Democracy and Nigeria's Fourth Republic provides a comprehensive critique of Nigeria's Fourth Republic (1999–), the longest democratic dispensation that Nigeria has enjoyed since gaining political independence in 1960. Before 1999, Nigeria was mostly governed by successive military regimes, except the first six years (1960–1966) of its independence (The First Republic), a brief return to democratic government, 1979–83 (The Second Republic) and a botched Third Republic (1993). The Fourth Republic therefore offers a longevity that creates opportunity for a more detailed assessment of the principles, practices, and consolidation of democracy in Africa's most populous nation. Democracy and Nigeria's Fourth Republic takes advantage of this unique opportunity in its robust assessment and profoundly insightful analysis of Nigeria's democracy or ‘semi-democracy’ according to Larry Diamond, one of the contributors.
Nigeria's Fourth Republic warrants a critical study. As Wale Adebanwi, the editor of the volume rightly notes, the Fourth Republic has ‘lasted more than two decades, despite continued worries about democratic viability and stability in Nigeria’ (p. 6). The durability of Nigeria's Fourth Republic is both puzzling and promising. Despite the enormous security and developmental challenges that the Nigerian state faces since 1999, democratic government has remained and enjoyed successive change of governments that includes the wresting of power from an incumbent in 2015. Apparently, democracy in Nigeria is alive but unwell. Nigeria's democracy is hanging on a thread or Dancing on the Brink as aptly described by John Campbell, a former US Ambassador to Nigeria. The contributors to this volume agree with this assessment as they weave a complex story of a country with huge potential but unfulfilled goals.
Wale Adebanwi assembles a coveted team of 18 Nigerian and non-Nigerian scholars and analysts with deep knowledge of Nigeria and all its intricacies. It begins with a foreword from Kayode Fayemi, a scholar-activist-turned-politician and former Governor of Ekiti State (2010–14; 2018–22) and ends with an afterword from Larry Diamond, a professor of Political Science and Sociology at Stanford University. In between Fayemi's foreword, Adebanwi's introduction and Diamond's afterword are 13 chapters that are divided into four parts. Part one contains three chapters that focus on the broad categorisation of democracy and the Nigerian state. Eghosa Osaghae, Rotimi Suberu and Browne Onuoha delve into the issues of political elites and ethnic mobilisation, federalism, constitutional reform and political structuring, and the continued impact of the legacy of military rule on Nigeria's democracy respectively. In part two, titled Party Politics, the Presidency and the International Community, five chapters present different dimensions of Nigeria's political system including the inner workings of political parties and its negative impact on democratic consolidation. In part three, Sarah Burns and Olly Owen challenge the popular categorisation of Nigeria as an oil-dependent state (arguing that Nigeria's revenue has been less dependent on oil revenue for some years), while Eyene Okpanachi critiques the economic reforms that have been carried out by each of the presidents and their impact on human development. In the final part, the last three chapters deal with the electoral reforms, the transformation of civil society, particularly its relationship with politics and the prevalence of communal conflicts including the prospect of developing a local peace infrastructure.
Undeniably, Democracy and Nigeria's Fourth Republic is a significant scholarly piece of work that provides its readers a rich understanding of the history, growth and/or decline as well as the prospect and limitations of democracy in Nigeria. The book's weakness is not in what is said but what is left unsaid. This includes but is not limited to the critical role that the intellectual elites themselves have played in validating, perpetuating and sustaining Nigeria's deformed democracy. Other deserving elements and frame of analysis including gender (or women), the youth and the educational institutions and systems have been left untreated. But, by-and-large, this book provokes a deep reflection on the utility of liberal democracy and its nuanced manifestations in different socio-political environments. The success (or otherwise) of democracy in Nigeria has a profound implication for the continent. Despite the negative trends observable in the democratic practices in the last twenty plus years, Democracy and Nigeria's Fourth Republic offers a glimpse of hope. According to Larry diamond ‘The only option to save Nigeria from catastrophe is to transform the Fourth Republic into a real democracy’ (p. 339).
