Democracy: Of the People, By the People, But Never For the People.

about 6 hours ago

Nigeria as we all know is a democratic country, and as a democratic country we believe that the leaders are and should be chosen by the people via free, fair and credible elections. But when it comes to Nigeria and the things I've seen over the years, I can tell you for free that we are only a democratic country on the paper, the reality... Our reality is different.

Nigeria, from what I've seen and experienced is a country that only a few powerful people have the say on who attains a certain political post. The citizens have very little or no say at all. What I'm saying is, even our votes don't count, these people know how they go about it, right the elections just so to favour them. When these people are campaigning citizens come out in their millions to shout and collect few cups of rice and bottled oil, as if that's enough to feed them for a week, then when it's time for elections, we see less come out again maybe because of the 10k that will be shared at the polling boots for few that votes for a particular political party, and they collect it as if the 10k is enough to carry them for two days while forgetting the long-term effects of it....

And these people are even more happier because they know most of us won't come out to vote all because we already know and believe that our votes don't count, thereby they are even able to manipulate the results more. And when these leaders later get into office, both those that vote and we that refuse to vote suffer. Ad we can't blame anyone but ourselves, we adapt too much, even to things we are supposed to reject and stand against. And I will always say it, if this government have nothing better to do and no solution to procure to our lived realities and pains, then they should step down. See the price of fuel, see how much they now sell pure water, bread and the likes. We even have few currencies that cannot purchase anything in a country that makes and circulate it. Is that not enough for us to think and call this government out. Some countries didn't experience ⅒ of the things we are experiencing and have come out to stand against it. Yet, we keep mute here.

At the moment, we are facing serious issues as a nation, and it's just so obvious we are not practicing democracy, we are in a controlled system where the masses have absolutely no say. And the power of the people is no longer in their hands but in the hands of a few elite. Like I said earlier, we are facing serious issues, talk of insecurity, very poor electricity, high cost of living, poor healthcare systems, unemployment and a whole lot more, just ro mention a few. And all of these has led to fear, farmers can no longer tend to their farms anymore, people can't travel interstate anymore, and corruption of these leaders as now gone up beyond what we can comprehend.

And I believe our government can do better by focusing on very important things, use public funds the way it is supposed to be used, tackle corruption to it's roots, create string institutions, help improve the lives of her citizens, create job opportunities, and treat the issues of insecurity as an emergency, they should do all that and do away with all of their empty promises. If all of these is done they wouldn't even need to start promising us anything or trying so hard to stay in power or go for a second term because their work will speak for them. But since they knew they've done nothing, they are trying so hard to contest again and remain in power.

As the leaders have their own role to play, so also we the citizens have ours. We really need to be actively involved in anything politic related, we should as well hold these leaders accountable when need be. As we can see, out leaders don't feel they owe us any explanations regarding the mismanagement of public funds, and they don't feel the need to even do anything regarding all of the things that we are facing.

And I still stand on my word, that we are not experiencing democracy in any way. Democracy is government of the people, by the people, and for the people. But when the citizens have no say what do we call that, when citizens keep wallowing in poverty what do we see to it, when we all keep experiencing insecurity, what do we name it. And that is why I'm calling for a reform, one that strengthen the various institutions and make our leaders more accountable and answerable to the citizens they are meant to serve. Because as it is, we are the ones serving them. And again, if this government have nothing better to do or give, they should rather step down.

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Images are AI generated.

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