CHAPTER ONE
INTRODUCTION
1.1 Background of the Study
Democracy is a global maiden which every nation woos. The democratic craze is sweeping across the whole world, from the nation states in the former Soviet Union and Eastern Europe to Africa and Asia. It shows that democracy has gathered momentum across the globe as a result of its immense advantages and by implication because of the negative consequences of bad governance (Bello-Imam 2004:1). Consequently, democratic movement all over the world is among other things, an insistence on expression of the will of the people. Nigeria, the most populous country in Africa has no choice than to align itself with the rest of the world on the democratic crave. However, Nigeria has not been so lucky to be democratized. It has had long tortured history of dancing around democracy but has never gotten it right. This is largely due to some challenges amongst which are lack of large scale free, fair and credible election; lack of freedom of speech and publication; refusal to accept defeat in elections by political gladiators; corruption and attitude of political office holders to corner the wealth of the nation; inobservance of rule of law; and long military rule (Adekola 2010: 1). The relatively free, fair, and credible elections in Nigeria in April 2011 show that light is beginning to show at the end of the tunnel. The democratic events in Zimbabwe, Kenya, Democratic Republic of Congo, and Nigeria under President Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida and Late General Sanni Abacha among many others show that the democratic struggles and democratization in Africa have been informed by different and sometimes conflicting objectives and strategies between the elites and the masses. (Okoro 2007). Contrary to popular participation, democracy in the African context means the ability of few people to effectively take control of the powers and authorities of governance with or without the choice of those they represent. In order for democracy to be meaningful it must be characterized or underlined by the principles of openness, representation, accountability, transparency and the defense, protection and preservation of individual and group rights (Vanhanem 1990).
African people through democratic struggles and decades of sacrifices have rejected authoritarianism. To that extent, democracy is viewed as the only framework through which development can be facilitated in Africa. Ironically, Ojo (2005) observed that, the democracy in the African context serves the interest of only the ruling class.