Democracy has been universally accepted to mean the government of the people by the people for the people. On independence, Nigeria was bequeathed with a flourishing democracy by the British colonial masters. The quest and struggle for independence was largely fought on peaceful democratic principles. We had a very acceptable constitution that recognized our diversity and ensured the practice of true federalism. The component units were competitive and without oil, we were an emerging African economic power. Indeed, even the colonial masters on independence described Nigeria as a potential superpower nation and the land where the sun never sets.
However, when the British departed, we had only one major threat to our democracy – elections. How do we organize elections that will be free, fair and credible enough to be accepted in order to prevent violence and the eventual truncation of our democracy?
Historically, the first Republic was truncated as a result of violence resulting from a rigged election predominantly from the South-west. The same scenario happened in 1983, when the administration of Alhaji Shehu Shagari was truncated by the military led by General Muhammadu Buhari.
Each time the military came in, they promised a brighter future for us but eventually left us worse than we were before their incursion into politics. The worst aspect of military regimes is that they even leave the military institutions weakened, demoralised, divided and segmented in order to ensure that no military colleague will be strong enough to overthrow the incumbent regime. The gradual and intentional neglect of our military over the years by military regimes is what we are suffering today in our war against Boko Haram and other insurgents.
We are now at the threshold of another election. Year 2015 is unique in various ways. This is the first time the nation is having two strong parties that evolved on their own, contesting elections. What a great democratic achievement! This is the first time Nigeria will be conducting elections while the federation is at war. What a great democratic challenge! Hence my plea to my countrymen to accept the results of the elections as declared by INEC without violence and use lawful means to seek redress in the case of any perceived injustice.
Politicians are the major gladiators in a democracy. They make policies, offer themselves to be voted for, occupy the seat of power and determine the destinies of the nation and the individual citizens. Their actions or inactions determine the success or failure of democracy.
In advanced countries, politicians are known to make sacrifices before, during and after elections for the survival and prestige of their nations. During the American Presidential elections of year 2000, Governor George Bush and Vice President Al Gore were the Presidential candidates of the Republican Party, Democratic Party respectively. After the elections, Al Gore won the popular vote while George Bush won the Electoral College vote. Constitutionally, whoever wins the Electoral College votes becomes the President. To make matters worse, the Florida state elections which became the deciding factor was believed to be manipulated in favour of George Bush by his brother Governor Jeb Bush of Florida. It took America 50 days to resolve this crisis. There were court cases that reached the American Supreme Court. America became a laughing stock in the comity of nations. After the judgment of the American Supreme Court, Al Gore though he disagreed with the judgment, accepted it and conceded victory to George Bush and saved America the shame and ridicule.
We are now on the threshold of general election 2015. For all intents and purposes there are circumstances which already exist that can form the basis of controversy after the results of the elections are announced. The insurgency in the three North East states of Borno, Yobe and Adamawa and the inadequacy of the permanent voter’s card are just some of them. The only thing remaining is whether we can find enough political statesmen who can disagree with the results but accept them for the general good of the nation
My plea to the youths is to imbibe this admonition by the President Goodluck Jonathan that “no politician’s ambition is worth the blood of any Nigerian”.
The military reflects the strength and dignity of the nation. No nation can attain a superpower status without a strong, loyal and courageous military. The US became a super power today because of the steadfast dedication of its military to the protection of its democracy and wading off external aggression. Also, USSR, China, Britain, France are nations whose military assisted their rise to international prominence.
In Nigeria, our military has been known to be the most powerful force in Africa from independence. The numerous military incursions into politics weakened this great institution to the extent that during Abacha’s regime, officers were framed up or set up for treasonable offences and condemned to death. Mutual suspicion among soldiers was so high that barrack life collapsed amongst them.
By 1999, President Olusegun Obasanjo retired all military officers who had held political offices before that date. This further led to the depletion of the finest of officers among the soldiers.
My plea to the military today is that they should stay away from politics. This will enable them focus their attention on their constitutional duty of protecting the territorial integrity of the nation. I have no doubt in my mind that the military is always lured into incursion in politics by politicians who lost elections or fell out with the system. But they should resist this satanic lure as this would lead to destroying itself eventually
The 2015 elections will present peculiar challenges to the military since they are engaging the Boko Haram insurgents and may also be called in to secure the elections. They should not lend themselves as agents of rigging and must ensure that there is no violence after elections. Love of country and its constitution should be their priority rather than blind loyalty to any candidate.
In Nigeria, unfortunately, our men of God have become more political than the politicians. It has become a regular feature to see our Priests, Prophets, Pastors and Imams to use their pulpits to propagate the agenda of hate against candidates and parties. They make dubious prophecies which create the basis for violence when such prophecies fail to come to pass.
My plea to them is to stand fast in the calling wherein they are called. Even if the politicians are bad and the people sin, it is their duty to plead with God to show mercy, forgive the people and heal their land.
We have numerous challenges today that can naturally question the validity of the elections but we are praying to have politicians who are willing to disagree with the results but accept them for the general good. They must remember the admonition of Winston Churchill that “the statesmen lose control immediately the guns begin to fire.”
• Okonkwo, veteran actor writes from Lagos.
