The coming weeks will no doubt either confirm or dismiss Nigerians’ determination to build a nation on democratic values. The political system we currently have is a mere semblance of democracy. A reading of George H. Sabine’s “History of Political Theory” educates one on the first practice, by Greek city-states, of democracy as a political system.
The coming weeks will no doubt either confirm or dismiss Nigerians’ determination to build a nation on democratic values. The political system we currently have is a mere semblance of democracy. A reading of George H. Sabine’s “History of Political Theory” educates one on the first practice, by Greek city-states, of democracy as a political system.
That was subsequently modernized by modern day empires such as Britain and America and exported worldwide through capitalism.
At a time like this, we must ask what Nigerians really want: the ouster of corrupt and inept leaders from the corridors of power (and their replacement by new ‘chop and quench’ leaders) or the entrenchment of a system that will make for equality of access to opportunities and services for every Nigerian notwithstanding the background.
One has taken some time following feelers from people on the ground in gauging the mood of the electorate. The outcome, unscientific as it were, shows that for the most part aggrieved Nigerians are mainly concerned about voting out the non-performing politicians just like banks recalling non-performing loans.
After twelve years of continuous civil rule – for that is what we currently practice – principal players haven’t an understanding of democracy’s simple rules. In Nigeria, the rules book is drawn up, promulgated and breached by the party in power, with impunity.
Take for instance the announcements by several PDP-controlled states banning opposition parties and their candidates from campaigning in the vicinities of those states. When the opposition candidates ignored the announcements, the worst happened. Akwa Ibom state presented us all with a sample of the violence and manipulation by incumbents that characterize election periods in Nigeria.
So was last Saturday parliamentary election a foreboding of what is to come in other elections?
Dimeji Bankole of the no-revolution-can-happen-in-Nigeria fame was finally shown the way out of the hallowed chamber where he had held sway for four uneventful years. I recall sighting a photograph of him back in 2007 when his cheeks resembled those of an upper crust son of a retired politician. By the time he secured the speakership of the House of Representatives, he shamelessly and unpatriotically relocated his family to Ghana, budgeted public fund to purchase torch lights and enlarged his cheeks so disproportionally to the diameter of his head that his actual photograph appears to be a caricature of the man.
Now that he is unexpectedly in the job market –which he obviously didn’t do much to improve while superintending the House of Representatives- he will soon learn that un-invested stolen billions of naira dwindle faster than melting Siberian ice. Curiously enough, his resume, prior to entering the law making chamber, had degrees from Oxford and Harvard and a stint at his father’s, Alani Bankole, company as academic and professional achievements of note.
What of Olagunsoye Oyinlola? After staging a thanksgiving service in gratitude for usurping Rauf Aregbesola’s mandate for seven years, he thought so little of the electorate that he vied for a senate seat. Now he knows better. But he is yet to return our stolen money. Some day, Nigerians in Osun State will storm the golf course in Osun where he whiles away time after getting drunk on stolen money to demand restitution.
These definitely can not be the best of times for Olusegun Obasanjo. He cannot presently be laughing except he harbours animosity for his daughter. After years of laughing at our critical situations as a nation, Obasanjo is currently experiencing a taste of despair.
When a man is repeatedly rejected by his kith and kin and longtime neighbours- registered voters at the polling booth across his house in Abeokuta- it reveals something about that person’s makeup.
For those not in the know, the Lagos-Sango Ota stretch of road was in abysmal state during the eight years of Obasanjo’s presidency. It was so bad that Obasanjo would, on his way to his Ota farm, jet into Lagos and fly in a helicopter to his farm. This writer travelled that road sometime in 2006 and witnessed its appalling state first hand.
What then was the dividend of Obasanjo’s eight years presidency to residents of Ota, his immediate constituency? Why in this world does he think so little of the constituents that he sought to foist his clueless daughter on the people again? May be Iyabo Obasanjo-Bello will now consider practising her veterinary medicine profession to argument her ill-gotten wealth.
Olusegun Agagu has now shown us all that he is incapable of winning a free and fair election in Ondo State.
Then there is Iyiola Omisore: one of the most fortunate Nigerian politicians in the last decade. Fortunate in the sense that he holds the record of winning a senatorial election while holed up in Agodi Prisons. His opponent, back in 2003, campaigned hard and fast but was declared to have lost to a candidate who held court in prison all through campaign and election period!
Already infamous for his role in the assassination of Bola Ige, Omisore would go on to chair the senate appropriation committee. Perhaps a position for a job well done! Now that he has been shoved out of the senate, his penchant for “any job for the boys” will come handy in convincing his political godfathers to enlist him in the task to protect their turf.
Before he regroups, the system we seek to build must make him have his day in the cold.
Sadly though, there are Nigerians who commend Bankole and Omisore for conceding defeat. It seems to them that the atrocities committed by these guys against Nigerians can easily be atoned for by conceding defeat. Are Bankole and Omisore better than Oyinlola just because the former conceded defeat and the latter didn’t?
Have they, by conceding defeat, returned our pilfered wealth and assuage our feelings toward them?
In Enugu, Chimaroke Nnamani has lost his last hiding place, the senate. In the same vein, Achike Udenwa’s ambition to join the club of senior thieving law makers was short-lived. Even the lord and master of Borno State, Ali Modu Sherrif- a sitting ANPP governor- lost his bid for the senate.
They say wonders shall never end; hopefully its part two awaits us this coming Saturday, April 16, 2011.
But would these elections be Nigeria’s 411 (April, 2011) revolution? I silently wish so.
Let the electorate do the unthinkable in the remaining elections.
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