THE RAPE OF DEMOCRACY BY DR AUSTIN ORETTE

Of all kinds of governments, the most difficult kind of government is constitutional democracy. This is because it requires full participation of the citizens.

When practiced according to the norms, it is antithetical to a military dictatorship. Military dictatorship is a top down, and one size fits all approaches, and the whims of the leader rule the day. A democracy requires deliberation and a bottom-up approach, and the wishes of the people are carried through.

This is the reason why participation in a democracy requires deliberation and mandates the periodic assent of the voters. This is a sine qua non. It is a duty and a right in a democracy to have the opportunity to remake the country anew. Elected leaders must submit themselves for revaluation by the voters. This is mandatory and sacrosanct in a healthy democracy. To deprive citizens of this solemn responsibility is criminal.

A land where the people are afraid of their leaders is a hallmark of dictatorship, where power is maintained through fear, intimidation, violence and the suppression of basic liberties. A land where the leaders are afraid of the people is a democracy.

The popular sentiments often attributed to Tomas Jefferson show that a healthy democracy relies on mutual trust and accountability rather than sheer fear from either.

Ours is not a healthy democracy and is the reason some parties impose candidates on the people through automatic tickets. This should never be tolerated.

In a democracy, those elected must go back to the voters to renew their mandates. It is a dictatorship when top party officials impose candidates on the citizens. It is our right to have the opportunity to look into the records of those we elected and decide whether they were worthy of our initial trust.

This singular duty of the voter if not respected should be the end of that party. We are not in a military regime where governors and other officials are appointed. Our constitution clearly states that every four years we shall re-elect leaders.

Imposition of candidates without voting is unconstitutional. We can understand a candidate going unopposed. You can never be unopposed when the challengers are ham-stringed by criminal imposition of high fees of entry for challengers and primary elections are abrogated.

Why should those who aspire to serve be made to pay astronomical fees that cannot be explained by any income metrics in Nigeria? This is an exclusionary gimmick. This is what has turned our politics to a marketplace that has attracted only desperados instead of refined citizens with ideas. This is a violation of our constitutional order.

Any party that engages in this practice deserves to be voted out of power. No elected official should place himself above the voters and the constitution. Nigeria is no longer a military dictatorship where the government is the estate of military generals.

Any politician who cannot go back to the voters and renew his mandate should go and practice politics in North Korea. The President of North Korea was just re-elected by 99.9 percent. The one percent that did not vote for him is being prosecuted for various crimes.

We are a constitutional democracy. No one has the right to impose candidates on the citizens. This practice is vile and unjust, and it is nothing but the rape of democracy. No one has a right to automatic mandate in a democracy.

DR. AUSTIN ORETTE, A DELTA SOUTH SENATORIAL ASPIRANT, WRITES FROM OWHELOGBO IN ISOKO NORTH LOCAL GOVERNMENT AREA.