ESUT JSS co iaS l f So c l iea nJnrs ocue co iaS l f So c l iea nJnrs ocue co iaS l f So c l iea nJnrs ocue SE SS JUT Volume 5, Issue 2, 2020 Enugu State University of Science & Technology Journal of Social Sciences & Humanities F SO C IY ET NIS CER E AV NI DN U T EE CT HAT N S O U L OG GU YNE Journal of Social Sciences Published by the Faculty of the Social Sciences published by Faculty of Social Sciences Enugu State University of Science & Technology www.esutjss.com Editor-In-Chief Prof. Oby Omeje Managing Editor Barnabas E. Nwankwo, Ph.D Associate Editor Nicholas Attamah, Ph.D F SO C IY ET NIS CER E AV NI DN U T EE CT HAT N S O U L OG GU YNE F SO C IY ET NIS CER E AV NI DN U T EE CT HAT N S O U L OG GU YNE F SO C IY ET NIS CER E AV NI DN U T EE CT HAT N S O U L OG GU YNE Journal of Social SciencesJournal of Social SciencesJournal of Social Sciences Published by the Faculty of Social Sciences F SO C IY ET NIS CER E AV NI DN U T EE CT HAT N S O U L OG GU YNE F SO C IY ET NIS CER E AV NI DN U T EE CT HAT N S O U L OG GU YNE Journal of Social SciencesJournal of Social Sciences BAD GOVERNANCE AND ITS THREAT TO DEMOCRATIC CONSILIDATION IN NIGERIA, 1999- 2019 James Ocheni Obaka Department of Political Science, Federal University Lokoja, Kogi State. james.obaka@fulokoja.edu.ng Abstract After two decades of uninterrupted democracy in Nigeria, the much expected good governance that it promises is yet to be attained. The hope of dividends of democracy has been dashed. This is due to the activities of politicians which do not allow the rules and procedures of the system to prevail. Greedy Nigerian politicians rig themselves into power or to remain in power. Corruption becomes the norm of the leadership. This results in the paradox of Nigerian situation. A country rich in both human and natural resources but her citizens wallow in poverty. This necessitates the need to interrogate the factors that break the nexus of democracy and development in Nigeria’s forth republic. The paper uses qualitative method of research with data gotten from secondary sources. It adopts the structural functional theory which among others presupposes that the various structures must perform their respective functions so as to keep the system going. It finds out that due to the fraudulent means politicians get to offices and the resultant high level of corruption and clientelism in Nigeria makes it difficult for the government to proffer solutions to the vices of the nation. Hence, the Human Development Index (HDI) of Nigeria is very low. Keywords: Corruption, Democracy, Development, Election, Government. Introduction The hope of good governance that democracy promised has become difficult to achieve in Nigeria after two decades of uninterrupted civilian rule. This is due to the actions of the leadership which leads to bad governance. Therefore, there is no way democratization can be achieved. Democratic government had given hope of good life for the generality of the people that is why it is widely acceptable the world over at the end of the cold war. Fukuyama (1997: 2) pointed out that: What we may be witnessing is not just end of the cold war, of the passing of a particular period of post war history, but the end of history as such: that is the end point of mankind’s ideological evolution and the universalization of western liberal democracy as the final form of human governance. This general acceptance of democracy makes it the most expected leadership to ensure development to all mankind. Fukuyama (1997: 18) goes further to ask, “if we agree for the mailto:james.obaka@fulokoja.edu.ng James Ocheni Obaka 89 moment that the fascist and communist challenges to liberalism are dead, are there any other ideological competitors left?” As the beacon of hope for the masses, why then has democracy failed to ensure quality governance in Nigeria? The initial accusation was on the colonial leadership. After independence, the military was blamed for the woes of Nigeria after their 28 years of misrule. Yet, after 20 years that power was bequeathed into the hands of the civilians the status quo remains. This is due to the parochial desires of the politicians who, instead of having interest in development of the nation, indulge in manipulation of elections and corruption for their selfish gains, hence, the masses suffer for it. Winning elections seems to be a guarantee to getting rich and having access to state resources. This accounts for the desperate disposition to adopt violent means using the youth, and to form patron-client network to allay fears of defeat in elections (Apam, 2010). This type of struggle through which leaders emerge in Nigeria, encourages political neophytes in office and find it difficult to deliver the much desired dividends of democracy. “As a consequence of government’s lack of responsiveness to popular needs and aspirations, the economy has remained comatose while poverty has reached new and disturbing heights” (Jega, 2007: 195). Politicians’ desire for accumulations