Opinion: Never compare Nigerian democracy with Cameroon
By Wilson Musa
The Independent National Electoral Commission, INEC, on Wednesday march 1, 2023, declared the candidate from the All Progressive Congress, Bola Ahmed Asiwaju Tinubu, winner of the 2023 presidential elections.
The 70-year-old beat regular Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, candidate Atiku Abubakar, and Labour Party candidate, newcomer Peter Obi, to win the hotly contested polls.
Tinubu, won 12 states giving him a total of 8,794,726. His closest rival is the former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party who had 6,984,520 votes, while the candidate of the Labour Party, Peter Obi, has 6,101,533.
Mr Obi who is a former Governor of Anambra State was a game changer in the polls just one year into the campaign. Several youths including influencers had hoped that he was going to win the elections.
Despite beating the new President in his Lagos hometown and winning the Federal Capital Territory, Peter Obi came third.
Some Cameroonians have been mocking Nigerians for voting for a 70-year-old man as their new president. Some have gone ahead to lambast Nigeria’s democracy calling it a disgrace for Africa.
But Cameroonians have failed to remove the huge log of wood in their own eyes. For the last 40 years, Cameroon has known only one president, 90-year-old Paul Biya but for the past 40 years, Nigeria has known 11 presidents including the incumbent.
Nigeria has a two-term system of four years each but Cameroon has an indefinite term of seven years per mandate. Cameroon has known only two Presidents since independence in 1960, but Nigeria has known 16 presidents since independence in 1960.
When it comes to democratic values and institutions, Cameroon has little or nothing to offer compared to Nigerian institutions and their independence. Though accused of appointing Supreme Court judges to favour the regime in place, the Nigerian judiciary system has a semi-independent status more than Cameroon whose president has the absolute power to dismiss and appoint.
With more than 200 million inhabitants, the next president of Nigeria was known after 72 hours, but with 25 million inhabitants, Cameroon’s presidential election results are usually known after two weeks.
Comparing Nigeria’s democracy with that of Cameroon is like comparing day and night!
This opinion does not mean that the presidents who ruled Nigeria were not accused of undermining human rights issues but it is meant to look at the institutions that hold the country’s democratic values. In Nigeria, there are to an extent, powerful institutions but in Cameroon is a powerful man who has absolute control over the judiciary, military and executives.
