Only in Nigeria! The land that confounds the best of efforts! And it's a pity the manner in which those we regard as some of the best the land could throw up are being swallowed by the dynamics of power and governance.
I will never understand the dynamics of intoxication surrounding power and its use. But I have struggled over time with the plausibility of an activist making any headway in the murky realm of politics in Nigeria.
The horrorscape called politics in Nigeria makes an activist of almost every Nigerian. But then, we must quickly add: "As long as you remain outside the mystical corridor of power!" Yet, it seems a logical transition for an activist to desire an opportunity to right the wrong s/he criticises. So, because of their epistemic and existential proximity to the people, activists become, in the context of our parched yearning for solid transformation, the only available beacon of hope. They become the mouth of the people.
This is where democracy confounds.
I have some little idea of Ekiti politics and the democratic dynamics that, for instance, threw Adebayo out and brought in Fayose. Then, Fayose, campaigning on the platform of the PDP, acquired the status of a populist reformer, especially with his politics of water provision for a parched rural-city called Ado-Ekiti. The Ekiti people, simple and with a minimal democratic desires (usually not more than the desire for regular salary and good roads) trooped to him.
Of course, Fayose won the elections riding on the back of the people who were just tired of an insensitive government of Adebayo who was alleged to have stated publicly that he never knew poverty (and when asked about his most trying time in life, he was reported to have replied that the only time he could remember was when he had a flat and had to change the tire all alone!). Fayose and the PDP won because the Ekiti people wanted to get rid of the Adebayo administration, without the time to reflect on the background and political/democratic credentials of who was coming in.
And then, Fayose tumbled from populism to reckless tyranny. He not only challenged the established traditional authority; he confronted the teachers and the civil servants who brought him in in the first place.
Segun Oni's gubernatorial trajectory wasn't as dramatic, though he become the governor after Fayose amidst a huge rigging scandal that mired his truncated tenure. He also had the reputation for being too too slow (again, the payment of salary serves as the usual standard for measuring effectiveness!). His tenure was truncated by Fayemi and his intimidating democratic and activist credentials. Even yours sincerely wasn't left out of the fervent hope then that Fayemi would become Ekiti's answer to the problem of transformation. Ekiti's own Fashola. I equally hoped that with the coming of Fashola (Lagos), Fayemi (Ekiti) and Aregbesola (Osun) (I suspended judgment about Mimiko in Ondo, had no hope about Amusan in Ogun and was totally nonplussed about the fate of 0yo), then we could at least repeat the Fashola magic and thereby transform the southwest into a good governance haven in Nigeria.
That was when I was still naïve.
Of course, like Fayose, Fayemi won back the mandate supposedly stolen by Oni. And then, the same sad story is now unfortunately unfolding. The 'democratic credentials of activism' for good governance was only a facade to gain entry to the corridor of power and from there into the inner holy of holies.
Three observations on the nature of democracy:
(a) There is a funny paradox of how 'democracy' itself enables the subjugation of the demos under its own trajectory. In other words, a leader becomes one under a democracy because the people thought s/he had a periclean capacity. But then, the supposed democrat assumes office and oppresses!
(b) The philosophical assumption that recommends democracy as the 'best form of government' (contrary to the reservations of Plato and Aristotle, for instance) is that democracy supposedly allows the people a level of autonomy in their own affairs (unlike, say, a dictatorship). Democracy is intrinsically anti-paternalistic. However, do the people always know what is in their own interests? Isn't it possible that the people can self-legislate their own oppression, especially under certain pervasive and crippling socio-economic dynamics that could be manipulated for selfish political purposes? (Fayose did just that. Oni had no credential except the funny tag of being an engineer-with no direction for social engineering!. Fayemi waved his cv in the people's face; and such a rich cv counts for something tantalising in the state reputed for producing numerous professors).
(c) most activists may be too politically naïve to succeed as politicians. Or too idealistic. Or too machiavellian! In any of these instances, they end up failing. Fashola is presently compelling landlords/ladies in Lagos to take up the vocation of gardening!
So, if politicians in Nigeria have become a hopeless (and sometimes a hapless) lot, and the activists are no longer trustworthy, what hope for Nigeria's democratic future?
Adeshina Afolayan
Sent from my BlackBerry wireless device from MTN
From: elombah daniel <elsdaniel@yahoo.com>
Sender: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Date: Wed, 10 Oct 2012 10:41:44 -0700 (PDT)
To: Egbuwaraisigroup<naijaintellects@googlegroups.com>
ReplyTo: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Ekiti State Governor, Fayemi sliding into dictatorship
Only in Nigeria! Lere Olayinka was arrested for posting stories on Facebook against Ekiti state Government. He was thereafter charged to court on 4 count charges of SEDITION and then Denied Bail; he will be there till Monday next week. What a Nation. What a shame...Only in Nigeria! Mr. Lere Olayinka was the spokesman of former Ekiti State Governor, Engr. 'Segun Oni.
http://elombah.com/index.php/articles-mainmenu/12875-ekiti-state-governor-fayemi-sliding-into-dictatorship
--
Daniel Elombah
Phone: +44-7435469430
+44-2088087999
Urge President Goodluck Jonathan to Prosecute all those indicted by the Fuel Subsidy Probe
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/400/420/223/urge-president-goodluck-jonathan-to-prosecute-all-those-indicted-by-the-fuel-subsidy-probe/
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/400/420/223/urge-president-goodluck-jonathan-to-prosecute-all-those-indicted-by-the-fuel-subsidy-probe/
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Nigerians In Diaspora Organization. Our mission is to promote the spirit of patriotism, networking, and cooperation among Nigerians in Diaspora....
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