“MAKURDI—the Minister of
Interior, Comrade Abba Moro has declared ahead of the forthcoming general
elections that there would be no vacancy in Aso Rock come 2015. Moro urged all
those aspiring for the position of president to jettison the idea and allow
President Goodluck Jonathan to compete all the good works he started for the
country.” NEWS STORY
Mr Moro was informing us predictably and true to type. It is
a Nigerian, and also a very African syndrome that officeholders never want to
make their seats vacant, despite the fact that those “seats” are transient and
not permanent. Africans regard occupying official positions as a right, as a
worth to die for or die in; as their own personal success or achievement in
life, and hence must not be relinquished to anybody else.
The Nigerian/African officeholder has a monopoly of wisdom,
of knowledge, of ability and wherewithal to rule, govern or to carry out that
specific job or task. He considers himself the only person qualified or
competent to do this onerous task. Ironically and inevitably, they, most of the
time always fail at doing the right thing, at doing the job competently or honestly
or sincerely or selflessly. Look at our
history – almost all of those who have been ruling us since Independence,
military or democratic, have had to be forced out. African political history is
replete with sit-tight leaders. Those who have unwillingly relinquished their
seats always nurse ambitions of comebacks or prefer to hover on the peripheral
of power, snapping at crumbs from their inferiors, till they become a nuisance
and embarrassment to themselves and their families.
“African leaders have this mentality that they are the saviour and they
have the monopoly of ideas, they all steal money for their great-grand-children
instead of instituting policies that would effectively take care of their
citizens at retirement (instead of pensioners standing on a queue for 5 hours
to collect an equivalent of $5 monthly pension). I actually think many of them
are staying in power for two reasons, first so that they can hold on to power
and the benefits that come with it and secondly, because they need to keep on
to the money they have stolen without the fear of prosecution”. Femi Awodele, NigeriaWorld.com,
Tuesday, February 7, 2006
Our rulers, federal, states or local, once they get to power
by hook or crook, never allow, and in fact, never create vacancies, even after
their terms/tenures have expired. They resent succession by some other people
or other parties. They abhor true
democracy; it does not serve their selfish needs. And hence, if they can’t retain their seats, they
will always attempt to influence or replace themselves with their chosen ones,
who will cover their iniquities and corruptions. That is their idea of sequential
democracy.
This “There is no vacancy in Aso Rock” statement by this
Minister, who, while corruptly creating vacancies in the Immigration recruitment
tragedy that killed hundreds of our young ones just recently, is as
unfortunate, as it is arrogant and typical of political jobbers whose main
interest and loyalty is to the person who appointed them and hence, let them
have a taste of power. Such taste become permanent to the mouth and becomes
difficult to let go.
It is yet another proof that that those in power in Nigeria
who like to parade themselves as politicians and democrats know not what true
democracy is. In a democracy, there is always a vacancy for any electable
position simply because those positions are not permanent; they are to be
contested for. That we have turned democracy on its head in Nigeria is no
longer news or surprising. We are not cut for it, or if we are, we are not
ready for it. There are many factor towards that, and have been exhaustively
discussed in many papers and articles.
There is nothing wrong in canvassing for votes to retain
your position in a democracy; indeed, it is a very credible and laudable part
of the workings of a vibrant democratic system. But when supposed democrats
come out and start uttering inanities and arrogant un-democratic statements
like this, it makes you wonder that the seats of power are made for these
people, and how they come to occupy such lofty and responsible positions in a
country as large and informed as this.
This statement, and other similar, if not exact ones, that
will be variously and severally made in the states and local governments in the
next few months in the run up to the General Elections in 2015, again exposes
the lack of decorum, insensitivity and charlatan-ship of our politicians. Some
of them will claim to be veterans, but do they really know what politics and
democracy are about? We see it in their daily actions, that their own
understanding of politics and democracy is mostly warped, uninformed and
infused with unbelievable ignorance of what is reality. Their understanding
ends with untruths, half-truths, outright lies, propaganda, threats and
cheating.
