Febuharing and Atikulating the Issues: Naija Democrazy run Amok 2.0
***This is an update of the previously posted paper of the same title.
Mojúbàolú
Olufúnké Okome
Professor of Political Science, African & Women's Studies
Professor of Political Science, African & Women's Studies
Leonard
& Claire Tow Professor, 2015/2016
Brooklyn College, CUNY
Brooklyn College, CUNY
Which kind election be dis?....
Na dem-o-cr-azy be the deal
Na dem-o-cr-azy be the deal
Who don teach us ee dem-o-cr-azy?
…. Oyinbo teach-ee us
…. Oyinbo for Europe-oh
Oyinbo teach us many many things-ee
Many of dem things I don sing about-ee
Me I no gin copy Oyinbo style
Let us think say, Oyinbo know pass me
When Shagari finish him elections
Wey dem no tell am, say him make mistake-ee
Say this yo, no be democracy
Oyinbo dem no tell army self
Na for England-ee, I me no fit take over
I come think about this demo-crazy
_____________________________________
I
have a dream of a nation where no man is oppressed. An egalitarian society.
That is what we are working towards. We desire a nation, a true federal state
where all the nationalities will have equal access to political power. Where
justice, equity and the rule of law operate. We want to leave a good legacy for
our children like you said, I am old. There is nothing again I am looking for.
But our children and children's children must not be slaves in their father's
land.
(Senator
Abraham Adesanya 1999)
Introduction
The quote above is from my 1999 paper, (Okome, State
and Civil Society in Nigeria in the Era of the Structural Adjustment Program,
1986-93, 1999), which makes it clear that Nigeria’s current political problems
have deep roots.
I begin by
emphasizing that democracy is not a spectator sport. Contesting for office and
voting are essential elements, but they are only parts of the necessary
processes for a well-functioning democracy. Given historical experience and huge
chasms between electoral campaign promises and post-electoral performance, one
should not expect too much from elections regardless of who wins. What Nigeria
needs is the deepening of democracy. The country’s masses, particularly the marginalized
women and youth, need more development, more equality, less injustice, social
emancipation, economic redistribution, support for human security, and
meaningful participation in politics in their own interest. Elections will not directly
address any of these imperatives.
What are the implications of the postponement of
the 2019 elections for democracy in the context of state-society relations in
Nigeria? In reflecting on this question, it’s remarkable how the long shadow of
the past dogs the present. Despite having approximately 70 Presidential
candidates, Nigerians must make a choice between two people: the current
incumbent, APC’s President Muhammadu Buhari and PDP’s Atiku Abubakar. That the
race is a two-man affair is testament to the weakness of the Nigerian
middle/upper class. This strata was decimated by the effects of the Structural Adjustment
Program (SAP), but is recovering. Many are also to be found among the
remittances-sending diaspora that is not allowed to exercise franchise,
although they are responsible for massive financial transfers and investment in
Nigeria.
One can also distinguish between the older middle
class that experienced the devastating effects of what some call the locust
years of SAP, and the newly emerging middle class that is alienated from
politics, or whose entry into politics the ‘independent’ candidates captured.
The middle class is also the base for civil society activism, but it is yet to
act in an organized way, as a class in its own interest. The dominance of
President Buhari and Atiku Abubakar can be attributed to the tendency for
post-authoritarian politics to manifest elements of authoritarianism even after
the end of authoritarian rule. Bangura (1991) called this situation authoritarian democracy (Bangura,
1991) ,
and Fareed Zakaria’s more popular phrase, illiberal
democracy also captures the same tendencies.
