THE ETHICO-POLITICAL IMPLICATIONS OF LEGITIMACY CRISIS ON DEMOCRATIC GOVERNANCE IN NIGERIA

Abstract

Legitimacy is a virtue of political systems and governments. It is integral to the defining lineament of democracy and democratic governance. The demand for legitimacy has increased as democracy gained traction over the years in Nigeria. Although Nigeria practices democracy, it faces a lot of legitimacy crisis resulting in a lack of support and obedience, and in most cases, an outright rejection of government and its authorities by the citizenry. The implications of these are that it poses a great danger to the political system and society in general as the citizens often resort to protests, civil disobedience, lawlessness, and crime. The inability of the leaders to gain the acceptance of the people also slows down the pace of development and growth of the country because the absence of legitimacy does not create the political atmosphere for citizens’ participation and exchange of ideas, which are crucial for national development and citizens’ happiness. This paper, therefore, adopts critical and analytic methods in appraising the concept of legitimacy to expose its significance in a democratic regime. It provides explanations and solutions to the severity of the legitimacy crisis in Nigeria and contends that legitimacy, which is the people’s mandate to govern is an essential moral requirement that validates authorities and governments. In conclusion, the paper proposes that Nigerian leaders should earn legitimacy by constitutional democratic means whereby the exercise of power will reflect a genuine justification of the mandate of the people for them to govern.