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Joseph Ifeanyi Chikunie

 Head, Space Control

  Opebi Road
Ikeja, Lagos

more articles by Chikunie

The year 2011 is around the corner but now is the time to clamour for good institutions and democratic parameters as the foundation for the enthronement of good governance. Issues as electoral reform, INEC composition, freedom of Information bill and constitutional amendment must be resolved now before next year. This is the right direction to go and unless the agitators prepare to do battle, we are headed to the woods as a people.
NIGERIA BELONGS TO US TOO.
by Joseph Ifeanyi Chikunie
 

The current drama and subterfuge surrounding President Umaru Yar’Adua’s ill health justifies two very important political quotes. The first is that “fools do last, what a wise man does first”. The second is that “those who are too smart to engage in politics are punished by being governed by those who are dumber” (Plato). 

These quotations are especially true for a country known as Nigeria, a land of immense resources, good and hardworking people, but more crucially, very bad rulers.

What the prevalent political impasse has revealed is what we know all along-that people in power in Nigeria do not essentially care about the country’s well being but always seek to cater for their individual welfare and those of their cronies. Regrettably, their actions or inactions have made our country an entity of ridicule, derision and pity.

At an international conference I recently attended in Dakar, Senegal, I spent a greater period of the lunch time with all other attendees explaining circumstances surrounding the drama being played out by our unscrupulous politicians and the reasons for it. Many present could simply not understand why it is so difficult for a sitting President to temporarily hand over power to a subordinate who was elected with him to govern on the same party’s platform as him. One of them asked me a very simple but embarrassing question: “If your President is so selfish to do the right thing, what about those in the legislature and judicial arms of government; are they also dumb? My answer was short: That is the point I stated, those charged with that responsibility are dumb.

The Platonic quotation mentioned above explains why we are always subjected to great discomfort and held in contempt by people of other climes. It has to do with the indifference of smart people who ordinarily should govern, so that everyone can enjoy the fruits and dividends of democracy. Rather, such people always consider themselves too smart to rule. They always turn the opportunity down even if persuaded. They hardly present themselves as candidates for elections due to several factors ranging from disdain for the way politics is practiced especially in this part of the world to the fear of losing their lives.

After reading the book, “You must set forth at dawn” by Wole Soyinka, I still could not be convinced by him why those who struggled and fought for democracy in Nigeria allowed the dumb ones to simply take over. He conceded that he was asked by the outgoing Abdusalam Abubakar’s junta to assume leadership but he declined. According to him, the rejection has something to do with structure, nomenclature, logistics and all those high sounding semantics usually associated with ‘smart people’.

The result of the indifference by the good citizens is always misrule and injustice. What will Wole Soyinka be doing, marching on the streets of Abuja if the pro-democracy fighters had effectively ensured that they assume power after conquering military rule? They merely killed the antelope only to abandon it for the village thief to steal. Today, they are all over the place crying foul and protesting in Abuja, Lagos and other cities. Sometimes, I do think that those activists derive joy from what they do. The Femi Falanas, Wole Soyinkas, Gani Fawehinmi’s (till he died), Colonel Umars (rtd.), Olisa Agbakobas just to mention a few, have been involved in activism for years.

When the chance to actively wrest power from the military was presented, they went to sleep thus allowing dumb politicians led by a prisoner to assume power. The rest is history. Change in government can only be effected from within rather from outside government. If for instance Dora Akunyili had refused to accept the ministerial portfolio offered her by this government, her famous memo would never had made it to the Federal Executive Council, nor attract the wide attention it has received locally and internationally. Will Lagos be wearing a new look now with Fashola agitating for change from the sidelines? What about the achievements of Nuhu Ribadu, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and Nasir El Rufai? It is time the perennial protesters in Nigeria put up even while still speaking up. They have more leverage to agitate as party men and women through the provision of a shadow government and the formulation of policies the ruling government ought to be implementing to the advantage of the governed. This is how democracy can be deepened and enriched. Even in opposition party, they can keep the ruling government on its toes. Opposition in democracies is an integral part of democratic development. Its non existence or subdued status in Nigeria is an off shoot of a society, which places emphasis only on influential people who have the means and control the machinery of power.

