Impeachment was designed as a solemn constitutional safeguard a last resort meant to protect democracy from grave misconduct. In theory, it exists to remove public officials who abuse power, violate the law, or betray the trust placed in them.
In practice today, however, impeachment has increasingly lost its moral weight. It has become less about accountability and more about political conquest.
Across many democratic spaces, like Nigeria especially in emerging democracies, impeachment is no longer triggered by clear constitutional breaches.
Instead, it is often deployed the moment an office holder becomes inconvenient when loyalty shifts, interests clash, or power blocs feel threatened. The process is rushed, the charges are vague, and due process is treated as a nuisance rather than a necessity.
What should be an evidence-driven exercise is now frequently reduced to a numbers game. Once the arithmetic favours the dominant faction, impeachment becomes inevitable, regardless of the facts. Panels are set up not to seek truth, but to legitimize a predetermined outcome. Defence is allowed, but rarely considered. Judgment is written long before hearings begin.
This distortion of impeachment has dangerous consequences. First, it weakens institutions. When legislative bodies weaponize impeachment, they send a clear message that power, not principle, rules governance. Second, it discourages independent leadership. Officials learn quickly that standing on principle, challenging entrenched interests, or refusing to “play along” could cost them their seats.
Even more troubling is the effect on public trust. Citizens begin to see impeachment not as justice, but as theatre. Allegations are recycled, constitutional language is abused, and serious democratic mechanisms are reduced to tools of intimidation. Over time, the public grows cynical — and democracy suffers when people stop believing in its processes.
None of this is to argue that impeachment should be abolished. There are moments when it is necessary and justified. But for impeachment to regain its legitimacy, it must return to its original purpose: a transparent, fair, and evidence-based process anchored on clear constitutional violations — not political rivalry or personal vendettas.
Until then, impeachment will remain what it has sadly become in many places today: not a shield for democracy, but a sword in the hands of those who control power.
