Our democracy is dead and we are just pretending

Jibrin Ibrahim and nine other concerned citizens released a press statement this week that should make every Nigerian sit up. They said what many of us have been feeling but could not articulate. The Fourth Republic has been in place since 1999 but over this period the country's democratic process has been emptied of its essence. The separation of powers which is the foundation of any true democracy has been imperilled. The executive now controls the legislature and the judiciary has lost both its independence and its integrity.

Today is June 12. 33 years since that annulled election that was supposed to be our rite of passage to becoming a true democratic society. But what are we celebrating? The median age in Nigeria is 18 years. For that generation the only agency they have seen in centres of political power are powered by greedy looters of the public treasury. They are not celebrating June 12. They are asking why how and when Nigerian democracy died. And they are right to ask.

The press release from Jibrin Ibrahim and his colleagues warned that rising insecurity electoral manipulation by government and the weakening of democratic institutions are converging into a national crisis that threatens the country's survival. Institutions have been compromised weakened and subordinated to the interests of the executive. There are no checks on the powers of the executive which now governs as it pleases without accountability or respect for the people's concerns. Be honest. When was the last time you felt like your vote actually mattered or that the government answered to you?