Sir: It is by the grace of God and the resilience of the Nigerian electorate that Nigeria has survived an uninterrupted civilian democratic rule from 1999 till date. Even at that, the party formations still bear the awful badge of regionalism – the North for the North, the East for the East, the West for the West and the South-south for the South -south. Except for weak, corrupt and self-centred alliances between the major political parties controlled by the majority tribes of the North, the West and the East regions, to create a semblance of national political spread, nothing much has changed in Nigeria’s skewed political formation essentially tailored to favour the so-called big tribes or ethnic groups. Whether it is the former NPN or the present PDP and All Progressives Congress (APC), it is clear that politicians are not yet ready to form a political party with national spread manned by men and women of unassailable nationalistic fervour, impeccable character, selfless in its calling to visionary and pragmatic leadership. These are the qualities that are needed in addressing the questions of unity, peace and security of the nation where Nigeria’s poverty index will be drastically reduced.
Here lies the import of former president, Goodluck Johnathan’s call for Nigeria’s integration into a nation. President Johnathan said Nigeria’s woes stemmed from the fact that she has failed to integrate into a nation since the amalgamation of Northern and Southern protectorates in 1914.
He spoke in Abuja at a dialogue to mark the 60th birthday of National Secretary of Alliance for Democracy (AD) and Fellow of Social and Political Thought, Professor Udenta Udenta. Johnathan regrettably noted that there was no commitment on the part of Nigerian politicians to integrate Nigeria into an entity with common philosophy.
“There was no commitment to integrate Nigeria into an entity that you say yes, this is a nation with common philosophy”, he said.
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According to the former president, the country was so polarised especially during early party formation as the parties mostly had regional bias.
There is no doubt the crux of the matter as dissected by President Johnathan cannot be faulted. He has painstakingly identified Nigeria’s faulty and tortuous steps toward nation building. Enduring and sustainable nation building is predicated on a political system that is rooted in its formation with bias for national outlook.
For Nigeria to attain a viable political system that can effectively drive her socio – economic development and infrastructural transformation, Nigerian politicians have a compelling duty to seriously interrogate the well thought out panacea for pollical stability and enduring electoral process of the country by former President Johnathan. This calls for doing away with myopic mundane and self-centred formation of political parties which can hardly create the enabling environment for Nigeria to be integrated into a nation.
Self-serving politicians with little or no iota of commonly shared leadership qualities, coming together to form a semblance of nationally based political parties has proved that our attempt at building a cohesive nation through such parties is faulty. The main aim of formation of such parties is to scavenge the spoils of office to the abandonment of moral and ethical values in our political process. Thus, corruption in high magnitude has been the order of the day in the running of administrations overtime. This has been a problem in the development process of the nation and a threat to peace and security.
The Nigerian project can only be seamlessly executed through such integration that gives room to equity and justice, credible, fair and just electoral process in our political landscape.
- Braeyi Ekiye, Yenagoa, Bayelsa State.