The protracting echoes of corruption and confusing episodes from the ‘house of zombie’ in Abuja are obstacles to the nation’s journey to the land of democracy. No sooner had the Fourth Republic taken off than the polity was rocked by a series of political scandals, ethnic and religious violence. The certificate forgery episode of the "Toronto Speaker"-Alhaji Sanusi Buhari, the removal of Chief Evan Enwerem and Dr. Chuba Okadigbo as senate presidents, and the mouth-watering furniture and car allowances the Congress appropriated for its members and the Shariah crisis were signs that the road would be bumpy. Not too long ago Chief Audu Ogbeh (the National Chairman of the PDP) and Chief Anyim Pius Anyim (the Senate President) were on each other’s throat over the N120 million scandals, which the PDP needed Chief Anyim to provide for a jamboree in Calabar; thereafter the news of the missing N2.459 billion in the House of Representatives erupted. The recent impeachment move against President Olusegun Obasanjo by the Congress, which he apparently foiled through his errand boys, shows that the Congress is truly a place where how fast one moves around with Ghana-Must-Go bags matter more than one’s intelligence, conscience, or principle. Nigeria needs true democracy like air, but its destination is still far off because the nation’s lawmakers are the lawbreakers!

Because of Senator Arthur Nzeribe’s antecedents (the Senator is diabolical and does not have a permanent political camp; his political dancing steps changes according to the tones of political drumbeats), about 99 per cent of the people might not believe his stories, that about 84 senators received N3 million each from the N300 million that squashed the impeachment move against Chief Obasanjo. But have you dared to think what if Senator Arthur Nzeribe is telling the truth? It means that the society has long entrusted its future in the hands of crooks, ‘political contractors’ and incompetents who are frustrating the nation’s efforts to achieve and sustain democracy. That the Congress is this dirty shows why it does not have the moral courage to checkmate the excesses of the executive branch, thereby giving the president the audacity to underrate its power and flaunt democratic and legislative processes. All these exacerbate the nation’s dismal socio-economic conditions as they discourage both local and foreign investors from investing in the economy.

Are there some people out there in Nigeria with the conviction, clarity, moral virtue and gut to whistle power from this crop of leaders who are only good at cheating and stealing? Is there any bleeding-heart ‘Moses’ in the society to rescue the people? The voters should summon the courage to send these corrupt politicians back to their villages where most of them really belong! As noted in The Book of Virtues, ‘courage does not follow rutted pathways’ (Bennett, 1993). The 2003 election is a great opportunity to purge the society of the political vultures!

The moral crisis and fraud in the society has reached an alarming proportion, with crude politics and political assassinations strewn all over the political landscape. People are hunted and killed (Uncle Bola Ige was murdered in the Southwest; a couple of people were beheaded recently in the North; and a prominent lawyer and his wife were gunned down in (Onitsha) the Southeast). Those who escaped death were maimed for opposing a political heavyweight; and the lives of others are being threatened for carpet crossing. These are normal political activities in advanced nations where people join political parties espousing similar ideology with them. But due to Nigeria’s crude political culture of intolerance any person engaging in this type of political game will face the wrath of the gods. Sadly, politicians who take pride in wanton destruction of human lives in the name of politics often go unpunished. This trend has discouraged the remaining few good ones from participating in active politics. It is a jungle out there!

In many democracies mere news of marital infidelity could cost a politician an election, and the Congress and politicians are remembered for the laws they passed that have radiating positive consequences on the society. Political parties are also known for their social policies. For instance, in the US the Congress enacted the 1935 Social Security Act, the 1944 IG Bill (the GI Bill subsidized education and home buying for veterans), the 1965 Voting Right Act, and many others. The President Clinton’s national health plan in 1993 apparently enabled the Republicans to win the Congress in 1994. But the Republican’s efforts to restructure Medicare blew up on their face two years later.

In Nigeria political parties and politicians are ideologically bankrupt; they do not represent anything positive other than bribery and corruption. And the people can hardly hold them accountable for anything, even if they are caught stealing. Perhaps due to poverty and hunger a saint could be bought over! This illuminates the central problem posed by mass illiteracy, ignorance, corruption and poverty in a situation where the people are mostly concerned with their struggle for daily survival. This has, obviously, been the bane of democracy in the society!

