Nigeria as a democratic nation ever operated on the principle of democracy?

[Lamtel]

During my early age in secondary school I was taught in the subjects, civic education and government studies that by Abraham Lincoln democracy is defined as government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Looking at this definition by this great man, it simply stated the importance of the masses in a democratic system of government. This directly highlights that the people plays central or act as a pivot to the government, that's to say without the people the government is nothing and democratic system of government is useless.

Seeing the arbitrary attitude of the Nigerian politicians, been highly intoxicated with power and wealth, having no regards for the people(center of democracy), highjacking votes of the people, etc.

Do you still think Nigeria as ever operated on the principle of democracy following the definition by Sir Abraham Lincoln?

[Africolo]

During my early age in secondary school I was taught in the subjects, civic education and government studies that by Abraham Lincoln democracy is defined as government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Looking at this definition by this great man, it simply stated the importance of the masses in a democratic system of government. This directly highlights that the people plays central or act as a pivot to the government, that's to say without the people the government is nothing and democratic system of government is useless.

Seeing the arbitrary attitude of the Nigerian politicians, been highly intoxicated with power and wealth, having no regards for the people(center of democracy), highjacking votes of the people, etc.

Do you still think Nigeria as ever operated on the principle of democracy following the definition by Sir Abraham Lincoln?

We all got to know about this definition while in secondary school and it was started as you have quoted by the Author Abraham Lincoln but in today's government and politics, government is no longer of the  people, by the people and for the people, it now rotates within few individuals who term themselves as godfathers and jagaban of politics in the country.

Looking at what happened earlier this year in Rivers State where the President declared a state of emergency and the sitting Governor was suspended for 6 months because of mere political tussles with Nyesom Wike was is the governor's boss, this is a state where war was not ongoing so why declaring Star of emergency for a matter as such ?, democracy was murdered in such scenario and you could see that government now revolves within few set of individuals in the country. Every Nigeria leader wants power in other to loot funds and enrich themselves, they don't have the welfare of the voters at heart so to me democracy is dead in Nigeria system of government.

[ObaLabsX]

During my early age in secondary school I was taught in the subjects, civic education and government studies that by Abraham Lincoln democracy is defined as government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Looking at this definition by this great man, it simply stated the importance of the masses in a democratic system of government. This directly highlights that the people plays central or act as a pivot to the government, that's to say without the people the government is nothing and democratic system of government is useless.

Seeing the arbitrary attitude of the Nigerian politicians, been highly intoxicated with power and wealth, having no regards for the people(center of democracy), highjacking votes of the people, etc.

Do you still think Nigeria as ever operated on the principle of democracy following the definition by Sir Abraham Lincoln?

from the perspective of ordinary people what we are seeing in our country today is that many politicians are living inside a bubble of power. they are completely disconnected from the daily suffering of the masses and public office has been turned into an investment vehicle rather than a responsibility. on our side extreme inequality has never truly stopped. it continues from one generation to another because there are very few politicians who genuinely practice real democracy. every year we still see uneven and poorly planned infrastructure, while the people are left to bear the consequences.


LabsX

[Solodoski]

During my early age in secondary school I was taught in the subjects, civic education and government studies that by Abraham Lincoln democracy is defined as government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Looking at this definition by this great man, it simply stated the importance of the masses in a democratic system of government. This directly highlights that the people plays central or act as a pivot to the government, that's to say without the people the government is nothing and democratic system of government is useless.

Seeing the arbitrary attitude of the Nigerian politicians, been highly intoxicated with power and wealth, having no regards for the people(center of democracy), highjacking votes of the people, etc.

Do you still think Nigeria as ever operated on the principle of democracy following the definition by Sir Abraham Lincoln?

Abraham Lincoln's definition of democracy is truly the way democracy is meant to be, because in a democratic system of government, power resides with the people, but it's a different case in Nigeria,  where power resides with those in power.
I don't think that Nigeria has truly practiced democracy,  although if you ask those in power they will definitely have a different view, but the truth is that we are a democratic state in saying,  but what we practice is far from it. I don't understand a democratic system where the people don't have power to change things. The people are even chase or killed I'm some cases when they try to protest, but protest should be the right of the citizens in a democratic system of government, our votes doesn't even count, because this politicians believe in rigging elections and that's takes away the right for the people to choose who they truly want to lead them. In my opinion Nigeria has never practiced democracy,  but rather I will liken it to oligarchy.

