Dare Babalola
Political analyst and former presidential spokesman, Segun Showunmi, on Friday said Nigeria’s 27 years of uninterrupted democratic rule should be celebrated despite persistent political and economic challenges facing the country.
In a statement marking Democracy Day, Showunmi described the country’s democratic journey since 1999 as an important achievement, noting that Nigeria had endured through political tensions, economic hardship, and institutional instability while maintaining civilian governance.
According to him, successive administrations had come and gone, political parties had merged and splintered, and major political figures had risen and fallen, yet democracy had remained intact.
“Twenty-seven years of uninterrupted democratic rule in Nigeria is no small achievement,” he said, adding that the country had continued to survive through “democratic experimentation” despite its imperfections.
Showunmi, however, argued that Nigeria’s democratic experience had been weakened by the absence of strong ideological political parties, saying most parties functioned as election vehicles controlled by influential individuals rather than institutions built around clear national visions.
He said party manifestos were often indistinguishable, while internal democracy remained weak and defections had become routine because political convictions were shallow.
“As a result, citizens frequently find themselves choosing between personalities rather than competing national visions,” he stated.
The former Atiku Abubakar campaign spokesman also said there appeared to be a growing consensus among political and institutional elites on the need for long-term economic restructuring, infrastructure development, industrial growth, and fiscal discipline.
He described ongoing economic reforms as painful but necessary, insisting that Nigeria could no longer sustain what he called the endless subsidisation of dysfunction.
Showunmi expressed support for the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, urging the government to remain committed to infrastructure development, fiscal reforms, and economic restructuring.
“This is why President Bola Ahmed Tinubu deserves encouragement to press forward,” he said.
He added that difficult policy decisions should not be judged solely by immediate public reaction, noting that history sometimes vindicates reforms long after they are initially condemned politically.
Despite backing the administration’s reform agenda, Showunmi cautioned that economic reforms must be implemented with compassion, warning that the poor should not become “statistical casualties” of macroeconomic adjustments.
He said democratic governance carried moral obligations and stressed that Nigerians must feel that the burdens of economic sacrifice were fairly shared.
Showunmi further identified insecurity as Nigeria’s deepest national crisis, arguing that the country had continued to misdiagnose the problem.
According to him, security challenges could not be solved through repeated “cosmetic kinetic and non-kinetic responses” without addressing deeper political questions driving instability.
