Issues in Nigerian Politics and society.
By Charles Oladipo Akinde MA; MBA; Ph.D.
A reaction or contribution to the Webinar on
The “Necessity to Restructure Nigeria” organized by The Political Science Association of Nigeria in January and the one organized by The Institute of Cultural Studies of Obafemi Awolowo University Ile-Ife. On the issue of “Illiberal Democracy” on the 14th of February 2024.
Here we go again 64 years after independence, we are still blaming the colonial masters for the predicament which Nigeria finds herself today. One wonders that for 64 years we are still groping in the dark not knowing which way to go. like Sonny Okosun said in the 80s in his epochal music “which way Nigeria, which way to go.” Let me say with some emphasis that the fault is in ourselves not in the colonial masters.. We know that the colonial masters did not mean well for us when they left, but what makes us (Africans)kill or discredit our promising leaders? starting from Patrice Lumumba of Congo now Zaire who was gruesomely modered by Mobutu in the Congo; Afrifa and his gang deposed Kwame Nkrumah, Idi Amin Dada deposed Milton Obote and so on and so forth.
We (Africans) are manipulated because we allow ourselves to be manipulated. We have the required intelligence to make us grow, but we fail to allow it to germinate let alone to grow. If Barrack Obama has been in Africa to attempt to rule Kenya which is his father’s country, I bet, He would have been killed or imprisoned. We are no brutes though, after all, there are some of our best brains excelling in Europe and America. The system allows them to excel, therefore they excel.
The two webinars which I will treat together in this article are different in names but put together, they ask the same question, which way Nigeria? One deals with restructuring the other deals with illiberal Democracy. These are fundamental issues bugging the minds of the people today. It is funny, in the 80s and 90s We were discussing ideology and role of parties, whether we should have one or two parties, today we are discussing restructuring and we are calling the essence of democracy itself to question. What else should we have? Prof W. Alade Fawole proposes panacracy in place of what he called illiberal democracy. On the other end, Professor Ndigbo was proposing a two tier system eliminating the Local Government entirely. Some advocate a return to regionalism or so. All these talks are of course within the academic environment where you are allowed to formulate any theory, practicable or not; after all, it is in an academic environment. Today no one is talking about Pan Africanism or the like, we have enough in our hands so to say; social atrophy, which involves a loss of function or deterioration in structure is probably at play.
The title of the first webinar was “Restructuring,” sponsored by the Political Science Association of Nigeria, they have two eminent speakers, Professors Jide Odigbo and Jonathan Makinwa. In the second seminar the title was “Illiberal Democracy,” with Professor W. A. Fawole as the key speaker, no doubt these personalities are up to the task and did very well in both. Interestingly both webinars proposed what we are not used to know before, the first proposed that we should cancel the local government entirely living us with the Federal and State Governments. The second webinar told us to forget all about democracy the we should adopt panacracy instead.
What in fact is illiberal democracy?
“Illiberal democracy” refers to a political system where elections take place but fundamental liberties and minority rights are often restricted or disregarded. In illiberal democracies, leaders may be elected through democratic processes, but they often undermine democratic institutions, limit civil liberties, and suppress opposition, thus deviating from the principles of liberal democracy. In an illiberal democracy, leaders may use various tactics to consolidate power and control, such as:
Manipulating elections: Leaders may use tactics like gerrymandering, voter intimidation, or electoral fraud to ensure they remain in power.
Suppressing opposition: The government may restrict freedom of speech, assembly, and the press to silence dissenting voices and maintain control over the narrative.
Undermining independent institutions: Leaders might weaken or co-opt institutions like the judiciary, legislature, or electoral commission to prevent them from acting as checks on their power.
Targeting minority rights: The government may discriminate against certain minority groups or restrict their rights, often scapegoating them to rally support among the majority population.
What is more, illiberal democracy can thrive only in societies where there is a significant level of political apathy, weak civil society institutions, and a culture that prioritizes stability and order over individual freedoms as we have in Nigeria today. Additionally, illiberal democracies may be more likely to emerge in societies facing economic instability, social unrest, or security threats, as leaders may use these conditions as justification for consolidating power and restricting liberties in the name of national security or stability.This what I would call pseudo-democracy. which refers to a system or situation that gives the appearance or facade of democracy but lacks key elements such as genuine political competition, meaningful participation by citizens, or respect for human rights and the rule of law. It often involves manipulation or control by a ruling elite or government, giving the illusion of choice or popular representation without truly empowering the populace.