of wealth made them corrupt in all their dealings right from rigged elections and appointment of wrong people into positions up through to looting of the government treasury. The excesses of the leaders make it difficult to ensure provision of development for the masses. The economy is poorly managed resulting to widespread unemployment and poverty. The failure of the present government under President Buhari can be summed up into one as presented by his regional ally, Prof. Ango Abdullahi of Northern Elder's Forum who said: Well, on economy, I should ask you how you are doing with your shopping of basic necessities. With regards to insecurity, I think this is a belated issue because at the time he came, the major security challenge was Boko Haram. Now in addition to Boko Haram, you have bandits, you have kidnappers and all sorts of issues (like herdsmen) that have to do with insecurity of people in their homes and wherever else they are operating (Daily Trust, 2020). Government's inability to provide the much desires of the masses makes democratic consolidation a difficult task. To think of bad governance ensuring democratization is like calling what is round a square. And that is why, in spite the wealth of the nation in human and natural resources, the citizens wallow in abject poverty because the bad leadership cannot provide the expected needs of the people. Citizens therefore do not have hope in the government to enable them defend democracy to ensure its consolidation. The bad situation in Nigerian government attracts condemnation from every angle in the country. One of the worrisome statements was credited to a member of the National Assembly. In his contribution to the Bill on the National Electoral Offences Commission on the floor of the house on 3rd March, 2020, Senator Smart Adeyemi representing Kogi West said “the current assembly is worse than military regime”. Though he was criticized and rebuked by his colleagues for the statement, the reality is that, he said the truth the way he feels about it. He further said that, “we are living witnesses to the bad governance and bad representation in parliament”. What a way of self indictment? Finally, he said “people who have issues came to the national assembly to make laws” (Daily Trust, 4th March, 2020). This is the true situation we find ourselves in Nigeria where political positions including Governorship, Ministerial and Senatorial positions are recycled among same people who continue to perpetuate themselves in power. The chapter is structured into eight sections, the first section is the introduction of the chapter while the second section is the conceptualization and the third is the theoretical frame work. The fourth and fifth sections are the signs and causes of bad governance respectively. Challenges to democratic consolidation in Nigeria appear in the sixth section. The conclusion is the seventh section while finally, recommendation is the eighth section. Conceptualization of bad governance To understand the term bad governance, it is better to start with the understanding of good governance which is a term that is very familiar and well documented by many scholars and organizations. Good governance is the desired services expected from democracy which makes everyone aspire for the growth and development of the citizens. World Bank (2020) points out that good governance concerns with how the government is elected and over sighted, the accountability power of the citizens, the credibility in the government, the respect for institutions, both from government and citizens and the effective delivery of public goods. In the same vein, Mr. Koffi Annan of the United Nations Organization (UNO) regards good governance as ensuring respect for human relation and the rule of law, strengthening democracy, promoting transparency and capacity in public administration. UNO list 8 principles of good governance: - Participation - Rule of law - Consensus oriented - Equity and inclusiveness - Effective and efficiency - Accountability - Transparency - Responsiveness James Ocheni Obaka 91 Conversely, bad governance is the opposite of governance that is good with all the above features in place. Comparing the present Nigerian Government to the idea of good governance, what we see is truly bad governance. In its simplest form, bad governance is any governance that was not formed from free and fair elections and does not have the interest of the masses. Unfavorable relationship between those who govern and those who are governed as a consequence of decision making is regarded as bad governance. To Lamb (1999), in conceptualizing bad governance, unresponsive to the needs and the wills of the majority of citizens is a good place to start. Unaccountable, wasteful, fraudulent, abusive, restrictive of civil liberties, ineffective, above the people, dishonest, irrelevant and a few other clear things we see today. The World Bank (2020) defines bad governance as a country which holds the figures of any or all