[Agbe]

That definition of Abraham Lincoln can only be seeing on book and paper and not in practice or reality. Nigeria as a country is far from democracy. In a democratic state, the citizens demonstrate/protest to show that they are not happy with the happenings of the country but once that happens, the government would use military and police to beat up, lock up and kill the protesters. That is not a democratic state. That means the government belong to the politicians and the Nigerian forces.

[Promocodeudo]

That definition of Abraham Lincoln can only be seeing on book and paper and not in practice or reality. Nigeria as a country is far from democracy. In a democratic state, the citizens demonstrate/protest to show that they are not happy with the happenings of the country but once that happens, the government would use military and police to beat up, lock up and kill the protesters. That is not a democratic state. That means the government belong to the politicians and the Nigerian forces.

To a very large extent you have made it simple for everyone to understand that Nigeria has never had it right when it comes to democracy, but if you didn't say this, don't we know that Nigeria isn't practicing democracy, if we are, will lekki killing during the End SARS protest happen, in Democratic setting will there be implemention of sun subaidy regime without consultation which has to do with interactive session held in different localaties to educate them on the need for that, and how to implement measures to tackles the temporary hardship that come as a result of such policy, I don't want to talk about the protest part because you got that right, infact west African states are far from what we call Democracy, is better we call what they do here Autocratic system of government.

[Davidloki]

Do you still think Nigeria as ever operated on the principle of democracy following the definition by Sir Abraham Lincoln?

Before we delve into this discussion, it's important to know what consists the principles of democracy, then we can understand better if Nigeria is really practicing true or idea democracy.
The principles of democracy consists the following
Free and fair election
Minority right
Rule of law
Separation of power
Human right
Accountability
Transparency etc
Now does Nigeria democracy has this features, my honest answer is NO. Let's start with free and fair election, we all know that election in Nigeria is never free and fair, because we all know that every election in Nigeria is rigged, so they just impose themselves on us, while taking the right from us to choose who to lead us.
Rule of law does not work in Nigeria in my own opinion,  I think the law for the rich and elite is different from that of the average and poor in the society. An elite citizen can commit a crime and get away with it, but the poor or average can't get away with it.
When we talk of separation of power, the structure is their, but it's not working in Nigeria. The main purpose of separation of power is to control excess of power in one arm of the government,  but in the case of Nigeria,  all the power is concentrated with the executive, which is primarily the president.  The president controls the judiciary and the legislative,  which make all the power reside in the hand of the executive.
Accountability is a thing of the past in this country. We all witnessed the interview of the minister of works, where he could not give account on the Lagos to calabar coastal road, rather he started insulting the interviewer. This just shows that the government is not accountable and in a democratic system of government they should be accountable to the people.
We don't have Human right in this part of the world, we can all remember when people were shot at Lekki toll gate for protesting for their right and we all know that the government is not transparent,  so I don't need to talk much on that.
Looking at the principles of democracy,  we can all see that we practice democracy in word, but the action shows that this is no democracy.

[ArabBTC]

During my early age in secondary school I was taught in the subjects, civic education and government studies that by Abraham Lincoln democracy is defined as government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Looking at this definition by this great man, it simply stated the importance of the masses in a democratic system of government. This directly highlights that the people plays central or act as a pivot to the government, that's to say without the people the government is nothing and democratic system of government is useless.

Seeing the arbitrary attitude of the Nigerian politicians, been highly intoxicated with power and wealth, having no regards for the people(center of democracy), highjacking votes of the people, etc.

Do you still think Nigeria as ever operated on the principle of democracy following the definition by Sir Abraham Lincoln?

Nigeria has never operated on the principle of democracy, back from the days there have always been a break from the rule of law knowing fully well that the rule of law is supposed to be paramount because it is the bedrock of democracy, somehow the executives have used gimmicks to buy over other arms of government, there is completely no more room for checks and balances, this has lingered for years but is now getting worse under this Tinubu administration because even the little glimpse of hope which was the opposition party has now collapsed completely.

The government don’t care about the plight of the people and can wake up any moment to do anything without room for checks and balances, imagine suspending a sitting governor for 6months is that democracy? and the senate even approved that’s it is correct because of greed for money and power, what we are practicing in Nigeria is not democracy instead it is tilting more towards autocracy whereby one man will take a decision and no one will oppose him because he has the service chiefs and the senate president in his pocket, he even declared he will win before the conclusion of the elections and still won, it shows that few Nigerians have this country in their palms, Nigeria really needs to go back to the drawing board because what we are practicing here in Nigeria is nothing close to democracy.