The public is always bombarded with announcements that investigations would begin immediately (or that a commission of inquiry would be set up) whenever political scandals blew open (just as the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) has now alerted the nation of its readiness to probe the senators over the N300million scam). But the results of such investigations are often doctored or diluted before making it public; in many instances the results are completely swept under the rug. Some people might argue that this is the case in politics all over. No! As noted earlier, in many countries (should I say in advanced nations), politicians are held accountable for their actions or inactions on the ballot box. But in Nigeria anything goes; and the people are increasingly getting frustrated!

The situation on the ground must change before the nation could achieve a true democracy; and this should begin with changing the mind-set of the citizenry. The nation could only complete its tortured journey to the land of democracy, which it began in May 29, 1999, by learning to adopt democratic political process in solving the many teething problems facing the nation (crime, prostitution, corruption, rising unemployment, inflation, cultism and cheating in schools (external examinations), and moral crisis in education, among others). If not, the nation’s democracy-experiment will turn into a mirage.

However, Nigeria started its journey with a wrong foot by electing (should I say selecting) Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who does not have the necessary democratic ethos (limitations caused by his military training) to lead a civil society. Worse still, the leading party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is known to have an enduring legacy of internal brouhaha with confused and confusing policies (for instance, its flip-flop on the ban of certain categories of tokumbo (used) cars. (If the majority of the voting public were enlightened, and if votes matter in Nigerian politics, the anti middle class tokumbo policy, which affects the majority in the society, is enough to defeat the PDP in the 2003 elections). In addition, some of the party’s mouthpiece thinks that government policies should revolve only around Aso Rock; and many are those who are known to have dinned and wined with the military generals who looted the nation and fought against the enthronement of democracy in the society. Yet, they are still in government running around and pretending to be democrats! How can non-democrats help a society to achieve democracy? More so their bad counsel to Chief Olusegun Obasanjo have contributed to his sour relationship with the Congress, his arrogance and disdain for democratic political process.

For instance, Chief Tony Anenih, the Federal Minister for Works and Housing, with his unguarded and undemocratic utterances (his ‘no vacancy at Aso Rock’ gaff and the recent statement that the President, his Vice and the 21 PDP Governors - many of whom are political rogues and non-performers - would be returned to power by the ruling party unopposed, is among the political egocentrics dragging Nigeria back. This is not to mention the many old guards (such as [with due respect] Alhaji Adamu Ciroma) who have been in government from the time immemorial (and have nothing to show as their contribution to the welfare of the people or the stability of the nation, other than self-enrichment).

For Nigeria to complete its checkered journey to the land of democracy, the people must take charge of the affairs of the nation since government belongs to them. And the ruling party must adopt socio-economic policies that would enlarge the economic pie, sustain and consolidate the benefits of democracy. Sadly, in Nigeria the people are always kept in the dark, and the dividends of democracy they are aware of are the flagrant distortion of information they hear on the radio, watch on TV or read in the newspapers. People like the smooth-talking Prof. Jerry Gana and other praise-singers of the administration are peddling the deceptions. But on the ground the story is different: the roads are filled with gullies, thrash-littered streets, schools without funds and workers without salaries. And the hospitals are no better than clinics, thereby causing Nigerians to die at an alarming rate from minor aliments.

To avoid the nation’s hard-fought and won ‘democracy’ from being mortally wounded again (and that those who gave their lives for this may not die in vain), the nation should begin to teach democratic values (which it lacks) to the youths (as they are the leaders of tomorrow). In addition, the nation should teach them to obey the laws of the land, be sensitive to other people’s feelings, and create positive democratic culture in schools. And parents should again begin to teach good values in the homes, as there is no substitute for good parental education. The media has an important to play in the dissemination of necessary information to the public. The people must be educated of their rights before they could function well in a democracy; and the necessary democratic institutions (the Judiciary and the Police) must be made available and equipped to protect their rights, lives and properties. And the people should not allow the smart and terminally corrupt and insatiably greedy political elite to manipulate them with sugarcoated tribal/regional and religious sentiments, as these are the main sources of social unrest in the society.

The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and the Independent Corrupt Practices and Other Related Offences Commission (ICPC) must be truly independent (with its own budget allocations to avoid being manipulated and remotely controlled by the presidency). The INEC must ensure a level playing field for all political participants, set up a permanent calendar for national elections, and control the influence of money in politics and electoral frauds. A durable and people’s constitution that must be enforced to the letter will definitely enable the nation to reach the land of democracy. More importantly, those appointed to or voted into political offices must be people of probity with the moral courage to do what is right and eschew corruption. Because good service, as they say, begins with good people!

Nov 2002