USA Africa Dialogue Series - October 1: Death, Drugs, and Dirges, By Toyin Falola

October 1: Death, Drugs, and Dirges, By Toyin Falola
https://heartofarts.org/october-1-death-drugs-and-dirges/ 

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USA Africa Dialogue Series - Special Report: Happy Nigeria National Day

Link: http://www.publicinfoprojectsblog.org/2022/09/special-report-happy-nigeria-national.html?m=1

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USA Africa Dialogue Series - Thought For Today

"Peaceful rally"? At Lekki Toll Gate? 

What memories does this "peaceful rally" ressurect? 

Is that memory supposed to be an election campaign issue? 

Is a "peaceful rally" by supporters of a presidential candidate of a political party at Lekki Toll Gate what this ailing Nigeria need for healing at this time?

By the way,  what was the public position of this presidential candidate when the unfortunate Lekki Toll Gate incident which he is now exploiting happened?

We should all bear in mind that there will still be a country after politics.

Thank you all for your time.

-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)

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Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - A New Publication : My Epic Journey: The Making of a cosmopolitan - A memoir by Eustace Palmer

Correction: The Berlin Conference of 1884-85 at which the Continent of Africa was partitioned by the then "European Powers" without proposing any yes/ no referendum on their land grabs…

As far as Sierra Leonean autobiographies go, there's "What Life Has Taught Me: The Autobiography of President Siaka Stevens of Sierra Leone" - the kind of literature that you'd think would have normally been banned by successive SLPP governments. Some politicians embark on penning their autobiographies in order to - to some extent redeem/ whitewash/ justify or even glorify their sometimes bloodthirsty legacies. 

We are to assume that likewise, Satan has also penned his own authorised version of his Bible (If you ask me, I think that there ought to be a fatwa on him and his publishers) 

Michel Onfray ( I'm now studying the last ism - namely  Atheism and I've been taking a deep peep into his "Atheist Manifesto") - he famously argues against the kind of censorship that would have banned and banished some of his ideas and guillotined his head 

On Friday, 30 September 2022 at 19:27:42 UTC+2 Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:

Professor Eustace James Taiwo Palmer is indeed a pioneer.

The only other Sierra Leonean autobiography that I'm aware of is Kossoh Town Boy by  Robert Wellesley Cole.

There's also, of course,  Old Man Trouble by Ernest Marke which more or less starts with his demobilisation at Liverpool after the first world war, after fighting heroically for  King and  British Empire. He talks about the first race riot in Britain, at Notting Hill, shortly thereafter. 

Now that everybody or almost everybody in the US and those who carved up Africa at the Berlin Conference of 1984 - 1985  is huffing and puffing about the referendum and annexation of Eastern Ukraine, just this stray thought ( like a stray bullet): 

Nobody asked us or held a referendum about whether or not African on the African Continent wanted to be colonised or not. The Pilgrim Fathers of course did not hold a referendum to ascertain whether or not the Native Americans wanted to hand over their land to them. I suppose that if such a referendum had been held, by now Uncle Sam would be discussing at the Security Council with Russia, China, France,  China, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland about a two-state solution for North America:  one for the Native Americans and the other for the immigrants, to live in peace and tranquillity forever…

Was Professor Harrow by any chance friends with Professor Lemuel Johnson?

…

On Friday, 30 September 2022 at 15:31:12 UTC+2 Kenneth Harrow wrote:

He was one of the pioneers

Ken

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From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2022 4:09:18 AM
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - A New Publication : My Epic Journey: The Making of a cosmopolitan - A memoir by Eustace Palmer

 

i recall his book on the African novel

On Thu, 29 Sept 2022 at 13:32, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:

A New Publication: My Epic Journey: The Making of a cosmopolitan -  A memoir by Eustace Palmer

Yesterday, I was happy to visit  Doc P's Facebook page and voila - there it was, the good news. 

It promises to be a voyage of self-discovery - a classic and a most distinguished place in the canons of the autobiographical….

Might Congratulations Sir! 

As said earlier in this forum,  the young Eustace Palmer was my pen friend  when he was a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh and I was in the second form at the Prince of Wales School;  his younger brother Alongo Palmer was also my friend classmate then

Personally, I place Dr P at the apex of the English Novel criticism  -and by extension, the African Novel written in English.

Nuff said.

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Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Re: Today's Quote

Yes, Mazi Cornelius, I agree with you on PPP. 

My(Protest)Poetry however is to prepare the ground for the PPP eventuality.

-CAO.

