The Executive Governor of Osun State, Senator Ademola Adeleke, at the 2023 Democracy Day Lecture unveiled the truths of Nigeria’s democracy while speaking on the theme; Reflecting on Challenges and the Path to a Stronger Democracy
According to his address during the lecture he noted that :
“The 2023 Democracy Day is holding at a very interesting stage of our political life. This is the era of political transition at the federal level and, incidentally, at the state level. It is a period of soul searching among the political elite on one hand, and the voting public on the other side. Recent elections, from state to the federal levels, raise critical questions about the state of our democracy.
“The transition process challenges our commitment to the democratic principle where the will of the people should be supreme. We are at a stage where our voting process is under questioning, where voters are struggling to realize the immensity of their power, where the political class is corrupted by anti-people tendencies, and where democratic institutions are wobbling between upholding integrity and compromising their mandates. This year’s public lecture is, therefore, an opportunity to assess a lot of issues in the political process.
“As much as this lecture is about interrogating citizens’ role in the electoral and governance process, I am of the view that the speakers should also extend the coverage to include what threats the electoral and security agencies pose to the electoral process. We must ensure a comprehensive assessment of the entire electoral ecosystem to realize the exact impact of various stakeholders.
According to he governor, In the last elections, we saw a hyper level of citizen mobilization across the electoral cycle. Even when low turnout is still a nagging question, we must accept that citizens’ electoral militancy was the hottest in Nigeria’s political history. We can then arguably posit that the citizenry has woken up from their slumber and are prepared to enforce a functional, people-based electoral process. If that assessment is correct, I will be eager to hear from our distinguished speakers.
“But we must shed light on why citizen activism is not enough to guarantee the integrity of the electoral process. The most active voting population can be rendered impotent if state institutions are compromised. Is this what Nigeria witnessed in the last elections? Again, our distinguished speakers will address these controversial matters.
“I must further dig deeper into areas of how altruistic citizens’ engagement in the last elections was. Are the voters motivated by ethno-religious considerations or pure patriotic motives? Does religion and ethnicity play positive or negative roles in the voters’ superlative mobilization and participation? I raise all the above postulations because Nigeria must uphold certain basic democratic norms for citizens’ participation to yield needed results. The democratic culture grows and flourishes when all the electoral and governance sub-sectors play their part within the context of due process and rule of law.
“Conditionalities such as a truly fair electoral umpire and impartial security agencies are strong complements to an active citizenry. We must add that voters must also eschew vote selling to ensure the manifestation of their will not only at the ballot but during the governance process.
A foundation we cannot leave out is the economic platform of the society practicing democracy. A hungry citizenry is likely to pose a serious threat to a credible electoral democratic process. Efforts to stabilize the economic life of the nation are also strong preconditions for an empowered citizenry. Addressing poverty and catering to citizens’ economic requirements will go a long way to enhance the potency of the population.
To strengthen citizens’ role in democracy and governance, our administration introduced a truly people-based style built on open governance principles and people-first practices. Our government is addressing workers’ needs in ways that ensure both formal and informal workers are revived from years of neglect. We are upgrading
