I had wanted to restrain myself from doing this review but the optimism Nigerians expressed, on this trailblazing site and others, about Mrs. Clinton’s speech have made it impossible for me to live down.
Madam Secretary tells us “Nigeria is at a crossroads, and it is imperative that citizens be engaged and that civic organizations be involved in helping to chart the future of this great nation.” And that “The most immediate source of the disconnect between Nigeria’s wealth and its poverty is a failure of governance at the local, state, and federal level. And some of that is due, as you know so well, to corruption, others of it to a lack of capacity or mismanagement…. The lack of transparency and accountability has eroded the legitimacy of the government and contributed to the rise of groups that embrace violence and reject the authority of the state…
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In order to create a peaceful, stable environment that creates development among the people, citizens need to have confidence that their votes count, that their government cares about them, that democracy can deliver basic services. They need to know that officials will be replaced if they break the law or fail to deliver what they have promised.... We stand ready to work with you and with your government and with civil society to help realize these goals.”
That is not quite as I recall it, Madam Secretary. What I recall is the Press statement, issued on the 27th April 2007, by Tom Casey on behalf of the U.S Government, which said, “The United States regrets that Nigeria has missed an opportunity to strengthen an element of its democracy through a sound electoral process. Analysis of the process by most international observers does not conform to what Nigeria’s national electoral commission has reported. There are credible reports of malfeasance and vote rigging in some constituencies... Overall, the process was seriously flawed.” Studying the text of that release raises infinite questions as to the state of global democracy today and it may indeed be a revelation as to how it became so terribly polluted. It uncovers a malignant strain that poisons democracy’s well being in the comity of nations, to disfigure its character and essence.
When the U.S Government says, “Analysis of the process by most international observers does not conform to what Nigeria’s electoral commission has reported.” and that “There are credible reports of malfeasance and vote rigging in some constituencies.” what is it, in fact, implying? The implication, from a standard point of view, would be that Nigeria’s electoral commission lied about the conduct of that electoral process and impliedly about its results.
Clearly, to lie about the conduct of any process impairs the context and delivery of that same process to disable credibility. Whereas this is so, it can be no surprise that “Overall, the process was seriously flawed.”
Now, for an electoral process to be seriously flawed, overall, is only to say one thing, which is that the process failed woefully. For the U.S Government to acknowledge this fact and yet be “prepared to work with Nigeria’s next administration …” come May 29 of that year was to conspire with those who seek to nail us to the boots of tyranny and serfdom. It was a statement that incites the very rejection of that concept called democracy and which forces one to wonder how Hilary Clinton could find the nerve to come here and lecture us on the shortcomings of an illegitimate government which the U.S Government helped foist on us in the first instance and in the face of our rejection of same. From where does the inspiration for “citizens (to) be engaged and that civic organizations be involved in helping to chart the future of this great nation.” now emanate?
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Nothing in that 2007 release exhibits a commitment to or willingness for the pursuit of that relief which is a government for the people, of the people and by the people. There is nothing to it that inspires the belief that, as Madam Secretary puts it, “We stand ready to work with you and with your government and with civil society to help realize these goals.”
The realization at best is one of betrayal. How can there be joy to any democratic transition that flows from a “seriously flawed” electoral process? The very definition of a seriously flawed electoral process is an unacceptable one, a fraud. Or was the intention to say the price a nation ought to pay for a ‘historic democratic transition’ be the giving up of those civic responsibilities and values that convey democracy’s essence and by which its character is defined?
Madam Secretary’s speech was a virtual rehash of that 2007 Press release, nothing changed and the truth be said, the U.S Government did not work or stand with us in 2007 and it is very doubtful that it will in 2011. For Madam Secretary to now acknowledge in one breathe that, “The lack of transparency and accountability has eroded the legitimacy of the government and contributed to the rise of groups that embrace violence and reject the authority of the state…” and in her next breath “deplore the attacks perpetrated by any armed group, whether they be religious extremists, militias, or criminals.” is to say the very least, most confusing. What did she expect? It is certain that those who make peaceful change impossible must eventually contend with the inevitability of violence.
But the main question for me remains, what was the real import of Hilary Clinton’s speech and visit? My considered opinion is that it was a camouflaged message to Yar’Adua and company that they stop messing about with Russia and China or face the wrath of the U.S government. When she says “Nigeria is at a crossroads, and it is imperative that citizens be engaged and that civic organizations be involved in helping to chart the future of this great nation.” I cannot help but consider it a veiled threat to the Yar’Adua government to shape up or ship out. At what crossroads was Madam Secretary referring to? Note the glaring omission of government in that text for the inclusion of contents necessary for an enduring revolution. All one has to do is visualize the coloured revolutions which swept across Russia (a la George Soros) that led to its break up and then couple this to America’s predictions about Nigeria’s break up by 2013/15 and the picture gets clearer.
As hard as it may be to swallow, it is clear to see that America, the world over, deals with dictators and tyrants especially if the people they lord over, through the barrel of the gun and oppress, possess some vital natural resources. Most American administrations understand the culture of illegitimate power and the mechanism by which it can be controlled and toppled in the name of Democracy. They know it is fragile and precarious because it does not have the consent of the people and that lack of consent makes for good blackmail material.
They understand that with a little support and nudge, an Orange or Yellow (pick your colour) revolution can occur.
The unspoken message to these tyrants and dictators then become play ball and be a good boy or you get the Allende or Patrice Lumumba shock treatment or if you prefer we can give you some dose of our Saddam portion or the George Taylor variant. It is a preferred option because it is a cheap and most secured way to lift a people’s resources. You whip the tyrant or dictator over the head with Democracy, scare him silly with your big guns and then when he is prostrate you give him a long shopping list. You do not need grandiose scholarship schemes or purse pinching infrastructures and financial aid to endear yourself to the people. It is akin to the Mafia and payment of protection money. Behavioral messages from the powerful to the weak litter our world in history; from the days of the Roman Empire to that of the New World. As it was in the beginning, it is still about conquest and the spoils of war.
I do believe that Hillary Clinton came to muscle Mr. President and sent a strong message for him to be a good boy or the heat gets turned up. Her trip was a step in line order. Power and politics are economic; it is always the end that justifies the means.
Rhetoric aside, the irony, today, is that Democracy has become the vehicle, which carts away a people’s right to life, liberty and that very pursuit of true happiness. It struts around with a big stick and that stick is the nuclear bomb and an ability to erupt violence and mayhem on an unsuspecting people. A wonderfully beautiful concept has been turned on its head by a greedy few, as have our world.
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