On Friday, September 30, 2022, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:

Chidi,

Apart from poetry

Nigeria needs a PPP

Poor Peoples Party -

A clear Majority!

Pi Pi Pi

On Thursday, 29 September 2022 at 10:00:36 UTC+2 chidi...@gmail.com wrote:

Mazi Cornelius,

I will not be lending ear to the Nigerian Nicodemus. Like his namesake, he would also disappear if I ask him(as I will surely do) to sell off his(mostly ill-gotten)possessions, give all to the poor and follow me to Motor Park Poetry(Protest Poetry).

-CAO.

On Wednesday, September 28, 2022, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:

Dear Chidi :

Not to worry. 

Think:Jesus and be of good cheer 

Soon you will be lending your good ear 

to Nicodemus

You are blessed to be feeling sagacious and safe and away from it all in Nigeria. In the meantime (my favourite prefatory expression these days) disaster is lurking ahead over here and despite the prelates, cardinals,  bishops, deacons and pastors telling us not to worry, because "the kingdom of heaven is within" there are weighty matters outside the kingdom of heaven no longer waiting on the back burner.

Hear here 

(for your perusal):

World War III Has Already Begun, but the Truth Is Being Withheld from the Public Until the Very Last Moment

Some of the young Russians ( draft dodgers ) are running away to neighbouring countries in Europe, just to avoid the draft - as if NATO has signed an affidavit or taken an oath on the Bible, guaranteeing them protection in NATO - Europe. The bright idea has not yet dawned on them that they would be considerably safer if they got visas to Nigeria - perhaps a better idea than taking cover in Poland and being forced to join the Polish army to fight against their motherland, MOTHER RUSSIA. 

In the meantime, Uncle Sam has told all Americans to get out of Russia as soon as possible,  without any further delay. 

Imagine the psychological pressure. Uncle Sam's message to US citizens can mean only one thing:  Something bad is about to happen. 

On Wednesday, 28 September 2022 at 15:59:14 UTC+2 chidi...@gmail.com wrote:

I do not respect people who choose to support me privately as a fighter of injustice and anomalies when they have opportunities to support me publicly.

-Chidi Anthony Opara (CAO)

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Chidi Anthony Opara is a Poet, IIM Professional Fellow, MIT Chief Data Officer Ambassador and Founder/Publisher of, www.publicinformationprojects.org)

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Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Abusive relationship

And the President of Nigeria manages the various states and its institutions in the Union?

This is how we always set ourselves up for disappointment.

 

From: 'Victor Okafor' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Date: Friday, September 30, 2022 at 1:02 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Abusive relationship

Well Toyin, I beg to differ by stating that running "before" is not necessarily a factor that in and of itself diminishes the authenticity of a political candidate, here or there. In fact, the Nigerian political culture tends to value experience and does not appear to easily embrace the "outsider" without an established record of public service or distinction in the private sector. It is the quality of the experience that could constitute either an asset or a liability. Second, casting a candidate as "a deep insider" could be subject to being interpreted negatively to imply some dirty linen where there may be none. I do not think that Peter Obi has attempted to portray himself as an outsider; rather, he appears to have succeeded in establishing in the hearts of a generality of the youth, that he was a political insider who conducted himself creditably during his time period of being inside—so to speak. While all 3 candidates that you referenced are all accomplished public servants in their own right, one factor that weighs in favor of Obi (which I think is the main reason for his seeming grassroots appeal) is his record or knack for frugal management of public funds (as demonstrated by his two-term transformative governorship of Anambra state—a record that he has marketed rather successfully, against the backdrop of a public perception that profligacy in governmental circles is the order of the day. 

 

On Fri, Sep 30, 2022 at 11:44 AM Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

Jibrin:

Where is the opportunity this time around? We already know most of the candidates!

To Obi's followers, they tend to forget that, like Tinubu and Atiku, he ran before. He is a deep insider, a PDP man recasting himself as an outsider.

Governors have become emperors!

TF

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jibrin Ibrahim <jibrinibrahim891@gmail.com>
Date: Friday, September 30, 2022 at 10:09 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Abusive relationship

TF

 

I agree that the culture of abusive relationships has been generalised. My argument is two fold. Citizens suffer greatly from the abuse. Citizens have the power to challenge and transform the abuse but have not done so yet. This is therefore a call to action for citizens to rise and challenge bad governance and resist manipulative tactics of the ruling class. So much relies on power transitions and if the opportunity is seized the outcome could  hold significant dividends.

