In Nigeria, Political Will Is A Wheel Running Backward!
By L. Chinedu Arizona-Ogwu
Remaking Nigeria politically sounds important if we wish to discontinue with a state which is thoroughly undemocratic, dictatorial and dangerous for our life, liberty and prosperity. The move may destine into ruin. Simple common sense can guide us to realize that we can neither continue with the present nor could we go back to the old military order that was prevailing before June 08, 1998. To make a peoples' regime, we must start contemplating a new but authentic democratic state with a new democratic constitution. Running the wheels backward will take us nowhere. Whether we are able to change the course of politics is not the point now. In the context of the present reality, the idea must arrive first, before we can start thinking about the strategy and tactics to realize the idea.
For the same reason we cannot subscribe to the idea of ‘constitutional continuity’; it implies that all we need now is an election with the participation of all political parties for a National Assembly to pass a bill in order to retroactively provide constitutional legitimacy to the prevent unconstitutional government, including all their acts and decisions that are far beyond their jurisdiction. Otherwise; how can we go about to constitute popular sovereignty, is a question that must be addressed, but for the sake of brevity, we will dwell mainly on the idea of an authentic republic. The sovereign will of the people may be mobilized in the streets through demonstrations and various forms of resistance against undemocratic and unconstitutional forces by the people; they are constantly fighting against fascists, communal and anti-people elements, anti-democratic classes, forces and tendencies. History teaches us that this is the path people generally take. This is the brewing period, when all other liberal spaces are exhausted and the culmination usually takes form of popular insurgency. Popular will and determinations are formed through public meetings, workshops, and seminar or even in popular discussions known as “amibo”.
An election in order to indemnify the present regime and to re-elect corrupt politicians is not on the people’s agenda. Popular sovereignty is the major concern and people want change; instead of partisan rule of anti-people and anti-democratic elite political parties, they want popular and democratic power with corresponding institutions to exercise the right to participate in the decisions of the state at all levels. People may be against the present regime because it is not moving in tandem with politics in general; a move that can destroy the very fabric of our polity. But Nigerian people are also against these political parties because they are still refusing to act politically and still dreaming to act as economic parasite to plunder Nigeria as soon as they come to power through election; they may end up bringing anarchy and violence rather than resolving genuine political difference that exists among people.
Authentic political transformation is not only necessary to enjoy the sovereignty as a member of the political community and liberty as Our Nigerian citizens, but the major precondition to prosper in a highly competitive global economy. To act responsibly with dignity in the regional and global affairs, Nigeria must be constituted as a new state based on popular will and determination. An authentic political transformation of Nigeria is in the interest of the global community as well, if they are indeed concerned about security, anarchy, violence and the failure in governance. But they cannot deny the right to resolve political problem by Nigerian people themselves, which they have already done by allowing Obasanjo to single-handedly install, support and nurse a regime that has no legitimacy or capacity to resolve the national crisis. This remains the only trick he played to avert being prosecuted for loots, extra-judicial killings and tyranny.
The People of Nigeria are aware that ‘sovereignty’ of the states deserves radical transformation such an era of globalization No one in the global community is an island or independent of others. Nevertheless, the concern is whether we should submit ourselves to the logic of the world market and dictates of other stronger states or determine our interests by ourselves. We need a position in the international division of labour that ensures our economic prosperity and security and safeguards our natural, biological, social and knowledge resources. We must address threatening challenges of food shortages, precarious situation of health and nutrition, environmental and ecological destruction and unequal distribution of wealth and resources.
People are not against election, they are against the farce that might take place to provide legitimacy to this present regime. This is the crucial site of the political contention. If Nigeria intends to move forward the only meaningful option is to find ways to constitute Nigeria to effectively deal with popular concerns: protection of life, livelihood and dignity. The present state is already a threat to the life and livelihood of the people. Global and regional realities are reinforcing this threat.
Popular media can play very important role in this regard. The 2011 Elections in Nigeria may be one of the tools to constitute democratic polity; for example, if Nigerian people succeed in their endeavour to overthrow every undemocratic order in this nation, they can convene a constituent assembly elected by the people. The authentic polity usually emerges through radical break from the existing undemocratic order. Election is not an abstract game. Election to constitute a new order, i.e. constituting an authentic republic, after all, the victory of the people is not the same as elections as we see in an actually existing state. Qualitatively and politically, they are different types.
