will get better.”

The clergyman said it is a positive development that the democratic journey in the last 24 years has been seamless, even though progress has been incremental. He added: “We hope that it will get better. But as I keep saying, there is not much to be excited about until we get people with the right mindset and the political will to do what is right, as well as politicians who consider the interest of the ordinary man on the street before personal gains. Until then, I believe our democracy will just be a charade; it will not be the ideal democracy, in spite of being a civilian rule.”

He said the influence of the military in Nigeria’s democratic journey is a negative one. His words: “I would not give the military a pass mark. Military officers were probably the culprits that truncated what little progress we ought to have made since independence in 1960. This is because of the massive corruption they introduced into the polity. Some of them have even metamorphosed into democrats today wearing civilian toga but it is evident that the leopard cannot shed its spots. I indeed give the military a knock; they put us in the situation we are in today because they introduced the culture of impunity that we see everywhere today.”

“It is almost as if it is all doom and gloom but because we are a people of hope, we will continue to hope against hope. Nevertheless, they tried in providing the basic infrastructure across the country at the time. It is a measure of how much the men in uniform have become entrenched in Nigeria’s politics that two former military dictators have governed the country for a total of 16 years in the country’s last 24 years of uninterrupted civilian rule. I don’t think those 16 years are something any well-meaning Nigerian will be proud of in terms of insecurity, infrastructure, economic indices, education and health. But, it’s a new day, we have risen up this morning, a new day to look the universe in the face and say yes we can.”

“Before the just concluded 2023 general election, the level of enthusiasm among Nigerians was high because the electoral umpire, INEC, appeared well prepared for the election and got the backing of everyone. INEC promised a whole lot; it promised that the election was going to be the best ever. Owing to the successes recorded in the off-season elections in Ekiti and Sound states, there seemed to be some glimmer of hope qs to the functionality and practicability of the BVAS technology, particularly the idea of the real-time transmission of results from the polling units to the IREV. This made the 2023 general election look like a game changer to many Nigerians who believed that their votes did not count in the past.

“But Nigerians got the shocker of their lives when D-Day came and INEC performed below expectations. Given the amount of money that was spent to organize the election, many Nigerians were disappointed and so feel that the exercise was a step backwards. INEC had one major objective, which was to organise credible, free and fair elections. From every indication, it has certainly not done well; Nigerians felt cheated because there were too many underhand practices. We will pray for the man that is just coming into power because it is our country. We are hoping that he will somehow succeed because his success will uplift every one of us.”

Fr. Anoliefo gave INEC kudos in some areas, such as in the accreditation of voters. He said there is still hope because the youths played a key role in the election. He said: “There is still hope because the momentum came from the youths who felt that they needed a change and are no longer prepared to sit on the fence. Fortunately, they were able to rock the boat a bit. I am very that in future elections, nobody will take them for granted anymore.”

For the country to chart a new course in its democratic journey, the clergyman said the political class must imbibe the political will to do what is right. His words: “In Latin, we say ‘Nemo dat quod non habet’; meaning, you can’t give what you don’t have. Secondly, Nigerians must insist on doing things right because the process is also very important. This is not just for politicians but for all Nigerians. Sometimes, we tend to be downright irresponsible. As a people we need to imbibe a culture of honesty and integrity; that culture of putting others first.

“There is also the need to build a better system. We also need someone who can unite the country because it is as divided as it can be today. Going forward, without any concerted effort at unifying the country, we are just papering the cracks. We have just had eight years of somehow jettisoning meritocracy; throwing it into the garbage bin on the altar of nepotism.

“Let us hope that the administration that is just coming in will be outcome driven and will be interested in what it wants to be remembered or known for when it leaves the scene. Finally, there is a need for patriotism.”