Nigeria's Endangered Democracy

A gentleman from southern Kaduna State which is a Christian dominated part of Northern Nigeria who incidentally was once in the National Assembly as a legislator gave me a call in the wee hours of today.

This man whose identity is kept anonymous has been my friend for nearly two decades by virtue of the fact that yours faithfully is a stakeholder in the affairs of Southern Kaduna State which I regard as my second home after Arondizuogu, Imo State in the South East of Nigeria.

Although for nearly five years, I have not seen nor spoken with him but we maintained our contacts largely on the social media platforms.

So when his call pulled through I was curious to know why he chose to call so early in the morning but he sounded downcast and scary of the prospects of peace and inter-ethnic harmony in Nigeria during this administration of the Katsina State born retired Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s government.

It took him over 25 minutes on the phone to narrate to me what his people are passing through in the hands of armed Fulani herdsmen who he said had turned Southern Kaduna farming communities into killing fields even as he expressed doubts in the ability or willingness of Governor Nassir El-ruffai to galvanize security resources to put an end to the killings.

He reminded me that the current Kaduna State governor is a well known Fulani irredentist who had allegedly boasted on his social media page that his Fulani people are very ready to take on any farming communities that would stop them from gaining access to breed their cattle. The issue of the sinister plots in some quarters to smuggle in a national legislation to create grazing routes for Fulani herdsmen through a national legislation has being on the front burners with almost a unanimous opposition to the move from a large sections of the Country.

This friend who sounded very afraid said he was calling from Godogodo town which is located in Jemaa Local government area of Kaduna State.

That community is currently ravaged by incessant deadly armed Fulani attacks which so far have led to the killing of nearly a thousand villagers even as hundreds -of -thousands of persons are now internally displaced.

So far the Federal Government’s funded National Emergency Management Agency has yet to take relief materials to these needy persons as against allegations of speedy response by this same publicly funded agencies to emergencies that occurs in the Moslem dominated sections of the North. The top management teams of NEMA are from the Hausa/Fulani axis.

The Director in charge of relief materials had severally denied these allegations of discriminatory distribution of relief materials to needy Nigerians but many observers still raise same allegations all the time.

Still on the serial attacks in Southern Kaduna, only yesterday a Pastor of the Pentacostal Church was waylaid and slaughtered in the same community by armed Fulani herdsmen.

The leader of the Miyetti Allah cattle breeders Association in Kaduna was recently quoted as telling the media that the killings in Godogodo are a sort of revenge killings for the alleged killing of a Fulani traditional ruler by suspected Southern Kaduna people. He wasn't picked by the security agencies so he gives them possible clue about the attackers since he knows the motive behind these mass killings.

This scenario signposts grave danger to democracy if aggrieved persons are not freely roaming the communities unleashing vengeance to a crude dimension and the central government is completely detached from these evil deeds and the consequences they pose to the survival of Nigeria.

Under the constitution the law enforcement agencies ought to maintain law and order. The push to illegally take possession of people's lands to hand out to Fulani herdsmen has constituted serious threat to national security.

The Southern Kaduna people just like most other people in all parts of Southern Nigeria have consistently opposed to carving out part of their ancestral landed assets forcefully by government to be allocated to the Fulani herdsmen.

There's also the ethical question of why the federal government should deploy public fund to support the private commercial businesses of only a section of Nigerians when the Constitution in chapter completely outlaws discrimination and indeed the public oath of office sworn to by the President forbids him from allowing his private affairs or sentiments of his own ethnic people to cloud the policy direction of his administration.

Our discussion then veered off to the essence of the many secretive meetings the visiting United States Secretary of State Mr. John Kerry held with Northern Muslim leaders and five core Hausa/Fulani State governors and we came to the conclusion that these parleys are ominous and dangerous because there is every rational reason to be afraid when such a notable American Politician visits Nigeria and the Presidency ensured that only a section of Nigeria is visited.

The United States Secretary of State Coordinates activities of the States department of the United States government which is a strategic global platform in matters of military and defense issues.

Come to think of it, why should the American diplomat of such global status such as Senator John Kerry pay a visit to Nigeria to discuss the counter terrorism battles in Nigeria without the involvement of key policy and military stakeholders of Southern extraction? Even the media which section 22 of the Constitution imposes the obligation of being the public consciences was barred from almost all these key policy meetings between President Muhammadu Buhari and the United States Secretary of State Mr. John Kerry in Abuja.

Corollary, is the United States government not in the know that the far -reaching consequences of the bombardments by the boko haram terrorists by far extended all across the different sections of Nigeria?

Is Mr. John Kerry not properly briefed that amongst the victims of the attacks by terrorists of the boko haram genre are persons from the Southern segment of Nigeria? By the way is the North such a unipolar region that is exclusively composed of Muslims?

With the above facts in mind, this my friend at the other end of the telephone passed the inevitable verdict that “Nigeria’s democracy is endangered”. I rapidly concurred.

Ironically, this same day, the current edition of The Economist magazine was dropped at my desk with a shouting title which encapsulated the apprehensions my friend and I shared on the phone just this morning.

