Adeseko AYENI

Self-centeredness in man seems natural, because you need to be well to make others well. The Yorubas would say: if you and your child experience fire burn, you first treat yours before treating your child’s. Nonetheless society desires to be organized to prevent the chaos that might arise on account of conflicts of self-interests. The state of man, defined by Hobbes, illustrates an unorganized human society with the attendant conflicts which made life brutal.

The African communal system, was designed to confront life challenges jointly. The community relates as a family, protecting members and the group. For coordination, the monarchy came to be, in which an individual is selected to coordinate the workings of the system. These individuals exercised tremendous powers, depending on the culture of the people. Structures were put in place to prevent abuses, such as appointment of chiefs to represent the various sections in community administration. Of note is the position of the Oyomesi in the administration of Oyo empire.

From the foregoing, it is discernible that prior to colonialism (unsolicited and unconsented dominance of a peoples’ lives by people of different cultures) Africans have put in place, efficient mechanisms, to manage cultural plurality by ensuring that the interests of all are captured in the processes of management. All of these define the essences of today’s federalism and democracy. 

Democracy, defined as: Government of the people by the people and for the people, rarely exists, anywhere, in Africa today, in spite of claims to the contrary.  What we have all over Africa, today are sit-tight leaders who desire to remain in power till death! If elections are not being manipulated, the opposition is being mauled! In furtherance of these crooked maneuvers, the people are played against each other, using sentiments as ethnicity, religion or any other mundane event of life! Another is the use of state security apparatus, funded from peoples’ taxes, to suppress the wishes of the same people by force!

The big question is: what has Nigeria, and Africa, as a whole, got to show for the decades of self-rule, under different definitions? Poverty and starvation rule the same continent which is home to world’s natural resources and very talented minds! Decrepit infrastructure resulting from crookedness, all over the place, fail to galvanize developments through these valuable God’s endowments! People take power under any pretext and start to manipulate their ways into perpetuation. Africans are the hungriest and angriest nationals on the surface of the earth!

We must continue to ask ourselves, why, in spite of the abundance of God’s endowment, and the absence of geological disasters, as obtained elsewhere, are our people the poorest and most miserable? The answer is simple: we are doing something wrong! The excessive pampering of our politicians, vis-a-vis the subjugation of our laws to mundane sentiments has enabled impunity, bringing us far worse than the people of the Hobbesian state!  It isn’t possible for life to be more brutal than it is in Nigeria, today, as its politicians loot the treasuries to keep abroad. Just as Cameroonians, Tanzanians citizens are currently mass-protesting electoral injustice! Questions are being raised by the people on the character of their leaders as well as the credibility of their elections!

Apart from having to perform my civic right, I saw no reason to vote in the last Nigerian presidential election, for having no candidate of interest to me, primarily because of all that people say! Today, if anything, I sympathize with this president and, in the event of any election, I would vote for him. I am excited by his courage and his economic policy trajectory. It is clear, to any neutral observer that the massive corruption, inside which he has to operate, not the policy of his government, impedes our way forward. Apart from his vibrant economic team, some of his ministers, notably Bunmi Ojo and Festus Keyamo are world class! The president needs to look for their types around the country, to drive his scheme.

The corruption in Nigeria has reached such a level that, only a true patriot, who is ready to give his life for the country can combat it.  Every institution, including the military, the police, the courts and academia are already desecrated. The kind of people who, in sane climes, live in prison, are the ones we celebrate, here!