Democrats on the Surface

Democrats on the Surface

Abdulrazaque Bello-Barkindo

So many things have changed for the worse in Nigeria since 1999. And yet even though I am inclined to giving the south west a pas mark for their democratic struggles (having witnessed their struggle for democratisation in the last two decades) the behaviour of their new champions of democracy leaves much to be desired. A striking characteristic of the lot is how bad they are at doing things at which they are supposed to be gurus.

The South west group is obsessed with democracy, yet it does not believe that a democratic solution to a national calamity will lead us anywhere. As far as they are concerned, Obasanjos misadventure is a permissible calamity, just as pro-Abacha campaigners under an American football hooligan once thought that Nigeria without the tyrant would be dead on delivery. The latter group was proved wrong by providence as Nigeria continues to exist long after Abacha and the South west will also be proved wrong when Obasanjo is eventually impeached or sent packing next year, 2003.

One may not be exact as to when advancing the universal good of our people began to fall into the hands of those to whom integrity means nothing. And there are many of them unfortunately, but the cause for cheer is that there are also many who can take the bull by the horns, to use an old cliché.

The impeachment ultimatum which expired last week revealed a great deal about the sincerity or lack of it among those who run our national affairs.

It revealed the likes of Governor Lam Adesina who only weeks before would want Obasanjo impeached for non-performance but as soon as the House set its machinery in motion he readjusted to a pro Obasanjo position. It also revealed the ignorance of the army leadership Obasanjo imposed on the country - a military leadership that pledges its loyalty to those who appointed it and not the constitution which ensures its continuos existence.

It is a sorry army. How it expects to be allowed to continue after Obasanjo is a point for the army to ponder. The nation also came face-to-face with the chicanery of the AD which is fighting tooth and nail to retain a president who humiliated its own choice for the office.

Most of all, the president himself was exposed. When the entire nation turned against Obasanjo, he found solace by beating the drums of war calling his kinsmen to pick up the fight. Before the impeachment saga he was fully settled among "gambaris." He took Biafra under their leadership. In spite of the presence of better soldiers from Sandhurst who were sidelined, he became second in command through the magnanimity of his northern landlords, and he eventually became Head of State through their mercy. In fact Yar'adua's political sagacity, not Obasanjo's inferiority complex led to the smooth change of batons in 1979, even though Yar'adua himself sided with the philosophies of Pa Awo but preferred to quickly hop off the scene to avoid a repeat of Gowon's mistakes. Yet Obasanjo took the credit, eventually emerging a member of the Eminent Persons Group which finally wrenched South Africa from the shackles of apartheid.

In 1999, with the intention of pacifying the Yorubas, the north not only decided to relinquish the presidency but needed the right Yorubaman for the job. Just out of unfair imprisonment they thought Obasanjo could be trusted.

But the top job in a presidential system is a different ball game altogether as they were to find out that while Obasanjo could be the right man for whatever job this is not the right job for the man.

There would not have been any problem with chicken, or a chicken farmer going home to roost, but the route home must not be paved with hatred or wrapped in deceit. People in all parts of the world seek to solve their problems through universally accepted norms of engagement. This basically is a situation where leadership continues to mean responsibility and the inalienability of the common good of the people and not just that of cliques or the leadership. But the polarised reactions to the impeachment ultimatum a fortnight ago evoke tremendous and indeed frightening ambiguities. The House was bombarded with unguarded accusations all from one side. The most ridiculous being the insinuation that an alliance with the military was responsible for the move.

Coming from a governor, this shows the level to which our present leaders sink to incriminate one another, which is also reminiscent of the military "she-brass" who would stab each other in the back just to please Abacha during those inglorious days that the nation is striving to put behind it.

The consolation is that, conscious people in our society, including Gani Fawehinmi, Ebitu Ukiwe and Balarabe Musa have shown that a conspiracy hatched in hell cannot have angels as witnesses by throwing their weight behind the action thus withdrawing their support latent or otherwise from a presidency that was once perceived to be progressive.

Regrettably however, more troubling is for the nation is having to mourn the absence of the principles that once governed the politics of the south west leaving them hostage to a president who has since ran out of ideas and whose spin doctors have proved themselves to be impervious to public criticism.. A president who respects only one authority - himself, and describes the constitutional duty of the legislature as a joke! On the whole, if we ever considered the president and his refuseniks democrats now we know that they are democrats on the surface. They pay only lip service to democracy.