At last, a democracy

Since we began our transitional march towards a new democratic order, after the recent general elections, the most heartening news I heard was the announcement by President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, that he will not elect leaders for the National Assembly. This pronouncement does not only reinforce General Buhari’s democratic credentials, it also allays our fears that […]

Since we began our transitional march towards a new democratic order, after the recent general elections, the most heartening news I heard was the announcement by President-elect, Muhammadu Buhari, that he will not elect leaders for the National Assembly. This pronouncement does not only reinforce General Buhari’s democratic credentials, it also allays our fears that the new government might continue with the trend inherited from the PDP.
Since 1999 we were said to be under a democracy but this separation of powers, which ensures that the Executive, the Legislative and the Judicial arms of government are totally independent of each other, was not very visible. Indeed the ferocity with which the government of Chief Obasanjo tampered with the appointment of National Assembly leaders soon rendered the institution as a branch of the executive.
President Obasanjo was so instrumental to the emergence of senate presidents, house of reps speakers and their deputies that he kept changing them at will. In his eight years as president the nation witnessed a Russian r+-oulette of legislative leadership, as the baton kept moving from one set to another, because of executive interference.
General Buhari’s resolve to keep off NASS leadership matters will definitely give us a truly independent legislature, capable of standing up to the executive branch in times of conflict. It will also trickle down and end the same trend at the states’ level, where governors always impose their cronies on state assemblies in order to control them. In the end, Muhammadu Buhari’s simply worded statement .
‘There is due process for the selection of leaders of the National Assembly and I will not interfere in that process.…’ might herald the practice of real separation of powers and therefore a true democracy on our shores.
Additionally, his declaration ‘I am prepared to work with any leaders
that the House or Senate elects….. it doesn’t matter who the person is or where he or she is from’ tells us of an intention to work courageously and sincerely, not minding who will scrutinize those actions in the process. It is only when leaders are nursing a dubious agenda and the intention to rule ruthlessly over everyone that they fear who is in charge at the other arms of government.
On the whole, we look forward to the new government, not because we expect them to work miracles (they hastened to tell us they are not miracle-workers) but because they hold the promise of change. If these early pronouncements are the shape of things to come, we know that we will witness a change for the better. Amen.