Lawrence Chinedu Nwobu
25 June 2009
opinion
Recently, shameless Nigerian politicians were all over the place celebrating the so called ten years of democracy. In the usual loud noises that accompany such rituals, the politicians lauded the imaginary successful democratic experiment and invented a long list of mythical dividends democracy has offered Nigerians. Some of them while acknowledging what they described as "minor hiccups" in the democratic process, promised Nigerians "full democracy in fifty years."
Notwithstanding that South Africa which gained independence just recently from White rule in 1994 has never rigged any election, neither has Ghana, nor India whose voting population at over 420 million is more than three times the population of Nigeria, yet Nigerians have to wait fifty years for a free and fair democratic process. But should anyone be surprised at this display of absurdities? Nigerian politicians have smartly decided to cheer themselves when there was no one anywhere in the world to cheer them.
On a closer look, the politicians were in reality quite simply celebrating ten years of unbroken successful looting of billions of dollars. It is of course no secret to any Nigerian alive and indeed any Nigerian who died within the last ten years (if they can testify from their grave) that democracy does not exist in Nigeria. It is also no secret that the nation has gotten worse in every practical area to the extent of being a quasi-failed state. What has been called a democracy is a 419 process where candidates are selected and rigged into office without any input by the electorate. Democracy prescribes that the masses directly choose their leaders, once that essential aspect that empowers the masses to choose their leaders is compromised; it ceases to be democracy in whatever guise.
It is thus an aberration to even attempt to describe the sham 419 process that takes place in Nigeria as a democracy in whatever guise. It is rather a coup by the godfathers and power brokers in civilian garb against the masses. But again, there should be no surprises. From the first republic, Nigerian politicians have been fraudulent, and what is at play in the last ten years is simply evidence that the Nigerian politician has neither changed nor learnt any lessons. In the first republic, Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa, a vastly incompetent leader, benefitted from a fraudulent election to form his government, by the 1964 federal House of Representatives election, he entered a coalition with Chief Ladoke Akintola and the elections were so brazenly rigged that Chief Obafemi Awolowo lost out totally in the Western region. This led to bloody riots (we tie) that necessitated the Jan. 1966 coup and consequently a civil-war.
By 1979, another democratic journey began with the 2nd republic. Alhaji Shehu Shagari, another incompetent leader emerged president through a rigged process. His regime was marred by monumental corruption and mismanagement at every level. In 1983, his re-election bid was marked by even worse electoral malpractices that inspired the return of the military. In 1999, the military once again bowed out under pressure and handed over to President Olusegun Obasanjo, by his 2003 re-election bid, the election was fraught with so much malpractices that Nigerians thought they had seen it all, until 2007 when outgoing president Olusegun Obasanjo in his bid to handover to his selected candidate organized an election described by observers as "the worst in the world." The 2007 rigging feat was like none ever seen anywhere in the world before and it effectively put Nigeria in the Guinness book of records as a nation of expert riggers.
There is thus empirical evidence that Nigerian politicians are only living out their genetically inclined true creed as they continue their rigging spree. Added to that is the monumental corruption and gross mismanagement that has rendered the nation comatose in spite of ten years of unprecedented oil boom. Almost on a daily basis, there are reports of the embezzlement of billions of dollars by government officials who remain above the law. The reported $16 billion (NEPA) power scam that went down the drain leaving the nation in more darkness is just one amongst so many in a nation whose very fabric is defined by fraud. In the area of security, Nigerians have increasingly been held hostage by armed robbers and the recent phenomena of kidnapping, many of them perpetrated by erstwhile thugs armed by politicians.
All of this, coupled with a limping Yar' Adua who is no doubt the worst and most incompetent president in Nigeria's history have made many Nigerians begin to long for military rule. There are some, who might argue that military regimes are very corrupt, too ethnic in character or composition, and lacks rule of law, but as a friend who stridently backs a return to military rule explained to me last week, the reality is that military regimes are corrupt but not as corrupt as civilian regimes for the simple reason that unlike civilian regimes that are packed with supposedly elected officials and hordes of appointed officials all the way from the local governments to the presidency, military regimes are slimmer as they have less officials and therefore less potential looters.
Secondly, military regimes might be too ethnic in character, but there is no difference between Yar'Adua's supposed democratic regime saturated with Northerners in practically every strategic office and a usual military regime. If anything, Yar' Adua's regime has proven to be even more ethnic than military regimes. Finally on the pretext of the rule of law, there is no rule of law, when known looters of billions of dollars are walking free, and when there is pervasive insecurity in the nation.
As much as I hate General Sanni Abacha, acknowledged to be the world's most corrupt dictator, it cannot be forgotten that at a time crude oil was selling at only $15 a barrel, Abacha's regime was able to organise the "petroleum trust fund" (PTF) which constructed and repaired federal roads across the country and likewise provided equipment and essential drugs for general hospitals. If Abacha's regime could achieve such a feat with crude oil selling at only $15 a barrel, it is open to the imagination what Abacha or any military regime could have achieved with the oil boom that at one time reached $147 a barrel that rogue politicians have recklessly looted in the last ten years.
Military rule no doubt has also provided better security with their no nonsense approach as compared to the politicians who usually arm the thugs that end up turning their guns on innocent Nigerians. Under a military regime, the present scourge of kidnappings that politicians have allowed to fester would have been nipped in the bud a long time ago. All it would take would be the arrest, prosecution and public execution of would be kidnappers and kidnapping would be a thing of the past.
In conclusion, it is poignant to note that Nigerians are increasingly clamouring for military rule because of the failure of the political class to learn any lessons from the past. Many have also concluded that the 419 democratic processes that foist unelected rogues on Nigerians are tantamount to a coup. Given a choice between the coupists in civilian garb as we have had in the last ten years who have looted everything in sight and made Nigeria a quasi-failed state in spite of record resources and coupists in Khaki uniform, it will be no surprise if a majority of Nigerians now opt for military rule, especially a Jerry Rawlings kind of regime. If and when that happens, the politicians will only have themselves to blame assuming any of them survives to tell the story. I personally hope none of them survives.
Be the first to Write a Comment!
Copyright © 2009 Daily Champion. All rights reserved. Distributed by AllAfrica Global Media (allAfrica.com). To contact the copyright holder directly for corrections — or for permission to republish or make other authorized use of this material, click here.
AllAfrica aggregates and indexes content from over 125 African news organizations, plus more than 200 other sources, who are responsible for their own reporting and views. Articles and commentaries that identify allAfrica.com as the publisher are produced or commissioned by AllAfrica.
