A traditional African adage states that “the time a dead man’s
funeral arrangements are being discussed is also the best time to
discuss who is to inherit the dead man’s widow.”
The gubernatorial contest in Ondo state may have come and gone but
the ripples will continue to reverberate within political circles across
the Nigeria space. The election was remarkable in so many respects:
First, it was an electoral contest that involved the two dominant
political parties - the PDP and the ACN - deploying every ammunition in
their weaponry to snatch power from a relatively miniature opponent -
the Labour Party.
Second, the election became a litmus-test for ACN’s acclaimed
invincibility and its quest for total political control of the
South-Western region. In specific terms, the election offered one last
chance for the ACN’s benefactor - Bola Ahmed Tinubu - to annex the only
renegade enclave (Ondo state) to become part of his towering political
empire. For Mimiko’s Labour Party, the election was not just a contest
for the re-election of an incumbent, but a battle for the propagation of
multi-party democratic politics in a region notorious for monolithic,
single-party dominance.
One interesting experience born out by the Ondo election is the
single-minded resolve of the voters in the state to assert their
sovereignty by choosing a leader whose emergence would not be
predetermined by the tyrannous dictates of a distant godfather. It is in
this respect that many commentators have hailed the outcome of that
election as “a victory for democracy.” Importantly, some have described
it as “a big nail in the coffin of political godfatherism.”
That brings me to the travesty that has been playing out in Lagos
for quite some years since the return of democracy in 1999 and the
emergence of ACN as the ruling political party in the state. Democratic
elections in the state have always turned out as a huge caricature. In
the name of democracy and party primaries, one man would sit at
Bourdillon and determine the selection of coucillors, council chairmen,
House of Assembly members, commissioners, federal legislators and even
the governor of the state. In the name of democracy, thugs are massively
mobilized and incentivized to truncate the voting process and
perpetrate electoral robbery. The sense of variety, ideological
competition and principle of separation of powers (which are cherished
democratic ideals) are completely sacrificed at the alter of
patron-client relationships which define the mode of one’s selection
into any political office in the state.
In the midst of these blazing contradictions and anachronisms,
Lagosians (especially, those who claim to be activists) have become,
rather mystically, hypnotized and brainwashed into the dogmatic belief
that “Lagos is working.” In their craze to project the superiority of
the state in relation to other states in the federation, they eagerly
condone and overlook every manner of arbitrariness being unleashed by
the state government against Lagos residents. In their desire to
subscribe to the hollow creed of “Eko o ni baje,” they accept every
unjust policy of the government as normal but prefer, rather
hypocritically, to lambast and attack President Jonathan and to
criticize everybody and every policy associated with the President.
Let’s take a more critical look at the fallacy that “Lagos is
working.” Since 1999 when democracy came into force in Nigeria, I
challenge anybody to compare statistically the standard of living in
Lagos state then and what currently obtains now. I also challenge
Lagosians to compare the level of commitment to infrastructural
turnaround during Fashola’s first tenure as against what is happening
presently. When we engage these posers with some modicum of sincerity,
it becomes easy to see the idea that “Lagos is working” as a red rag to a
bull!
One of the hallmarks of a true leader with an unflinching commitment
to democracy is his readiness to be attentive to the critical interests
of the people he is leading when designing and implementing policies
that will have direct impact on their lives. On this score, the Lagos
state government, especially at the outset of Fashola’s second tenure,
has shown crass indifference to the harsh and deleterious impact of some
of its intended policies on the lives of citizens resident in the
state. The controversial Lekki - Epe multiple toll plazas, the
exponential hike in tuition fees for LASU student, the ban on the use of
motorbikes or “Okada” in the midst of an appallingly chaotic traffic
situation in the state, the discriminatory policy on vehicle
plate-numbers are all very fresh in our memories.
Often times, we latch on to our perception regarding the impressive
beauty of places like Ikoyi, Victoria Island, and Ikeja. We then proceed
to equate such impression as being representative of the entire Lagos.
This tendency is tragically misleading and grossly reductionist. If
democracy is rightly conceived to mean a system of governance in which
the interest and wellbeing of the people are taken seriously, then one
only needs to visit any of the suburban towns and villages situated
outside the Lagos metropolis. In most of these areas, the condition of
human existence is still largely primitive, squalid, tortuous and bereft
of any infrastructural succour. For majority of these suffering
Lagosians, the only experience that reminds them that they are part of
Lagos is when they encounter uniformed touts recruited to extort all
manner of phony levies from them even as they struggle to eke out a
living in their stalls, kiosks and even by the roadside.
If there is anything the Ondo election has achieved, it is to
puncture the inflated and over-rated glorification of Tinubu and his
talismanic ACN. Whereas the Lagos voter had always chosen to vote with
his two eyes closed, the more enlightened Ondo voter has done so by
“shining his eyes.” Now, the challenge for the former is on how best to
domesticate the heroic success of the Ondo experience. Their critical
concern should center on how to deepen the roots of genuine democracy in
the state by initiating a process that will guarantee their
politico-electoral liberation come 2015
Saharareporters
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