As Nigeria marks Democracy Day, a non-governmental organisation, the\u00a0Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA, has asked President Bola Ahmed to deliver the long-promised fruits of democracy to Nigerians, decrying deepening frustration among citizens, who, despite decades of democratic rule, continue to battle grinding poverty, chronic insecurity, and bad governance.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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In a statement marking both the 32nd commemoration of the June 12, 1993, election and the 26th anniversary of uninterrupted civilian rule in Nigeria, CAPPA noted that despite quadrennial elections since 1999 and some incremental gains, the country has yet to translate its ballot exercises into \u201creal progress that lifts citizens out of destitution, enshrines their rights and choices, and sparks hope. \u201c<\/p>\n
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Instead, the organisation argued that public institutions have \u201cfumbled on stewardship of collective resources and left basic services in tatters, consequently widening the trust gap between government and the governed.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u201cSocial and economic poverty has become pervasive,\u201d the statement observed. \u201cIf anything, the surge of youth-led protests across the country in recent times, especially against bad governance, reflects just how much, Nigerians are teetering on the brink of survival.\u201d<\/p>\n
The group added that essential services such as public water, shelter, education, health care, and electricity remain inaccessible to many, even as ill-conceived privatisation drives have impacted costs beyond the reach of ordinary citizens.<\/p>\n
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\u201cIn 2024, nearly 130 million Nigerians lived below the poverty line, and another 13 million are reportedly set to join them amid today\u2019s cost-of-living shock,\u201d said Akinbode Oluwafemi, CAPPA\u2019s Executive Director. \u201cOur national circumstances are an outrage for a country blessed with abundant mineral resources, fertile land, and human talent,\u201d CAPPA said.<\/p>\n
The group warned that Nigeria\u2019s key institutions and basic freedoms are under siege, adding that the country\u2019s anti-corruption agencies, legislature, and even the judiciary has continued to wobble under political pressure, with their independence allegedly compromised by back-room appointments and political interferences.<\/p>\n
Furthermore, the group condemned what it described as the \u201cincreasing actions of state governments to use court orders to gag free speech and force peaceful protests into designated centres.\u201d\u00a0 It dubbed the trend as an unsettling tactic and aberration that Lagos and Ogun States, and even the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja, have latched on to in recent times.<\/p>\n
The organisation insisted that activists, journalists, students, unionists, and citizens alike must enjoy unfettered freedom of expression, warning that any violence against them for exercising their constitutional rights constitutes a flagrant assault on democracy.<\/p>\n
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It demanded the withdrawal of \u201ctrumped-up terrorism charges\u201d against young Nigerians arrested during the August 2024 #EndBadGovernance protests, and urged the restoration of \u201copen, meaningful spaces for civic engagement,\u201d stressing that democracy is \u201cthe lived right to speak, assemble, and hold power to account every single day.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Looking ahead to the 2027 elections, the group warned that Nigeria\u2019s electoral environment remains plagued by partisan meddling.<\/p>\n
CAPPA welcomed proposals before the National Assembly to amend the 1999 Constitution or the Electoral Act 2022 to ensure a fair electoral process come 2027, calling them \u201cvital opportunities\u201d for lawmakers, the Presidency, and all lovers of democracy to insulate INEC from political capture and empower genuine citizen participation.<\/p>\n
It advocated support for enhancing INEC\u2019s autonomy and backed demands to remove the Presidency\u2019s power to appoint electoral commissioners, noting that this safeguard is essential to protect the Commission from political manipulation.<\/p>\n
The NGO added that the impending end of the current INEC leadership\u2019s tenure in November 2025 offers a window for selecting a successor through an open, merit-based democratic process, free of partisan strings.\u00a0 \u201cFailure to act risks electoral cycles rigged from the outset,\u201d the statement warned.<\/p>\n
On this basis, it urged the National Assembly to conclude its constitutional and electoral reform deliberations in 2025 to avoid a last-minute rush. CAPPA also appealed to lawmakers to ensure that final reforms institutionalise public accountability and participatory governance.<\/p>\n
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\u201cPresident Bola Ahmed Tinubu and lawmakers must guarantee conditions that enable eligible voters at home and abroad to cast their ballots unhindered by logistical or structural failures.<\/p>\n
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\u201cAmbiguities in result-transmission modalities in the current electoral act must also be resolved, and real-time electronic transmission of results upheld to bolster transparency and trust in our elections,\u201d the CAPPA statement concluded.<\/p>\n
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As Nigeria marks Democracy Day, a non-governmental organisation, the\u00a0Corporate Accountability and Public Participation Africa, CAPPA, has asked President Bola Ahmed to deliver the long-promised fruits of democracy to Nigerians, decrying deepening frustration among citizens, who, despite decades of democratic rule, continue to battle grinding poverty, chronic insecurity, and bad governance.\u00a0 \u00a0 In a statement marking<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":9152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-16489","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16489","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16489"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16489\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/9152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16489"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16489"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/deepstrataenergy.com\/phmundial\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16489"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}