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim

Senior Fellow

Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

 

 

On Fri, 30 Sept 2022 at 14:31, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

Jibrin:

I read everything you write! And I always have questions for you which means I take you seriously.

1. Tell me any agency or institution in Nigeria where citizens are not abused. I am afraid of the police; I am afraid of immigration; I am afraid of the army. All forms of power in Nigeria are abusive.
2. And citizens are abusive. Go to elite houses and see how they abuse maids, drivers, gatemen, even the police allocated to them who they send to the market to buy tomatoes and onions.
3. Have we not worked abuses into regular interpersonal relations? The Babalawo abuse their clients, just as Adeboye and Oyedepo do.
4. Are the elites of the nation not abusive? Professors and the Govt do not consider students in their so-called negotiations. The missionaries who came in the nineteenth century to bring Western education were not paid, and there was no electricity.
5. Where are the non-abusive leaders going to come from? Another planet? In the most elegant display of loyalty and royalty, "Jesus then rode the donkey into Jerusalem." Can your new leaders ride bicycles into Abuja?

I think you are moving away from being a theorist to a teleologist.

TF

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jibrin Ibrahim <jibrinibrahim891@gmail.com>
Date: Friday, September 30, 2022 at 8:13 AM
To: 'chidi opara reports' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Abusive relationship

Transforming the Abusive Relationship between Citizens and Elected Leaders 

 

Jibrin Ibrahim, Deepening Democracy Column, Daily Trust, 30^th September 2022

 

As the Fourth Republic rolled on, Nigerians have become increasingly concerned with the abusive relationship they have had with their elected leaders. According to the fake saying: "people get the leaders they deserve". For the most part, Nigerians are democrats and have repeatedly elected leaders they believe will play by the democracy handbook, that is provide the services they promised to those who voted them into power. Repeatedly, Nigerians have discovered that it is a deceitful and abusive relationship in which the people are denied the outcome they had hoped to get from their civic engagement – the dividends of democracy. That is, that Nigeria is governed in the interest of all citizens. 

 

The stark reality today is that the Nigerian State is not performing its duties and citizens have been consistently forced to provide for themselves services their elected leaders had sworn to provide. The core of the problem is deep. The State no longer protects the lives and property of Nigerians. It cannot even protect the territorial integrity of the national territory as increasingly, non-State actors takeover ungoverned territories. The time for citizens to rise up to the challenge of the collapse of State authority has therefore arrived. The strategic objective of citizen action should be to end this abusive relationship with elected leaders by voting in a new breed of leaders that are ready, willing and capable of governing in the interest of the people.

 

The two and half decades of Nigeria's experience with democracy reveals clearly that what has been in practice has is a distorted and dis-functional form of democracy. Although there has been six general elections and transitions within the period under review, what is clear is that democracy has not been consolidated as expected. The Nigerian people believe profoundly in democracy but an irresponsible and anti-democratic elite has hijacked the process for its own personal interest. The elite have had a negative impact on the process and many of the elections were hijacked and the ordinary citizen has had little say in electoral outcomes. The elites undermined the basic institutions of democracy - legislature, executive, judiciary, political parties, the election management body, the police and the media among others. These anomalies were perpetuated largely due to the absence of a common agenda for action by the citizens, which should have been inspired by thought leadership that is able to mobilize, aggregate and articulate the broad interest of the people as the repository of political power. 

 

How then can Nigerians salvage the country's democracy from vested interests, which conflicts with the interests of the majority of the people.  First, Nigerians must address the crisis generated by our collective failure to recruit successive leaderships that are good and competent. We must change the reality that Nigerian politics is the only profession or vocation that people can enter without any capacity, ethics, training or qualification. Even a cursory review of the politics of the Fourth Republic will scream out the anomaly that people that are too sick, too old or too weak to govern have taken over the reigns of power which is immediately seized by the cable around them. The very simple question of whether those who seek to govern have the strength to govern must be placed on the ballot because that is what our experience has shown us is a critical first step to induce change.  

 

The second issue is competence. We must ensure that those who exercise leadership in this country have cognate experience, are competent and above all are people of good character rather than thieves and crooks. The issue here is that if they have passed the first test of the strength to govern, the next step is to find out if their strength would be used to govern in the interest of the people. The fact of having made a lot of money, usually through corrupt means, should disqualify people from leadership in a democracy. Liberal democracy is constructed on the basis of a promise from the leader to citizens that if elected they will keep to the word they have given of fulfilling the promises they have made to the people. The ethics of the players is therefore a central element of the edifice. The candidate must have the ethical standard to keep to their oath and if that does not happen, the citizens must have the moral courage to remove them from power irrespective of who they are – members of the same ethnic, religious or cult group. For the equation to work, both sides must play their roles.   

