Dele Alake
6 March 2005
opinion
RIGHT OF REPLY
ONE of the major reasons why varieties of One-man, One-party and military dictatorship took root in most parts of Africa, in the immediate aftermath of colonialism, was the widely perceived incompatibility between liberal democracy and development in the plural ethno-cultural polities of the continent. Those who held this viewpoint contended that the objective of achieving rapid development could not be attained within the context of the endless debates, vehement disagreements and brazen partisanship that characterize liberal democracy. Indeed, the inimitable novelist, Chinua Achebe, captured this point poignantly in his political satire, "A Man of The People" when one of his characters, a minister, boasted that he would not site social amenities in areas that did not vote for him!
Of course, our experience has shown clearly that dictatorial rule has more negative consequences for development than the worst form of democratic governance. All shades of dictatorial rule ultimately confirm the timeless thesis that power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Dictatorships, both of the agbada and khaki varieties worsened the problem of poverty and underdevelopment in Africa through mind boggling corruption which eroded the moral fabric of society and the denigration of human rights to the detriment of individual initiative, creativity and dignity.
Yet the abysmal record of dictatorship in Africa does not mean that democracy has automatically come to stay on the continent no matter the conduct and performance of those elected into public office. The truth of the matter is that those anti-democratic forces, which thrive best in conditions of denial of human liberty and dignity, are alive and well in many countries of Africa. They are only tactically lying low waiting patiently to see if, as in the past, those who come to office through democratic routes, will be the same ones to dig the grave of democracy.
In Nigeria, for instance, it is unfortunate that many of the current beneficiaries of the long drawn battle against military dictatorship were not participants in the struggle for democracy. They were in fact active collaborators with the military in the despoliation of Nigeria. It is thus no wonder that they neither understand nor value democracy. They demonstrate a pathetic lack of appreciation of the need to continually strengthen the legitimacy of democratic governance by utilizing it as a tool of progress and development. Such people who hold office either in elective or appointive capacity thus allow extreme partisan emotions and personal bitterness to becloud their sense of reason.
They do not initiate or implement policies and programmes to alleviate poverty and promote the collective good of society. Rather, they are obsessed with the desire to discredit their perceived political enemies at all costs, and impede the progress of areas outside their political sphere of influence. Consequently, they inflict unnecessary punishment on innocent souls, weaken the faith of people in the capacity of democracy to deliver concrete dividends and subtly strengthen the hands of dictatorial forces.
The unfolding scenario in Lagos State offers a graphic illustration, in this political dispensation, of how brazen partisanship can impede development and undermine democracy. A good example is the revolutionary Independent Power Project (IPP) initiated by the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration in the First Term to find a decisive solution to the perennial problem of epileptic power supply in the country. We will recall that despite the protracted crisis of electricity supply in the country, the PDP controlled Federal Government spared no effort to frustrate the IPP initiative. For over one year the barges, which were to supply electricity to Lagos State in the emergency phase of the project, were idle on the high seas due to the partisan antics of the PDP.
It took the tenacity of Asiwaju Tinubu and a major systems collapse of NEPA facilities for the Federal Government to allow the emergency phase of the project to take off. For the last three years, the first phase of the Lagos IPP has been supplying 270mw of electricity to the National Grid. It remains the only source of uninterrupted power supply in Nigeria till date. Though it has had no answer to the crisis of electricity supply in the country over the last six years, the Federal Government has continued to frustrate the take off of the second phase of the Lagos State IPP. But for the PDP's cynical and inconsiderate partisanship, the second phase of the IPP would today be supplying Lagos State an additional 540 MW of electricity from a land- based station in Morogbo, Badagry.
Another glaring example of the damaging impact of excessive partisanship on democratic governance is the seizure of the Statutory Allocation of Lagos Local Government Councils by the Federal Government. It was quite embarrassing watching President Olusegun Obasanjo trying to justify his defiance of the Supreme Court Judgement on the matter in his last media chat. The President maintained vehemently that he would not release the illegally withheld funds until Lagos State had reverted back to 20 Local Governments. And in a curious twist of logic, he claimed that he was obeying the Judgement of the Supreme Court in refusing to abide by its directive!
Yet it is obvious to any discerning observer that constitutionalism, the Rule of law, the independence of the judiciary, the obligations of morality, the imperatives of justice and the dignity of the Presidency are all being sacrificed on the altar of rabid partisanship and political expediency. It is so sad to see the exalted and statesmanly office of President being devalued in the mud of petty politics. Is it not instructive that the Federal Government continued to release the Statutory Allocation of Lagos State Councils for almost one year after the new Local governments were created? It was only after the PDP committed political harakiri in Lagos State by foolishly boycotting the Local Government elections that the federal government suddenly discovered that it was illegal to release the local government funds!
Of course one can understand the dilemma of the PDP. This as a party that performed so woefully in the 2003 governorship election despite its unprecedented campaign of villainy against Asiwaju Tinubu. To compound the PDP's problems, the Tinubu Administration's creation of 37 new Local Government councils in response to the yearnings of the people further boosted the rating of AD in Lagos State to the detriment of the PDP. It was also obvious from the performance of the new councils within a few months that the revolutionary decentralization of governance would result in the rapid transformation of the grassroots to Asiwaju Tinubu's credit. The PDP, therefore, had no choice but to resort to gross illegality all in a bid to frustrate and distract the Governor.'
The highest court of the land has, however, stated clearly in a landmark judgement that the Presidency has no power to withhold funds due to any tier of government from the Federation Account for any period whatsoever. Furthermore, the court directed that the Funds be released to Lagos State for distribution to the 20 councils listed in the constitution.
Those councils are still intact and distinct from the 37 newly created ones. It is pure mischief for anyone to claim that the 20 affected councils no longer exist or to guess in advance that Lagos state may fund the 37 new councils from the Statutory Allocation before the perceived crime is committed.
It is discouraging that a President, who never ceases to moralize to the nation or even to preach from the pulpit, will willfully persist in disobeying the highest court of the land. It is difficult to understand the morality of illegally and contemptuously starving Lagos State of her statutorily guaranteed funds and subjecting millions of innocent citizens to needless suffering. Yet it is this same people who have been subjected to such cruelty by the PDP that the Party is looking up to for votes in 2007! How ironic.
In a similar vein, the Minister of Works, Senator Adeseye Ogunlewe, has spared no effort at sabotaging every programme of the Tinubu Administration no matter how beneficial to Lagos State. He did everything to prevent the World Bank assisted Lagos Urban Transportation Project ( LUTP) from seeing the light of day.
Thanks once again to the persistence and ingenuity of Asiwaju Tinubu, that project has been actualized giving birth to the Lagos Metropolitan Transport Authority (LAMATA) that can be seen all over the State modernizing and transforming the roads. It is not impossible that the anti-democratic elements within the PDP may be deliberately employing this kind of extreme and unhealthy partisanship to undermine and ultimately destroy democracy in Nigeria by steadily chipping away at the foundations of constitutionalism and the Rule of Law. They should however know that those who fought for and thus value this democracy will continue to abide strictly as well as defend stoutly the letter and spirit of the constitution. It is ultimately the PDP and not democracy that will stand discredited by such brazen acts of lawlessness.
Alake is the Lagos State commissioner for information & strategy
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