By Nnedinso Ogaziechi 

The history of political parties in Nigeria since 1959 shows that politicians who form and run the political parties are always bent on having the maximum advantages buy any means. Since the British Macpherson pre-independence days when the formation of political parties were based on regional affiliations of Northern, Western, Eastern and Mid-Western interests, it is obvious that nothing much has changed.

The much touted founding fathers of Nigeria political system seemed to have thought less of nationhood in the real sense. There were more of ethnic and tribal champions who were merely lucky to be around and did their part for independence. Not much foundation was laid for a united country and for value to be put on citizenship like we have in other democracies. Their attachment to regional sentiments had persisted to this day.

It is therefore not surprising that the military struck early in the life of the young nation. Even after becoming a republic in 1963, not much changed. The National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons, (NCNC) the Northern People’s Congress (NPC) and the Action Group (AG) now merely have morphed into other multiplicity of political parties run with inner sentiments of those founding fathers.

Despite political rhetoric from politicians from the first republic to this day, Nigerian politicians have largely run on very selfish agenda. The idea of nationhood and citizenship seem somewhat of a mirage and this has been somewhat responsible for the underdevelopment of the country.

The Roundtable Conversation has over the years watched the political actors and observed that not many of them are as altruistic as they ought to be. Most of their plans are always about self-interest. Even though the universal cliché is that, in politics there are no permanent friends or permanent enemies but permanent interests, one can say that there is an exaggerated self-interest that one can glean from the actions of most political players in a developing country like Nigeria.

For this reason, the political party structure has not proved to be patriotically and ideologically driven to engender progress. The fact that according to National Bureau of Statistics (NBS), about 133m Nigerians are in multi-dimensional  poverty is very troubling.  Given the human and material resources in the country, it says something about the brand of democracy we practice. Development of countries like Malaysia, Singapore, India, Rwanda, Botswana and other countries has shown the value of leadership that is focused on the development of the human capital as a sine qua non to development.

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The Nigeria political class must stop playing the Ostrich and understand that democracy gets more developmentally functional when the political elite play by the rules and dedicate themselves to the development and welfare of citizens. Politics must not be about ego, class or any other mundane considerations. It must be about the sincere pursuit of the welfare of the people through the right processes that uplift the core tenets of democracy. It is about sincere engagements, patriotism and hard work.

The 2023 elections are merely few weeks away but it must be on record that there must be introspection about our electoral processes. It is not enough to elect just individuals into offices. The process must be done in ways that the people, the main heart of democracy are allowed to make their choices freely and without coercion or force in ways that are evidently free of manipulations like have been the case since 1999.

Being the poverty capital of the world is not a birthright, it is an acquired syndrome of ineffectual leadership that must be changed. Our political elite must understand that the process is as important as the participants in the political game.

The Roundtable Conversation has vastly interrogated the electoral timetable that makes it possible for presidential elections to be held the same day with that of the National Assembly, and that of governorship and state houses of assembly on the same day.  This system has gone on for so long and not many realize that it is a subtle maneuvering of the voting public who do not often understand the difference between the executive and legislative roles.

On the face of it, this system might appear innocuous, however, what this has done is to subsume the role of the legislature under the executive at both the federal and state levels in what the political elite often deceptively describe as party loyalty. What happens is that the Presidential and governorship candidates somewhat shield the legislative candidates from total scrutiny of the voters. In a country where a great number are illiterates, they often do not isolate candidates as the political class has surreptitiously made it seem like the executive and the legislature are one and the same and the party and not individuals and their competences matter.

Many might not have taken cognizance of the fact that most  legislative candidates do not subjet themselves to scrutiny by the voters and that has been the bane of Nigerian democracy. The subtle psychological manipulation of the psyche of voters is so obvious. Why should an individual not campaign for an election he or she wishes to be part of? Political parties are mere vehicles and do not equate the passengers in this instance. Each passenger has a distinct identity.

The Roundtable Conversation sought the views Kayode Idowu, a veteran journalist and former Chief press Secretary to former INEC chairman, Professor Attahiru Jega. We wanted to find out why the electoral timetable came off the way it has been. He said that it is a result of the 2010 Electoral Amendment Act and the Independent National Electoral Commission  (INEC) saw it from  a purely  ease of logistics angle. Although  there were and still are objections, a lot has to be done to change it going forward. The argument is that when you do the national elections first, invariably it impacts on the state elections that come later. But the Commission believes that the national elections are the more critical ones and it would be logistically expedient to do away with the more critical national elections first.

For instance, for the Presidential election happens  throughout  the thirty six states, the state elections are not always on the same day as some states due to past electoral issues are held off season. There are about seven off season state elections so it makes for better coordination to hold state b governorship and assembly elections on the same day. To him the election days are not the issue. The political elite must learn to do the rith things. Legislative candidates must campaign and tell the people what they can do.

However, the Roundtable Conversation has observed the lethargic attitude of the legislative candidates at campaigning as they rely solely on the candidates for executive positions.. Mr. Idowu observed that the challenge is not that of INEC but that of the candidates and the electorate whose job is to market themselves and for the electorate to question the candidates and not vote for those who do not come clear with their clear programmmes.

To him, the solution must be sought through advocacy and eduction about the clear and distinct  the roles of the three arms of government in a democracy. How many of them know what their roles are? They have an identity problem that sips through to the electorate who do not know what to expect from their legislature. There is a misplacement of expectations by the people. They all tend to blame the President and governors for bad governance  because they do not understand that there are different roles for each arm of government in a democracy. Representatives have their unique roles which cannot when democracy is validly practices be usurped by the executive.

Most legislators  do not seem to know their roles. They see themselves as appendages of the executive. They have a crisis of identity which is injurious to our democracy. To him, the solution must be a radical systemic change. He feels the parliamentary system clearly delineates the roles of the Prime Minister and the Parliamentarians. In fact the parliamentarians have the responsibility of choosing the Prime Minister and that implies that each parliamentarian is very close to his or her constituency and must be a true representative of the people that must be held accountable. They National Assembly members stay away in Abuja and only sneak into their constituencies for political meetings or irrelevant social events.

Many Nigerian legislators do not understand their roles. They are too removed from their constituencies even when they are some of the most highly paid legislators in the world. They are supposed to have  constituency offices where they can interact with their constituents but in most cases, there are no offices and even when they have a few, they are just buildings occupied by their unqualified aides who do nothing to add value to their representation. Their constituency allowances are merely for their self-aggrandizement.

The Nigerian democracy will only fulfill its role in the lives of the people when the real tenets are upheld and politicians understand fully what and how democracy works. The present situation where individuals just aspire to be voted into offices that they do not understand their roles is why a more than two decades return to civilian democracy seems to be wobbling and making it seem like democracy is the problem. It is the people that must choose to restructure a dysfunctional political system . Democracy is about the welfare of the people and those who take oaths to serve must first understand their roles.

The dialogue continues…