the following indicators less than or close to -2.5’’ The indicators are: - Voice and accountability - Political stability and absence of violence - Government effectiveness - Regulatory quality - Rule of law - Control of corruption - Occurs in both politics and economics spheres of society (Environment). Bad governance can be seen in all the odd lives of political office holders. These include personal interest against the general interest of the people, rigging in elections, lack of protection of lives and property of the people and inability to provide economic and social facilities for the people. Theoretical framework In an attempt to discuss the impact of bad governance on democracy in Nigeria, many theories could be used to approach the issue. Due to the effect of the economy on the governmental development of Nigeria, the political economy approach by Karl Marx can be used for analysis. In the same vein, the prebendal theory by Richard Joseph based on the desires of politicians’ interest in corruption fits into the study. More so due to the regional politics in Nigeria, integration theory by Milward could be tenable. But due to the failures of the various institutions of government to perform their functions leading to the bad governance, we adopt the structural functionalism for analysis to adequately understand how bad governance threatens democratic consolidation in Nigeria. The structural functional theory is a derivation of function and systems models in anthropology, sociology, biology and political science. Gabriel Almond is the scholar that gave detailed analysis of the approach to political science. He assumes that in a nation-state, structures exist and studies the structures in terms of their functions within the systems (London, 2019). He took into account not only the structural components which are in the institutions, but also their functions within the system as a whole. The approach points out that the political system is made up of institutions (structures), such as interest groups, political parties, the executives, legislatures, judicial branches of government and bureaucratic machinery. The idea is that, there are numbers of actors in the national political systems and all the actions of these actors affects each other as well as the entire system. Kelegbe (2015) notes that the institutional functionalism model highlights the inter face between the nature of the state and governance institutions and the nature of political behaviour. The assumption is that, weak and fragile institutions of government; personalization and privatization of state institutions, power and resources, and weak governmental legitimacy are associated with the problem of democracy. This can directly be related to the issues affecting the government of Nigeria which has failed in her desired goals resulting in bad governance. Signs of bad governance in Nigeria Any outcome of government action that does not provide the much desired good governance that democracy promises is termed bad governance. Many signs amount for this. Some of them are discussed here. The essence of any government is, first and for most, the protection of lives and properties of her citizens. Before the citizens can clamour for any right, they have to be alive, in good health and at peace with each other. But, these are lacking in the present lives of Nigerians. There are signs of insecurity in all parts of Nigeria. The worst heat is in the northern region where the issues of Boko Haram killings are common in the North East, armed bandits kill in the North West and the herdsmen versus farmers’ attacks are unabated in North Central. In the South, there are cases of kidnapping of foreign oil company workers and agitation for secession. The Boko Haram onslaught in the North East has become persistent. It is an Islamic group known as Jama’atu Ahlis Sunna Liddala wati wal-Jihad which translates to mean, Western Education is a sin. It started from Borno State and spread to neighboring State of Yobe and Adamawa States in the north east but has carried out its attacks in many parts of northern region including Abuja and some parts of the south. They operate through kidnapping, shooting of guns and use of explosives in suicide bombing by child-soldiers. The kidnap of Chibok and Dapchi secondary school girls in 2014 and 2018 respectively and some of the girls are still held captive is part of their most notable activities. In the North West especially in Katsina and Zamfara States, activities of the armed bandits have made life unbearable. The bandit’s actions involve invasion of communities and raze them down by killing whoever they come across. In this region the security personnel are not spared and in some cases, they are even their targets. Cattle rustling also include the actions of the bandits who cart away flocks of their herdsmen victims. Retaliating their fate, Nigerian herders have turn out to become killers too. They have formed the habits of invading communities with dangerous