The present state of Nigeria was constituted by people who were elected to the military constituent assembly. It is shocking to note that some Nigerians actually have come to believe, and with good cause, that the colonial authorities did not treat Nigerians as badly as the Nigerian military has done. After all, under both situations, Nigerians had no right to vote, the political actors were not elected and were not accountable to Nigerians, and personal freedoms were severely limited. Despite Nigeria's prolonged period of decolonization (1952-1960), we all underestimated the legacy of colonial rule. We thought we would overcome overnight some sixty years of colonial experience. The same naive assumptions are now being made with respect to military rule, as military dictators prepare to withdraw after three chaotic decades. In an important sense, Nigerians were much better prepared to assume powers from the British than we are to take over rulership from our domestic dictators who seem to be scheming to maintain firm control in non-military guises.
The founding document of Nigeria is known as ‘The proclamation of independence’, declared in TBS Lagos on October 1960. It says: ‘The primary purpose of national independence from Great Britain in 1960 was (a) to attain freedom for Nigerians and (b) to increase the scope of self-rule for the governments of the federation and for various communities in the country. Almost four decades after national independence, with three of these under military rule, Nigerians experience a lesser amount of individual freedom today than in 1960. Similarly, self-rule by the states, local governments, and communities has virtually disappeared, with their autonomy daily threatened by decrees and fiats from an overbearing Federal Government.
The loss of individual freedom by Nigerians and of self-government for their state and local governments, as well as their communities, has been possible because of oppressive structures of governance that military rule has erected for its own convenience. In the three decades in which military rule have been dominant in Nigerian public affairs, many structures of governance that threaten individuals' freedoms have been installed. Such structures as the State Security Service, Nigeria's dreaded secret police with the ominous acronym of SSS, are the artifacts of a military rule that unnecessarily threatens individuals' freedoms. Similarly, self-rule and autonomy of state and local governments and their communities have been besmirched by the military's centralization of all governmental functions and structures.
International power including their donors must take responsibility for this failure rather than blaming (1) the tyrant military Nigerians, (2) conflictual political culture of Nigeria (arguing often in racist terms as if it is a genetic defect of the people of Nigeria) and (3) fear of minority takeover (without addressing the most critical question of how to engage minority in democratic state building). Nigeria is still economically surviving because of the domestic and migrant working people and progressive entrepreneurial ethics of people ready to take lead in economic development. While working masses are courageously struggling with their sweat and blood to keep the economy running, the entrepreneurs have to learn diligently from the intense competition and survival strategies in a ‘friendless’ world. The political survival draws strength from the creative attitude to life and reality and hope in a better future, but most importantly, in the ability to make best efforts to get the bests from the existing political opportunity, such as casting the votes in the right box if scope is provided.
Nigeria inherits the political culture of 1960's, the culture of forging political unity when moments arrive and unitedly they can stand against the enemy of the people. If people of Nigeria consider international power as their ‘enemy’ and primary hindrance in achieving democracy and economic prosperity, it is because of their failure in making honest efforts to understand Nigeria. The economic, social, cultural and political aspirations of the people of Nigeria have been systematically ignored and interventionist development policies and program have been implemented destroying the very fabric of society.
Exploiting poor with high interests from credit money has been touted as poverty alleviation and Nigerians' empowerment. The contradictions and antagonisms such exploitation installs in the "marginalized" areas, creating conditions for negative political tendencies. In the area of environment, ecology, biodiversity, agriculture, nutrition, health – one can pick up any sector, rampant corruption introduced by development agencies, accomplished both by multilateral and bilateral development partners, essentially to serve economic interest of the developed countries.
The health policy that has been drafted precisely aims to totally dismantle primary health care and forego the gains of the Nigeria Health Policy in order to privatize healthcare services only for the rich and allowing pharmaceutical companies to dictate the price of medicine. Health has been turned into a private industry, totally disregarding the need of the people. The task of ensuring food security has been systematically taken over from the farmers and given to trans-national corporations. The systematic destruction of farmer’s seed systems to replace with company’s commercial seeds is alarming and accelerating destruction of farming by forced introduction of hybrids.
