An ex-governor said, while still in office, once, that Nigerians are cowards and dull in the head. What the young governor did not add was that Nigerian politicians are not included in that description. Perhaps, it was with that mindset that the gentleman went on to govern his state. This can be described as one of the factors which make democracy a triviality. An ideal democratic principle would recognize and include the rationality of the individual person, although some people would be more rational than others. With modern humanity operating on the basis of a global society, no one can afford to exclude or take other persons as nonentities. Democracy thrives on the advancement of the dignity of the human person.
Four issues involved in a democratic global society are human development, economic globalization, information technology and sustainable social development.
Development is largely about empowerment, or the ability of an invidual to survive in a fiercely competitive world. This demands that people should be equipped with the necessary information to be able to make rational choices. One of the vital responsibilities of any system of governance is to equip citizens to function effectively in the global society, not by undermining or taking undue advantage of the ability of the people. It is an upbuilding process.
A growing democracy ensures that no one sits on the fence or remains asleep but motivates citizens to wake up from a leaden slumber and join the rest of humanity in a healthy competition for survival. If one cannot run fast in the process of development, one should at least be able to walk and walk with vigour and vision. Democracy gets trivialized where the majority live in poverty and hunger and where individuals are not free to ask questions and demand to know why there is poverty, hunger or inequality in a society where resources are meant for all, rather than a few.
It is a trivialisation of democracy where lifelong learning process is not institutionalized, whereby adult members of society strive on a continuous basis to find solutions to the problems affecting their environment. Wherever ignorance is allowed to grow or where such is exploited as a political strategy for power, then such a polity does not encourage humane development. Such a society would continue to tolerate any and everything, causing the people to be docile and prone to exploitation by politicians who can describe them as cowards.
To remain in a state of stupor can be the undoing of a people who remain asleep thus creating the impetus for tyranny, dictatorship and deceit to grow as a political culture.
A monetized political system is not different from a military dictatorship, because, money is a good soldier and it can turn politics into a cult activity. When a democracy becomes a cult of money-bags, it becomes not only trivialized but serves parochial and sectional interests. An electoral process becomes mere charade and a do-or-die-affair whereby the will and choice of the people rarely determine who becomes their leader.
The message had long been put across to Nigerians that the political system is a business or cult activity in which the people are not only regarded as cowards but also treated as fools.Whereas, the concept of popular sovereignty means that power derives from the popular will of the people.
Under the guise of democracy, a political system worse than military rule has been introduced in Nigeria, proving those who advocated a diarchy to be right.
Many decades ago, it was suggested that since soldiers had tasted political power, it would be advisable to have a political system where soldiers would be partners in governance. Today, it is like the military is a political party itself. A situation where the popular will of the majority does not count in what happens in the polity, or where money determines who holds power, then, that would be an oligarchy rather than a democracy.
While it may be difficult for individual Nigerians to perpetuate themselves in power and thus create a dynasty, a situation of power-block assuming that position is quite likely. Rather than ambitious individual staying on in power indefinitely, a group which may not be under a political party takes on that position under the umbrella of democracy. This is why godfather system of sponsorship or patronage has become a prominent feature of Nigerian politics. A privatized political system is a triviality of democracy.
A system of patronage or privatization of the polity portends some danger and instability for any nation. The masses, thus excluded in such system under the guise of democracy, would hardly show a good deal of patriotism, neither would they be productive. There is a growing awareness across the nation that a clever form of tyranny and dictatorship is emerging in the country under the cover of democracy. A part of the call for restructuring arises from this phenomenon.

Amirize, a retired lecturer, Rivers State University, writes from Port Harcourt.