Democracy in the age of POPULISM and MASS GULLIBILITY -By Richard Odusanya

Democracy has been defined as the government of the people, for the people, by the people”. This classic definition assumes that people would vote to express their opinions, winners would be elected and subsequently accepted by the people. The definition was stated when POPULISM, commercial politics or POLITIPRENEURSHIP, and gullible social media influencers were not active participants in the political scene. Trumpism, Bolsonarism and Obidientism were not part of the consideration and people were not involuntarily gullible and easily controlled by a tool like social media.

Interestingly, we are now in the age of new reality and I opine that all, especially those above 50 years of age, should be very careful with their input into the arena. Political conflagration is easily establish in modern times and they mostly take their roots in social media as exemplified by what happened in the USA two years ago and currently happening in Brazil. These two unfortunate incidents are a warning to us in Nigeria as we approach our own elections. The dramatic scenes saw thousands of protesters, some clad in yellow Brazil football shirts and waving flags, overrun police and ransack the heart of the Brazilian state.

The 2022–2023 Brazilian election protests began shortly after the conclusion of the 2022 Brazilian general election’s second round on October 30, in which Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva was elected president. Supporters of Jair Bolsonaro, who are frequently referred to in media accounts as Bolsonaristas, alleging election fraud, began blocking roads and highways in the country. The rioting came a week after President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, widely known as Lula, was sworn-in. Bolsonaro enjoys a fervent base of supporters, many of whom are armed extremists, hailing from the military, police and militias analogous to the Proud Boys in the United States, and I dare say, the Obidients of Nigeria.

In Brazil it was expected that if Bolsonaro were to lose at the polls, there would be an imminent risk that Brazil will experience something similar to the January 6th attack on the US Capitol; or worse. As president, Bolsonaro has used the highest office in the country to aggressively stoke disinformation, in the same manner as US ex-President Trump did with his fanatical supporters. It can be argued that the new year message of Obasanjo and his co-travelers, through his letter, and their behind the scenes activities, could lead to similar results in Nigeria following the 2023 elections. It can be projected that any copycat action based on the examples of these two international political reactionaries could lead to far devastating consequences for Nigeria.

On January 6, 2021, following the defeat of then U.S. President Donald Trump in the 2020 presidential election, a mob of his supporters attacked the United States Capitol Building in Washington, D.C. The mob was seeking to keep Trump in power by preventing a joint session of Congress from counting the electoral college votes to formalize the victory of President-elect Joe Biden. According to the House select committee investigating the incident, the attack was the culmination of a seven-part plan by Trump to overturn the election.

Unfortunately, five people died either shortly before, during, or following the event: one was shot by Capitol Police, another died of a drug overdose, and three died of natural causes. Many people were injured, including 138 police officers. Four officers who responded to the attack killed themselves within seven months. As of July 7, 2022, monetary damages caused by attackers exceed $2.7 million. Democracy would have been truncated by reasons of the incongruence and Trump incitement similar to the ongoing situation in Brazil today.

Apart from the moral burden of ex-president Obasanjo’s open letter; the global community and men of good conscience cannot fold their arms and allow the ongoing situation in Brazil to repeat itself in a country as fragile and delicate as Nigeria – to go the way of January 6 in America and ongoing in Brazil will be a monumental disaster. Our beloved country Nigeria does not have such strong institutions like those in the western world. Obasanjo is certainly not the moral compass to navigate us through this probable potential storm.

The initiators of this attack on democracy are usually conflicted as we have read in documents of their track records. Specifically, they have a sense of “better than all” and always wanting to rewrite or erase historical accounts. It is confronting that a person like Obasanjo who supervised “business as usual”, heading arguably the worst corrupt Government that laid the foundation of where we are today as a nation now wants to be our future political compass. Lest we forget and to remind Nigerians, especially the youths whose future is at stake that Obasanjo’s regime was characterised by:

• rampant unforgetable and invidious politically motivated assassinations.

• Boko Haram started in that era and spread out with more dangerous elements.

• Selling off of many of our critical asset and shared the proceeds with his boys and girls club, leading to the misery of this present generation of Nigerian youths.

• _squandering of our resources on frivolous things and plundering was at all time high as exemplified by the $16 billion wasted on power (Electricity) and many other fraudulent activities that resulted in where we are today.

• compromise of democracy with incessant rigging of election and falsification of their results.

Fundamentally, in our society the unsuspecting mis-educated “masses” particularly the restive youths can be incapable of sound analytical reasoning; and can also be involuntarily gullible – a reason why the likes of Olusegun Obasanjo are still looming large. In our beloved country Nigeria today, problem is already brewing: four Nigerians of northern extraction have been killed by gunmen in Ihiala, Anambra state after ultimatum of 10 Jan 2022 was issued to them. Two of those killed are newlywed husband and wife, Ibrahim Isa, leader of arewa community confirmed to the BBC.

“A stitch in time saves nine.” The youths must research and ask questions. If properly done, they would realise that all the political potentates of Nigeria today have contributed directly or indirectly to their misery; and that they must not succumb to any sweet talking and claims; none of the leading Presidential aspirants is anywhere close to being a member of the youth club in Nigeria. Realising this would lead them into taking the right decision regarding violence or propensity towards anarchy. NIGERIA MUST NOT BURN.

Richard Odusanya

odusanyagold@gmail.com