Development Of Democracy In Africa
Civil society contributes immensely in nation building by advocating the public’s rights and wishes of the people and also other important aspects in the society such as Health, environment and economic rights. Unfortunately, In Nigeria like several other countries in Africa where the civil society is necessitated by the failure of the state, civil society organizations are perceived by the political elite as organizations constituted to oppose their rule. The state therefore makes their existence difficult either by starving them of the necessary assistance that ought to make them effective; or some times by penetrating them and even determining how their leadership is selected and how functional they should be. (Anger, 2013)
The third wave of democratization in Africa which commenced in the late 1990s in Africa was largely a transition from authoritarian rule/military dictatorship to democratic regimes (Young, 2005). As democracy became fashionable all over the world, authoritarian regimes in most countries, especially Africa transmuted or transformed into democracy. In other words, they became more democratic or simply wore the toga of democracy in order to gain national and international acceptance. Moreover, Nigeria was not spared from the contagious and snowballing effects of the democratic wave. Nigeria followed suit and restored democracy as a form of government in 1999.
In fact, since the return of Africa to the paths of democratization under the ‘third wave’, the challenges of consolidating democracy have, and still occupy a central position, not only in academic discourse, but also in the domains of civil society, public policy and democracy aid industry. This is because sustaining and consolidating democracy is often a task as difficult as establishing it, if not much more daunting (Schedler, 1998, 2001). Moreover, the experience of history demonstrates convincingly the fluctuating fortunes of democratization in Africa, given the abysmal failure of all previous attempts at democratization in the continent (Omotola, 2009). However, the emphasis on the roles of Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) in the consolidation of democracy has been a mixed bag of the good, bad and ugly (Gyima-Boadi, 2007). The skewed trajectory of democracy in the Sub-Saharan of Africa led to the creation of terms like ‘delegative’ (O’Donell, 2006); ‘illiberal’ (Zakaria, 2007); ‘hybrid’ (Diamond, 2002) and ‘incipient’ (Raker, 2007) democracies.
Despite the premium placed on Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) as institutions of strengthening democracy in Africa, democracy has not fared well in the continent. Put it differently, democracy in Africa has refused to take root downwards and bear fruit upwards. Leys (2007), have criticized the democratization process that Africa has experienced, describing it as essentially an exercise in re-stabilization of democratic cartels through improved circulation of elites, to lend legitimacy to economic deregulation. In the same vein, Shin (2009:34) posited that: “Democratic transition in African countries has not automatically produced democratic institutions in place of the replaced authoritarian ones. Nor have the newly createddemocratic institutions performed any more efficiently than the ones they replaced.” Also, scholars like Awe (2001), Young (2003), Ake (2006), O’Donell, (2006), Nnoli (2009), Rakner and Svåsand (2004), Kuenzi and Lambright (2005) and Manning (2005) have in their separate works posited that the consolidation of democracy in Africa is not yet eureka because issues like unaccountable strong–man leadership, corruption, ethnicity, religious crisis, lack of rule of law, or its uneven application and other patrimonial factors are giving democracy a fight for its life.
Therefore, the current state of democracy in Nigeria and other African countries leaves much to be desired. Although, it has been argued that despite the lamentable state of democracy in Nigeria, there exist contradictory trajectories in democratic consolidation (AfroBarometer, 2006; Skanning, 2008). Nigeria is said to have recorded limited success with the Ruling party (Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in power since 1999 until 2005 when All Progressives Congress (APC) took over government. Nigeria, has received fewer encomiums from domestic and foreign writers on democratic consolidation (Omotola, 2009, Obi 2008, Onu and Momoh, 2005, Oladipupo, 2007, 2011, Bratton, 2008). To be specific, Oladipupo (2009) lamented that: More than three years after the conduct of the Last General Elections in Nigeria, the last has not been heard as far as its worldwide condemnation and internal problems, that is, litigations arising from its outcome are concerned.
Problems such as incompetence and deliberate bungling by the INEC, widespread use of thugs and security agents against voters, and the flagrant abuse of the powers of incumbency combined together to give the condemnable outcome. The loss of opportunity to transfer power from one civilian to another civilian regime, for the first time in the history of Nigeria without such overwhelming attendant electoral shenanigans, makes the INEC woeful performance more painful (Oladipupo, 2011:106-113). However, elections in Nigeria in recent times is dubbed a do or die affair that even 2011 elections that was recorded to be among the fairest was also among the bloodiest, claiming the lives of over 800 persons, displaced 65,000 others and not less than 350 churches were either burnt or destroyed (Human Rights Watch, 2011).