The military accumulated and monopolized political
power during the long years of dictatorship (1966-1999), that give them
significant wherewithal (economic power and social status, parlayed into
securing political power), to continue dominance in these early years of
democratization. Olusegun Obasanjo, and now, Muhammadu Buhari merely changed
their uniforms and became civilian rulers. Both have authoritarian tendencies. Ibrahim
Babangida, Abdusalami Abubakar and many other generals also exercise
significant power in Nigerian politics as power brokers and godfathers. The top
military brass also accumulated significant wealth, and have wealthy,
influential cohorts on whom they can depend for support. Atiku Abubakar was a Customs
officer, another alleged source of considerable wealth accumulation in
Nigeria’s economy. Money plays a huge role in Nigerian politics, making it
difficult for the middle class to generate enough to mobilize campaigns that successfully
challenge the uber wealthy. In addition, the middle class is yet to find a way
to assert itself through candidates that speak directly to their interests and
are driven by their agenda. It is also impossible not to remark on the
passivity of this middle class, its self-absorption, retreat into individualism
and consumerism, instead of working hard to envision and actualize more
progressive politics that presents an alternative to the status quo.
The middle class lacks organic links to the masses.
It fails to contribute to envisioning and producing a Nigeria that responds to
the hopes and aspirations of the masses. It does not sufficiently act as “agents
of a moral and intellectual reform developed from a class perspective.” Is the
intellectual stratum of the Nigerian middle class “acting in favor or against
the powers of capital?” Is it connecting the mass of population to the
leadership of the state through a web of social relationships?” (Herrera-Zgaib, 2009) . Is it engaged in public
persuasion to produce more rational, more humane, more relevant alternatives to
the status quo? Is it able to convince the Nigerian public that these are the appropriate
solutions to the political, economic and social predicaments they face? Is it
involved in facilitating the complex manoeuvring and dynamic positioning of the
masses, vis a vis the powerful gladiators of Nigerian politics? (Williams, 1988) .
Nigerian intellectuals suffered great repression
and suppression during the military era, a situation that destroyed the
universities and weakened their status as sites for knowledge production. It produced
intellectuals who collaborated with, and propagandized, for the military
regimes, and was highly rewarded for its devotion. The valorization of wealth,
regardless of the source, disdain for the poor, empty religiosity, and the reinforcement
of anti-intellectualism also grow apace. There is pervasive religiosity (Holdcroft, 2006) , with prosperity
gospel, (which within Pentecostalism, is the most rapidly growing variant of
Christianity), fusing casting its support for neoliberal resource accumulation (Gregory, 2014) , and support for patriarchy (Sullivan & Delaney, 2017) . Members are also
exhorted to support the top decision makers, and to respect and pray for
constituted authority. Liberation theology is yet to take hold in Nigeria. Since
the middle class is either unwilling or unable to take on the challenge of
inspiring and leading socioeconomic and political transformation, the nature of
the choice entails going with the lesser of two "evils," despite his
military antecedents, I believe that President Muhammadu Buhari is the better
choice.
Nigeria is 20 years into its current foray into
democratization. What has changed? To properly assess this, one must consider
issues of governance including legitimacy, lack of transparency, abuse of
office, corruption & kleptocracy, malfeasance, policy implementation, and
lack of efficiency in the delivery of services. Nigeria is also bedevilled by lack
of physical infrastructure, lack of social welfare infrastructure, intractable
and growing inequality, ethno-religious conflict, growing insecurity and lack
of human security. The hot button issue of the moment is the postponed
elections. The national electoral machinery looks disorganized and incompetent (Onyeji, 2019) . The INEC Chair,
Professor Yakubu Mahmood, who had up until the postponement, assured that the
elections were on track to be held as scheduled, made a 360 turnaround on the
eve of the February 16 elections and announced that there were logistical and
other problems that compelled postponement (CNBC.com, 2019) . There are reports
of PVCs, ballots, and completed collation sheets found that cause heightened
anxieties that the elections will be rigged. This contributes to growing fears
that the elections will not be free and fair. There are agitated calls to arms
that reveal persistent deep religious, ethnic, and other cleavages in Nigerian
politics. Amidst this cacophony, I will consider how Febuharing and Atikulating
the issues contribute to Naija Democrazy run amok.
I will now address three urgent aspects of the
challenges of democracy in Nigeria: Febuharing
the Issues; Atikulating the
Issues; Naija Democrazy run amok, and wrap up by suggesting what is
to be done.
The two-horse race is a major political issue.
