Urgent task before the nation
By Emmanuel Anosike
IN the political life of any nation a period of three years is not a very long time, yet the citizens of this country have not seriously addressed the issues that led to the acrimony that nearly tore us apart after the election of 2003. Happenings prior to these elections gave rise to genuine fears concerning the survival of the nation. What happened during the exercise, which is now history, showed that the fears were not misplaced. As we may recollect, for some weeks before the inauguration of the President at the centre and the governors in the states there were genuine fears of the possible break-up of the country.
The aggrieved were encouraged to seek judicial redress at the various election tribunals. Fourteen months after, only a few of the major cases have been settled. The way things are going, the cases involving the President and some of the state governors may still remain unresolved half-way in the life of the administration. To some of us outside the political arena this appears quite strange. It now becomes very clear why every contestant wanted so badly to be declared winner after the "voting" irrespective of what the ballot boxes contained. Some of the aggrieved, knowing that election tribunals would hardly offer them justice, were ready at the time to obtain it their own way.
The rest of us that were at the sidelines held our breadth and prayed that good sense might prevail. Happily, it did and we are still one country practising "democracy" and making fanfare of it. Yet, if everyone would be honest with himself, we all know that the 2003 elections in most parts of the country were not free and fair. In some places, the reports indicate that where voting did take place, the results declared had no bearing with the contents of the ballot boxes. Numbers were fixed on forms arbitrarily and winners were declared.
Both local and international election monitors testified to this in their reports. From the pattern of results declared at all levels nationwide, it is obvious that election rigging was not restricted to any one political party. Apparently, incumbents and their parties at every tier of government compromised the electoral process by using the Police and Electoral Commission Officials. The methods employed are all too well known to merit repetition in this essay.
The reason why I have gone into all these is that it has been said that those who fail to learn from history are doomed to pay dearly for the pains of its repeated mistakes. This is what is facing us as a nation, come 2007. Every stage of our existence as a nation state is replete with wasted opportunities that should have launched us on the path of greatness as a developed country. The interval between now and 2007 is critical in our bid to become a true democracy as opposed to what we are now. A lot has been written by political analysts and current affairs commentators that what we now have on ground is far from democracy the way it is defined.
At all tiers of government what we have are civilian dictatorships. What is so sad is that even though the international community knows that the elections that threw up our present crop of political leaders was seriously flawed, they have found it convenient to deal with us as democracy. Unlike the situation in a full-blown military dictatorship, the opposition and other non-politicians that wish for a true democratic setting do not have sympathy in their struggle from the international community. This is the aspect of the sorry state of our polity at the present time.
The resultant effect of this state of affairs is that any meaningful and desirable change in our condition lies in our hands, politicians and non-politicians alike. Any Nigerian who calls himself a patriot and looks beyond immediate personal advantage should be part of the worthy cause of launching our country on the path of becoming a truly democratic nation where justice and fair play will rub off on all citizens. This is what true democracy entails.
A cursory look through the nation-states in our continent shows that many smaller countries we like to look down upon have done much better than ourselves. In my layman's understanding, democracy embraces conviction and freedom of choice. These are non-existent in the way we are practising it now. Members of the opposition in 2003 who either lost elections or who were stalwarts of parties that lost quickly joined the ruling party. For most of our political class, they see politics as sharing the national cake rather than service on the basis of principles and convictions. Until we are able to conduct elections based on distinct principles and ideologies where there are level playing fields such that the opposition can win if the electoral wishes, we would not have started on the path of sustainable democracy that will give rise to true development.
In Zambia, the great Dr. Kaunda's party was voted out of power and Mr. Chiluba who replaced him has equally been voted out. This same type of change has taken place in Kenya where a coalition of political parties, was able to displace President Arap Moi's party. Even though our country, Nigeria, likes to pride itself as a leader in Africa, its pretensions ring hollow where it is unable to conduct free and fair elections. Apologists and beneficiaries of our current form of democracy would quickly point at the happenings in the U.S during their last election in 2000 and provide rationalisation.
They should remember that all of us, those in and outside the present government, are in this together. The future of the country ought to transcend narrow personal advantage. Besides, adults, particularly political office holders, cannot convincingly preach to the youth in our educational system on the evils of examination malpractice and cultism when the electoral process that enthroned them as leaders was seriously flawed. They would be asking for double standards. A minimum threshold of ethics is required in the electoral process for true democracy to subsist.
So how do we approach a rational solution to our electoral problems A cursory look through the political discourse in most of our daily newspapers and weekly news magazines shows a disproportionate attention to different scenarios of political succession at the executive levels of governments at both State and Federal. To all intents and purposes, it would seem that Nigerian as a one-party state has already been assumed. No serious attempt is being made to re-orient our political class towards the politics of ideologies and conviction coupled with the sort of patience that is needed by the opposition in other true democracies to capture the reins of power through the ballot box.
No attempt is being made to cajole the political class, irrespective of party affiliation, to come together, discuss and pledge to allow the ballot box be the true vehicle for attainment of political power. In this endeavour, it is suggested that the Political Parties, Civil Liberty Organisations, ASUU, NLC, the Patriots and other truly patriotic citizens of our civil society be involved. This should be in the front burner of our national discourse and even take precedence over the question of a Sovereign National Conference at this time.
Anosike is a Professor of Biochemistry at the University of Port Harcourt, Rivers State.
