Election 2007 and the Search for Leadership
By
Ritchie Ejiofor
[USA, NJ]
rejiofor@naijanet.com
The Election Of 2003 has come and gone with all its attendant dramas and
political rhetoric’s. It became apparent once more that Nigerians did
not learn nor attempt to improve on its past experiences and lesson. Everything
seems at least on paper
That, our political machinery and issues have been resolved by the
display of nonchalant attitude and salient projections That arose from
electoral inadequacies and quest for power vis-a-vis power sharing and
national integration cum development.
In
similar fashion, the elections of 2003 could be likened to the melodrama
witnessed In 1983, except that in the latter, Nigeria was saved the
trauma of military incursion. In an objective analysis, the election of 2003
and its results re-echoes the now famous Gen. [rtd.] Buhari’s speech
in 1983 that ‘The Election
Could Be Described As Anything But Free And Fair”
First Nigerians were inundated with the
infamous politically incorrect judgment as witnessed in the wabara
election controversy fuelled with judicial zealousness and dysfunctional
approach associated with political electoral maneuver. Also was the most
recent Ngigate scandal whose trail is still very much with us and has
refused to be correctly addressed to prevent future occurrence. The
latter issue has demonstrated clearly in no small measure the problems
with our system, which pinpoints to a defect in the structure that
latently corrupts the operators of the system.
The present structure defective system
over empowers the executive arms thereby threatening the basic
ingredients and safeguard of democracy and presidential system which
guarantees the separation of powers by streamlining core areas of
control between all tiers of government so as to provide autonomy and
independence with all arms working towards a more functional government
with the end result to prevent abuse of power and big government at the
center.
Most recent there has been a lone ranger
call for the decentralization of the police and reforms needed to
remodel it from the army of occupation the colonial master
conceptualized it to a more re-orientated and autochthonous police force
serving the need of a democratic and civil Nigerian society.
It is an irrefutable fact that most
elections since independence has been won or marred with the assistance
of the police whose centralized command structure makes it an easier
tool to be used by the ruling party. In 1980’s it was Adewusi and his
operatives, even the Ngigate gate scandal was carried out with the use
of the police and on elections days, the role of our police in
protecting democracy through providing an avenue for free and fair
election could be described as notorious in the most romantic language I
can possibly imagine right now. It needed an elected governor to call an
un-elected vice president to recall the police army of occupation that
had kidnapped an Excellency as per the Ngigate episode.
I do not subscribe to the negativity
espoused by antagonist of the need for a state police force. The out
come of any reforms cannot be evaluated unless it is put in practice.
Having enunciated all these it is time to
direct our focus to the serious underground campaign for the 2007
elections. There has been an army of presidential hopeful but the real
question is “are these candidates the very best Nigeria can offer”
Why has contributed to the sudden demise for our seasoned leadership? I
think one of the reasons could be attributed to the fact that the
present operation of the system discourages and makes it impossible for
the caliber of leadership to emerge unless the platform for a free
election rather than selection is vigorously applied and implemented.
Nigerians are all living witness to
“selection” rather than election that characterized the last
election. Arch Bishop Obinna has cried out as an eyewitness but no body
gave his lone cry any credibility. Buhari and Ojukwu re-echoed this
national shame but were rebutted as wolves cry for bad losers but the
truth remains and we will continuously have to live with it unless the
system changes the approach of all mighty strong center and winners take
all syndrome. The winner’s take all approach is premised on the fact
that he who controls the center has absolute control over the national
resources cum national cake largesse and patronage. As a result, Nigeria
has more public officials appointed that continental United States of
America.
What happens therefore is that emerging
leaders are structured to believe and think that way of not looking
beyond parochial, party and ethnic interest. They don’t see and think
national at heart except only during electioneering campaign and
promises that are never fulfilled.
The quest for political power is so fierce
that those involved resort to mediocre mudsling and negative vices to
achieve this purpose of ruling. Issues are not taken seriously because
they don’t matter when elections is at stake. Even the last election
outcome makes voting unnecessary as there will always be a landslide
victory once there is a ruling party unless there is a military coup to
make the table even, even the judiciary that is the beacon of the mass
has failed when their input matters mostly. Late Awolowo when frustrated
in 1979 sent his appeal to God for divine resolution but perhaps died
before such judgment was given.
Using developmental growth as an indices t
measures our achievement since the past decades or more, it is
shamefully discovered that while the society is growing, the country
growth remains stunted. There has not been any remarkable growth in
terms of providing social infrastructure, medical, housing, nor
political growth as would be expected. Our educational structure is so
disarrayed that nobody is for certain what caliber of student we will be
producing in future as there are not even jobs to measure a quarter of
the population, yet there is the clamor and lavish monetary bing spent
in campaigning yet non of our leaders and aspirants has proffered
solution to this epidemic that has eaten so deep in our society that
Nigeria could now be likened to walking ghost on a time bomb.
While it is true that most of the
candidates preparing for 2007 do possess golden resume necessary for the
job, including the retired generals for governing Nigeria, the question
here is “will they function in a utopian model Nigeria?
This is a question that time and Nigerians
only can provide an answer to. For indeed the road to the biblical
Canaan is definitely not in sight. We have wandered for over forty years
in our desert in search and yet we have refused to open our eyes to
objectivity realities of a true search.
Ritchie Ejiofor [USA, NJ]
A commentator on National issues
rejiofor@naijanet.com
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