weapons including AK47 and wreak havoc on them. They often burn down a whole village and James Ocheni Obaka 93 shoot whoever attempts to escape their mayhem. Many residents of the worst hit states have fled their hometowns to neighbouring Niger Republic for safety. In the North Central popularly known as Middle Belt of Nigeria mostly home to minority ethnic groups in the North, the Fulani herdsmen have made life unbearable for indigenous farmers as their flocks pass through and destroy farms. Attempt by the farmers to resist their actions and protect their farms result in mayhem of various degrees by the herders. Farmers get attacked with clubs, machetes and guns while on the farm resulting in serious injuries and in some cases, death without any meaningful lawful action taken by government for their protection. There are records of kidnapping all over the country for either ransom from the victims’ relations or for the part of the body to be used for rituals. In search of such victims, oftentimes the kidnappers target the wealthy individuals or their relations to kidnap. Some roads have become dead traps as they randomly mount road blocks on the high ways for their victims. Some of the most notable roads of recent are the Abuja- Kaduna and the Abuja- Lokoja express ways. Protracted issues of regional insecurity caused by militants are on the increase. All the regions of Nigeria witness creation of ethnic militia to attack people of other regions or government out fits. The Oodu’a People Congress (OPC) actions in the South West continue to escalate and consume some of the activities of the region without any security success. The Niger Delta crises continues to take different dimensions as the government has ran out of ideas on how to handle the situations, the effects of which continues to dwindle our economy. The Independent People of Biafra (IPOB) of the Eastern Region has become more popular and stronger, making it difficult for the governors of the respective states to handle the security situation. Their leader, Chief Nnamdi Kanu has taken their struggle beyond the shores of Africa agitating for secession and recognition of the Federal Republic of Biafra. In the Niger Delta of the South South region, the youth feel that the wealth of their region is siphoned to the North by the national leaders leaving them to suffer. They have many militias including the Movement for the Emancipation of Niger Delta (MEND), Niger Delta Volunteers (NDV), Niger Delta People Fighters (NDPF) and many others whose activities involve blowing up of pipelines and kidnapping of foreign oil workers. As a result of the level of insecurity all over the country, citizens no longer have confidence in the federal government in the provision of security for their lives and properties, hence, there arises clamour by governors of all regions to create their own security outfits to protect their various states. In response to their frustration by the killings and destructions taking place in their region, the governors of the South West zone came together and formed their own security outfit called ‘Operation Amotekun’ on 9th January 2020. Amotekun is a Yoruba word which means Leopard. It can run fast, can climb tree and can swim in water. Therefore, wherever the criminals are, they cannot go scot-free. In his speech at the declarations, the governor of Oyo State Mr. Seyi Makinde said “what we seek to do is to keep our people safe, not fighting Nigeria but the elements among us that seek to destabilize our region” (Vanguard, 2020). The purpose of the foundation is to ensure an end to insecurity in the south western region. In like manner, the governors of the South Eastern states met and debated on the way out of the insecurity of their zone and came up with a decision. Addressing the people on their decision, Mr. David Umahi the governor of Ebonyi state on 31st January, 2020 said: To further buttress their readiness in response to the desire of their people for general security, on 15th March, 2020 he reaffirmed that,” when we roll out in the month of April, our people will be very proud of us as their governors” (Punch, 2020). Reacting to the security preparations at regional levels, the governors of South-South region met and decided on what to do. They concluded that they intend to revive BRACED commission through which to organize their collective economy and security. The BRACED is the code for all the six states which are; Bayelsa, Rivers, Akwa Ibom, Cross River, Edo and Delta. They formed the commission in the beginning of the fourth republic but have not been utilized so far (Guardian, 2020). On 5th February, 2020, having waited for the Northern governors to take regional actions on security in vain, out of frustration, the Coalition of Northern Group (CNG) unveiled their own security outfit called Shege ka fasa which means ‘ I dare you to attack or surrender’ in Hausa. At the launch of the operation on 5th February, 2020, the spokesman of the CNG Alhaji Abdulazeez