Democracy isn’t real, its future in peril – Moghalu

Kingsley Moghalu, a former presidential candidate of Young Progressive Party in the February 2019 election has expressed concerns over the practice of democracy in recent times asserting that its tenets have been eroded.

Moghalu in a series of tweets on X (formerly Twitter) on Thursday said the various institutions that hold democracy have become weaker due to heavy political interference, doubting what will become of it in the nearest future.

His comment follows the elections that had been conducted so far this year from Russia, Taiwan, India, South Africa, Finland, Senegal to Chad which have been marked by electoral inconsistencies and voter suppression.

“What this means is that democracy isn’t real and its future is in peril,” he asserted.

“With leadership elections in over 60 countries in 2024, it’s worth pondering over what democracy has delivered, and its future,” the former deputy governor of Nigeria’s central bank said.

Moghalu said the independence and professionalism of the judiciary, one of the most important and powerful institutions, has been heavily eroded as powerful individuals can easily get a court order shielding them from being tried.

“In Nigeria powerful interests can procure ridiculous court orders from available judges who may not even have the required jurisdiction, the political economics professor said.

“In the United States, @USSupremeCourt has really become predictable for its votes along political alignments in its interpretations of the country’s Constitution. Neither reality represents the true rule of law,” he added.

Moghalu noted that what’s more in Nigeria is the problem of voting in an election where votes don’t count as the electoral body which ought to be independent is nothing close to it.

“In Nigeria we have the added problem that @inecnigeria is simply not an independent body, and so the votes simply do not count. So is this democracy, really?” he questioned.