 

Citizens should recognise that precisely because of poor leadership, we have failed in the management of our diversity and more Nigerians each day feel alienated from the Nigerian Nation. Essentially, all Nigerians repeat the same narrative of their marginalisation but rather than see the problem as an attribute of poor national leadership, they are manipulated into remaining at the level of blaming the other ethnic group or the other religion for their situation. In this context, political education to rise above ethno-religious reductionism becomes important. Civic actors and leaders' must close ranks and collectively address the challenge of lack of inclusion in our system. The solution is inclusive democracy which guarantee that all Nigerians can freely participate in the political process without unfair barriers.

 

The campaigns for the 2023 elections have just opened and the moment has arrived for Nigerians to deliberately begin the work of ending the abusive relationship with elected leaders. We must open our eyes and look carefully at the criteria for leadership and assess all the candidates on these matters – the strength to govern because governing a large, complex country with a track record of bad governance is difficult and requires high capacity. Secondly, whether their experience shows that they have both the competence and ethical standards to be trusted with the task. This requires no training in voodoo methods. The candidates and their track records are known. We must begin to learn to act on our knowledge. Finally, we must outgrow the sentiments of promoting people simply because they are "our own people". The knowledge we have is that those in power have not done well for the members of their ethnic or religious groups, they have done well for themselves and their cabals. The people are not in any cabal. We must become objective and go beyond ethno-religious stereotyping. It is not easy but that is the pathway we must take if we are to end the abusive relationship between our elected leaders and we the people. 

 

 

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim

Senior Fellow

Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

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Sincerely,

 

Victor O. Okafor, Ph.D.

Professor and Head

Department of Africology and African American Studies

Eastern Michigan University

Email: vokafor@emich.edu

https://www.emich.edu/aaas/

https://www.facebook.com/DAAASEMU/

Tel: 734.487.9594 

 

 

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Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - A New Publication : My Epic Journey: The Making of a cosmopolitan - A memoir by Eustace Palmer

I was friends with lem Johnson, a man I considered one of the most brilliant scholars of African literature, period. He was one of the most erudite and eloquent people I ever knew as well. I treasured lem and mourn his passing to this day.

Ken

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From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2022 12:09:49 PM
To: USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - A New Publication : My Epic Journey: The Making of a cosmopolitan - A memoir by Eustace Palmer

 

Professor Eustace James Taiwo Palmer is indeed a pioneer.

The only other Sierra Leonean autobiography that I'm aware of is Kossoh Town Boy by  Robert Wellesley Cole.

There's also, of course,  Old Man Trouble by Ernest Marke which more or less starts with his demobilisation at Liverpool after the first world war, after fighting heroically for  King and  British Empire. He talks about the first race riot in Britain, at Notting Hill, shortly thereafter. 

Now that everybody or almost everybody in the US and those who carved up Africa at the Berlin Conference of 1984 - 1985  is huffing and puffing about the referendum and annexation of Eastern Ukraine, just this stray thought ( like a stray bullet): 

Nobody asked us or held a referendum about whether or not African on the African Continent wanted to be colonised or not. The Pilgrim Fathers of course did not hold a referendum to ascertain whether or not the Native Americans wanted to hand over their land to them. I suppose that if such a referendum had been held, by now Uncle Sam would be discussing at the Security Council with Russia, China, France,  China, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland about a two-state solution for North America:  one for the Native Americans and the other for the immigrants, to live in peace and tranquillity forever…

Was Professor Harrow by any chance friends with Professor Lemuel Johnson?

…

On Friday, 30 September 2022 at 15:31:12 UTC+2 Kenneth Harrow wrote:

He was one of the pioneers

Ken

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From: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Oluwatoyin Adepoju <ovde...@gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, September 30, 2022 4:09:18 AM
To: usaafricadialogue <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - A New Publication : My Epic Journey: The Making of a cosmopolitan - A memoir by Eustace Palmer

 

i recall his book on the African novel

On Thu, 29 Sept 2022 at 13:32, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:

A New Publication: My Epic Journey: The Making of a cosmopolitan -  A memoir by Eustace Palmer

Yesterday, I was happy to visit  Doc P's Facebook page and voila - there it was, the good news. 

It promises to be a voyage of self-discovery - a classic and a most distinguished place in the canons of the autobiographical….

