₦airaland Forum

DEMOCRACY DEFINED

Various scholars have in one point in time defined the concept democracy based on what they understand or perceive what the concept should be. Even though ideas itself does not emerged in a vacuum because an idea will emerge in order to solve an existing social problem or to promote or protect or solve an interest.
So therefore, the concept democracy did not just come out of the blue moon just like that or evolve out of nothing.
Even though we are made to believe that democracy as a concept was first practiced in ancient Greeks city states where people were directly involve in the decision making process that affects them. But as time goes by and coupled with the development and expansion of the society, the ancient Greeks kind of democracy became utopian because society grew from simple to complex and with various interests that come with it and therefore, scholars have to come up with an effective and all encompassing definition of the concept democracy.
As time goes on various people, scholars and high government officials started conceiving what the concept should be, for president Abraham Lincoln he opined that democracy should be government of the people for the people by the people and likewise Juarez opined that democracy is the government of the cattle, by the cattle for the cattle while others defined it as a form of government by representation.
Based on the various definition of democracy in place and the ones I have mentioned above, I came to realize that there is no single universally definition of concept and therefore, each scholar or person defines it according to the way he perceive it or according to the way it suits, protect, or serve his interest. As I have said earlier on the concept democracy does not emerge just like that because many events, circumstances and situations made these scholars and individuals to come up with their own versions of what they term or concept democracy should mean and I am no exemption because my own definition of the concept was influenced in the book called “The pawns in the game´ written by William Guy Carr which went a long way to shape my idea of concept democracy.
As I have said earlier and lay emphasis whenever you see an idea emerge, it will always do so in order to serve, protect and promote the interest of the few advocating for it. And usually those people who advocate these ideas usually do it in a systematic way in such a way that the masses will not understand because they need to be in their side in order for their ideas to be accepted and come into existence. Going by example, history have shown to us that there was none revolutionary movement that was successful without the support of the masses starting from the English revolution, French revolution, American revolution, Russian revolution down to the Spanish revolution and this is because these people have mastered and understand the power that exist behind the multitude and even this can be seen in this modern day contemporary world in African for instance in Egypt, Libya, borkinafaso, and Zimbabwe. But it’s unfortunate that the masses did not know that they are been use only as a tool to achieve the interest of the few global elite whose interest is nothing but the control of the world economy in order to enrich themselves and they do this through indirect control of the world economy through agents in the so called democratic countries. These agents mostly constitute the governing and the ruling class of every country who are supported by these global bourgeois, elites, international capital lenders and multilateral cooperation in order to form the government of their various countries so that to be in the better position to serve, promote or protect their interest.
This is the most important reason why Nigeria and most countries of Africa cannot test development because our leaders are not serving the interest of the masses who voted them into power but rather they are serving interest of these global elites, international bankers, global bourgeois, and multilateral cooperation who supported them to gain political power. That is to say that our leaders are only puppets in their hands because they tell what to do and what not to. This is the reason why in todays so called democracy, the masses are only given the opportunity to elect among these agents of the global bourgeois who will not serve their interest (masses) but the interest of these international mafias.
As the 2019 general elections is getting nearer and nearer, they have started (politicians) making consultation with them towards securing their support in order to win elections in exchange for our natural resources and our economy and hence subjecting us to imperial or let say a form of neo-colonization. This is one of the greatest reason why Nigeria and other countries of Africa will remain underdeveloped because our leaders are not working for the development of our country but they are only working to please their international masters at the expense of national interest and unless this evil practice is stopped, Nigeria and other countries of Africa are far from achieving development. And also our leaders should learn how to place national interest above any other interest.
So it is in light of this, I have been left with no other option than to define democracy as the process through which selected few seek to constitutionally take over state machinery in order to either serve, protect or promote the interest of the global bourgeois.
In conclusion, democracy is nothing but an idea or tool used by few international or global elite to achieve their personal interest in the globe.

Titus Chongkon wrote this piece from Bauchi, Bauchi State, Yelwa Tudu, Anguwan Ngas
tituschongkon@gmail.com
07081442909

