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alwayssummoned to quell the situation and experience has shown that these security forces come in and operate with biase favouring those that invited them- the Northernersand some of those times unwittingly unleashing the organ and instruments of coups – the military.
Sometimes the consequence of such invitation is coups. Why?When a lion that has tested freedom and has fallen in love with it is unleashed, it spares nothing to ensure that the status-quo remains. One of the definite ways of maintaining this kind of freedom is, to usurpe power. Any organ desperate enough to attainillegal objective, has the business of breaking laws.
One of the surest waysof preventing this type of history, from playing out and replaying is, to prevent the merchants of violence, from being unleashed. If they are let loose, the likelihood is that, ‘’the fowl under the acute influence of alcohol, may meet a fox suffering from abject madness.’’4 This causes blood letting, often attendedby civil unrest. The coup plotters of 1966, cited the ‘wild West’s wide spread violence, that left behind a lot of deaths, as part of the reasons they struck. With this way of thought and action of our Northern brothers, how can democracy in Nigeria not be in constant trouble?
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appreciable profit and this can only happen if the candidate wins. Where this is the case, how can democracy and its free and fair election stand. Religious interest as seen above and tribal encouragements can lead to electoral malpractice.
The next major challenge is Nigeria’s inability to conduct free and fair election. Nigeria’s first election in 1959 was said to be free and fair; perhaps, because it was supervised by the colonialist. The 1965 election which was midwifed by Nigeria, threw up a lot of problems that culminated in the military incursion into political sphere of the country. Another election of 1979 was said to be good, perhaps because it was supervised by the military that has not yet had much romance with political power. The one of 1983 was so bad that the masses welcomed the military takeover with joy. 1999 saw the power drunk soldiers foisting Obasanjo on Nigerians. The travesty that was called 2007 Nigeria general elections, witnessed a lot of irregularities and malpractices. This election saw Obasanjo foisting the late Yar’Adua on Nigerians. The final report of the European Union Election Observers Mission (EU EOM) led by Mr. Max Van de Berg (Netherlands), member of the European Parliament, on the Nigeria’s 2007 elections, revealed the extent of this major challenge when it says:
The team undertook observation of 33 out of the 36 states, plus the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)…. The 2007 States and Federal elections fell far short of the basic international and regional standards for democratic elections. They were marred by poor organization; lack of essential transparency, widespread procedural irregularities, substantial evidence of fraud, widespread voters’ disenfranchisement at all the different stages of the process, lack of equal conditions for political parties and numerous incidents of violence. As a result, the process cannot be said to be credible. Given the lack of transparency and evidence of fraud, particularly in the result collation processes, there can be no confidence in the results of these elections.5
The above summation of our 2007 elections by the EU electionsobservers mission, shows the enormity of this challenge. It was not surprising that the then president, late Musa Yar’Adua, set up the Electoral reform panel under the chairmanship of the former Chief Justice of the
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federation, Justice Uwais, to make prescriptions for surmounting this malaise once and for all. The above election being reported on, was the election in which the former president, rtd Olusegun Obasanjo, hand pickedShehu Musa Yar’Adua and using every malpractice in the book, imposed him on Nigerians. This shows the quality of those who claim to be Nigeria’s best leaders. The 2011 elections under Goodluck Jonathan are adjudged free and fair. The elections of 2015 saw the use of threats of violence, manipulations and under age children voting for Buhari in many of the Northern states.
The activities of political parties were far criesto the prescriptions of the constitution and pose a major challenge. Political parties and their members still breach the constitutional provisions with impunity.The constitutional provisions stipulate that: no association should retain, organize, train or equip any person or group of persons to be employed for the use or display of political force or coercion in promoting any political objective in a manner to arouse apprehension. Political thuggery and even political assassinations are still prominent features bedeviling Nigeria politics.For example, the EU EOM notes thus:
violence was a major issue of concern and incidents increased as the election draw nearer. Credible reports indicated that at least 200 people including candidates and policemen were killed in election related incidents.
This is unacceptable not only with respect to the right to life, but also to the democratic process.6
This is the common practice of most parties in Nigeria, especially those with die hard political veterans or rtd soldiers as chief security advisers. In the developed world, political parties serve as a check to the utterances and actions of the aspirants. Unfortunately, in Nigeria, the reverse is the case. The political parties plan the criminal activities and some times hide it from the aspirants. Theparties sometimes urge certain unwholesome utterances and actions on the aspirants.
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Every political party is made up of the youths and the elderly. The elderly are presumed, particularly in Africa, to be the voice of experience and morality considering the notion that they are presumed ‘on their way home’ and need to be more atuned to God and the heavenly ways. However, experience has disabused this notion. Many of the Nigeria veteran political elders are unrepentant manipulators and unabridged opportunists, morally bankrupt. Political parties in Nigeria, as a matter of urgency need reform, if they still want to exist. It is only democratic form of government that can entertain the existence of political parties. What they are doing presently in Nigeria will lead to the extinction of democracy and surely the parties.