Dr. Sam Amadi, Director of the School of Social and Political Thought in Abuja, says Nigeria is an autocratic state and no longer democratic, as shown by the recently concluded general elections.
Dr. Amadi, former chairman and chief executive of the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission, made the assertion in Abuja during the 2nd Ariyo Dare-Atoye Memorial Election Management and Governance Dialogue series, themed, “Is Nigeria a democracy? Reflection on the 2023 general election”.
In a statement he issued on Sunday, Amadi said the results of the 2023 general election were not a reflection of the people’s choice, arguing that holding the elections would further reduce public confidence and participation of Nigerians in the country’s upcoming elections.
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He called the election a “total desecration” and wondered why politicians could not allow a smooth, peaceful and hard-fought electoral process instead to resort to violence.
He lamented that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) refused to transmit results on the IREV, among other anomalies that greeted the 2023 general election, saying that they were lucid indicators that the elections were overtly flawed and the fundamental principles of democracy completely omitted during the elections.
According to him, “Nigeria is not yet a democracy because the fundamental features of democracy, the three of them coming to these elections, fair institutions that should provide equality for everybody, and guarantee basic freedoms have been denied largely in this election.”