Sulaiman said, “if the state governors and others leaders from our region fail to take action to protect the region the way their southern counterparts are doing, CNG is willing to follow through with all the processes of obtaining the required legal backing for the outfit from the relevant federal government authorities” (Vanguard, 2020). The northern governors and leaders distanced themselves from the actions of the CNG. On 9/2/2020 the Sultan of Sokoto disowned the group and warned the governors of the region thus: I am calling on the northern elders to caution them. Don’t allow these youths to take over leadership from you. Take the bulls by the horns and not allow the youths take over their responsibility (Punch, 2020). The notion of the northern governors and the denial of CNG do not mean that the security operation in the north is better than what is obtainable in the south in any way. But it is a sort of solidarity for the government in power under the leadership of their ‘brother’ as an attempt of creation of regional security shows lack of confidence in the security activities of the government. James Ocheni Obaka 95 The responsibility of the government to ensure quality lives for her citizens cannot be achieved under bad government in which lack of provision and maintenance of the desired infrastructure is the norm. Most roads in Nigeria are unmotorable due to pot holes. This leads to untold hardship as safe arrival from any short journey calls for testimony. It negatively affects movement of people and goods and services. Both farmers and business men find it difficult to transport their goods and services causing hardship among the people. Electricity supply has almost collapsed due to low power supply. Many companies have either closed down or relocated to other countries due to their inability to run them with generators. Therefore, many workers lost their jobs. Every household presently depends on generators for their power supply. It has become so bad that federal government budgets much money for the purchase and maintenance of generators. As the popular saying goes “killing the goose that lays the golden eggs”, even the petroleum refineries suffer from lack of maintenance and neither are new ones built. Hence, government has gone into exportation of the crude oil and importation of their refined products. The first of the Sustainable Development Goals is to end poverty, but Nigerian situation of poverty worsens by the day under the present government. The irony of Nigerian situation is that, it is a rich country but with poor citizens. Ranking as the sixth largest exporter of oil in the world and yet among the 25 poorest countries, due to closure of companies, the level of unemployment in 2019 stood at 23.1% (Igbuzor, 2005) and (Ibenegbu, 2020). Nigeria has been rated as the poverty capital of the world with highest population of extreme citizens by World Economic Forum (2020). This leads to the situation whereby under five mortality rate per 1, 000 live births is 153, maternal mortality rate per 100, 000 live births is 1,100 and life expecting at birth is 46 years for males and 48 years for females (Igbuzor, 2005:294). Many Nigerians find it difficult to feed and live in comfortable houses to talk less of quality schools for children’s study. Welfare services for citizens in Nigeria have become exclusive reserve of the elites. Hence, the Human Development Index (HDI) of Nigeria is very low. The Nigerian situation has made majority of the youth to become miscreants indulging in bizzairre ways of life. Intelligent unemployed population finds solace in fraudulent exercises by engaging in 419 or yahoo duping innocent people locally and internationally. The case of highly professional in the field Mr. Raymond Igbolade called Hushpuppi, a Nigerian who was arrested by Interpol at Dubai, UAE is presently undergoing investigation for laundering of over $100million belonging to USA. There is high report of human trafficking within and across Nigerian border as young ladies get engaged in prostitution and other are used in child-labour. Nigeria has been rated 5th among the countries’ women in the world (Nairaland Forum, 2019). Fraudulent ‘doctors’ lure young girls into baby-factory business by arranging for their pregnant, take care of them till delivery and buy the babies from them. Nigerians are among the highest population involved in illegal emigration to United Kingdom and USA not minding the implications as some travel in cargo ships and several deaths have been recorded from the process. Causes of bad governance The activities of the head of government in any country go a long way to determine the success of the regime. In Nigeria incompetent leadership has been the major problem hindering the process of good governance. The present government has not shown any ability to ensure the desired promise of democracy. This has been seen in how the government still maintains the security machinery by leaving the Security Service Chiefs