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Nigreria’s 2019 General Elections and the Fate of ‘Ideas’ -By Yohanna Bwala

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The clamour amongst well-meaning Nigerians for a departure from the hate-filled gutter politics that Nigeria’s mainstream politics has gained infamy for has never been this loud. As noble as a call for the adoption of a healthy political culture sounds, such a call generally comes across to our political actors as irrelevant “noise” from political novices.

The average Nigerian politician has so mastered the craft of gutter politics that very few of them can actually survive the mental rigor associated with a contest of ideas. Instead of dwelling on relevant issues on the campaign trail, these politicians would rather exploit the fears of their gullible political base. Because they know in their brand of politics, no weapon is as potent as a mind driven solely by sentiments. The sad thing is: due to the state of mutual suspicion and acrimony between Nigeria’s major ethnic nationalities (which by the way is a creation of Nigeria’s current political class), majority of the electorate connect more to political campaign messages that appeals to and re-affirms their prejudice, than one centered around ideas of ways of making their lives better. Therefore, even if Nigeria was to overcome the menace of vote buying in 2019, censorship of political campaign messaging at the grass root level would also be another tough nut to crack.

A country like Nigeria that is yet to attain the state of nationhood would pay a stiffer penalty from the negative impacts of a populist political culture. Nigeria might be 58 years old post-independence, but if one is to run a survey of the views of six random natives of each of Nigeria’s six geo-political zones, on “who a Nigerian is?” I am sure that one would have six distinct (if not divergent) definitions of who a Nigerian is.

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Yohanna Bwala

My fear is, with the rate at which the politics of populism is gradually gaining grounds in supposed ‘enlightened democracies’ around the world, ours that hasn’t yet grown to maturity might even grow worse overtime, i.e. if it is not confronted with sense of urgency it requires.

As much as I dislike drawing parallels from western democracies (because theirs is at an advanced level of political evolution from ours); that not witstanding, Nigeria has a lot of to learn from what is currently going on in the politics of the United States of America. With the way in which Donald Trump rode on the crest of a populist brand of politics to power in 2016, it is only natural for America to suffer deep polarization of its polity, as it is currently being witnessed. And that is a democracy that is 231+ years in the making. In Nigeria’s case, the country is yet to even attain a state of nationhood; because her diversity which was supposed to be a blessing has overtime become an obstacle.

At the risk of sounding like an alarmist, it is my strong belief that Nigeria’s already tattered social fabric cannot survive two more cycles of the toxic populist brand of political campaigns that currently bedevils its polity. If we choose to continue in the self-deceptive notion that ‘it is God that put this nation together, as such, nothing can break it apart’; we would certainly wake up one day blaming ourselves for not learning from history.

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Whenever I see the conduct of our current political class, Nelson Mandela’s famous words readily comes to mind: “When we dehumanize and demonize our opponents, we abandon the possibility of peacefully resolving our differences.”

It is quite amusing and at the same time saddening, seeing ethnic jingoists coming on national Television, portraying themselves as nationalists; all in a bid to launder their images for wider acceptance into Nigeria’s mainstream national politics. These are the same people who have in the past 2-3 election cycles consecutively championed hate-filled ethocentric political campaigns that ended up consuming many innocent souls. In saner climes, these people ought to be in jail for their crimes against the Nigerian state and its people, but since ours is a society that glorifies criminality; the families of their victims have to live with the trauma of seeing them regularly on national TV, wearing the toga of “leaders of thought”.

How then does the Nigerian state expect its citizens to be patriotic to a nation that cannot guarantee justice for its people?
Majority of Nigerian politicians do not understand the dynamics of political economy and the need for a nation like Nigeria to attain political stability, so as to stimulate real growth. Whenever I see politicans of the Ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) and those of the main opposition party the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), debate the slump in Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), I feel sad for Nigeria. These are two political parties having many politicians within their ranks that have actively participated in the distabilization of the Nigerian polity, through their dirty brand of politics. The question they fail to ask themselves is: with the kind of heated political atmosphere in Nigeria, if they were to be foreing investors looking to invest long-term in West-Africa, would they choose Nigeria?

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I am in no way belittling the great work being done by the Gen. Abdulsalam Abubakar (Rtd.) and Bishop Matthew Kukah−led National Peace Committee, but the fact that the major political actors in Nigeria have to be literally coerced every election cycle into a “Peace Pact” is an indictmet on our law enforcement agencies and the judiciary. A nation with an efficient law enforcement and legal system would not require such interventions to keep rougue politicians in check. The main challenge here is: who monitors the conducts of the campaigners and political thugs of these political “gladiators” at the ward level? Because it is at the grassroot that hate speeches and violenct conducts originate. No politician would be dumb enough to come on national TV propagating hate. These politicians would sign a thousand peace pacts becuase they know they would never be caught on tape encouraging violence, and their footsoldiers that do the actual killing would go about causing mayhem with impunity; knowing that even if they are caught, the powers that be would have them released in less than 48 hours. That was why in my opinion piece of March 14th 2017 (https://opinion.premiumtimesng.com/2017/03/14/2019-elections-on-the-horizon-the-return-of-hate-campaigns-by-yohanna-bwala/), I made an appeal to civil rights NGOs in Nigeria and the National Human Right Commission (NHRC), on the need to “lobby the National Assembly towards amending sections of our electoral laws responsible for addressing cases of incitement by our politicians and media outfits”, so that the penalties for such crimes could be made stiffer than they were then (and remains unchanged till date). The rest, they say, is history.
It is quite refreshing, seeing the brand of new entrants into the Nigerian political arena, that have chosen to chat a new course; by reshaping the political discourse, towards one that inspires hope for a better Nigeria. Many of their ideas and indepth knowledge of Nigeria’s problems and how to go about solving them are quite novel and by far ahead of thier peers in the two major political political parties.

Going by the many blunders of some of the the most ‘experienced’ Nigerian politicians in government today, one can’t help but question the actual importance of political experience (the Nigerian type) in governing a nation like Nigeria.

The sad thing is: the mind of a large number of the Nigerian electorate has been so traumatised by the harsh effects of bad governance that they find temporary safety in monies given to them for their votes, rather than trying out something new and refreshing. The tendency of some voters allowing their emotions decide their choice(s) at the polls is yet another obstacle to having credible candidates being voted into key positions in government.

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Many of these new entrants might end up not winning elections for the various offices for which they are contesting (due largely to the corrupt nature of our political system and the seeming unwillingness of those in power to effect real systemic change), but history will be kind to them for taking such bold moves and showing those to come after them that, in Nigeria, politics can actually be played with civility and decorum.

Yohanna Bwala, an Environmental Geologist, writes from Lagos.

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