While Nigeria has a very young population, two men in their 70s are the
strongest candidates in the Presidential contest. It would have been ideal for
the country to have equally strong young candidates who were well-prepared to
challenge the gerontocrats. There also are no strong women candidates to
challenge the male preserve that Nigerian Presidency has become. Not having women
and youth in leadership means there are few to no new ideas introduced into the
political system. The dynamic ideas and innovations that women and youth could
have offered to transform social, political and economic policy are prevented
from seeing the light of day. It is also inequitable and undemocratic to shut
out majority of Nigerians from leadership.
Political parties are important institutions for a
well-functioning democratic system. They should mobilize and bring people who
share common interests together, select the best candidates to run for office,
strive to gain control of the government through well-organized campaigns that
ask the electoral to vote for their candidates. They also should monitor the
opposition, have platforms that identify, and agglomerate issues based on the
party’s ideology and interests. However, Nigerian political parties are
expedient gatherings of people whose bandwagoning, cross-carpet strategies show
that the only logic is that of capturing state power. Electoral campaigns are
marked by violence, straightforward material inducements that ask the
electorate to exchange votes for money, food, and other commodities. This
transactional tendency is so strong that it has been dubbed “stomach
infrastructure.” The parties also lack internal democracy, and primaries are
often rigged. The two biggest parties—APC and PDP are indistinguishable. Each
has corrupt, expedient, unethical politicians. President Buhari, who has the
good reputation of not being corrupt had to depend on many such people for
support. Atiku, who is alleged to be corrupt is also surrounded by rich,
powerful and corrupt politicians. The challenge that President Buhari has had
during his first term is to kill corruption before it kills Nigeria. He has
begun the war but is yet to win because vested interests will not give up
without a fight. Given his pronouncements, I doubt that Atiku has any such
intention and it would be a mistake to give him the reins of power.
The election machinery should function efficiently
and in a manner that inspires trust in the freedom and fairness of the process.
However, Nigeria’s Independent National Electoral Commission, (INEC) postponed the
2019 elections five hours before the polls were scheduled to open. Since this
is the third consecutive time elections would be postponed (2011, 2015, and now
2019), the electoral machinery appears to be inefficient and disorganized. The
electorate is disillusioned, disappointed and frustrated with rumours of
rigging, sabotage, logistical nightmares, the massive waste of time, energy,
and tremendous loss to the economy that postponements cause. They find the
explanations by INEC illogical and unconscionable. This is bound to affect the
level of confidence that the elections are free and fair, and highly damaging
to Nigeria’s fledgling democracy.
Nigeria
continues its democratization with a rather unstable state-society relationship.
There are fundamental questions regarding the type of state that will best
serve a country whose goal is economic and political development. Unfortunately,
the state once again, is stuck deep in the morass of economic and political
crisis.
Febuharing the
Issues
President Buhari came in with a change agenda. Many
Nigerians were excited and encouraged, believing that they were on the
threshold of extraordinary social, economic, and political transformation that
would propel the country into development and more accountable, legitimate,
government. Many are very disappointed that the myriad problems that the Buhari
administration promised to conquer have become even more intractable. Among
these are problems of personal and human security, lack of welfare infrastructure,
lack of social services, particularly for Nigeria’s poor masses, the increase
of material poverty, and lack of government interest in communicating regularly
with the citizens on the state of the body politic and what was being done to
address these and other serious problems. It did not help that President
Muhammadu Buhari spent so much time abroad undergoing treatment. It also does
not help that some of his pronouncements make Nigerians remember his War
Against Indiscipline (WAI) policies, with their dictatorial overtones.
With 16.7 percent women Ministers (6 out of 36), President
Buhari’s administration appointed significantly less than the 35 percent
representation demanded by Nigerian women’s rights activists, promised by
Buhari during the 2015 election campaigns, and recommended by the 2006 National
Gender Policy (Ajayi, 2019) . This was very
disappointing for women activists. The President’s rhetoric is also very male
dominant. If given another opportunity to lead Nigeria, the President must
adhere by the recommendation of the National Gender Policy and catch up with
other African states like the Congo, Zambia (Inter Parliamentary Union, 2017) , and most recently,
Ethiopia, whose cabinet is 50% female (Schemm, 2018 ) .