A cursory Wikipedia definition of Politics (from Greek:
πολιτικός politikos, meaning "of, for, or relating to citizens") is “the
practice and theory of influencing other people on a global, civic or
individual level. More narrowly, it refers to achieving and exercising
positions of governance — organized control over a human community,
particularly a state. Furthermore, politics is the study or practice of the
distribution of power and resources within a given community (a hierarchically
organized population) as well as the interrelationship(s) between communities”.
It is hardly necessary here to define democracy again as
everybody in the world is conversant with its definition, but then, like
earlier stated, it is not surprising to have such statements, and indeed,
actions, coming from mediocre, charlatans, political jobbers and opportunists,
as it is obvious that we are not practicing the politics or democracy we all
yearn, crave and work for.
A charlatan is a person who makes elaborate, fraudulent, and
often voluble claims to skill or knowledge; a quack or fraud. We live in an era
of charlatans and mediocrity. Lots of people claiming special knowledge and
acumen about how our governance, politics and democracy should be, offer us
solutions to our problems or desires. There is really nothing new about
charlatanism, and the technology and e-media of today offer seemingly endless
new opportunities for charlatans to ply their trade and hence cause confusion.
Some of the characteristics of political charlatans are to
demonize their or their principals’ opponents, by making it clear that those
who disagree with them are not just mistaken, they are dangerous, ignorant
and/or evil or both and that these opponents of their have an agenda that
actively seeks to destroy the goodness they offer.
Then a charlatan is a propagandist; they publicize how
hateful and evil their opponents are for so grossly and unfairly attacking
their principals—but insist that their principals will stand up to their
relentless attacks in the name of the greater good.
What these charlatans and mediocre fail to get into their
heads is that no position is permanent in life. There will always be a vacancy
in any position, be it political or otherwise. In a true democracy, unlike our
insane demo-crazy, when the people decide that a vacancy exists as a result of
unsatisfactory performance and poor governance of the incumbent, that person
must start packing his/her bags and create a vacancy for the next, and
hopefully, a better candidate.
However, I can be a little bit sympathetic with this
charlatans and propagandists. In most African countries, state houses, like Aso
Rock in Abuja, Nigeria, are built like fortresses; mostly designed to keep the
ruler away from the ruled, or to protect the (mostly) bad rulers from the anger
of their people. Those fortresses are designed and built to intimidate and
oppress the ruled/followers, and to empower the rulers and their cohorts and
cabals in corruption and misrule and to make them invincible (and perhaps, even
invisible).
So the denizens of these fortresses, by the time they spend
a few years, start having a sense that it all belongs to them; they alone can
rule the country and the world; their acolytes acquire the same mental state of
invincibility and power and would not want their principals to ever leave,
because if he leaves, they also leave too, leaving all the perks and trappings
of power behind them for others to enjoy. They cannot bear to be out of power.
African leaders have this mentality that they are the savior
and they have the monopoly of ideas, they all steal money for their
great-grand-children instead of instituting policies that would effectively
take care of their citizens at retirement (instead of pensioners standing on a
queue for 5 hours to collect an equivalent of $5 monthly pension). I actually
think many of them are staying in power for two reasons, first so that they can
hold on to power and the benefits that come with it and secondly, because they
need to keep on to the money they have stolen without the fear of prosecution.
Whether Mr President or Mr Governor wins the next election
or not, or because there is no vacancy in his fortress, this much is clear....
Our people need to learn more about the best practices of democracy. The
education system should be looking at ways and means of preparing future
generations of Nigerians to make electoral choices based on what the nation
needs in the long term. For example, the soon to be ex-governor of Ekiti State,
Fayemi and others of his ilk should not be stigmatised for being knowledgeable.
He and his party were outmanoeuvred by a very sleek, mean and powerful cabal
who were bent on acquiring power by all means necessary and available. What we
need is for the electorate to understand what the real deal is for all of us.
It will be a holistic endeavour to study the Obama campaign
organisation's template of targeting the youths across the divides, turning
them to active participants and stakeholders and channelling their frustrated
energy to positive national driver of the wind of change.
Let the Truth be said always!!!
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