Nigeria, June 15 -- In a move that reeks of entitlement and fear of reform, the Nigerian Senate has responded to a growing call for a shift from full-time to part-time legislature by declaring, rather dramatically, that such a reform would "kill democracy." This response, particularly from Senator Yemi Adaramodu, the Senate's spokesperson, is not just melodramatic, it is profoundly misleading and self-serving.

Senator Adaramodu's assertion that "if the parliament is on part-time, then democracy is on part-time" is nothing more than rhetorical gymnastics. It conflates the "form" of legislative operation with the "essence" of democracy. The fact remains that democracy is not defined by how often lawmakers sit in plush chambers, but by how ...