This week it seems that finally, exigency will force the arm of those charged with the responsibility of doing something about the political logjam to finally do the right thing. The belated action if taken may come after 80 days the President left the shores of Nigeria with nobody as de facto ruler. Within this period, Nigerians had been subjected to further hardship, disgrace, derision, lies, deceit, contempt, official theft and all the other negatives that you can imagine. The willful mistake of one man has affected the entire country this long yet up till now, majority in power does not think that something somewhere is not just right.

The governors and the ruling party seem willing to influence the lawmakers to pass a resolution this week but is it really because they care for Nigeria? I do not think so. What we are witnessing is analogical to the story of the village food store keeper who fell ill but took the keys of the store-door to the hospital. His assistant for a long time was resisted by the village chiefs to take over the keys because they feared that he will prevent them from continuing to receive much more portion than they should.

The villagers’ share of food soon ran out and they cried out for replenishment but the chiefs simply ignored them. Some of the villagers died of starvation yet the chiefs remained adamant after all they still had enough for themselves and family members. With the passage of time, the chiefs’ portion of food remained but a little even as the store keeper still lay ill at the hospital. Soon, they met and not wanting their portion of food to be completely exhausted reluctantly agreed that the assistant store keeper should be given the keys as the village constitution stipulated. The belated decision was self-serving by the chiefs and had nothing to do with the interest of the village and the well being of its other inhabitants.

Nigeria cannot just continue this way. The country has many intellectuals and hardworking people who should and must now pick up the gauntlet. The day of reckoning has come and the suffering of the people must come to an end. How do we pull Nigeria from this mess? A mass oriented movement similar to that led by the Save Nigeria Group must be consolidated. That movement led by Wole Soyinka and Pastor Tunde Bakare must not repeat the mistake of yester years. Let it not fold up even after Goodluck Jonathan is allowed to become an acting President. It should metamorphose into a mass political party by immediately applying for registration. Its membership will cut across ethnicity and class. I am sure that the ruling party will for once feel endangered and threatened. 

Many Nigerians are fed up with the Peoples Democratic Party and its abracadabra. They have for long looked up to a sweeping movement like that of the Save Nigeria Group to take over the running of affairs in our country. The likes of Wole Soyinka and Pastor Tunde Bakare should not dash their hopes. I restate that only a movement can sweep the PDP from power. Teeming millions of Nigerians at home and abroad are ready to make personal sacrifices to support this movement because our lives depend on it. Our image has been battered as a people and we are already down, we need fear no fall.

Nigeria can reclaim its past glory in the continent of Africa and the international comity of nations. The first step is to enthrone a good government, which will yield good governance. Those who argue that Nigeria is bad because many Nigerians are corrupt miss the point. Corruption and other vices arose from the top due to official graft even in the highest office of the land. Closely related to this is the neglect of the youth and other deprivations which Hilary Clinton also pointed out.

 Our problem is in the consciousness. Materialism and aggrandizement lead to holistic decadence. The only value most Nigerians respect now is "how to get rich not minding if they die trying”. We are doomed unless change comes from the top and trickles down. To buttress my point, if a body like NANS can be paid off to support bad and selfish agenda and others like NLC is comatose, the end to Nigeria's woes is very far away. Those two bodies particularly with the Press use to be the people's mouthpiece. Who is speaking for the masses now especially with Gani Fawehinmi’s passage to the great beyond?

The Nigerian International passport has become a big liability. In Abidjan, the management of a popular hotel insisted that I pay 100% for my duration of stay before I could even check into my hotel room. Advance payment is allowed for clients except for Nigerians. In Dakar, I was delayed at the airport for twenty minutes based on a mere suspicion that my renewed International passport may have been fake, “after all (as one immigration official put it), are you not a Nigerian”? Discrimination and suspicion against Nigerians is well known and documented in Europe, America, Canada and Australia but what many fail to realize is that it is also the same in most African states.

