Nigeria, Jan. 31 -- This week, under the leadership of the Centre for Leadership, Strategy and Development, civil society groups and some development partners convened a conference attended by leading politicians, pro-democracy activists and academics, to address rising threats to the democratic order and the role we should play in trying to sustain it. Also, this week, three ECOWAS countries - Niger, Mali and Burkina Faso - left ECOWAS because of its opposition to the coup they had implemented to overthrow the democratic regimes in their countries, replacing them with authoritarian military rule that have been attacking and subverting the utility of democracy in our region.

At the global level, extreme right-wing parties committed to un...