POLICE BAIL IS FREE!!!
Just 2 years ago, the Nigerian Police Complaint Response Unit has stated that bail is free in Nigeria negating the widely held belief that people are obligated to pay before they are released on bail, but the question is; Is Bail Free in Nigeria?.
The moment you make an entry to any police station in Nigeria, you will be welcomed with the bold inscription on the wall “Bail is free”. This is a law that has never been respected or upheld by the police. To research on this issue, I went to a police station in Bauchi state, Yelwa division to ascertain how genuine that law is in the police stations and divisions. On getting there, in less than 10minutes I saw an inhumane act, something a Human Right activist will gulped at. I saw an epileptic suspect having a seizure, to my greatest surprise, the police officers present at that time ignored this suspect for over an hour. When they eventually decided to take him to the hospital, they took him as if they were carrying a bag of rice and tossed him in their van carelessly. I also noticed how police officers manhandle suspects and are rude to visitors who came by to see or bail their loved once. This brutal act made me to remember the police Motto; ‘POLICE IS YOUR FRIEND’. Indeed they are.
It is almost impossible for one to be taken to the Nigerian police station for any offence and then get bailed for free, yet it is boldly written on their wall BAIL IS FREE. Managing corruption is one of the major goals of this government, and so far so good corruption is slowly on a decline up there, but the government is ignoring the grass root level corruption and a good example is this issue of bail. The law says bail is free, then going against that is a crime that needs to be checkmated.
In a bid to eradicate extortion and illegal procurement of funds by its officers, The Nigerian Police has re-launched the Bail is Free Campaign last year in all the 36 states and the Federal Capital Territory, FCT. To ensure compliance with the order, the Inspector General of Police gave orders to all Assistant Inspector General of Police and State Commissioners of police to make sure that bail is free and for a sign/inscription be written on the wall in the crime branch, statement room or charge room in all police divisions and stations. That is why the inscription “BAIL IS FREE” is written on the wall of every police station/division. But those are just meaningless words to the police officers as up till today, one has to pay before he or she is bailed.
To procure a solution to this problem, I think the following steps has to be taking
Enlightening the populace on their rights;
The populace has to know what bail is. To help on that, I have made an effort to get information on bail in the Nigerian constitution which every citizen ought to know.
What Is Bail
Bail is the process whereby a person accused or being charged for the commission of an offence is released by the constituted authority who is detaining him, on the condition that he will appear or report to a police station or court or other identified location in future whenever his presence is required or so ordered.
Types of Bail
Police or Administrative: when someone is suspected of a crime and the police or government agencies investigating the crime are yet to obtain enough evidence to charge the suspect to court, the Nigeria 1999 constitution provides that the accused person who has been arrested on the said allegation must be charged to court within 24 hours where a court of proximate jurisdiction is located within the radius of forty kilometer from the police station. The accused person must be charged to court within 48 hours.
It is therefore illegal and unconstitutional for a suspect to be detained for more than 48hours by the police without bail or without charging them to court. This law doesn’t just affect the police, but other government agencies like EFCC, ICPC and NDLEA.
Court Bail: Court bail is granted by court of law. It can be granted into 2 scenarios;
Bail pending trial is when the case against the accused is still on-going, but the accused is allowed to leave detention until the end of the trial. This is because an individual is presumed innocent until proven guilty by a court of law.
Bail pending appeal is where the person has been found guilty and he/she intends to appeal the conviction. This type is generally more difficult to obtain because the presumption of innocence is no longer there.
Bail Conditions
Bail conditions are the conditions which are set to ensure that the accused person presents him/herself to the authorities when his/her presence is required. Some of the conditions are;
To appear in court at a certain date
Living at a particular address
Not contacting certain people
Sometime even house arrest.
Giving his/her passport to the police or other law enforcement agency.
Getting a Surety (one who undertakes to pay money or perform other acts in the event that his principal fails there in.
Once a citizen knows these basics, it will be hard for the police to extort them in that manner. So I think the government on their part should ensure that the citizens are well educated on their right, once that is done, there will be an uproar and revolt to payment of bails.
Punishing any Division or State found extorting people for bail
I think a unit should be created or formed to serve as a watch dog to this corrupt practice. That unit will create a deterrent to the extortion practices of the police officers.
Excellent and upright police officers should be recognize and honored
This will serve as a catalyst to making police officers upright in their duty, and it will make them feel their good work is well recognize and appreciated.
How can there be security when the agencies charged with the optimization of security are involved in corrupt practices. An average Nigerian don’t trust a police officer which is not supposed to be so. The police are meant to be our solace when we are in trouble, but reverse is the case. To prove this point, I went round taking a vox-pop to get the public opinion of their experiences with the police, it was awful. Many people trust their community vigilante more to than the police. They rather report a case to the vigilante group than the police, reasons because police extort them whenever they take their case to them. They made mention of ways through which police extort them, they include;
Payment of money to fuel their van when they are to go out.
They will be fed while out by the individual who reported the case
When paying for bail, you will also pay for Izal which they claim they buy to wash the cells toilets.
Peradventure they help you to settle a case, they will demand for a thank you brown envelope.
Note, I am not out to criticize the police, all I want is for them to do right and act as their motto says. All I want is to be friends with the police, simple!
Luka Joshua Luka.
Bauchi state.