OPINION

 Democra-Z-y in Nigeria: A Steady Decline Into Chaos. 

On June 12, 2021, Nigeria celerated yet another "democracy" day, but as the day's events proved, the Giant of Africa is anything but a democratic nation.

First, let us get into a brief history of democracy day in Nigeria. The first-ever democracy day was announced on May 29, 1999, a historical date as it marked the day the military officially handed over power to an elected government. For 19 years, Nigeria celebrated its change of control on May 29. Still, in 2018, under the Buhari-led administration, the nation's democracy day was changed from May 29 to June 12, a day celebrated in the south-western part of the country as MKO Abiola Day.

As June 12 was already a recognized holiday by a region of the country, why did it then become a national holiday worthy of celebrating? According to historical accounts, June 12, 1993 election is considered the freest and fairest election in Nigeria. Yet, even as a young nation back in 1993, Nigeria was rife with political high-handedness and the corridors of power tainted with greed and corruption. 

After the June 12 presidential elections in 1993, an Abeokuta-born man of the country's south-western region was declared the victor. However, rather than submit to the voice of the people who exercised their voting rights, the presidential-elect, MKO Abiola, was illegally detained and thrown in jail under the Ibrahim Babangida Junta. As a result, the election results were cancelled and the country was once again thrown into a military dictatorship. 

What happened to MKO Abiola, the presidential-elect who was illegally detained? Well, he was brutally tortured and later died in prison—end of the story.

Now back to the present. On June 6, 2018, the Buhari-led administration changed the democracy day to reflect a genuinely democratic but sad day in the history of Nigeria; many people, myself included, felt this was an administration that genuinely respects the rights and will of its citizens. How ironic.

While some people support this current administration despite its incessant failures, I am not one of them. To be subjective, the past five years of this administration have seen a steady decline of public trust in the government. Over the past five years, Nigerians have witnessed increased inflation of goods and commodities by almost 600%. In addition, the crime rate is at an all-time high, with a large number of individuals, especially school children, kidnapped for huge ransoms. The most recent is perhaps the kidnap of 14 students from Greenfield University, Kaduna.

It doesn't get better; it only gets worse. Under this administration, the press has received a gag order. News houses or journalists who dare to criticize the government face sanctions and bans (the main feature of an authoritarian government). Citizens have witnessed a direct trampling on their constitutional rights, as can be glimpsed from the government's reaction to the END SARS protest, the government's response to banning Twitter after it was criticized and the most recent arrest of peaceful protesters on the just celebrated democracy day, June 12 and the list is endless.

Tell me, if, as a citizen of the most populous Black nation, your constitutional right WILL NOT be respected on a day that should celebrate the rights of the citizens, are you indeed in a democratic country? If we are truthful, this is a crazy demonstration rather than democracy.