There is restiveness in the Southeast from the Indigenous
People of Biafra (IPOB), and contrary to the administration’s pronouncement
that Boko Haram was technically defeated, it remains a menace. It is also
disheartening that the government seems to care more about answering questions
posed by external actors. It explains its position to foreign actors than to
ordinary Nigerians, to whom it must be accountable, according to the
constitution that it swore to uphold.
The intensification of herdsmen-farmer clashes that
predate the genesis of the Buhari administration (Obioha, 2008) is another serious
problem. Although this is a problem found all over the continent, and it is
attributed to factors including drastic limitations to pastoralists’ access to
resources (Tonah, 2002; Moritz, 2010) , there is widespread
perception in Nigeria that this is a problem unique to the country. Nigerians
in affected communities also see President Buhari as unfairly favouring the
herdsmen, who are perceived to be his Fulani kinsmen in Nigeria’s hyper-ethnicized
politics. The rising numbers of deaths, sophistication of weaponry allegedly
used by the “herdsmen,” brutality, and inflamed rhetoric have combined with
perceived government inability to proffer viable solutions (Kazeem, 2018) .
There is also strong perception that President
Buhari, like President Olusegun Obasanjo before him, is using the
anti-corruption agencies to persecute his political enemies and many of his
supporters who are corrupt are left off the hook. As a matter of fact, Atiku
Abubakar claimed that Obasanjo used EFCC against him because they were feuding (Wikileaks, 2006) .
With estimates of over 50 percent, Youth
unemployment and underemployment are way too high (Adejokun, 2018) . This has
contributed to increased despair, disillusionment, crime, social strife, and
heightened desire to embrace international migration as a solution. Time and
again, gruesome deaths, robbery, and harsh assaults and other abuses in the
Sahara desert, Libya, and in the Mediterranean remind us about the torment
experienced by those caught up in this turmoil.
Clearly, the administration has not consistently
and effectively explained what it is doing to address these and many other
problems to Nigerians in a manner that captures the people’s imagination.
Nigeria has a mono-export economy, and the
misfortune of the Buhari administration is that the international oil market
had tanked just before it took over. Without the earnings from petroleum
exports, Nigeria is unable to fund many budgetary initiatives. The economy
shrank considerably and given this dependence, only a dramatic upswing in the
oil market would provide Nigeria with the funds needed to pay for much of what
it needs. Understandably, people who suffer the brunt of this shrinkage are
angry, disillusioned and impatient with what they see as flimsy government
excuses for its ineptitude.
As a result, many Nigerians would not mind having
corruption as long as the economy is flush, and they are able to live
relatively better than they are today. Although this is short-sighted and
ill-advised, it’s the situation.
Atikulating
the Issues
Atiku Abubakar, President Buhari’s main challenger
for the Presidency, is a businessman who was VP under President Olusegun
Obasanjo, and previous contestant for the Presidency. In pursuit of this
agenda, he’s switched parties quite a few times, a strategy that’s pervasive in
Nigerian politics. I remain astounded at Nigerians’ tendency to forget history.
Atiku is accused of grand kleptocracy and malfeasance, most volubly by the man
for whom he served as VP, President Obasanjo. There are transcripts of US
congressional hearings with documentation of massive transfers of funds into
the US by him and one of his four wives. He is accused of money laundering. The
transcripts should be online for anyone to read (Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations United States Senate, 2010) . But just to present
some of the documentation verbatim, here below is an excerpt:
Abubakar Case
History
From 2000 to 2008, Jennifer Douglas, a U.S. citizen and the fourth wife
of Atiku Abubakar, former Vice President and former candidate for President of
Nigeria, helped her husband bring over $40 million in suspect funds into the
United States through wire transfers sent by offshore corporations to U.S. bank
accounts. In a 2008 civil complaint, the U.S. Securities and Exchange
Commission alleged that Ms. Douglas received over $2 million in bribe payments
in 2001 and 2002, from Siemens AG, a major German corporation. While Ms.
