Chasing shadows

The judgment implied that postponing elections simply because the Armed Forces say they are unable to provide security cover is unconstitutional and has no basis in law. Both the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Chief Odigie-Oyegun and the Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie have objected vehemently to the […]

The judgment implied that postponing elections simply because the Armed Forces say they are unable to provide security cover is unconstitutional and has no basis in law. Both the Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Chief Odigie-Oyegun and the Chairman of the Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) Alhaji Ibrahim Coomassie have objected vehemently to the intended militarization of elections claiming government’s insistence on use of the military is all about subverting the will of the people as allegedly done in Ekiti. The Constitution makes it quite clear that Presidents can only use the army for internal operations with the express permission of the National Assembly. Irrespective of its unconstitutionality military leaders and many other Nigerians believe soldiers should be involved because of an unspecified “mandate” to support elections with security.
Although it’s evident the Nigerian Police Force (NPF) doesn’t have the capacity to carry out their security functions, it’s also being pretty obvious that involving the military or getting their permission before elections can proceed is an absurdity. It’s also obvious that, those responsible for forcing the postponement of voting were doing the bidding of the presidency and ruling party. The President’s subsequent frenzied campaigning, commissioning of projects, and political pontificating in Church long after the election should have held is clear evidence that he needs more time to convince the electorate. One upshot of the postponement is that the defamatory campaign initiated by the PDP, has been fully joined. The APC have retaliated with unnecessarily intimate details of the First Families domestic affairs. Although completely irrelevant, the public is lapping up all the insults with relish while real issues are ignored. What should concern everyone is the failure of our political class to evolve and mature. Campaigns at all levels have been characterized by insults, innuendo’s, defamation, violence, murders, and various other forms of denying free speech or  freedom of assembly. Democracy can never grow in such an atmosphere of violence and mutual distrust. True democracy is about government of the people, by the people, and for the people. On all three counts we have failed. Government of the people means the political space should be open to everyone.
These days a political career in Nigeria is an investment only the rich can contemplate.  The common man has been consistently denied the opportunity to stand for elective office, by the astronomical amounts involved in pursuing nomination let alone victory at the polls. Government by the people means there is no room for “Executive” President’s or “Executive” governors who rule according to their whim.  True democracy means elected leaders must implement policies contained within their manifestos which the public have assented to. Notorious for being elected without the baggage of manifestos our leaders can never be held to any promises to do something concrete. Government for the people means political office holders shouldn’t earn hundreds of times the national minimum wage.
 True democracy means enforcement of citizen’s rights. It means the provision of public amenities takes precedence of the provision of perks for political office holders. Unfortunately for us our democracy has been reduced to simple conduct of elections. Once elected, our leaders become self-obsessed dictators enjoying the perks of office without applying themselves to the responsibilities. If there is one truth about the upcoming elections it’s that there is indeed little to choose from between the two main parties. The APC has correctly been referred to as old wine in a new bottle, but at least the bottle is new. There is nothing new about the PDP whose mismanagement of our affairs over the past fifteen years has been condemned worldwide. According to the party’s national publicity secretary, the shift in dates for the general elections “saved the nation and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) from a huge embarrassment”.
It probably saved his party some embarrassment too. Although it’s debatable whether the majority of Nigerians actually understand the issues involved, very few Nigerians believe that the elections would have been postponed if the ruling party had been assured of victory. Our problems with elections have been traced to the fact that unlike most advanced democracies, we started our democratic experiment with universal suffrage in which all citizens over a certain age were qualified to vote irrespective of their social, economic or educational status. The illogical, and base arguments used in our political campaigns can only be effective amongst uneducated voters.
It’s therefore not surprising that as a nation with a large illiterate population we continue to expect development by chasing the shadows of ethnicity, religion, unearned wealth, and selfishness, rather than practicing true democracy. It’ noteworthy that, despite all the hullaballoo they are causing, very few of today’s political class were anywhere near the front lines during the pro-democracy anti-military struggles when patriotic Nigerians were killed or incarcerated for their belief in democracy. No matter who emerges victorious at the upcoming elections it will be difficult if not impossible for the nation to develop unless we radically alter our thinking, radically alter the modus operandi of government, and stop chasing shadows.