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Many Nigerians are sceptical about the
ability of democracy to deliver the promised progress in the social and
economic lives of the people. Many more are even doubtful of the
willingness of elected politicians to do what is necessary to advance
the cause of democracy and leverage on its strengths to move the country
forward. Such sceptics would have grounds to support their opinion.

But then, there are also those who argue
that, imperfect as it may be, Nigeria’s democratic system is making
progress and that, with the necessary vigilance by Nigerians, there is
no reason why it should not deliver on its potential. This group of
people would have been heartened by the decision of our senators, on
Tuesday, to jettison their plan to amend an aspect of the electoral bill
following general opposition from a majority of Nigerians.

Even the House of Representatives, which
had appeared hell bent on passing the controversial bill, coyly agreed
to shift voting on it to another date. This should hopefully, result in
quiet and unmourned death to their version of the bill. In any case, the
rejection of the section by the Senate should mean the end to this
sorry episode.

The part of the electoral act which
generated so much hostility was section (87 sub section 12), which seeks
to make it compulsory for all political parties to make federal
lawmakers members of their highest decision making body, the National
Executive Council.

The Senate version of the bill
stipulated that besides the leadership of the National Assembly, who are
currently members of the NECs of their various parties, all chairmen
and deputy chairmen of standing committees shall henceforth be members
of their parties’ executive committees.

Since there are 55 standing committees
in the Senate and 85 in the House of Representatives, it would have
meant that the National Executive Committee of the People’s Democratic
Party, the largest party in the National Assembly, would have about 250
lawmakers as members. This would have made the Speaker of the House of
Representatives and the Senate President the most powerful party members
in PDP, putting them ahead of state governors who currently hold that
status. .

It was little wonder that the governors were at the head of the opposition to this open power grab. But they were not alone.

Leaders of the PDP and other opposition
parties, including federal lawmakers of the Action Congress of Nigeria
(ACN) were up in arms against it, as were civil society organisations.
In fact, a gaggle of youth organisations was at the National Assembly on
Tuesday to protest what they feared would be the passage of the bill.

Mercifully, the opposition worked. The
statement by the deputy senate president, to announce the climb down
could qualify as the understatement of the year. Mr. Ekweremadu, who
said the decision to throw out the amendment was in response to the
desire of the public, said, ‘there has been a lot of heat in respect of
this amendment. The passage today, I believe, will finally settle the
issue.’ All of which goes to prove the exhortation that eternal
vigilance is the price of liberty. Probably our politicians are not
worse than others elsewhere and the missing link in getting them to
function as they should is the lack of engagement of Nigerians in the
governance process. So, rather than continually moan about the perceived
incompetence of our political leaders and the system, we should do more
to push them to do what is right by us. The prescribed way to do this
is obviously by making choices at the polls. But that is hardly enough.
We also need to constantly monitor their activities, sometimes openly
and vociferously if necessary, make our views known.

Politics, as a wag says, is too serious a
business to be left to politicians. Things will work if the people
demand so. Our lawmakers have demonstrated that by their action and they
deserve praise for it.

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