in office in spite the continuous security crises due to their failure to conquer the terrorists. Most Nigerians including northern elders such as Alhaji Balarabe Musa, Alhaji Tanko Yankasai and Alhaji Juaidu Mohammed have voiced out that the president is incompetent and cannot fix Nigeria’s numerous problems. High level of corruption in governance makes it a herculean task for the provision of the development for the people. The corruption is in manifold including the electoral processes, official nepotism and financial proceeds. Though, the government in power makes its fight against corruption its major interest, this has been efforts in futility. The works of the two bodies meant to fight corruption have been seen to be selective and politically motivated in their activities. Although, the EFCC and ICPC have investigated some politicians and public servants and some investigations are ongoing, in all these, there is no any real effort to curb corruption. Criticism of rigging trailed the election that brought the present government to power. The APC aspirants that came to power in 2015 by beating the PDP seating president through free and fair election failed to conduct genuine polls in 2019 in spite their promised integrity. The result of their conduct in the first election under the regime shows that they are not committed to the cause of what was promised. A process of electoral rigging cannot provide the desired quality of leaders to ensure good governance. Appointments into positions have been centered on nepotism. All the juicy positions in the MDAs are held by people from the same zone with the president. All the security chiefs and heads of paramilitary are from northern Nigeria and remain unchanged in spite their failure. Even among the northerners, there is the accusation by people from other parts of the north that the positions do not favour all the northerners. The current government under General Muhammadu Buhari has showed all strategic appointment to favour his groups and political affiliates in the core Muslim North (HURIWA, 2020). Col. Umar Dangiwa, former military administrator of Kaduna State wrote a warning letter to him saying, “Your nepotism is pushing Nigeria to the bridle gradually” (Guardian, 2020). The government does not consider merit due to regional interest. It therefore becomes difficult to discipline or replace them when considered incompetent or corrupt. James Ocheni Obaka 97 Cases of financial corruption in the present government are enormous. There is rot in the legislative arm of the government. They appropriate and at the same time, approve whatever finances they want to themselves. Their activities involving finances are often in secret. They allocate constituently project allowances to themselves without any project to show for it (Lawan, 2009). Most politicians and public office holders in Nigeria have made fraudulent accumulations of funds as their main interest in office. In the executive arm of Nigeria, most heads of MDAs have accusations of fraudulent activities in office against them. The most hopeless situation of corruption facing the country is the revelation of the situation among the judges in the judiciary. Nigeria operates monolithic economy which mostly depends on products from petroleum resources. This system has destroyed agriculture despite the rich soil in all the regions of Nigeria. All the economic activities of Nigeria therefore depend on external factors based on the sale of oil which is about 80% of the nation’s income. Whenever there is drop in the price of the commodities in the world market, it affects the budget and the development of Nigeria. Historically, the government of Nigeria evolved from colonial era. The colonial masters were blames for the woes of Nigeria and later, power was bequeathed into the hands of citizens at independence in 1960. Thereafter, the nation witnessed 28 years of military misrule out of the 60years of post independent Nigeria. After two decades of civilian rule, we are yet to get it right in terms of governance. The type of government packaged and handed over to Nigerians by the colonial masters at independence does not ensure national development due to regional division (Aluaigba, 2009). The military misrule altered the required plans to ensure development as they introduced massive corruption and centralization of power. These military actions make it difficult to achieve the much expected constitutionalism. Retired military officers continue to dominate the fourth republic politics of Nigeria perpetuating executive authoritarian leadership. Nigeria’s federalism is just on the pages of papers as much power is at the centre. As most states are not strong enough to generate revenue for self sustenance, the governors depend and run to Abuja with caps in hands begging for fund. Jega (2007:195) notes that, the pervasive elements of bad governance that have been inherited from the prolonged military rule have remained deeply entrenched, thereby constraining