President Tinubu's Economic Reforms can be overturned

When we say democracy is not merely about elections or the so-called "game of numbers," as is often echoed in Nigeria, it is more than rhetoric. It is a warning.

If current democratic crises can unfold in America—after over 200 years of institutional continuity—then it can surely happen in Nigeria. Lest we forget, Reconstruction in the United States was overturned by Jim Crow. History, as they say, repeats itself—but only for those who fail to learn from it. What we are witnessing today is not just a lesson from the past—it is ongoing history unfolding in real time.

In Nigeria, the phrase “democracy is a game of numbers” has been weaponized to justify domination by a single bloc, while systematically neutralizing others. But democracy—true democracy—is not a numbers game. It is a Constitutional form of government. That is what separates it from every other system. Elections are only one part of a larger Constitutional order.

Even Abraham Lincoln’s famous words—government of the people, by the people, for the people—derive their authority from a Constitutional premise. “The people,” in political terms, is a Constitutional definition—not a vague mass.

This is why Donald Trump remains entangled in court cases and legal battles. He claims to represent “the people” by virtue of electoral victory, and therefore believes he should govern without restraint. But “the people,” as defined by the Constitution, are pushing back—through courts, through institutions, through legal injunctions. That is democracy in action—not numbers, but law.

So no, democracy is not about electoral arithmetic. It is about the preservation of a Constitutional order—and more importantly, how that order came to be.

Elections are not ends in themselves. They are instruments to validate agendas—agendas often built on contested definitions of who the people are. In Nigeria, the military-imposed Constitutions since 1979 erased the people as active constituents, replacing them with states and now toying with artificially creating “indigenes”—as if indigeneity is a human construct that can be legislated into existence.

This is why foundational democratic texts begin with “We the People.” It is not mere symbolism. It is a declaration of political identity and legitimacy.

Now let’s turn to Nigeria’s Constitution.

It has been rigged from the outset—to sustain Fulani hegemony, otherwise known as “the north.” Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe caved to pressure, which is how Yoruba communities in Kwara and Kogi ended up labeled as “northern.” That compromise has shaped every major institution since—from the economy to the Census—all manipulated to entrench northern dominance, and all justified with that same dangerous lie: democracy is a game of numbers.

It is not.
It is our firm expectation that the next cycle of elections in Nigeria will be conducted under a new Constitution—one that clearly and equitably defines “the people", hence our call for Nationality Referendums as the prelude to a new Constitutional Convention. For the Yoruba, it is the "Yoruba Referendum".

Editorial Board,
Yoruba Referendum Committee