Having said that, it appears that the eminent professor who gave the lead lecture placed the blame on the colonial masters who have left 64 yeas ago, though still continue their domination under neo-colonialism. But the political practice that breeds the kind of polity that we have today are our home made by our own kith and kin. They are Nigerians starting from the Military incursion into Nigerian politics in 1966 onwards. The people who won independence for us meant well, even with what we call 500 ethnic groups were recognized by then. I remember that Alhaji AbubakarTafawa Balewa the first Prime Minister in Nigeria talked about “Unity in Diversity”. Which means our diverse nationalities had been recognized even at the inception of our independence. The issue is how we can manage our diversity properly to give everybody a voice in the running of Government?.
First we thought that it would be done through constitution, we drafted one of the best constitutions in the world, but that was suspended by the military regimes that replaced our constitution with theirs, until we have Sanni Abacha’s constitution of 1999 which Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), in Punch Newspaper of 11th February 2924 called a fake document. It is surprising that only now that the elites in Nigeria are noticing the problem with Sanni Abacha’s constitution. Even our lawyers plead citing it in court instead of correcting it. May be no one wants to have a descenting voice where death is the ultimate punishment for anyone who opposes the generally accepted norm. Now that the constitution under our watch has put us under the chains in which we are now.
No matter how much adjustment you make in that document, that can correct the anomalies contained in it. It was not a constitution of the people by the people for the people. It is a military constitution.Therefore, we must face the fact that it was the Military, our military, that puts Africa as a whole in the political quagmire that we find ourselves today, not the colonial masters directly. Starting from the assassination of Patrice Lumumba, to the deposed leaders like Kwame Nkrumah of Ghana, Milton Obote of Uganda by Idi Amin, even up to Sankara and our Murtala Mohammed. Though the latter were military men, but they seem to be the military with conscience. But of course military is military. That was what gave us Sanni Abacha’s dictatorship, the same gave Uganda Idi Amin Dada and Zaire former Congo got Mobutu Sese Seko.Whatever one may call it under true democracy, military rule is an aberration. Whether we like to admit or not, to my mind, it is African military that scuttles African experimentation with different political systems having successfully implemented in one place, the imposition of neo-colonial political system was forced on us using our own people in uniform, because they have the power of coercion, the gun, they gave a semblance of stability, but only for a while.
Reacting to the webinar on illeberal Democracy, I will like to align myself with the opinion if Tosin King James. Who said, “I will suggest we begin to put heads together to proffer alternatives or amendments to democracy, otherwise we may be unleashing anarchy on the world by our wholesale condemnation of the system. Can we look at the quality of representation or/and the system of producing representation? Is there another system that can serve as a worthy alternative? I have not seen any in existence.” People can make us over-criticize a system to the extent that we forget that the problem is not the system, it is the people managing the system.
In his own reaction Andrew@Cambridge prophetically said, quoting David Hume that After his skepticism, Hume (The British Philosopher) says, “can I do better than propose the difficulty to the public, even though, perhaps, I have small hope of obtaining a solution?”
Taiwo A. in his reaction said that “There is nothing wrong with democracy. whats wrong is application of democracy to highly fractionalises demographics like Nigeria. For democracy to work in countries like Nigeria, restructuring into homogenous demographics is critical”
It follows that an unenlightened electorate cannot produce democracy. We must engage in vigorous and continuous campaign for civic responsibilities, integrity and public morality in and outside the classroom and during election and after. The work of National Orientation Agency must include this public education. In a nutshell I would say that there in nothing wrong with democracy as we know it, but the operators. There are many areas to consider in dealing with these problems for example,
– We cannot have consensus in Nigeria for various reasons ethnic attachment, religion, therefore, that makes revolution impossible
– We have to establish checks and balances that works, make EFCC or ICPC work without unnecessary control, when you have the right people with requisite integrity to lead it.
– Until we have people with right set of mind and right orientation no system can work no matter how good it may be on paper.
– Democracy will not work where there is mass poverty.
– We have to understand that the dividends of democracy is not the distribution of rice etc, rice and clothing is not democracy it is palliative as they call it – but for how long?
– To make the system, any system to work properly we must get people with right mind or orientation, men and women of Integrity,and Moral uprightness etc
– must address peoples’ apathy; where you have 100 eligible voters and only 10 or twenty came to vote on election day, is that democracy?
– If democracy is the peoples involvement on decision making through their representatives where election is free and fear where the rule of law is observed the representatives must be meticulously selected.
Now let me talk about restructuring. Yes, restructuring is a management term meaning rearrangement of a sort or adjustment. It refers to making significant changes to the organizational structure, operations, or finances of a company or entity. It can involve various actions including the management or business processes.The goal of restructuring is to improve efficiency, reduce costs, adapt to market changes, or enhance competitiveness. Therefore when we talk of restructuring we must mention its subject, whether political, geographical, economic or what have you. In other words, for restructuring to have meaning we must also state clearly what is it that we are restructuring, its subject.
