CAMPAIGN PROMISE AND DIVIDENDS OF DEMOCRACY

BUHARI'S ADMINISTRATION IN PERSPECTIVE

Abstract

Since democracy is a two-way traffic; a relationship between the leader and the led, campaign promise unarguably, is as an avenues through which the leaders gives the citizens insights on how their relationship with the followers would look like. What this implies is that campaign promises are promises made by would-be leaders stipulating what actions they would undertake if eventually elected. In the light of the above, it can be said that campaign promise is one of the lens through which the success or failure of an administration could be glean. The paper examines the nexus between campaign promises and dividends of democracy with particular focus on the Buhari's administration. The paper employed a documentary analytical technique as our method of data collection, while qualitative descriptive method was used for our analysis. Anchoring our discuss on the theory of the post-colonial state, findings amongst others revealed that whereas campaign promises actually portends great expectations of the dividends of
democracy, the Buhari's administration has been an exception as there exists great disparity between what the ruling party (the All Progressive Congress) had promised Nigerians during their campaign and the post election policies and actions of the Buhari's administration. The policies and actions of the Buhari's administration so far has been highly incongruous with his campaign promises, as his administration has failed to address the security challenges facing Nigeria, the problem of corruption, revamping the Nigerian economy, and division along ethnic and religious line, thereby necessitating calls for restructuring of the country. The paper recommends amongst others that there should be congruence between campaign promises and post election policies and actions of any administration that emerges the winner of the electoral contest.