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Nigeria- From Military To Civilian Dictatorship By Tony Ishiekwene
No man is good enough to govern another man without that other's consent. ~Abraham Lincoln
Nigeria has been most unlucky. For nearly thirty years of its existence as a sovereign state its leaders had been nasty and brute soldiers who got to the throne through the barrel of the gun by way of military coup d‘tat and counter coups. The worst species of uneducated, ignorant, corrupt, nasty and brutal soldiers held sway calling the shots and deciding for a nation of 140 million people with so many knowledgeable and well educated classes of people.
Then came June 1993, and after series of manipulations by the self confessed “evil genius,” General Babangida, with various banning and un-banning of politicians, in a dubious, twisted and unending transition, Nigeria had what has been adjudged a true and fair election, which late Chief MKO Abiola was poised to win, but Babangida and his gang of military fortune seekers annulled the Nigerian people’s wish to elect their leader. The crisis generated by that annulment and the foisting of a more wicked and brutal dictator on Nigerians- one dark goggled General Abacha brought some struggle by well meaning Nigerians to fight the military to leave the seat of power and let Nigerians elect who they want to lead them. General Abacha- a tin pot dictator- would not brook any opposition to his despotic and evil rule and so members of NADECO and NALICON who truly gave their sweat, tears and blood were either assassinated or put in jail for daring to call for democratic rule, while the lucky ones had to internationalise the fight from exile in Europe and America.
The military saw there was no place to hide and through General Abdusalam Abubakar, they retreated and handed over to what appeared like a civilian democracy, through an election in 1999 that was not perfect to say the least. And who was the major beneficiary of this hand over- no one other than another previous military dictator, General Obasanjo, the anointed one for that occasion by the power brokers and god fathers of Nigerian politics. The election of 1999, even though it was accepted by all to get rid of the military from power, was by no means free and fair, and probably not representative of the wishes of the majority of Nigerians in a democratic universal suffrage! And the irony of it all is that thugs and vagabonds, many of which were part of the brigandage of the Generals Babangida and Abacha era, became Governors and Legislators across Nigeria, while NADECO and other pro-democracy members were shut out before they could know what was going on- talk of “monkey de work baboon de chop.”
And since 1999 Nigeria’s election standard had been deteriorating in a fast spin. Ex-President Obasanjo and the PDP behemoth gave a new dimension to what Nigerians knew about rigging of elections in 2003, when people did not vote because of thuggery and violence master minded by PDP, INEC and state security personnel, yet millions of votes, sometimes up to 97% of voters in the register were recorded in fraudulent election results declared by INEC, particularly in the Niger delta states and most of the south east and in all these the ruling PDP garnered 95% of the votes in phoney landslide victories!
But the worst was yet to come. In April 2007, outgoing President Obasanjo in collaboration with one Prof Iwu of INEC gave Nigerians the shock of their lives with a nightmarish “do-or-die” “s-election,” not election by any meaning of the word! Every independent observer, including local and international monitors called what happened a “charade” and absolutely below the minimum standard expected of an election.
Those that stepped on Obasanjo’s toe, or whom he felt might not be pliable to his whims, or deemed to be potential threats even within his PDP monstrous party were eliminated and ordered to be excluded from the ballot by a willing and abetting Prof Iwu and his INEC. On proposed Election Day, no election really held as long suffering Nigerians were ordered out on long winding queues from morning till dark, whereas there were no ballots to cast as PDP strong men and women had hidden ballot papers and boxes and done all the thumb printing days before to match a predetermined election results. Sometimes you wonder whether military dictatorship is not even better than what currently obtains as civilian democracy in Nigeria. At least people will not be punished by waiting man hours in queues to register and to come out to vote on election days, votes that will never count in the voodoo democracy of Obasanjo and Prof Iwu.
And so from the National levels to states and local government levels willing surrogates whom the god fathers can manipulate are imposed on the people as president, Governors, Legislators and Chair persons of local government councils. The peoples voice have been stolen in so called Nigerian democracy and they are helpless and hopeless, as they cannot do anything to make their votes count. They watch hopelessly as incompetent, naïve and sometimes known criminals are imposed on them as their leaders. This pathetic state of Nigerian democracy is even more frustrating at the local communities. At the local government and community levels, the people in the area know of capable and credible people whom they can entrust with the leadership of their local government, either as Chairmen or councillors. But sadly they are not allowed to make the decision of who leads them in a free and fair election. Instead, like is now happening in most of the Niger Delta and South Eastern states, the Governor of the states at Port Harcourt, Enugu,Owerri, Calabar, Asaba or Yenegoa dish out names of PDP nincompoops and pliable surrogates in phoney primaries and then rig them in as local government chairmen and councillors- if you call what they now do rigging, as there is no election of any manner-on election days!
The result is that all the Federal allocations due to these local governments are split by the state governors who then forward half of the allocations in the so called joint-accounts to the local governments. And the personalities occupying these chairmanship positions in recent times are allowed by their godfather state governors to roam and steal as much as they like the millions of Naira in monthly allocations from the joint account releases, not caring about the developmental needs of the people whom the money was meant for.
Nigeria pretends to be running a democracy, while in fact it is a civilian dictatorship that we are perfecting, where Obasanjo and one PDP VIP decides who will be president and Governor of which states, and indeed imposes those “chosen” ones on the people on “s-election” days. And so garrison commander Adedibu imposes Akala on hapless Oyo state people; Field Marshall Tony Anenih places Prof Osunbor on helpless Edo people; gluttonous Chief James Ibori, installs his cousin as the anointed governor of Delta state and Dr Odili tries to impose Celestine Omehia on Rivers state people, all with Obasanjo’s consent in what the later terms a “do-or-die” election of April 2007.
People have said, and rightly too, that corruption was and remain the bane of Nigeria’s development. But corruption thrives when those in power or leadership positions feel no obligation, or accountable to the people they govern. If I know all I have to do is toe the line of a godfather and I will be selected a governor of a whole state with billions of Naira in monthly federal allocations for doing nothing, why should I care whether citizens of the state are educated, have good health care, have a roof over their heads or even dying of hunger! The only one(s) I owe allegiance is the godfather and so long as I allow them access to the state treasury I can do what I like with the remaining billions in the coffers of the state, and by the next election it will be honky dory as I will win whether or not the people cast a vote.
It is pathetic indeed and President Yar Adua, even if he is enjoying a stolen presidency, should be honest enough with his electoral reforms plan. Nigeria cannot continue to have these charades as election every four years or so, as we pretend to be “consolidating democracy.” The vote of the people must count and they should be the ones that determine who rules them in a democracy. And these are the ideals Nigeria must work upon and the electoral reform panel should work hard to see this through in its entire ramification. There are so many challenges on the way-not least the many entrenched interests who are benefiting from the current fraudulent electoral system- but with honesty of purpose and dedication we can get credible elections in Nigeria.
From, Tony Ishiekwene (London, UK) tonykwene@aol.com |