In the various discussions on restructuring people talked about many things some of which are very touchy issues that many are wary in accepting. Thinking that it could take away their power bases. For example, while some people understand political restructuring as desirable they may consider financial restructuring like revenue allocation and resource rearrangement not acceptable. In discussing restructuring, these are various types about which people talked;
Power equation; Geographical space, Demographics, plurality; unholy alliance; regional autonomy; Constitutional restructuring (modification or amendment); Devolution of power: Resource sharing formula; Holistic approach to political restructuring; Nigerian elite fails to agree on what to restructure; These are some of the nagging problems the issue of restructuring must address. The most pressing is the managing differences and religious intolerance. When people pick up the discussion on restructuring, these are the issues that come up for discussion. Unless we are specific, e. g. political or geographic restructuring, we will end up like merry- go-round, we may have a grand ride, we are bound to come to the same place as we started. Before I leave this topic, let me be clear about the issue of cultural differences or language grouping. I have treated this issue in another occasion in the 1980s differences in linguistic group does not necessarily breed disunity. It could be a source of strength rather than otherwise-our diversity may be a source of cultural enrichment of the nation. Instead of repeating myself, I may have to upload my view then, which I still hold now perhaps with some modifications, for all to see. I may be wrong though, but that is my opinion.
Restructuring or not, what exactly does not make Nigerian polity to work properly? In my opinion it is corruption. Surprisingly, in many discussions on the issue of restructuring, the one under discussion included, this issue did not surface at all. Except the contribution of A Taiwo, who made an allusion to the issue of corruption. And from many articles and long essays which I have read, only a few, did mention about this cancer-worm in Nigerian politics corruption. From my search for answer, I was satisfied with the treatment of Eze Kerian in his essay published in the global journal of Human Science published in 2018. I will pick up two fundamental points he treated in the essay, the issue of corruption and the military incursion into Nigerian and by extension of African politics I quote;
“Restructuring is a song on the lips of many Nigerians. It has trended for decades and seems to be an inter-generational topical issue in Nigeria. The persistent call for restructuring takes numerous dimensions, but particularly outstanding is in the dimension of politics. It is no surprise though, because the philosophy behind the existence of every state and the control of its resources bothers on politics. Therefore, when there is a damaged cog in the wheel of the politics of the state, it becomes imperative to politically restructure the state. Since this is so, the big question then becomes ‘what is the damaged cog in the wheel of the politics of Nigeria that is a necessity for restructuring? What are the challenges of political restructuring in Nigeria? And what is the way forward?’ It is in a bid to fill this gap that this paper attempts to answer the above questions through an analytical study of a number of restructuring opinions.
Military Incursion:
The effect of military incursion on Nigerian politics at the early age of Nigerian independence is till date an inhibitor of political restructuring. ….
“Similarly, the military constitution which is unitary in nature was imposed on Nigeria following democratic transition and was made written and rigid despite its non-federalist nature. This makes it quite difficult for the federalist political structure of Nigeria to be easily restructured since the which shared powers and responsibilities unequally is the root of Nigerian federalism and is thus far, written and rigid, making it difficult to amend. If this unitary constitution in a federalist format is difficult to amend, it then follows that the structure it laid would be difficult to be restructured.”
Corruption:
“This is an anguis in herba– a snake conveniently hidden in the grassland of Nigeria social scene. The struggle for political restructuring has seen shades of manifestation of corruption in different dimensions. There are corrupt officials who are but political restructuring entrepreneurs using the call for political restructuring as a way to gain favour from the government or gain recognition or even paid. ……..”
“This is an absolute inhibition of political restructuring in Nigeria. Similarly, corruption has also manifested in the struggle for political restructuring in the nature of presence of corrupt recidivist politicos who having been in the position of government ab initio have also resorted to influence those in government now who are more like their godsons not to effect political restructuring. “ This is if you cann’t beat them you join them sydrome or mentality. The simple name for such is collectively referred to as Kleptocracy.
Kleptocracy is a form of government or leadership where corruption and exploitation are rampant, with those in power using their positions to embezzle and steal public funds for personal gain. In a kleptocracy, there is often little regard for the rule of law or the well being of the general population, as those in power prioritize their own enrichment over the interests of the nation.
If anything, Nigeria is operating not illiberal or any type of Democracy, but they are operating Kleptocracy in its pure form. That system of governance has affected Nigerian society like a virus which contaminates even the religious bodies that were supposed to teach morality and uprightmness.
(To be Continued.)