The writers of the Western published magazine did also devoted substantial chunk of the publication to emphasize that in much of Africa’s democracies, the ruling political parties always and often to the detriment of their nation’s collective unity, and peace, play the ethnic card.

Uganda, Sudan and Zimbabwe were highlighted. But Nigeria is not exempted from this malaise of sectional politics by supposedly elected national government.

The winner takes all syndrome was pointed out as a factor. In Nigeria the President is accused of appointing only persons of his religious affiliations into all the key military and defense positions as against the clear provisions of the Nigerian Constitution which makes it binding that Federal character principles must be reflected in every appointment.

President Muhammadu Buhari through his controversial Yoruba born Spokesman Mr. Femi Adesina claimed that his boss will not be forced to observe Federal character principles in all his appointments.

This is clearly stating that Mr President is above the law. This callous speech by the Presidential spokesperson seems like an attempt by the Presidency to test the waters concerning another insidious plot to declare and take over emergency and extra- constitutional powers that would oust the traditional powers of the legislative arm of government and create a totalitarian state.

Few hours ago Mr. President through his economic management team started gambling with the idea of passing emergency legislation for the economy to bypass the National Assembly in the implementation of some key economic decisions.

This is like saying that the Nigerian Constitution which spells out clear provisions on the Principles of separation of Powers should be abrogated.

This is tantamount to military coup since the government rode on the back of popular votes of the people to gain political power.

There's no how the government officials can torpedo the fundamental laws that brought them into office in the first instance without losing legitimacy because legitimacy to exercise constitutional powers resides with the people of Nigeria who are the owners of the Sovereignty of Nigeria.

It's like a tree cutting off itself from the roots and still expects to stand. This is an existential impossibility.

This Nigerian situation is actually reflected in this international magazine aforementioned.

The current edition of Economist news magazine is fascinating but the cover story is heartrending because of the actuality of the situation of most African democracies which are pathetically agonizing especially for lovers of genuine democracy and constitutional freedoms.

Aptly titled 'Africa’s fragile democracies ' the reporters also wrote about the winner -takes -all syndrome in greatest details which they stated is aggravated by the complex, multi-ethnic form of many African states, whose borders may have been created by colonial whim.

Voting patterns often follow tribe or clan rather than class or ideology, so tend to lock in the advantage of one or other group. This is true in Nigeria and this divisiveness has often led to social tensions.

The Economists observed as follows: "Losing an election can mean being cut out of the spoils permanently. Dealing with variegated polities requires doses of decentralization (as in Kenya), federalism (as in Nigeria) and requirements for parties or leaders to demonstrate a degree of cross-country or cross-ethnic support".

The reporters affirmed that where democracies are fragile, the two-term rule for heads of government is invaluable, as it forces change.

According to them, Nelson Mandela set the example by stepping down after just one term. The two-term rule should be enshrined as a norm by Africa’s regional bodies, just as the African Union forbids coups.

This writer is aware that although the national law recognizes two terms but the corrupt and compromised electoral system in place often leads to heavy manipulations of election results.

After a careful analysis of the internal and manmade crises of confidence and moral challenges confront contemporary African democracies, this foreign news magazine then posed a fundamental question thus: “Can the outside world do more than provide African countries with markets?”

China it says has become Africa’s biggest trading partner, supplying aid and investment with few or no strings attached in terms of the rule of law and human rights.

But even China, especially now that its own economy has slowed, is not in the business of propping up bankrupt African autocrats.

This means that Western influence, though diminished, remains considerable for historical reasons, and because many African countries still look to the West for aid, investment and sympathy in international lending bodies. With the end of the commodity boom, growing numbers of countries face a balance-of-payments crisis. Any fresh loans should be conditional on strengthening independent institutions, so says The Economist.

It quickly added that the West has flagged in its efforts to promote democracy, especially in places, such as around the Horn of Africa and the Sahel, where the priority is to defeat jihadists. The same applies to Nigeria whereby the American government is romancing the President Muhammadu Buhari’s administration without taking it on the serious issues of widespread human rights violations by security forces and the large scale sectarian killings I pointed out at the beginning stage of this analysis. From what has been reported so far on the visit by Senator John Kerry it does not appear that the President Barack Obama's government gives a damn about the weakening democratic freedoms and the rise in dictatorship in Nigeria. This is dangerous.

And as the Economist said that attitude of the Western powers is short-sighted.

The magazine proceeded to caution thus: "Decades of counter-terrorism teaches that the best bulwarks against extremism are states that are prosperous and just. And that is most likely to come about when rulers serve at the will of their people."

There is a serious reason to be afraid that democracy in Nigeria may collapse into authoritarianism because of the lukewarm attitudes of not just the Super Power Democracies like the United States of America and United Kingdom and Germany to the issues and internal political dynamics playing out in much of African democracies, but also the civil society and the media have suddenly gone silent.

*Emmanuel Onwubiko is Head of Human rights Writers association of Nigeria and blogs @ www.emmanuelonwubiko.com .