Cannibalism and the Paradox of Nigeria's Democratic Experience: A Levinasian Analysis
Democracy is a popular form of government practiced in many countries of the world because of its assumed positive impact on the lives of the people. In most African countries, the dividend of democracy is grossly lacking because the process is believed to be undermined. In particular, Nigeria's democracy is characterized by political “cannibalism”. Cannibalism is in opposition to the values and principles of democracy and is absolutely antihuman and hence, contradictory. This paper interrogated this anomaly using Levinas' ethics of responsibility which advocates an absolute, infinite and non-symmetrical responsibility for other people as a panacea for correcting this anomaly. This paper employed the qualitative method of critical analysis and phenomenology. The paper observed that the activities of political elites had greatly compromised the welfare of the citizenry. It concludes that any democracy that does not translate to better welfare for the citizens is not worth the name.
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