2014: Nigeria’s year of deceit and self-denial

Historians would no doubt remember the year as one where fake patriots denied, all year through, the obvious vanishing life of their nation. It was a year in which virtually everyone could see and feel the pains of the nation; yet majority of the people chose to deny the obvious by pretending that all was […]

Historians would no doubt remember the year as one where fake patriots denied, all year through, the obvious vanishing life of their nation. It was a year in which virtually everyone could see and feel the pains of the nation; yet majority of the people chose to deny the obvious by pretending that all was well or would soon be fine. In reality however, neither the idea of a nation-state nor the essence of a government was discernible. Although our bastardized constitution provides that the welfare and security of the citizenry shall be the primary purpose of government, the subject is not in any way our official priority. Unlike what happens in viable nations where government is organized to put the sanctity of life above every other thing, Nigerians always rationalize the daily deaths of their compatriots.
Those who blame government for not tackling Boko Haram early enough may have a point but a stronger point is its failure to rally the people against insurgency. As soon as avoidable deaths began to happen, government should have led the entire nation in doing nothing else other than stopping the trend. Being experts in blame game, we were unable to galvanize our people and totally mobilize them against the subject. Unfortunately, because ours is a nation where no one comes forward to bell the cat, each of us rallies round what touches only him. That is the fate of our North East zone that has been under fire for some time now. While the affected are languishing in pain and grief, the rest of us still spend ample time on parties and merriments. The point becomes clearer when we compare our reaction to insurgency with our national reaction to Ebola. The latter was swift because we all saw that each of us was facing imminent danger
Insurgency on the other hand, has been restricted to virtually one zone. Accordingly, what happens there hardly pricks our national conscience. While many Nigerians in some parts were enjoying cross-over religious services and other forms of celebrations on New Year’s Eve, 7 people were killed when a bus exploded in a village close to Potiskum, the commercial nerve of Yobe State. The bus according to reports went up in flames from multiple bomb blasts that killed all its occupants.  On the same day, a female suicide bomber was killed as she tried to enter a military barracks in a place called Bolari in Gombe State. On New Year’s Day proper, another suicide bomber blew himself up outside the ECWA church injuring several people. Although the incidents are not as grave as previous ones which claimed hundreds of lives, they serve to remind us of the unending grief in parts of our country which we appear to have grown to accept as normal
Painfully, those who are mandated to protect our people do not seem to see the task as fundamental. Instead, their disposition suggests that a more important assignment is how to win another election supposedly for the purpose of protecting the ordinary man. Rather than urging governments to live-up to their mandate, our elite class is more bothered about the possibility of election violence in 2015. Interestingly, we all know from history and from emerging political threats that violence in 2015 will happen. As my people say those who want to prevent war must first of all arrest disagreements. Otherwise, those who have said nothing about the zero-sum nature of our political system where the winner takes all, should expect that in such a struggle for power, candidates will resort to winning by whatever method and weaponry?
Professor Bolaji Akinyemi’s imagination that holding the 2 Presidential candidates accountable for the actions of their followers could stop election violence is not feasible. His suggestion cannot even reduce violence let alone to stop it. Akinyemi may have meant well but the disposition of some followers which may never be known to the leaders could be overwhelming as those who hope to get appointments if a particular party wins often become ‘holier than the Pope’ notwithstanding party plans and decisions. Under the circumstance, to apply vicarious liability to criminal law as Akinyemi prescribes is not only unlawful but unworkable in a developing society where politics is the major national occupation.   
That is why internal democracy remains a victim of Nigeria’s democratic practice-a situation in which a man who becomes a governor uses the position to acquire stupendous wealth with which he easily displaces his own mentors in any contest! It also explains why politicians are able to render our electoral body inefficient or impartial-a situation which makes the distribution of voters’ cards more tedious than voting itself which is the high-point of elections. During the heated debate on increased voting centres, one official of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) explained that the increase in the North was because INEC had no evidence on paper that people were moving away from the area.  It is pure deceit because as the Jigawa State Governor, Sule Lamido recently testified, the tension in the North is “so palpable that many concerned northerners have opted to relocate from their homes until after the next general election”.  With so many uncared for internally displaced persons all over, did the governor make a new point?
If not for self-interest, why are legislators afraid of e-voting? But for self-denial, why is no one condemning the fielding of candidates at elections for primordial reasons? Why for instance, did the All Progressive Congress (APC) drop a tested achiever like Babatunde Fashola just to fulfil a Muslim-Christian ticket? Is it not for the same reason that we ignore our very best while seeking to implement any policy? We submit that whether Christian, Muslim, Northerner or Southerner; our troubled nation desires only who can BEST solve our problem and move the nation forward. Where ever he is from as well as his religious beliefs are inexpedient.