[Majestic-milf]

 I dey tell myself say we no democratic oh, because in a country wey dey practice democracy, e suppose favor the poor man as well but no be so, instead, the laws and rules nah only for who get money. Another thing be say, we no dey independent as a nation, if anything we dey more dependent than now wey we claim say we dey free. Like I talk for one post, the time wey this country go better nah when each and everyone decide say instead of compromise, go choose to stand up and fight with one voice to get our freedom from leaders wey don decide to put greed for front.

[Berry2d]

During my early age in secondary school I was taught in the subjects, civic education and government studies that by Abraham Lincoln democracy is defined as government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Looking at this definition by this great man, it simply stated the importance of the masses in a democratic system of government. This directly highlights that the people plays central or act as a pivot to the government, that's to say without the people the government is nothing and democratic system of government is useless.

Seeing the arbitrary attitude of the Nigerian politicians, been highly intoxicated with power and wealth, having no regards for the people(center of democracy), highjacking votes of the people, etc.

Do you still think Nigeria as ever operated on the principle of democracy following the definition by Sir Abraham Lincoln?

Theoretically we are in a democratic system of government but practically we are in dictatorship, Authoritarian or even any governing system worst then  that if not why won't the opinion of the citizens be considered the way other nations practising true democratic system of government do, in Nigeria now our leaders make decisions that will be of benefit to them without even considering the constitutional right of system but only recognised there political rights only.

[Hardyrobust]

During my early age in secondary school I was taught in the subjects, civic education and government studies that by Abraham Lincoln democracy is defined as government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Looking at this definition by this great man, it simply stated the importance of the masses in a democratic system of government. This directly highlights that the people plays central or act as a pivot to the government, that's to say without the people the government is nothing and democratic system of government is useless.

Seeing the arbitrary attitude of the Nigerian politicians, been highly intoxicated with power and wealth, having no regards for the people(center of democracy), highjacking votes of the people, etc.

Do you still think Nigeria as ever operated on the principle of democracy following the definition by Sir Abraham Lincoln?

From the way this current administration is going about every thing in the country it is obvious that democracy is not working in Nigeria. The voices of the people are been surpresed and those that are supposed to representing are there for there own selfish interest. In democratic government power belongs to the masses so what is been practiced in Nigeria is dictatorship and not democracy.
With what is happening in Nigeria, democracy is only favouring the elite that is the cabals and not the masses.

[Iamgoat]

During my early age in secondary school I was taught in the subjects, civic education and government studies that by Abraham Lincoln democracy is defined as government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Looking at this definition by this great man, it simply stated the importance of the masses in a democratic system of government. This directly highlights that the people plays central or act as a pivot to the government, that's to say without the people the government is nothing and democratic system of government is useless.

Seeing the arbitrary attitude of the Nigerian politicians, been highly intoxicated with power and wealth, having no regards for the people(center of democracy), highjacking votes of the people, etc.

Do you still think Nigeria as ever operated on the principle of democracy following the definition by Sir Abraham Lincoln?

I like the Abraham Lincoln definition you gave because it indeed is a simple and clear basic definition to democracy and it was done simply to be understood by all but honestly when you put it in the Nigerian realities you will see the much gaps which exists in them. If democracy truly is a government of the people, by the people and for the people then the people must be respected as the source of power and their votes are supposed to count, their voices are supposed to be heard and governance must work to improve their lives and properties as promised by many of these politicians and leaders. But in the case of Nigeria, it is a different thing because what we mostly see here is power being captured not being delegated and elections are mostly treated as rituals not real choice and once politicians get into office the people suddenly becomes irrelevant in their calculations. So if I'm ever asked whether Nigeria is fully operated based on the principles of Abraham Lincoln definition of democracy, I will say no. In my own opinion. I can say there were periods when it resembled democracy especially during the transition period from the PDP Goodluck Jonathan's led administration to the Buhari's administration of APC, where we saw relative freedom of speech and competitive elections, but what we are practicing in Nigeria is more of a civilian rule than a true democracy.

That definition of Abraham Lincoln can only be seeing on book and paper and not in practice or reality. Nigeria as a country is far from democracy. In a democratic state, the citizens demonstrate/protest to show that they are not happy with the happenings of the country but once that happens, the government would use military and police to beat up, lock up and kill the protesters. That is not a democratic state. That means the government belong to the politicians and the Nigerian forces.

