Democracy Must Set Us Free Again -By Adeegbe Ademola

We truly are patriots on the rise; how time flies since the inception of democracy in 1999. We have tried our best, albeit little in the global sense, to instill in ourselves a culture that elsewhere drained fresh blood from its seekers. Many fought hard, harder, and hardest than we ever have done, and they got it. Others keep struggling for it to date. I talk of democracy.

In the classroom sense, it is the rule of the majority; even if the majority is composed of rogues, or say mobs, who hardly know what they really want. But I am so fine with the idea that wherever majority carries the vote, solutions are not far from problems. Try it, if an idea that the majority supports eventually fails, there is always another time to rethink and revote. Your government teacher won’t teach you that, but that is the greatest beauty of democracy.
Sometimes, I have had to think hard of the reasons the American government is hellbent on taking democracy across the shores; people say it’s for oil but I say it is an instrument to empower people who would forever have been slaves. And that is the point I want to drive at.

Since democracy came back in 1999, democracy has really set us free. To the passive mind, it does not matter; and to the active mind, it is all that matters. Every single election since 1999 has reflected the test of its moment and has taught Nigerians to brace up for its successor, that is, subsequent elections.

When Baba Obasanjo won a re-election, it was simply a re-election of competency; when Mallam Yar’adua won in 2007, it was about our believe in the way PDP was handling Nigeria; when Dr Jonathan won in 2011, it was an election of agility and devotion to the Late President Yar’adua; and when Rtd General Buhari won in 2015, Nigerians simply wanted a change.

But in all of these, we have always had to battle against the menace of electoral malpractices such as rigging, vote-buying, vote racketeering, and all sorts. These malpractices have fondered our democracy, to the point that in some quarters, they are taken to be part of elections.

Now and henceforth, there is a hope. Smart card readers are now in town; EFCC is fishing out vote buyers, though still a scam; and security personnel have become commonplace at polling booths, sometimes just to fulfill hidden agenda. The only next solution lies in the innermost parts of my heart and yours. But are we just ready to acknowledge it? 2023 must come, but hope we are not set to exchange our manifest destiny for rice, for salt, for data, and for some currency notes. In my opinion, democracy actually is a concept, and only the hands of men can put it to work. When you vote, do not just go with parties or their flagbearers in mind.
Just vote by your conscience remembering that election is like a football league season, where your club can either win or loose. Whereas, the beauty would be that you have voted for what you believe in, and not just the bandwagon effect. For once and again, let us free ourselves from whatever bondage we feel that we have been into in the past years.

DEMOCRACY MUST SET US FREE AGAIN!!!