Democratic Rebirth

Democratic Rebirth: The Inevitability of Change

Ibrahim Mohammed

I once heard a joke about three nationals of different countries extolling the beauty and excellence of their democracies.

Ghanaian: My country is the best democracy in the world. When votes are cast today, the results are heard the following day.

American: That doesn’t make your democracy the best. In America, the results of the votes are heard simultaneously as they’re being cast. That makes my country the best democracy in the world.

Nigerian: (Ha, ha, ha). Just listen to them. Nigeria is the best democracy you can find in the world. In my country Nigeria, we know the result of the votes long before they are cast.

This is the kind of ridicule we make of our own country. A nation’s credibility in good governance relies solely on the kind of leadership the nation has. Every where in the world, except for few countries with dictatorial military leadership and monarchy, leadership choice depends on democracy. It is no news to say about 90% of the Nigerian leadership didn’t come to power through the popular wish of the people. Questions to be answered here are: what is wrong with Nigerian democracy? Can Nigeria ever have credible leaders again? If yes, how and when?

Nigerian democratic problems are larger than just the issue of elections. They are rooted in our not- too- long acquired value system or mindset. Translated mildly, the problems are of DISHONESTY, CORRUPTION, and GET- RICH- QUICK syndromes . The presence of one in our value system automatically gives birth to the other two. This writing is not going to define any of the problems nor give their causes. However, it is clear that the three have a chain strung in a circular form. The craze for material things- the belief that one’s success in this world should be measured by the material things he/ she possesses, pushes one to want to get rich even if it implies selling his/her soul to the devil. The result of such a belief is clearly manifested in Nigerian society today- cultism, occult, armed robbery, in Fela Anikulapo Kuti”s words “head robbery”, communal/ sectarian clashes, unimaginable election malpractices, destruction of the educational system with active collaboration of teachers, parents, students/wards and government, a mafia like civil service, and many other negative vices.

What we get at the end is a society where nothing works except dishonesty, corruption and get- rich- quick syndrome. Leaders who are suppose to be seen to be above certain social misfits flout their stock-in- trade (lies and deceit) openly without recourse to its negative consequences.

All this became possible because Nigerians have since forgotten the last time they were given the right to choice their own leaders. Leaders are chosen at party’s inner caucus meetings. Befitting for the people and the nation or not, is for the followership to worry. What then is the way out? The way out is in our democratic system. We must fight to free it from the manipulation of the “very elect”. All progressive Nigerians must see a battle line drawn. What is the fight about?

In the understanding of Saul Alinsky (1940) what is before us is “… helping ordinary people understand the power used by the elite to keep them down and helping those ordinary folks understand how, by working together, they could exercise power themselves.” This is what the fight is all about. Teaching the followership that power is theirs and lies with them. The leadership is what it is today because the followership has not understood its strength; and has not been doing anything to harness its power to its advantage.

It is our collective duty to educate ourselves on the need to know and believe that we have to fight. Fight for the assertion of pragmatic power we have and that we could wield to change our society for good. It is a war whose arsenal is ‘ teach one and let that one teach one other person.’ This way, every day the classroom expands and in no time the ordinary man out there is taught to be combat ready for 2011.

It must be understood that this battle does not require arms. The powers that be would use coercion but it will not last. If we teach one another that the common man’s self- interest is linked to the interests of others and therefore our fight requires active collaboration in pursuit of our common goods, then we are sure to emerge victorious. We do not need conventional schools and classrooms to be able to teach one another. Our schools and classrooms are the streets, the market place, the premises of our churches and mosques, our homes, the beer parlors, our electronic stadia, our “molue, danfos and okadas”, taxis, our schools (primary, secondary and tertiary), our good- for- nothing hospitals, our marriage ceremonies, “owanbes” and any available space where we daily meet.

Our instructional materials should include among others our mobile/cell phones. Call or send a text message to some one. Post a bill. Write your ideas out and post them as a bill. As you see the bill of a power drunk posted, beside it post your lesson of the moment. The media is anther avenue. If you have access to the media- print or electronic, speak out or write. The internet is one other best material we have. Post your lesson to those in your address book.

The fight starts today. There is no time to waste any more. The powers that be are scheming and theirs must be countered. The democratic environment will get heated up some times next year in preparation for the 2011 elections. We have to start the classes now so that by 2010 we would have been adequately equipped to go to the battle field. Once more, this battle is not going to be fought with arms. However, we should know that the “very elect” shall come out with full force to fight back. They shall kill, maim and destroy the very little we have. But let’s not despair. Let’s take our lesson in the religious saying that;

… What you sow does not come to life unless it dies. When you sow, you do not plant the body that will be, but just a seed…

Let’s our blood water the seed we shall be sowing. Let’s our destroyed properties be the fortress needed to protect our sown seed. And let the maimed keep guide of the sown seed. This way we are certain our plant will germinate and bear healthy and nutritious food for the future generation. It is for this future generation that we must be willing to sacrifice our today.

We must guide our democracy by guiding our votes. Our votes should give us the credible leaders that have eluded us for so long. We must not go back home and sleep after casting our votes. The votes must be counted right before us and the persons we have elected must be pronounced the winners. We do not need any election tribunals and appeal courts. We should be our own election tribunals.

All this we can do but only by joining together to appreciate the extent to which our fates are linked, gain an understanding of our common interests, and make claims on the political power we needed to act on those interests. Prof. Sidney Verba (1993) said, “ Democracy is based on the promise that equality of voice can balance inequality of resources.” It is this equality of voice we must fight to entrench in our society. Also the French aristocrat Alexis De Tocqueville (1835) said, “ In democratic countries, knowledge of how to combine is the mother of all other forms of knowledge; on its progress depends that of all the others.” We must combine together to be able to identify our common fate and then stand and fight for it.

Conclusively thus, the promise of democratic politics is in people’s ability to enter into relationships with one another to articulate common purposes and act on them. We must organize and bring ourselves together and see that democracy is not a cost or curse, but an investment in rebuilding Nigeria and its infrastructure which have been under assault for far too many years. Our religions, public places, homes, public means of transportation, etc should unite us. We have excellent leaders out there but they shall never be allowed to contribute to our development. We have the power to enthrone them. This we can achieve by getting to know we have common problems and enemies. And it is only through our togetherness shall we be victorious over the problems and the enemies.