That cannot understand:/They all look their way,/Everyone for his gain Isaiah 54 v11
On the surface of it, the recent appeal made by President Goodluck Jonathan canvassing a violence-free general elections and the subsequent endorsement by the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress, are both patriotic and auspicious. No one’s vaulting political ambition should put the country’s troubled soul literally on fire. Or, the unity of the nation on the edge. No power seeker’s desperation is worth the shedding of the innocent blood of a fellow citizen. Indeed, I had warned several times against the wanton wasting of priceless and irreplaceable blood of innocent citizens on the altar of political ambition. That was through my opinion essays in my Drumbeats column a national newspaper. These include: 2015 and tongues of fury(September 18s,2013);God’s warning: There is too much bloodshed here!(October 2,2013), 2015and arms build-up(February 12,2014) and Insurgency and the enemies within(September 3,2014).But would the politicians ever listen to words of caution?
Come to think of it, if indeed, political power is a tool to facilitate good governance and deliver the much-touted dividends of democracy for the common good, there would be no reason whatsoever to bat an eyelid. We would gladly stroll to the polling booths, cast our votes for our preferred candidates and wait patiently for the Independent National Electoral Commission to announce the deserving winners. Thereafter, we clink the glasses and get on with our lives. But here in Nigeria, that is but one long pipe dream.
For instance, the recent report by the International Crisis Group, a Belgian-based advocacy organisation, that “the continuing influx and wide-scale availability of firearms, ranging from pistols to assault rifles” into Nigeria portends grave dangers and the likelihood of political violence. Titled: “Nigeria’s dangerous 2015 elections: Limiting the violence”, the ICG based its alarm on the series of interviews it conducted between May and June 2014. Specifically, it identified states such as Rivers, Kaduna and Kano as the likely flashpoints for politically-motivated violence in 2015. It is not hard to imagine escalation in the activities of Boko Haram insurgents in the North-East as the elections inch closer by the day.
It would be recalled that the Nigeria Customs Service had in a similar vein expressed genuine worry over the amount of arms and ammunition it seized in 2013, which was seven times higher than in 2012.The document was captioned: “2013 Summary of Suppression of Smuggling/Seizure Reports.” Worse, it recorded seizures almost on a daily basis during the first half of 2014.The scary situation is no less different with the importation of armoured vehicles. About a year ago, the NCS put the figure as rising from 800 to 1,500 annually.
“Are Nigerians preparing for elections or are they getting set for war?”That was the question from a Texas, US- based armoured vehicle manufacturing company back in 2010 on the eve of the 2011 general elections. The volatile political situation looks worse here in Nigeria today. But why have we found ourselves in this political quagmire in 2015? The answers may not be far-fetched.
Using the Root Cause Analytical approach, the fundamental issues bedevilling the polity include high cost of accessing political power, the greatly attractive perquisites of office, including jumbo pay for politicians, the base sentiments of religion and the North-South divide. Much as we pretend to the contrary, the lines that separate us as a nation are getting deeper by the day. This raises some burning questions.
In a situation whereby a candidate pays between N10 million and N23 million for his party nomination form, has that system not been compromised by corruption? If such candidates got their money from some rotten-rich political godfather, won’t their allegiance first go to that person rather than the state or country he is angling to serve, if he eventually wins? In our prevailing circumstance where politics is arguably the most lucrative business, why would people not steal, cheat or pander to political perverts just to see their dreams to the dawn of fruition? Yet, one of the most annoying aspects of our political dysfunction is the type of federalism we practice here.
In which other country that goes by the dictates of the presidential system do we have an all-powerful centre controlling 52 per cent of the so-called federal allocation? Which country practises the odious and anomalous economic structure that has the state governors going cap-in-hand to the federal capital every month end to get the crumbs from the master’s table? What business has the Federal Government got with running education, health care delivery, agriculture and even much of the infrastructural issues of power supply, roads and rail networks?
Simply put, we must restructure the current polity to diffuse and devolve power to the federating units and weaken the centre. We must reduce the pay package of politicians to be in tune with civil service salary structure and lawmaking as part time. If not done, so long shall we find ethnicity instead of merit, religion rather than leadership competence and base sentiments in the place of patriotic fervour shaping our collective destiny. So long shall we have each ethnic group angling for their man at the centre and so long shall corruption reign as king. So long shall we have our fertile land turned into the killing fields, with the innocent dying without knowing why or how. And so long shall we be haunted by the spectre and incubus of insecurity.
As yours truly stated on February 12, 2014: “Nigerians do not need bombs and bullets but dividends of democracy. We have suffered long enough and not a single citizen should be killed to pave the way for any politician to get into a position of authority.” Our dear country, Nigeria, is bigger than all of us and our politicians should stop turning themselves into our greatest enemies, all because of transient power.
Baje is a media consultant in Lagos