Douglas denies wrongdoing, Siemens has already pled guilty to U.S. criminal
charges and settled civil charges related to bribery and told the Subcommittee
that it sent the payments to one of her U.S. accounts. In 2007, Mr. Abubakar
was the subject of corruption allegations in Nigeria related to the Petroleum
Technology Development Fund (Permanent
Subcommittee on Investigations United States Senate, 2010) .
President Olusegun Obasanjo on Atiku in his book:
My Watch:
What I did not know, which came out glaringly later, was his parental
background which was somewhat shadowy, his propensity to corruption, his
tendency to disloyalty, his inability to say and stick to the truth all the
time, a propensity for poor judgment, his belief and reliance on marabouts, his
lack of transparency, his trust in money to buy his way out on all issues and
his readiness to sacrifice morality, integrity, propriety truth and national
interest for self and selfish interest (Volume 2, Pages 31- 32).
For some, Atiku seems to be preferable to Buhari
due to Buhari’s failure to address the concerns of Nigerians who are suffering
the economic pains resulting from the decline in international petroleum prices,
and other issues identified above. Nigerians feeling the pain blame it on
Buhari. The Buhari administration has been inept in coming up with clear,
digestible, convincing explanations that capture the imagination of Nigerians.
It has had the last four years to do so. Having a convincing narrative of
what’s going on and why is part of what good governance is about.
The elections have been delayed. Nigerians have a
chance to think clearly and refuse to be Atikulated by an Atikulooter.
Naija
Democrazy run amok
Here’s a long quote from an old paper of
mine, which I still find relevant.
Slightly
less than four [now six] decades ago, Nigeria became independent from colonial
rule…However, the Nigerian state maintains its essential character as a
colonial imposition. It is bifurcated, Janus-faced, over-centralized. The
indirect rule system that was introduced during colonialism persists, since
there are a few citizens, composed overwhelmingly of male members of the state
created bourgeoisie, a few token women, and many subjects, composed of the
poor, and the overwhelming majority of women. The decentralization that has
taken place thus far is a decentralization of despotism.
In
1999 when Nigeria’s fourth republic began, the specter of SAP from the
mid-1980s was still very much alive in the Nigerian imagination. SAP had
adverse, detrimental effects on Nigeria’s socioeconomic, and political relations.
There were (Okome M. O., 1998) . The depth of the
crisis was so profound that the SAP years were described as the lost decades,
when the African continent suffered drastic reversals in both socioeconomic
well-being and state power (Mkandawire, 2002) . The SAP
conditionalities imposed harsh economic stabilization regimes that forced
Nigeria to embrace devaluation, subsidy elimination, mass retrenchment,
prioritization of debt payment over concern for citizens’ welfare needs, privatization,
and embrace of neoliberal free trade. Deindustrialization, decrepitude of
higher educational institutions. The economic decline was deep, and I’ve often
wondered whether Nigerians want to be SAPped again. SAP rent/tore the Nigerian social
fabric. Looking at Nigeria today, the World Bank said that despite the deep
decline in its GDP in 2016, “Nigeria’s economy has performed much better in
recent years than it did during previous boom-bust oil-price cycles, such as in
the late 1970s or mid-1980s.” The Bank attributes Nigeria’s problems to
overdependence on earnings from international oil sales, consequent volatile
growth and welfare costs on the population (The World Bank, 2018) .
Many
Nigerians are unwilling to experience the depth of economic pain that was
imposed during the SAP years. This explains the willingness to trust that
someone presented as a successful businessman just has to wave a magic wand and
presto! The economy is transformed. Is a personal business the same as a
national economy? Paul Krugman’s “A Country is not a Company,” published in
Harvard Business Review, explains why. In the first place, business executives
do not understand “the relationship between exports and job creation, and,
second, the relationship between foreign investment and trade balances. Both
issues involve international trade, partly because it is the area I know best
but also because it is an area in which businesspeople seem particularly
inclined to make false analogies between countries and corporations.” More
importantly, business moguls are not good at providing general theories that
are useful for economic policymaking. Further, they, like many laypersons, do
not grasp the complexity of national economies (Krugman, 1996) .
