The collins dictionary defines democracy as follow:

Democracy is a system of government in which people
choose their rulers by voting for them in elections.

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Abraham Lincoln defines democracy as the government of the people, by the people and for the people.

Samir Amir, defines democracy as an unfinished business.

The word democracy originated from Greece. Demos means people and kratos means rule.

We have the direct and indirect democracy. Direct democracy is an ancient idea of the Greek where adult of every household come together to discourse their governmental and social needs. They formulated laws and principles among themselves.

But due to the ever expanding world and human civilization, the direct is no longer practicable. This change gave birth to the indirect democracy, in which the people elect qualified adults to represent them in decision making.

INDICES OF DEMOCRACY

Sovereignty of the people.

Government based upon consent of the governed.

Majority rule.

Minority rights.

Guarantee of basic human rights.

Free and fair elections.

Equality before the law.

Due process of law.

Constitutional limits on government.

Social, economic, and political pluralism.

Values of tolerance, pragmatism, cooperation, and compromise.

LIBERAL-DEMOCRACY

Definition

Liberal democracy is a form of government in which representative democracy operates under the principles of liberalism, i.e. protecting the rights of the individual.

Procedural democracy is a democracy in which the people or citizens of the state have less influence than in traditional liberal democracies . This type of democracy is characterized by voters choosing to elect representatives in free elections.

DEMOCRACY IN NIGERIA

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Democracy in Nigeria gained it balance on the 1st of May 1999, when the military handed over power to the so called civilian. I wouldn't want to waste our time on the long history but will use the indices of democracy to juxtapose the democracy in practise in Nigeria.

Sovereignty: section 14 sub 2(a) sovereignty belongs to the people of Nigeria from whom government through this Constitution derives all its powers and authority; This is an ironical lines of sentence. The sovereignty of the country belongs to the ex military men who has couched the national governmental seats for themselves.

Government based upon consent of the governed: The constitution of Nigeria was created by decree no 24 of the military government. Where then is the consent of the people consulted in the military regime.

Majority rule: what we are observing here is mere oligarchy, after the military handed over power on the 1st May 1999, among the past presidents, two of them are ex military men and one out of the other two is the immediate brother of a late military man, the presidential position was used to console the family of the the late military commander. Please where is the rule of the majority considered?

Minority rule: this is the rationale behind the chaos in the country. Nigeria is a multi ethnic state and among them this groups their disparity is just too vivid.

Guarantee of basic human rights: human rights is an illusion and comedy of our generation. There is zero regards for human live and the social amenities that will help to foster human well being are not created. Where the president and other government officials travel out of the country for good health, what then is the hope of a common man?

Free and fair election: a situation where the president hire and fire the head of the electioneering committee how then do we get guaranteed of a free and fair election. Rigging of election, snatching of ballot has become the order of the day, under age voting and other manipulative techniques.

Equality before the law: where judges are accused of corruption, where an accused government official attend court proceeding with sixty lawyers, where all members of the ruler party are looters of the national treasury, where two hundred and thirty police men secures one single person and other are left to die due to insecurity, tell me where is equality.

Due process of law: plead bargain was enacted recently; the accused are made to return some amount out of their loot, plead guilty and get acquitted by the court. To a reasonable being is this a due process of law.

Constitutional limits on government: truly the constitution provide for separation of power but are the rules obeyed? the answer is capital no.

Social, economic, and political pluralism: well some elements of these are present, but their efficiency can be questioned.

Values of tolerance, pragmatism, cooperation, and compromise: a young man, last year, was prosecuted for naming his dog after the president, where is tolerance and the rest.

I decline to celebrate our democracy because we are not practicing it, we are embellished in oligarchy and grammatised with democracy.

DEMOCRACY IS NOT TOTAL FREEDOM, IT ONLY HAS SOME PRINCIPLES OF FREEDOM IN IT.

Reference

_{source
Collins dictionary
Constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria.}