and obstructing national quest for socio-economic development. There is proliferation of offices just for political purposes. Too many MDAs exist even when they are not necessary. There are offices that need to close down but for the sake of Federal Character, ministries are created to please all states through ministerial appointment and not for effectiveness and development. Many unnecessary security outfits exist yet there is high level of insecurity. The resources that are meant for development get squandered as sharing of national cake to people who do not contribute any viable thing to the nation’s development. Challenges of democratic consolidation in Nigeria After two decades of democracy in Nigeria, its democratic condition remains fragile. The same problems that led to the termination of both the first and second republic remain fresh in the forth republic. Though successful civilians to civilians transfer of power has been recorded without problem and successful change regime took place, yet democratic consolidation remains a challenge due to the excesses of the Nigerian politicians. Democratic consolidation first and foremost is made possible through the actions and reactions of the citizens. The masses must have faith in the leadership of the politicians to deliver their electoral promises. But, presently, the masses only depend on the crumbs that fall from the table of the politicians who comes out to campaign during elections (International IDEA, 2000). Therefore they cannot defend democracy. Enormous hunger among the people does not allow them to wait for whatever good thing democracy promises and get engaged in any odds during elections including vote selling and thuggery due to poverty. Christenson (1972: 208) notes that; “A society divided between a large impoverished mass and a small-favoured elites results either in oligarchy or tyranny”. And this is the situation in Nigeria. So, all about democratization processes in a bad governance as it is in Nigeria amounts to efforts in futility. According to Aristotle (384-322 BC), poverty is the parent of revolution and crimes. Therefore the majority poor citizens can hardly allow democracy to consolidate. Lamenting on the rate of poverty in Nigeria, James D. Wolfesolm, the president of World Bank noted that, “If nothing is done about fighting grinding poverty then lasting peace and stability are but a distant dream” (Jega, 2007:245). Nigerian political system is characterized by tribalism and regional affiliations. The question people ask before supporting a candidate is not his or her ability or inability to rule. Their interest is often in the tribal or regional affiliation of the party’s representatives. Politicians abuse religious bargains in their campaign. Even while in power, people only condemn the evil deeds of leaders if they are from different tribes or religions affinity. The 2011 presidential election recorded massive electoral violence resulting to killing of many people because the winner of the free and fair election was from another region of the country (Jega, 2015). Governments in the fourth republic are fraught with corruption together with all their institutions. The electoral body can hardly conduct sincere election due to rigging. The security personnel are bias in all their activities making fight against corruption a difficult task. Even the judiciary is corrupt. Both the executive and the legislative have not shown the will of fighting the menace as most of them are perpetrators. James Ocheni Obaka 99 The issues of election rigging and violence are cogs in the wheel of democratization process in Nigeria. Conduct of free and fair elections is a charade. This is due to do or die attitude of politicians who often engage in godfatherism resulting in violence. Notable among these are the Ngige-Uba relation in Anambra State, Ladoja-Adedibu in Oyo State, Obasanjo-Yar’Adua at the national level, (Chukwuma and Otegwu, 2010). In spite the non interruption of democracy in the fourth republic, the democratization progress is stagnant due to election of incompetent people into office through rigging and godfatherism. Most elections are not acceptable and are challenged in court. This makes the opposition parties to accuse the ruling party of benefitting from stolen mandates. There are still issues of assassinations and injuries resulting from electoral process. Democracy is related to the state of economic development. And this is lacking if not totally absent in Nigeria. In a relatively prosperous society with a reasonable fair distribution of wealth does the mass of the people have the freedom from raw want, the self-confidence, self-restraints, and time and inclination to participate in democracy politics (Christenson, 1972: 208). But Nigerian politicians heap on parochial interests bordering on revenge and prebendal desires. There is lack of civility in their campaigns and nothing related to the development that people need. Leaders in position rule authoritatively. The