Is
SAP not part of a neoliberal economic strategy? Part of the policy package is
opening-up the national economy to foreign competition and making the
environment business-friendly. This benefits multinationals more than young and
struggling home industry. It benefits the wealthy at the expense of the poor.
Economic growth might result, but it will be accompanied by increased
inequality in a country that already has a huge mass of impoverished and
immiserated citizens. There have been strong criticisms of this model of
economic planning after the 2008 global economic meltdown (See liberal
economists like Paul Krugman, Joseph Stiglitz, and even the IMF’s Christine
Lagarde; as well as Thomas Piketty and Robert Reich); but it does not seem as
though Atiku and his running mate are aware of this crisis of capitalism and
calls by for reform to decrease inequality and curtail crony capitalism.
This
paper began with Fela Anikulapo Kuti’s “Teacher, Don’t Teach me Nonsense,” and an
excerpt from an interview of Senator Abraham Adesanya. Fela’s song critiqued
Nigeria’s corrupt, illiberal politics, where elections were rigged,
mismanagement, abuse of power, impunity, mismanagement, kleptocracy and
austerity were prevalent. The Nigerian political elite lacked organic
connection to the people, they appeared to be puppets to imperialists who had
left but were still in control. Democracy was subverted into Democrazy. Senator
Adesanya was asked by a journalist: “What is your vision of Nigeria in the next
millennium?” The senator's reply that he dreams of a Nigeria where no one is
oppressed, a country that is egalitarian, where all peoples can freely exercise
the right to self-determination, where there is fairness, impartiality and the
rule of law, where the legacy that the present generations leave for future
Nigerians is that of freedom and equality in all respects.
The
claims that are being made by more progressive elements in the organized civil society
in Nigeria are essentially reflected in Fela’s critique and Senator Adesanya’s statement.
However, civil society must be strengthened vis a vis the state. The demand
that people participate in the making of decisions that will impact not only on
them, on their well-being, and also negatively impact on their material
interests, is not a frivolous demand. It is a claim by people against the state
that questions what the appropriate role of the state ought to be in the
realization of equitable economic and political development. It is a claim that
remains relevant today.
Nigeria
is still in the throes of the crisis that was set in motion as a result of the
decision to experiment with policies like SAP that were devised for other
economies in other lands. Having a strong civil society is a necessary bulwark
against the misuse of state power. In this respect, both state and civil
society in Nigeria are works in progress.
What
is to be Done?
In the
past, I pointed out that citizens of Nigeria have been denied the dividends of
democracy (Okome, 2006) . Nigerians are
understandably dismayed and disillusioned. Some have even despaired. In such
circumstances, ‘politics as usual’ cannot suffice. Nigerians believed President
Buhari when he said he was bringing change into the political system. Many
Nigerians are not feeling the change because the reactionary forces are still
very influential, poverty seems to be intractable, and economic inequality has
increased.
Many
issues that most Nigerians are just noticing have been part of our historical
experience. However, people tend to notice problems and see them more clearly
in bad times. In good times, problematic issues are swept under the rug, and
euphoria obscures many challenges. Do we want to continue democrazy? Do we want meaningful change? The choice is in our hands.
Free and fair elections give ordinary Nigerians the opportunity to consider
their own interests instead of being hoodwinked by people who would get into
power and Atikuloot our patrimony.
Instead, we must continue with democracy but just
focusing on contestation for political office and voting are insufficient.
Citizens must demand accountability, transparency, the rule of law, and other
laudable democratic principles. These demands must be made publicly by broad
coalitions that transcend the religious, class, ethnic, and gender divides that
militate against united and effective agitation for change.
