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Nigeria: A Docile Nation By Badamasi Ayuba Tarda
The return of partisan politics in 1999 after the brief tour of General Abdulsalami Abubakar was embraced with a lot of enthusiasm. Politicians were finally presented with the reward of the ‘spoils’ of a battle fought collectively and won by the media, a section of the intelligentsia, the organized labour, the social sector organizations, and some among the ‘chameleon’ politicians whose side of the battle was difficult to define. Today, I doubt if any of the spectrum of the coalition against ‘Abacha Tazarce’(Abacha’s self succession) would be comfortable with the turn of events in the nation. I doubt if the ‘schemers’ at the Jos convention of the PDP in 1998 are proud of the out come of their action. Who is responsible for what, is left for political analysts to analyse and for history to judge.
But it is of our collective concern as Nigerians that apart from the freedom of expression, all other core principles of democracy are bastardised to our collective helplessness. Democracy every where is a continuous process of experimentation which has no quick-fix or ‘one size fit all’ answers. That is why in a genuine democracy; citizens of a nation are provided with - opportunity to learn from their mistakes, opportunity for self renewal and periodic rebirth through the ballot box.
Since it is not humanly possible to accurately predict human behaviour even in the case of ‘tested and trusted hands’ when given power, any one who fails the ‘test’ could easily be dropped by his/ her political party if that party wishes to remain in power; or by the citizens ultimately. In that case, people in power would always be aware that they are accountable first and foremost to the people, and to the party which platform brought them to power. This is the fundamental foundation under which democracy should be built. It encompasses all the other concepts and ideals which our political leaders chant day in day out, and claim to protect; such as the rule of law, accountability, transparency, respect for human right, etc.
From what we see in Nigeria between 1999 to date, it will be difficult to sustain the confidence of any one outside the Governments circle that Nigerian politicians take the Nigerian people and indeed the Nigerian project seriously. And, regrettably, the international community keenly observes these developments in Nigeria with disgust, and has no other option than to treat both the citizens and the leadership of the country with disdain. Nigeria has lost its enviable position of being a power broker and stabilizing force to reckon with even in sub regional arena talk less of larger comity of nations.
To me, no one should be happy with the myriad of messy revelations unfolding daily in the government circle, and should not be surprised either. To me, what is more disappointing surprisingly, is the way all other elections held so far, were ‘mis-conducted’ under the watchful eyes of a government preaching the ‘rule of law’ and which is into ‘electoral reforms’.
All the recent local council and other bye elections conducted in the states and the FCT, Abuja, increase our apprehension on whether the present administration could provide Nigeria with a democracy within civilized standards. With these ‘charades’ coming after the embarrassing Court of appeal’s verdict on the April, 2007 ‘sham’, all in the names of election, one must be honest to advise this government to quickly disband the wasteful outlet of our valuable resources in the name of electoral reform Committee. If this is what the government wish to perfect through providing legal framework, their men in Wadata plaza could do that. It is only a matter of inviting their ever willing legal ‘illusionary’ to join them there and spearhead it. Other credible Nigerians serving in this reform committee should distance themselves from this hypocritical double standard and save their hard earned reputations.
With what goes on in Nigeria today, no nation, not even Zimbabwe conducts such a crude and uncivilized political transition. We were in Malaysia observing with admiration how political parties conducted their campaigns, and the electoral body conducted the general elections of 8th March, 2008 where the sitting government with majority for over twenty years, lost its majority due to some unpopular policies in handling issues of ethnic composition among its citizens. Although Media was predicting tension, the exercise was very peaceful and transparently credible by all standards. Tell me why losers will not be sportsmanly and accept defeat in such a fair play.
Election rigging or electoral fraud is a looming danger against the Nigerian state. It is inhumanity of man against his fellow man. It is an organized crime. It is worse than Military or any form of dictatorship. It is an abhor able crime and corrupt practice. Our vibrant media must evoke the organized labour, the civil society and the patriotic political class disenchanted with this profane and anarchic tendency, to wake up once again for another clarion call to fight the evil repercussions of the ‘contingent’ third term plot.
Why was there outcry about the military rule? No one invited the military to intervene. But they do so under the guise of saving the nation, with active collaboration of the politicians themselves. No one expected any specific good from them. No doubt they violently seized power often with blood shade. I am not a historian but do not believe that the coup de tats in Nigeria claimed more lives of innocent people than the two transitions in 2003 and 2007 did.
No one wasted billions of naira from the nation’s coffers to organize military take over of power as is being done to organize elections. Law abiding citizens were not deceived and exposed to unnecessary suffering under harsh weather conditions to dissipate their energy and time in the name of elections to bring in military as is currently being done in the name of democracy. That aside, the military coup takes place through the military guns while these elections take place using the police force, SSS, thugs, hooligans and in some cases the military guns, combined. The same gladiators and champions of the military rules are still the fixers, foreign affairs helms men and law makers. So what makes one better than the other?
By now, the remnants of the old brigade that fought for Nigeria’s independence must know that we need their wise counsel as to how they got the independence from Britain. Was it with a stupid docility or with a tactical courage and gallantry? We must bring about change!
Our generals that fought to keep the country united must now prove to the nation their true loyalty and commitment to its corporate existence in peace, harmony and prosperity rather than the awkward and selfish amassing of questionable wealth, building aimless political networks, and subverting our collective aspiration, a genuine democracy. This must be done early enough before Nigerians get out of their prevailing ‘docility shell’ and start to act the Georgian or the Kenyan way. For as long as this sort of dubious transition process continues, Nigeria heads towards a potential ‘explosion’ of a catastrophic magnitude. |