military culture is yet to leave the polities resulting into political odium and trepidation. Recommendations For effective change of the present Nigerian political situation to from bad governance to good governance to ensure democratic consolidation, all hands must be on deck. Most efforts at mitigating bad governance in Nigeria depend on politicians especially the government in power. The political elites must be ready to embrace change for any successful achievement. Political parties must disengage from money politics and insist on presentation of competent people for electoral positions. They also need intra party democracy and elect their candidates on merit to present people that have recorded previous achievements for elections and disengage from the present Machiavellian “the end justifies the means” notion to election and governance generally. The government must stand firm to ensure free and fair elections. Genuine elections give room for quality leadership by merit for development and it also gives the electorates hope for democracy and stand to defend it. In appointments government should put the right people into positions for efficiency. Corruption should be fought to its barest level. Both the EFCC and the ICPC should be transparent and be seen to be so. When corrupt leaders are investigated and sanctioned adequately, it creates room for integrity in office so that government treasury can be reserved for the development that it is meant for. Government should faithfully fight poverty. The agricultural sector should be developed for the crop of the youth to be gainfully engaged. Government infrastructures should be developed for the growth of the private sector. The electricity supply needs to be improved upon for the survival of companies that cannot depend on generators for power. Sincere efforts must be made to reduce personnel costs which have become a great burden on Nigeria because of the Federal Character to engage people in position for political purposes and not for development. The appointment of solely politicians into office to satisfy the for the support rendered the party in power should be checked to ensure appointment of few productive experts for development purpose. Government must adhere to the rule of law through practice of constitutionalism. By this, the feeling of regional dominance can be reduced and over centralization of power be minimized. The legislative and the judicial arms of government should live up to expectation to challenge the authoritarian activities of the executive because, according to Lord Acton, power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Conclusion In this work, efforts have been made to bring to light how bad governance threatens democratic consolidation in Nigeria. The three major causes of bad governance in Nigeria are; first, corruption which includes electoral and financial corruptions and nepotism; the second cause is incompetency on the side of both elected and appointed officials of government and, finally tribalism which results in mistrust and fear of people from other regions of the country. The signs of bad governance can easily be seen in poverty, insecurity and infrastructural decay. Nigeria has suffered so much from long history of bad governance post independence. It resulted to military incursion into politics in 1966 through a long that the result continues to hurt the unity of Nigeria. The long term effects of the coup that the result continues to hunt the unity of Nigeria up to date. The long effect of the coup led to the Biafran war. The activities of the politicians during the 1964 and 1965 elections especially in the south west was a clarion call on the military to take over mantle of leadership. The military rule which lasted for 13 years distorted all the democratic process put in place at independence. The second republic government of the country did not take caution from what befell the preceding republic and entered into massive corruption both in the official proceeds and elections. Second military misrule commenced once again in 1984 and lasted for 16 years again. In the present fourth republic, though all the features of both the first and the second republics that led to their collapse are present, yet civilian-civilian hand over and even change of regimes has taken place without military intervention. But democratic consolidation has not been entrenched. There abound massive rigging in elections as was recorded in the recent 2019 elections. The fight against corruption remains cosmetic and poverty is on the increase. Government is unable to James Ocheni Obaka 101 protect lives and property of the citizens just as the threat to secede by IPOB of eastern region continues to gain momentum. And all the regions have reached the conclusion that, all hope of relying the federal government for security is lost and have decided to create regional security to protect them and their properties. 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