A week ago, the world celebrated the international day of democracy as it has been doing for over a decade. Savouring the optimism this initiative portends will be incomplete without a critical reflection on the gains and pains of the journey to democratic consolidation in Nigeria and an engagement of the ongoing conversations on the need for a formidable partnership between state and non-state actors in propagating the gospel of democracy. Since the third wave of democratization in Africa, successive governments have come under intense pressures for democratic reforms, from within and without, embodied through expressions of discontent with economic hardship and political repression, as well as demands for social justice and security. The responses to these pressures signaled the rebirth of democracy in Nigeria, and indeed other parts of Africa, but this was not without throwing up some problems in its way. One such problem is the increasing difficulty to divorce coercion and auto-