The thing is when a government responds to peaceful protests with bullets and arrests and intimidations it has already stepped outside the boundaries of democracy and from knowledge, a real democratic system does not see protests especially when they are peaceful as crime instead of seeing it as feedback. Once the state begins to fear it's own people and uses force to silence them, power has already shifted away from the people to those holding political offices. So in my own view what Nigeria runs is not democracy as Lincoln described it.

[Chilwell]

You can also confirm that by understanding the definition of democracy, democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people., this is how they define democracy in order Nations because i don't believe Nigeria is still following this definition, they have their own definition. Based on my own opinion Nigeria define democracy as the government of set of people, by the set of people, and for the set of people. Nigeria is not doing democracy at all, they are just busy shouting it out so that the whole world will see it, if you have not forgotten you can even see our president trying to invade our neighbor all in the means of protecting democracy there, which in our country they are no practicing it anymore. Even during elections, we don't do election in Nigeria, because we the masses don't have any power, they do pure selection, why would people voted for their right candidate at the end you see Court will appear to change the candidate, which we the mass don't have any power to say anything, will you say this is democracy.

[Berry2d]

You can also confirm that by understanding the definition of democracy, democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people., this is how they define democracy in order Nations because i don't believe Nigeria is still following this definition, they have their own definition. Based on my own opinion Nigeria define democracy as the government of set of people, by the set of people, and for the set of people. Nigeria is not doing democracy at all, they are just busy shouting it out so that the whole world will see it, if you have not forgotten you can even see our president trying to invade our neighbor all in the means of protecting democracy there, which in our country they are no practicing it anymore. Even during elections, we don't do election in Nigeria, because we the masses don't have any power, they do pure selection, why would people voted for their right candidate at the end you see Court will appear to change the candidate, which we the mass don't have any power to say anything, will you say this is democracy.

The government of the people, for the people and by the people is the true definition of democracy but that of Nigeria is extremely different, in Nigeria democracy is the government of the politicians, by the leaders and not the people that is the main reason the opinions of the poor do not count in Nigeria. Nigeria i see is a blessed country where all citizens are supposed to leave with comfort but because of the corruption in our leadership structure, all has changed making the true value of a blessed land to change

[Silikiem]

You can also confirm that by understanding the definition of democracy, democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people., this is how they define democracy in order Nations because i don't believe Nigeria is still following this definition, they have their own definition. Based on my own opinion Nigeria define democracy as the government of set of people, by the set of people, and for the set of people. Nigeria is not doing democracy at all, they are just busy shouting it out so that the whole world will see it, if you have not forgotten you can even see our president trying to invade our neighbor all in the means of protecting democracy there, which in our country they are no practicing it anymore. Even during elections, we don't do election in Nigeria, because we the masses don't have any power, they do pure selection, why would people voted for their right candidate at the end you see Court will appear to change the candidate, which we the mass don't have any power to say anything, will you say this is democracy.

The government of the people, for the people and by the people is the true definition of democracy but that of Nigeria is extremely different, in Nigeria democracy is the government of the politicians, by the leaders and not the people that is the main reason the opinions of the poor do not count in Nigeria. Nigeria i see is a blessed country where all citizens are supposed to leave with comfort but because of the corruption in our leadership structure, all has changed making the true value of a blessed land to change

Here in Nigeria, the people can only come out to cast their votes but at the end of the day the winner is always by selection and not with that election which you have voted. Meaning that the vote of the masses doesn’t count, it is those in the power and control who choose their successors. Democracy is meant to provide the government closer to the people no matter where they are located within the country but you barely see the dividends of democracy reaching the people freely and even if the government manages to construct roads, build schools or hospitals, they do it in such a way that they are doing the masses a favor forgetting that it is their responsibility to provide those social amenities to the people because it’s not their money they are using to build it.

[Bigjoe33]

During my early age in secondary school I was taught in the subjects, civic education and government studies that by Abraham Lincoln democracy is defined as government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Looking at this definition by this great man, it simply stated the importance of the masses in a democratic system of government. This directly highlights that the people plays central or act as a pivot to the government, that's to say without the people the government is nothing and democratic system of government is useless.

Seeing the arbitrary attitude of the Nigerian politicians, been highly intoxicated with power and wealth, having no regards for the people(center of democracy), highjacking votes of the people, etc.

Do you still think Nigeria as ever operated on the principle of democracy following the definition by Sir Abraham Lincoln?

That same government says, ''Power intoxicates, and absolute power corrupts''. Truly, our leaders here in Nigeria are power driven, intoxicated and corrupted.

