The lost sheep in politics

Here is something I have been chewing on for sometime now. Are we political followers? Do we follow our political leaders or flock to them? A heavy question? I know. The unique nature of our party politics throws up some fundamental puzzles about our concept of democracy. As I see it, some form of group […]

Here is something I have been chewing on for sometime now. Are we political followers? Do we follow our political leaders or flock to them? A heavy question? I know. The unique nature of our party politics throws up some fundamental puzzles about our concept of democracy. As I see it, some form of group think has gripped this nation and even become the defining philosophy of our national politics.

I suppose this means that Nigeria does not quite practise democracy in the classical definition of this beloved form of government handed down to us by the Greek. Democracy is not really about “the government of the people, etc.” It is more importantly about the space provided by this form of government for political pluralism. That, really, was what led Lincoln to define democracy as “the government of the people by the people.”

I am worried, and you too should be, that our voting pattern is characterised by meaningless swings that dramatically change the fortunes of political parties and individuals and leave us holding the short end of the stick. We have accepted this as “democracy in action.” Meaning, when the people flock to a new political kid on the block, they have truly lived up to the ideals of the tenets of democracy. They have thereby exercised their God-given political right to freely crown a new prince in the political kingdom. Don’t laugh.

Here is a good example. One week ago as of this writing, the people of Ondo State went to the polls to elect a new governor. The state began its life as an AD state; transformed into a PDP state, was born again as a Labour Party state, was dragged back into PDP and is now the latest jewel in the crown of the new beloved political kid on the block, APC.

Are the people of Ondo State swinging their support for parties or for individuals on the basis of informed collective view? It puzzles me. I submit this is counterfeit democracy in action; it is the primitive groupthink that has held our democracy hostage and deceived us into believing that we are practising the most decent form of government known to mankind.

I am intrigued by the capacity of Ondo State to swing so freely from one political branch to other. The late Chief Michael Ajasin, former governor of the state, must be squirming in his grave. A brief look into its political history, as in the second republic. In 1979, Ondo State voted UPN. No surprise there. Other states in the former Western Region did so too. With the formidable political Yoruba leader, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, looking none of the states could take a false step outside his fold.

However, in 1983, Chief Akin Omoboriowo, broke ranks, joined the NPN and contested the governorship election in the state. As he expected, FEDECO declared him duly elected. His declaration sparked off riots in the state. NPN stalwarts there turned tail. Their homes were torched. Some hid in the bush and watched with horror, their stately homes turned into ashes. The governor-elect refused to be brave. He hid himself in Lagos.

I have always cited this as evidence that Nigerian voters do not lack the courage to protect their votes and prevent anyone from raping their democratic rights. I have often argued that if the military did not resurface on our political turf in January 1984, other states would have followed the Ondo example of 1983 and prevented by now the sickening parade of political scoundrels, most of whom come to steal.

However, with the state now joyfully swinging from one political party branch to another, I may be forced to revise my opinion. It could be the people found the courage to reject Omoboriowo because, well, Awolowo was watching.

I am afraid these swinging do not speak well of democracy and its honoured pluralism of informed or uninformed choices. If you are looking for the bane of our democracy, I present to you one demonic culprit here. What is it, I ask myself as I chew on this puzzle wrapped in a twist of logic, that makes it so easy for the majority of people in a state to ditch one party for another at almost each governorship election? Why are so few people prepared to defend their parties and simply swing to new or old political parties? I do not accept that stomach infrastructure fully explains this extraordinary lack of faith in our political system.

The real tragedy of this is that the politicians do not seem to know that they have lost the capacity to build followership, the leadership recruitment ground in a democracy. Followers build political parties as well as the government of the people by the people. “Flockers” are unreliable fait weather supporters. Yet our politicians are actually swinging from one political party branch like monkeys. Insult intended. They are riding to power on the back of what I call flockers, not followers. Any means, fair or foul, right? Got it.

These are some of the obvious consequences of political parties and politicians that rely on flockers:

1. It robs us of politics of conviction. Politics of conviction is the path to nation-building. Are we building a nation or merely putting ambitious men and women through the power grid?

2. We cannot build a political culture without political conviction. We have been indulging ourselves in the folly of trying to do just that. The result does not look so good, I think.

3. It makes the political system unstable. None can deny that. Indeed, part of the reason for some swings is for individuals with soiled hands to take refuge. No, not under the umbrella.

4. It impairs our leadership recruitment process; therefore, we can never have the leaders that we really deserve at all levels of government in this country.

Followership is the lost sheep in our national politics. Please chew on it.