Might Congratulations Sir! 

As said earlier in this forum,  the young Eustace Palmer was my pen friend  when he was a PhD student at the University of Edinburgh and I was in the second form at the Prince of Wales School;  his younger brother Alongo Palmer was also my friend classmate then

Personally, I place Dr P at the apex of the English Novel criticism  -and by extension, the African Novel written in English.

Nuff said.

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Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Abusive relationship

Well Toyin, I beg to differ by stating that running "before" is not necessarily a factor that in and of itself diminishes the authenticity of a political candidate, here or there. In fact, the Nigerian political culture tends to value experience and does not appear to easily embrace the "outsider" without an established record of public service or distinction in the private sector. It is the quality of the experience that could constitute either an asset or a liability. Second, casting a candidate as "a deep insider" could be subject to being interpreted negatively to imply some dirty linen where there may be none. I do not think that Peter Obi has attempted to portray himself as an outsider; rather, he appears to have succeeded in establishing in the hearts of a generality of the youth, that he was a political insider who conducted himself creditably during his time period of being inside—so to speak. While all 3 candidates that you referenced are all accomplished public servants in their own right, one factor that weighs in favor of Obi (which I think is the main reason for his seeming grassroots appeal) is his record or knack for frugal management of public funds (as demonstrated by his two-term transformative governorship of Anambra state—a record that he has marketed rather successfully, against the backdrop of a public perception that profligacy in governmental circles is the order of the day. 

On Fri, Sep 30, 2022 at 11:44 AM Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

Jibrin:

Where is the opportunity this time around? We already know most of the candidates!

To Obi's followers, they tend to forget that, like Tinubu and Atiku, he ran before. He is a deep insider, a PDP man recasting himself as an outsider.

Governors have become emperors!

TF

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jibrin Ibrahim <jibrinibrahim891@gmail.com>
Date: Friday, September 30, 2022 at 10:09 AM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Abusive relationship

TF

 

I agree that the culture of abusive relationships has been generalised. My argument is two fold. Citizens suffer greatly from the abuse. Citizens have the power to challenge and transform the abuse but have not done so yet. This is therefore a call to action for citizens to rise and challenge bad governance and resist manipulative tactics of the ruling class. So much relies on power transitions and if the opportunity is seized the outcome could  hold significant dividends.

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim

Senior Fellow

Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

 

 

On Fri, 30 Sept 2022 at 14:31, Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu> wrote:

Jibrin:

I read everything you write! And I always have questions for you which means I take you seriously.

1. Tell me any agency or institution in Nigeria where citizens are not abused. I am afraid of the police; I am afraid of immigration; I am afraid of the army. All forms of power in Nigeria are abusive.
2. And citizens are abusive. Go to elite houses and see how they abuse maids, drivers, gatemen, even the police allocated to them who they send to the market to buy tomatoes and onions.
3. Have we not worked abuses into regular interpersonal relations? The Babalawo abuse their clients, just as Adeboye and Oyedepo do.
4. Are the elites of the nation not abusive? Professors and the Govt do not consider students in their so-called negotiations. The missionaries who came in the nineteenth century to bring Western education were not paid, and there was no electricity.
5. Where are the non-abusive leaders going to come from? Another planet? In the most elegant display of loyalty and royalty, "Jesus then rode the donkey into Jerusalem." Can your new leaders ride bicycles into Abuja?

I think you are moving away from being a theorist to a teleologist.

TF

 

From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> on behalf of Jibrin Ibrahim <jibrinibrahim891@gmail.com>
Date: Friday, September 30, 2022 at 8:13 AM
To: 'chidi opara reports' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Abusive relationship

Transforming the Abusive Relationship between Citizens and Elected Leaders 

 

Jibrin Ibrahim, Deepening Democracy Column, Daily Trust, 30^th September 2022

 

As the Fourth Republic rolled on, Nigerians have become increasingly concerned with the abusive relationship they have had with their elected leaders. According to the fake saying: "people get the leaders they deserve". For the most part, Nigerians are democrats and have repeatedly elected leaders they believe will play by the democracy handbook, that is provide the services they promised to those who voted them into power. Repeatedly, Nigerians have discovered that it is a deceitful and abusive relationship in which the people are denied the outcome they had hoped to get from their civic engagement – the dividends of democracy. That is, that Nigeria is governed in the interest of all citizens. 