Recently the concerns regarding climate change has been elevated to a kind of ‘development industry’. Rather than addressing the flaws in development policies and addressing the challenge of climate change in social and economic context, a crisis of global dimension, suddenly all problems of Nigeria are being reduced into a problem of Mother Nature. Nigeria is going to be inundated with the rise of the sea level and it is argued that to meet this climatic (natural) disasters, the people of Nigeria must ‘adopt’ their lives to the dictation of the international donors, so that lifestyles of the rich countries can go on as usual.
Such interventionist policies, explicitly intending to shift the debate from the socio-economic, political and lifestyle ground to natural calamities are posing serious national threats to the people of Nigeria. These examples are enough to indicate the responsibility of the so-called ‘development partners’ and their countries should immediately stop ridiculous charges and blame games.
Nigerians must oppose the constant political intervention into the internal affairs; they also have a major stake in convincing international community and the citizens of the world that it is the global spirit of friendship and understanding that could keep Nigeria strictly in a positive track record. Any narrow and closed politics of identity based on religion, culture, language, ethnicity or whatever could displace us from realizing our aspiration as a political community. This is the reason why I insist on the notion of ‘political community’ and prefer to avoid the old and ambiguous notion of nation-state to identify our present task. The notion of ‘nation-state’ assumes that imagining of a people as nation, defined by ethnicity, religion, culture or language, etc, can inevitably justify their culmination into a political state.
In the era of globalization the life and the conditions of life itself is threatened and intense global competition in the market and constant intervention of the weak by the strong states is a permanent threat that can only be addressed by inaugurating Nigeria with strong democratic and participatory foundation. Nigeria needs to constitute into a sovereign power in the form of a political state where people are citizens and their rights are protected by the democratic constitution explicitly stating that it is the constitutional responsibility of the state to ensure protection of life and livelihood not only from external threats and enemies, but also from domestic threats that kills us, most importantly, destruction and erosion of environment, ecology, biodiversity and genetic resources. State must protect the conditions of life as the founding principle of the constitution, such as the security of environment, ecology and biodiversity.
Politically willing Nigeria must provide food, water, housing, clothes and health – the basic requirement of life without hindering people’s own efforts to ensure these for them. The new state must protect dignity and individuality of persons and all the fundamental rights of citizens. We need strong judiciary capable to take decision without any intimidation from executive or the law makers’ organ. All citizens should enjoy these rights irrespective of their religious, ethnic, linguistic or other cultural identities. This is the reason I would always like to insist that we must go beyond the stereotype and poor and imprudent intellectual exercise of framing the political problem of Nigeria as a conflict between the Niger Deltans, the Islamists and the ethnic factions. Our enemies are those classes and forces who are constantly frustrating our efforts to create an enabling political culture where the necessity of reorganizing, rethinking and putting forward a precise and pragmatic futuristic option is accelerated and strengthened.
Constituting popular sovereignty means that people do not recognize any other authority to interpret religious, moral, political, social, economic and cultural texts and histories but the popular will. A separate and independent authority beyond the will and the determination of Nigerian people is contradictory to popular sovereignty. As long as we refuse to accept authority of any person to misread or interpret sacred texts to pose them against the interest of our people we will be able to absorb our political and knowledge practices into our democratic political culture and practices.
It is time that the people of Nigeria start thinking how to make our government accountable to us, but in addition and most importantly, to the respective Nigerian taxpayers. Evidence suggests that despot regime played crucial role in bringing about the anti-democratic and extra-constitutional state powers and consequent ex-politicians controlled regime. Ex-politicians in Nigeria now must take the responsibility for the mess they have created. Ex-politicians and their think-tanks are repeatedly designating this change as ‘misery rule’, despite the civilian facade. Although there is no mechanism available to the people of Nigeria to make flopped ex-political leaders accountable for their role, it is important that we must learn to demarcate concerns and tasks in contrasts to their designs and objectives. We will definitely be supported by those Nigerians who are committed to democracy and justice
L.Chinedu Arizona-Ogwu
Founder; Nigeria4betterrule
Writes from Oyigbo; Rivers State
08034885337
