Of Democratization, Democracy And Democratic Ethos

By

Jide Ayobolu

Abuja-Nigeria

The way and manner democracy is practiced in Nigeria is far below expectation of the generality of the people. Where rent-seeking and patronage are way of life in the system. It is indeed very glaring that our politicians have not learnt anything from history. Those who are in government are desperate to hold on to power at all cost. While those who want to come on board are going about it in a do or die manner. Hence, Nigeria’s political temperature is always at a boiling point. In Nigeria today, the essence of service is largely misunderstood. Those who seek public office do so for selfish reasons ulteriour motives and personal aggrandizement. That is why those in government se political offices as an extension of their personal estates. In fact, there seems to be no fundamental difference between the newly found democratic rule in Nigeria and the hitherto practiced military rule. Most of those in power today are people who are subservient to the military one way or the other, hence, military hangover is still powerfully hovering over Nigeria’s political firmament.

It is not that we have dummies at the helm of affairs in Nigeria. In fact, some of our politicians went to the best schools around the globe. The much needed experience and expertise is not totally lacking. And, really they are very widely traveled. But the point is that, as soon as they land at the international airport in Nigeria, they seem to forget all good and nice things they learnt from abroad. The reason for this is not difficult to fathom. It is because of greed, corruption and placing self-interest over and above national interest. But we need to look at the life and times of Abraham Lincoln to be able to appreciate and understand what democracy and democratic ethos entails in a social formation like Nigeria, at this crucial period of our national history and development.

We hold Abraham Lincoln as the true hero of democracy, but do we recall his trails or do we just see him as one of the following fathers of modern democracy? He had his own trials, ordeals, pains and tribulations, part of learning those lessons is what democracy is all about. We must build the stable platform to be able to predict and accurately forecast certain crucial in the life of the nation. That is, the country must be willing and able to develop various institutions of democracy and government, to be able to have sustainable democratic culture. In 1831, his business failed, in 1832, he was defeated in contest for a legislative seat, in 1833, he recorded yet another business venture failure in 1834, he was elected into the legislature, in 1835, his sweetheart died, in 1836, he had a nervous breakdown. In 1838, he was defeated in his quest for being an elector, in 1846; he was defeated in his quest for senate. In 1855, he was defeated for his quest for vice-president, in 1858, he was defeated in his quest for the senate seat again and in 1860, he was elected president of the United States of America. And in all these, he never used violence to pursue his political ambition or to exhibit his various frustrations. Instead, he was tolerant, accommodating and knows that the greatest glory is not in never falling, but in rising each time you fall.

It is in this regard that Rev.Father (Dr) Matthew Hassan Kukah argued that, “the real challenge for our generation is to learn the art and discipline of democracy; to cultivate the virtues of patience and honesty, to learn to lose gallantly, to learn to serve and be served, to learn that a good name is better than anything the world gives. There is the mistaken belief that we must all be in office in order to be in power or to be relevant. These are some of the reasons why the system is overheated. There can be very few office holders but we can all be very power in our own way”. Nigeria is just too endowed to be an under-developed country. Nigeria cannot claim to indeed be the giant of Africa when there are various forms of man-made problems and glaring socio-economic inequalities that have engendered various types of crises, political violence, religious demonstrations and other forms of social eruptions.

It will be recalled that it was Abraham Lincoln who succinctly and vividly defined democracy as a government of the people, by the people and for the people. However, in the Nigerian context, there seems to be an exception to this definition. Our democracy is not people-oriented. The people who are supposed to be the fulcrum of democracy are not only marginalized, but also thoroughly alienated. The democracy in Nigeria is, therefore, a government of few families, their friends as well as their business collaborators. They live in extreme affluence, while the people wallow in abject poverty. Yet it is business as usual. To this end, there is no difference between democracy and oligarchy in Nigeria. And, there is always an agreement amongst the colluding business class and the ruling elite on how to share the booty of government or what is commonly referred to as the proverbial national cake. So, while Nigeria’s fortune is depreciating, some few individuals at the corridors of power and their cronies are growing fatter at the expense of the Nigerian state.

At the root of Nigeria’s problem is the fundamental nature of our system of government. Nigeria is a very big country. It is multi-ethnic, multi-lingual, multi-cultural and multi-religious. There are about 250 sub-nationalities, over 774 local government areas and 36 states. Yet, what we have in Nigeria today is nothing near a federal system of government. What we have is a unitary system of government with an overbearing and excessively powerful central government. This is responsible for Nigeria’s many troubles and woes, and the hurriedly convened national conference that will help to resolve most of those problems. The reason for this type of conference is simple. Those in power are what is referred to in sociological terms as traditionalists and they abhor change; this is because, they are benefiting immensely  from the existing social order and to effect a change will amount to class suicide for them.

Meanwhile, Nigeria has remained principally a dependent third world country in crisis of various kinds. It is not making any development or progress forward. The furore and brouhaha over resource control, power shift/balance, revenue allocation, sharia, rotational presidency, creation of more states and local government areas, rat race over appointments, the issue of federal character and quota system, all point to the fact that Nigeria must really get together and talk to define their future as well as resolve the many problems that confront them as a people. The so-called political reform conference is no more than a presidential talk-shop, it has no legal backing, and all the participants were nominated mostly by government. The resolution of the talk-shop has since been condemned to the dustbin of history, as it not binding on anybody. To keep postponing the real people’s conference is to keep delaying Nigeria’s development and procrastinating on the destiny of the country. And, this where democratization comes in, democratization is a process of creating an enabling environment in both the polity and the economy that allows people at all levels to exercise control and authority over their own affairs and improve their existential political, social and economic conditions without the intrusion of the state terror and counter-productive policies. To make an impact on the country’s development process, democratization should be holistic, covering the political, social, economic and cultural realms of the society. The ultimate goal of the political and economic democratization processes is to create a democratic society in which the fundamental and civil rights and their basic human needs like water, food, shelter, health etc are met and the access created for the people to meet and sustain these rights and needs.