If you ask me, Democracy is long gone in Nigeria. If they are practiced true democracy, I don't know. But from when I knew what democracy was, and looking what we read from books then, what was happening in leadership and what we are seen now, Nigeria has no Democracy, and it's a pity for us. Anything labelled bad if what we refer our countries leadership as, call it tribalism, nepotism, anarchy, power tussle, leaders above the law, etc, so long as it's a bad name, it suits Nigerian government leadership. I wonder who will save us from there hands or how we will be saved, because it is getting bad daily

[Rubuchi]

You can also confirm that by understanding the definition of democracy, democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people., this is how they define democracy in order Nations because i don't believe Nigeria is still following this definition, they have their own definition. Based on my own opinion Nigeria define democracy as the government of set of people, by the set of people, and for the set of people. Nigeria is not doing democracy at all, they are just busy shouting it out so that the whole world will see it, if you have not forgotten you can even see our president trying to invade our neighbor all in the means of protecting democracy there, which in our country they are no practicing it anymore. Even during elections, we don't do election in Nigeria, because we the masses don't have any power, they do pure selection, why would people voted for their right candidate at the end you see Court will appear to change the candidate, which we the mass don't have any power to say anything, will you say this is democracy.

The government of the people, for the people and by the people is the true definition of democracy but that of Nigeria is extremely different, in Nigeria democracy is the government of the politicians, by the leaders and not the people that is the main reason the opinions of the poor do not count in Nigeria. Nigeria i see is a blessed country where all citizens are supposed to leave with comfort but because of the corruption in our leadership structure, all has changed making the true value of a blessed land to change

all I know is we are living in a country that claims to be operating under a democratic system but nothing in Nigeria today truly reflects that because you can’t say you are operating the government of the people and the people will never have a single chance to even say something or be considered for anything the government are doing. The government believes in doing things the way they think is of their own interests. They are running Nigeria like a private institution and not a public institution

[Berry2d]

You can also confirm that by understanding the definition of democracy, democracy is government of the people, by the people and for the people., this is how they define democracy in order Nations because i don't believe Nigeria is still following this definition, they have their own definition. Based on my own opinion Nigeria define democracy as the government of set of people, by the set of people, and for the set of people. Nigeria is not doing democracy at all, they are just busy shouting it out so that the whole world will see it, if you have not forgotten you can even see our president trying to invade our neighbor all in the means of protecting democracy there, which in our country they are no practicing it anymore. Even during elections, we don't do election in Nigeria, because we the masses don't have any power, they do pure selection, why would people voted for their right candidate at the end you see Court will appear to change the candidate, which we the mass don't have any power to say anything, will you say this is democracy.

The government of the people, for the people and by the people is the true definition of democracy but that of Nigeria is extremely different, in Nigeria democracy is the government of the politicians, by the leaders and not the people that is the main reason the opinions of the poor do not count in Nigeria. Nigeria i see is a blessed country where all citizens are supposed to leave with comfort but because of the corruption in our leadership structure, all has changed making the true value of a blessed land to change

all I know is we are living in a country that claims to be operating under a democratic system but nothing in Nigeria today truly reflects that because you can’t say you are operating the government of the people and the people will never have a single chance to even say something or be considered for anything the government are doing. The government believes in doing things the way they think is of their own interests. They are running Nigeria like a private institution and not a public institution

Thank god you know we are in a country claiming democracy is our system of Governance when we all know it is completely a fabricated truth, if it was not a fabricated one why then don't they practice all the structures enshrined in the said governing system. With all happening in Nigeria ranging from the governments inability to fulfill the part that said its the government of the people which means the citizens opinion are supposed to count, by the people which means all decisions must be in alliance to that of the citizens and for the people which means all must be for the interest of the people and not our leaders but ours is all for the leaders

[Roseline492]

The government of the people, for the people and by the people is the true definition of democracy but that of Nigeria is extremely different, in Nigeria democracy is the government of the politicians, by the leaders and not the people that is the main reason the opinions of the poor do not count in Nigeria. Nigeria i see is a blessed country where all citizens are supposed to leave with comfort but because of the corruption in our leadership structure, all has changed making the true value of a blessed land to change

Book comes with the one favourable to people but when the government knows that if they do what this definition has said they will have no single power left so they have to undone the definition to the reality and create a different democracy for us to no and based on people whom the power has sided for you cannot remind them what the books says about democracy, so we have a partial democracy because we are seeing some things in a democratic country but the main power the masses was supposed to have as a Democratic nation has been collected by the politicians.