 

The stark reality today is that the Nigerian State is not performing its duties and citizens have been consistently forced to provide for themselves services their elected leaders had sworn to provide. The core of the problem is deep. The State no longer protects the lives and property of Nigerians. It cannot even protect the territorial integrity of the national territory as increasingly, non-State actors takeover ungoverned territories. The time for citizens to rise up to the challenge of the collapse of State authority has therefore arrived. The strategic objective of citizen action should be to end this abusive relationship with elected leaders by voting in a new breed of leaders that are ready, willing and capable of governing in the interest of the people.

 

The two and half decades of Nigeria's experience with democracy reveals clearly that what has been in practice has is a distorted and dis-functional form of democracy. Although there has been six general elections and transitions within the period under review, what is clear is that democracy has not been consolidated as expected. The Nigerian people believe profoundly in democracy but an irresponsible and anti-democratic elite has hijacked the process for its own personal interest. The elite have had a negative impact on the process and many of the elections were hijacked and the ordinary citizen has had little say in electoral outcomes. The elites undermined the basic institutions of democracy - legislature, executive, judiciary, political parties, the election management body, the police and the media among others. These anomalies were perpetuated largely due to the absence of a common agenda for action by the citizens, which should have been inspired by thought leadership that is able to mobilize, aggregate and articulate the broad interest of the people as the repository of political power. 

 

How then can Nigerians salvage the country's democracy from vested interests, which conflicts with the interests of the majority of the people.  First, Nigerians must address the crisis generated by our collective failure to recruit successive leaderships that are good and competent. We must change the reality that Nigerian politics is the only profession or vocation that people can enter without any capacity, ethics, training or qualification. Even a cursory review of the politics of the Fourth Republic will scream out the anomaly that people that are too sick, too old or too weak to govern have taken over the reigns of power which is immediately seized by the cable around them. The very simple question of whether those who seek to govern have the strength to govern must be placed on the ballot because that is what our experience has shown us is a critical first step to induce change.  

 

The second issue is competence. We must ensure that those who exercise leadership in this country have cognate experience, are competent and above all are people of good character rather than thieves and crooks. The issue here is that if they have passed the first test of the strength to govern, the next step is to find out if their strength would be used to govern in the interest of the people. The fact of having made a lot of money, usually through corrupt means, should disqualify people from leadership in a democracy. Liberal democracy is constructed on the basis of a promise from the leader to citizens that if elected they will keep to the word they have given of fulfilling the promises they have made to the people. The ethics of the players is therefore a central element of the edifice. The candidate must have the ethical standard to keep to their oath and if that does not happen, the citizens must have the moral courage to remove them from power irrespective of who they are – members of the same ethnic, religious or cult group. For the equation to work, both sides must play their roles.   

 

Citizens should recognise that precisely because of poor leadership, we have failed in the management of our diversity and more Nigerians each day feel alienated from the Nigerian Nation. Essentially, all Nigerians repeat the same narrative of their marginalisation but rather than see the problem as an attribute of poor national leadership, they are manipulated into remaining at the level of blaming the other ethnic group or the other religion for their situation. In this context, political education to rise above ethno-religious reductionism becomes important. Civic actors and leaders' must close ranks and collectively address the challenge of lack of inclusion in our system. The solution is inclusive democracy which guarantee that all Nigerians can freely participate in the political process without unfair barriers.

 

The campaigns for the 2023 elections have just opened and the moment has arrived for Nigerians to deliberately begin the work of ending the abusive relationship with elected leaders. We must open our eyes and look carefully at the criteria for leadership and assess all the candidates on these matters – the strength to govern because governing a large, complex country with a track record of bad governance is difficult and requires high capacity. Secondly, whether their experience shows that they have both the competence and ethical standards to be trusted with the task. This requires no training in voodoo methods. The candidates and their track records are known. We must begin to learn to act on our knowledge. Finally, we must outgrow the sentiments of promoting people simply because they are "our own people". The knowledge we have is that those in power have not done well for the members of their ethnic or religious groups, they have done well for themselves and their cabals. The people are not in any cabal. We must become objective and go beyond ethno-religious stereotyping. It is not easy but that is the pathway we must take if we are to end the abusive relationship between our elected leaders and we the people. 

 

 

Professor Jibrin Ibrahim

Senior Fellow

Centre for Democracy and Development, Abuja

Follow me on twitter @jibrinibrahim17

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Sincerely,

Victor O. Okafor, Ph.D.

Professor and Head

Department of Africology and African American Studies

Eastern Michigan University

Email: vokafor@emich.edu

https://www.emich.edu/aaas/

https://www.facebook.com/DAAASEMU/

Tel: 734.487.9594 

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