We need stronger institutions: laws, systems, and
procedures that will strengthen and safeguard our young democracy. Our
legislature is more interested in its perks and trappings of office than in
doing its constitutionally mandated work in a way that contributes to
strengthening Nigerian democracy. We also need strong middle class support for,
and deployment of liberation theology. This means the freedom from social,
political, and economic persecution, and marginalization in expectation of
fundamental deliverance from structural violence and tyranny (Welcome to the Many Forms of
Liberation Theology, n.d.) . and Freirean
pedagogy of the oppressed (1972), which
says: “Education either functions as an instrument which is used to facilitate
integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and
bring about conformity or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by
which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover
how to participate in the transformation of their world” (Freire, 1972) . As Horton, Freire,
Bell and Gaventa said: “The more people participate in the process of their own
education, and the more people participate in defining what kind of production
to produce, and for what and why, the more people participate in the
development of their selves. The more people become themselves, the better the
democracy” (Horton, Bell, & Gaventa,
1990) .
All Nigerians have to rise collectively to the challenge of becoming ourselves
so that we further develop our democracy and move away from the zone on
democrazy.
The postponement of elections and the lack of
convincing explanations for why four years have been insufficient to prepare
for these current elections means that INEC must be seriously overhauled. The
executive and bureaucratic institutions, the legal and judicial systems, the
governance of the police, ombudsman, human rights institutions all need serious
work.
Our system needs to operate the checks and
balancing that ensure the functioning of governance in a manner that prevents
abuse of power and impunity. We need press freedom. There is too much evidence
that the press is captured, often by the highest bidders. The role of the press
as watchdogs who keep people informed is key to enabling meaningful
participation. The meaning of democracy is that power should belong to the
people. Nigerians should rise to the challenge of making democracy work to our
advantage.
As far back as 2012 I had cautioned, that:
Demands for the dividends of democracy do not emerge in a vacuum. For this reason, people feel duped when there
are no dividends to be found. The politicians that won the last elections
themselves set up the baseline expectations that while the Nigerian economy was
in the doldrums when they took over, they would make quantifiable and
progressive changes in the economic situation in Nigeria. While it is to be expected that politicians
would want to sweep the pronouncements that made the expectations rational
under the rug, people who believed them were quite unwilling to be duped.
Therefore, through the press, they demand some reckoning. This is one reason
why one of the chieftains of the People's Democratic Party (PDP) was questioned
by a journalist in the following vein in September 2000:When the new
administration took over power in 1999, the rate of interest for prime
borrowers was between 12 and 15 per cent, it is now 30 and 35 per cent; the
growth rate of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) was 2.4 per cent, it is now
negative; the naira then could be exchanged at the rate of N88 to 1 US Dollar,
it is now N134 to 1 USD; inflation rate stood at 13 per cent then, it is now 26
per cent; unemployment rate then was...."
Of course, the journalist was cut off by the uncomfortable politician…
It is heart-breaking that what obtained in 2001 remains
the same in 2019. The Naira has declined further. Poverty has increased
exponentially. A few are wealthy and comfortable and majority are in dire
straits. Even more Nigerians see migration as their only option, and they are
taking desperate measures. Given these circumstances, there is even more at
stake for people who want Nigerian democracy to thrive. Giving the reins of
power to those who believe in self-enrichment at the expense of the masses is
not the answer. But both the APC and PDP have their share of such individuals
due to the head-spinning carpet-crossing that is a routine part of Nigeria’s
politics.
Having been excluded, women and other marginalized
minorities must work through organized, focused, coalitions that are
trans-class, trans-region, trans-religion, trans-ethnicity, to put more women
into formal and informal positions of power in Nigeria’s political system. Nigerian
women and youth must organize, plan, and in every possible way, prepare to
enter Nigerian politics as leaders in their own interest. The extent to which
they can do so would be the extent to which the country’s democracy deepens and
meets the needs of majority of its people.
Nigerians should refuse to be persuaded to give up
on the general interest of the nation to serve the sectional agenda of
power-hungry elites that have not inspired confidence in the past.
I believe that between the two candidates in this two-person race,
Buhari is the better option for Nigeria.
*** I would like to express my
great appreciation to Modupe Oluremi Kuteyi, Don Robotham, Aisha Muhammed
Oyebode and Cyril Obi for their sound critiques, suggestions and questions.
They helped me tremendously. Consequently, this iteration of the paper is much
better. However, the opinions and conclusions expressed are all mine.
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