Delegated democracy

“That these dead shall not have died in vain – that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of freedom and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.” (U.S. President, Abraham Lincoln, The Gettysburg Address, November 19, 1863.)

This is the most famous declaration of all time when talking of democracy as a system of government. It is one of the greatest and most influential statements in relation to politics and governance. Generally speaking, democracy is a system of government by the whole population or all eligible members of a state, typically through elected representatives. According to Britannica, ‘Democracy literally is ruled by the people.

The term is derived from the Greek demokratia, which was coined from demos (“people”) and Kratos (“rule”) in the middle of the 5th Century BCE to denote the political systems then existing in some Greek city-states, notably Athens.’ It has since become the preferable system of governance acceptable to many. And even in countries ruled through monarchies, there is still the element of involvement of the people.
 
Section 2 of the Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, 1999 (as amended) prescribes federalism as the system of government, consisting of States and a Federal Capital Territory. Section 4 of the self-same Constitution vests legislative powers in the National Assembly consisting of the Senate and the House of Representatives, while section 5 vests executive powers of the Federation in the President and that of the States in the Governors. Under and by virtue of section 6 of the Constitution, judicial power is vested in the courts established by the Constitution or any other law.

The Constitution in its section 14 (1) entrenched the Lincoln concept of democracy in the Nigerian situation when it states that “the Federal Republic of Nigeria shall be a State based on the principles of democracy and social justice.” We therefore as a people accept it as a binding principle to be governed through our elected representatives, especially in relation to the legislative and executive arms.

This is the best approach in the circumstances of a country of over 200 million people since everybody cannot be the President, the Governor or legislator. But we must not lose sight of the fact that in adopting representative democracy as the system of governance, the Constitution carefully retained power for the people, in section 14 (2) (a), wherein it states that “it is hereby accordingly declared that sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all its powers and authority.”
 
The legislators have attempted to infuse the concept of democracy into the political parties through section 84 of the Electoral Act 2022 by providing for direct and indirect primary elections through which they will produce their candidates to stand for elective offices. In the case of direct primary elections, all members of a political party that adopts this method are expected to vote for the candidates whilst in the case of indirect primary elections, delegates are to be assembled in a chosen location to vote for the candidates. This is why in section 142 of the Electoral Act, direct primaries are defined as “an election at which candidates for elective offices are chosen by direct vote of political party members instead of by delegates at a convention or congress”.

Although the Act did not define what an indirect primary election means, the plausible interpretation is to take it as the opposite of direct primaries as defined above. Probably for convenience and to cut costs, most political parties have adopted the indirect primary election to choose their candidates, which leads us to the issue of delegated democracy.

Although the word was used in several sections of the Electoral Act, there is no specific definition of who should or can be a Delegate. According to the learned authors of the Merriam-Webster online dictionary, a delegate is “a person acting for another: such as a representative to a convention or conference”. He is an agent, assignee, attorney or a representative who is entrusted with the responsibility of exercising authority on behalf of the one who has chosen or appointed him.

In a cartoon circulating on social media, a pupil was asked by the teacher to state his career path and he responded without batting an eyelid that he would love to be a delegate. In times past, we did not hear much about them because godfathers would just simply issue binding commands to them. However, section 84 (8) of the Electoral Act has placed delegates in the limelight by insisting that political parties should adopt democratic methods in choosing their delegates who would in turn choose the candidates, making them the bride in this new dispensation. 

The experience with the delegate system has not been very comforting but it is about the best that we can have now if it is properly implemented. The monetization of the delegate system has posed a great challenge to the practice of democracy, whereby the choice of candidate is not necessarily based on programmes, ideologies and principles but rather payment of money. The amount being paid cannot be ascertained but it is sad enough that the concept of democracy is being bastardized by moneybags, as they are called. In our case, the delegates simply sold their consciences and in that way, sold off Nigeria and its prospects. Once the vote is based on any consideration other than merit, character, track record, integrity and manifestoes, then democracy is in peril.

To be continued tomorrow
Adegboruwa is a Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN).