Lack of Synchrony between Nigeria’s Democracy and the Process of Democratisation

Abstract

There has been the subtle admission that democracy is the best form of governance. It is based on this conviction that attempts have been made to bringing an end to regimes that have an orientation towards dictatorship and militarism, especially in Africa. As a result, Nigeria soon embraced democracy and exposes itself to the democratisation process in order to express and practice a better democracy where the rights, properties and lives of its citizens can be guaranteed and safeguarded. A critical look at Nigeria’s democracy since the commencement of the Fourth Republic shows that rather than progressing, Nigeria’s democracy has been retrogressing. As a way of making this evident, this research focuses on the political events in the past five years as clear instances of how the gap between the country’s quest for a democratic state and the process of entrenching democracy for governance are miles apart with a view to revealing the inherent challenges of democracy in Nigeria and proffering solutions to same. There are cases of election rigging and malpractices, police brutality and extrajudicial killings of citizens that ought to be protected, including unprosecuted cases of indicted corrupt officials which had served as hindrances for a formidable process or authentic democracy in Nigeria.