A side-thought generated by Salihu Moh. Lukman's title, " Nigerian Democracy and the Challenge of Governance"

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Cornelius Hamelberg

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Jun 6, 2023, 1:21:21 PM6/6/23

to USA Africa Dialogue Series

What, if any, would be the qualitative difference between Nigerian Democracy and Democracy in Nigeria ?

Raises questions about Senegalese Democracy and the state of health of that so called democracy according to the diagnosis of the doctors, nurses, pastors, marabouts, Muslim leaders and Sufi Sheikhs of the various Sufi Brotherhoods in Senegal, with regard to the health status of democracy in Senegal considering latest developments with the palpable travesty of Justice with regard to 43-year-old Ousmane Sonko who Macky Sall here acting like a tyrant, sees as a rival and a danger to his re-election and therefore desperately wants to prevent from competing against him at Presidential Elections scheduled for February 2024 He would much prefer that it turns out to be a one-horse-race

Is It a fact or just an assumption, that the practice of democracy varies from place to place, and that wherever it takes root and flourishes, or sets up camp, even temporarily, it adapts and adjusts to the local environment, socio-economic conditions, climate, and culture of the people over whom it holds sway ?

The idea / concept “Democracy” is often bandied around as a monolithic term - like a football - one size for all matches, the same standard size of ball/ balls the world over, just as everywhere on this planet, the rules that govern football are the same and a referee from Qatar or Senegal or Nigeria, can also can also referee a match at Wembley .

From the relatively uninformed perspective of a layman like me who happens to live in a democracy ( Sweden) and has consciously and unconsciously absorbed some of the values and ideals of the system known as democracy, somehow, when the term is applied to some other countries that are so grossly deficient in living up to the rights and freedoms that define the state of health of a democracy, it doesn't sound quite just,or right; does not sound quite right ,because Democracy or even “crazy-demo” is expected to go beyond merely organising and executing an election, as happened recently in Nigeria, and as iis due to happen shortly in Sierra Leone where they will be voting to decide who is going to be Mr. President and Commander-in-Chief for the next five years, whether Julius Maada Bio will be enjoying a second term or it will be the other Sierra Leone lion, samurai warrior ( not gorilla) Samura Matthew Wilson Kamara who is going to be declared the happy winner. This much is sure : the loser - whoever it is, is not going to accept the result or take it calmly laying down - the loser is going accuse The Electoral Commission for Sierra Leone of some unfair play, at which point the winner is going to appeal to Former Nigerian Vice President Yemi Osinbajo and his Commonwealth team of elections observers to verify that apart from some pockets of violence here and there, on the whole the elections were free and fair…