Rescuing Nigeria requires a formidable alternative – not another pressure group

The big political development of the past month – although it did not generate the level of public attention that it deserved – was the unveiling of the “Rescue Nigeria Project” (RNP). Its founders gathered in Abuja on  September 28 with a goal of uniting working-class Nigerians beyond religion, region and ethnicity to kindle a […]

The big political development of the past month – although it did not generate the level of public attention that it deserved – was the unveiling of the “Rescue Nigeria Project” (RNP). Its founders gathered in Abuja on  September 28 with a goal of uniting working-class Nigerians beyond religion, region and ethnicity to kindle a Nigerian renaissance and wrest our country from its catastrophic leadership crisis. The group has a lot going for it: it has correctly identified the most fundamental problem of Nigeria; it has got the right kinds of people involved – but its strategy and tactics need rethinking.

Yes, “rescue” – which means to save from danger or harm – is the correct word. Such a thing is long overdue. Many evils have conspired to pose an existential threat to our country: growing insecurity and social division, rising unemployment and poverty, skyrocketing cost of living and complete lack of direction. Today, Nigeria is like a patient on a ventilator whose oxygen is fast running out. The doctor has absconded, leaving multiple nurses arguing on whose duty it is to save their unconscious patient. Delay couldn’t be more dangerous.

RNP is right to focus on our leadership recruitment mechanisms, which are presently dominated by patronage, godfatherism and money-politics. It is best to resist getting drawn back into the Achebe-Gimba debate of the old on whether leadership or followership is the trouble with Nigeria, which is a variant of the unresolvable chicken or the egg causality dilemma. Instead, we can accept that there is enough blame to go round, but this fish is rotting from the head down. Therefore, we must focus on that rotting head.

We are faced with serious leadership crisis not just in Abuja, but also at the state and local levels. Executives at all levels have turned the public purse into their personal pockets, while legislatures cannot legitimately claim to represent even their extended families. It is so bad that politicians no longer hide their corruption and selfishness. For instance, one popular political mantra in Kano, which prides itself as the beacon of northern Nigerian civilisation, is Siyasa Kasuwar Bukata Ce: Politics is a game of self-interest. As Suleiman A. Suleiman wrote in this week’s Monday Column, the current war between governors over which zone will produce the next president – while almost every state is in critical crisis – defines the self-harm implicit in our politics.

The major organisers of RNP possess the character, skills and goodwill required of bold change-makers. I have read and heard good reviews on the likes of Professors Patrick Utomi and Tunde Adeniran, but I personally know Professor Attahiru Jega and Dr Usman Bugaje. I have interacted with Bugaje and his associates for years and have closely worked with Jega, who was vice-chancellor when I was head of the Muslim Students’ Society of Bayero University. Their passion, sincerity and skills are not in doubt. Plus, all of them have worked from the bottom to the top of the system, so understand very well where the roof leaks from.

Take Jega for example. He was the most radical president of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU), who joined with others to courageously take on the regime of General Babangida, a military dictator whose extraordinary scheming, neutralising and manoeuvring skills earned him the nickname “the Maradona of Nigerian politics”. As vice-chancellor for the best part of my undergraduate studies, Jega and his team oversaw the revolutionising of the Bayero University both academically and in infrastructure. And, as chairman of the INEC, he defied all odds to deliver Nigeria’s most credible elections in 2015. Like Jega, Utomi, Adeniran and Bugaje not only understand Nigeria from multiple points of views but  also enjoy the support of people up and down the country.

The bottom line is that RNP’s pioneers are the right people and its goal is great. But its strategy is, I am afraid, unfeasible. RNP says it is a non-partisan group whose tactic is to put pressure on political parties to nominate the best candidates. They would then require those candidates to lay out their detailed plans before backing one of them. This strategy will fail as night follows day. This is because RNP is essentially forming yet another pressure group and to try what others have always failed to do: reforming politics from outside. As this paper’s editorial for last Monday notes, too many groups have tried this in Nigeria and have each failed – woefully.

Sixteen years of PDP and six of APC administrations demonstrate to us that our major parties are birds of the same feather. They are not only intrinsically flawed, but totally and completely lack the ideological and intellectual foundations needed to move a country forward. Both are a set of individuals entangled in a race to the bottom in which the self takes precedence over selfless service, interest is put before country and values count for absolutely nothing. In this system, the greatest sycophants and bullshitters – even out-and-out liars and frauds – get to the top and the richest manipulate the levers of power to their advantage.

It goes without saying that this broken system would ultimately produce two evils not only at the top, but also at every level. Democracy is therefore reduced to picking the lesser evil. That is what RNP would eventually be faced with if it continues with this strategy. Both APC and PDP would field the worse candidates you can imagine and then RNP would be forced into picking the lesser evil. In this situation, choosing is as effective as abstaining for it is case of “heads they win, tails we lose”. You simply cannot fix Nigeria’s broken politics by just appointing yourself as an arbiter of deeply flawed candidates. After all, how can you even pressure someone if you have got no alternative to them?

The smart thing to do therefore is disrupt, disturb and dislodge this system by creating a formidable alternative. This means fielding the best candidates at every level, which will not only challenge the existing parties to get serious and selfless, but also give the best of us a chance to win elections and teach by example. This requires formation of a strong political party that will successfully challenge the monopoly of the existing ones. That is what RNP should do. It would require a great deal of hard work, as it means building the necessary but boring structures of a political party and fundraising, not to mention the inevitable game of catch-up. But who said changing a country is ever easy?

RNP doesn’t have to start from the scratch though. Its promoters have said they have been talking with 16 small parties, several of which they are members of. It could thus consider merging and repositioning as many of these parties as possible, which should give it some head start. Another asset is that a majority of Nigerians are disillusioned with the current players and will eagerly volunteer for any course that they see to be a serious alternative. I am certainly one of them. That is the opportunity RNP should seize. Its founders may already have the intention of becoming a political party, but they should bear in mind that they don’t have a lot of time. We are just a year and a couple of months away from the next election, so every minute counts.