It is very logical that remedy must necessarily begin from the top. A good government will tackle corruption with all the seriousness it deserves. Nuhu Ribadu and his EFCC succeeded in no small way to redirect the thinking of Nigerians from how to make money easily to the need for hard work and honesty. The International institutions started delisting the country from blacklisted corrupt nations. Our image was burnished and our compatriots in Diaspora could once again walk tall in the streets of London, New York, Berlin, Ottawa et cetera. What this shows is that Nigeria can work and must be made to work.

Elections represent a veritable method for choosing those who govern. The smart people must stop making the mistake of remaining indifferent at that crucial period of our history. If all men and women of goodwill rise to the occasion on election days, all the riggers will be stopped in their tracks and arrested even though they may be released later by the police.

However, with time the police force will also be cleaned up in order to remain an impartial apparatus of the state. We shall begin to screen those who seek to rule over us. The constitution will be amended or re-written entirely to suit the wishes and aspirations    of the people and not a cabal.

The time has come for men and women in the hallowed chambers of the National assembly to rightfully earn the title of “honourable”. Many of them are very far from that quality. The fact that it has taken this long for the parliament to even fathom out ways of ending the political impasse speaks for itself. The leadership of the assembly lacks initiative and seems fixated on the letter of the constitution. For long, they have bootlicked the executive, refusing to do the right thing and condescending to the Presidency because of lucre and pecuniary gains. The leadership of the House of Representatives has shown that education is insufficient to offer good governance. Majority of those in that house should actually bury their heads in shame.

It is no surprise that the lawmakers have refrained from acting in consonance with the wishes of the people. They feel not answerable to their constituencies because most of them rigged themselves into the house. They also feel that they can always regain their seats as long as they remain in the good books of the ruling party executive and the Presidency.

It is against this backdrop that the cleansing of the National Assembly membership is highly desirable. It is a mandate that must be carried out in 2011 by the people who must resist rigging in order to ensure that credible people occupy the assembly seats in the states and especially at the centre.

The rebirth or rebranding of Nigeria starts with the enthronement of the right caliber of people in government (at the executive and legislative levels) in the local, state and federal governments. This is the necessary first step.

There is no doubt that when good candidates are empowered truly by the people, the composition of the executive and legislative arms of government will for once be remarkable and become the people’s clear choice.

However, in order to achieve this, there must be an electoral reform. Various bodies as the NBA, Save Nigeria Group, elder statesmen, eminent persons group et cetera should make this struggle their next line of action. For Christ’s sake these bodies and people should become proactive, realizing that if a good foundation is not laid for Nigeria’s democracy their perennial and limitless agitation will never come to an end. Prevention they say is better than cure. If the electoral reform battle is waged with the same vigour and seriousness similar to the struggle for constitutionality in the President Yar’Adua case, this long awaited reform will happen.

There are many battles ahead, the Freedom of Information bill, true federalism, police reform et cetera but things begin to change once those who can listen to the people and carry out their wishes are elected into office. Only a fool will trust the present government at all levels as presently constituted. They just do not care what we think or feel; they listen only to their hearts.

In Nigeria, corruption and materialistic orientation of the people trickled down from the top. Similarly, selfless service, credibility and honesty will trickle down from a good government. The era of “do what I say and not what I do” is gone for good. Nigerians watch the actions and behavior of those in government and hardly understand the message they try in vain to send across.

The year 2011 is around the corner but now is the time to clamour for good institutions and democratic parameters as the foundation for the enthronement of good governance. Issues as electoral reform, INEC composition, freedom of Information bill and constitutional amendment must be resolved now before next year. This is the right direction to go and unless the agitators prepare to do battle, we are headed to the woods as a people.

Let us begin to take critical decisions at the right time lest we be like them, after all we are no fools. We must be ready to adhere to the injunction of Plato by doing everything possible to deprive bad citizens from gaining power. If we are really smart, we have no option but to achieve these objectives before the next general elections otherwise the fools will turn out to be the smart ones and vice versa.

 

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