Voices of Hopelessness

                                                        Image: Courtesy pexels.com

For the average youth and the silent majority of older Nigerians who dream of a future for Nigeria which will work for all Nigerians their voices got willingly muffled. They were silenced by the few who knew no civilised way to win in what was supposed to be a democratic electoral process. For them the future is uncertain. Their already inhuman existence is made worse by feelings of hopelessness and despair caused by the BIVAStarized open rigging of the just concluded 2023 general election.

The government and the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) are not pretending not to be part of the show of shame. It appears that Prof. Mahmood Yakubu sold millions of Nigerians into slavery for thirty pieces of silver. This man is not a Nigerian in essence.  At this stage of Nigeria's bumpy journey to a democratic system guided by respect for the rule of law and established elections administration process, it is right to expect the INEC chairman to be seen to have overseen a process which can be adjudged to be fair, credible and free. He failed woefully.

Overwhelming majority of Nigerians, especially the vibrant population of enlightened youth has been voiceless since 1999 and in 2023 they are starring in the face of hopelessness and despair. The last democratic dispensation led by Alhaji Shehu Shagari's National Party of Nigeria (NPN) was corrupt with a following of an inept band of financial crooks who made stealing ingeniously artful. With impunity they plundered the nation's commonwealth which prompted a military coup led by the current and worst president ever, Gen Muhammadu Buhari in 1983. A 50 years old Nigerian today would have been about 10-11 years old in 1983. What experience can this generation of Nigerians relate to in terms of democratic values, electoral process, rule of law and transparent economic management?

Young people who grew up in the cesspit of corruption, poor governance and poverty are now adults some of whom have chosen to join the corrupt political class who have been ruining the country since 1999. Interestingly, these young political apprentices are not being afforded the chance to be in leadership in the future to cause a positive change. They are errand boys and girls humbly waiting to be anointed by their criminal political godfathers. They are working hard hoping to fit into the old shoes of their criminal mentors when they eventually retire. What good can come from such political apprentices? 

While overwhelming majority of well meaning younger generations of Nigerians are fighting hard to reverse the political rot in order to help to cure the chronic cancer of corruption which is eating away at the very foundation of the country, is it any wonder that some are quite active serving the interest of the gang of the tired old but still active political dinosaurs? What lessons has been learned by these younger generation of Nigerians since 1999? By supporting their criminal political mentors, these younger politicians are inadvertently helping to subvert the rule of law, and upend the nascent political process in order to gain illegitimate political power. What is so attractive about the ruling party to their youth base? If politics is about participation in order to improve the lives of the voters, what is their story?  

Since 1983 Nigeria has been a politically toxic quasi-militarised political environment. It is traumatic and Nigerians will continue to live with the trauma caused by political corruption, impunity and economic disadvantages until these criminal gangs are banished into oblivion. Nigerians has never known what it is to live in comfort in their own country. If it is not lack of power, it is lack of food security or fuel scarcity or crime and the fear there of or the fear of travelling due to bad roads, threats of bandits or being kidnapped. Some state governors are more fearsome and threatening, especially to their real or perceived political enemies, than threats form bandits and kidnappers. 

The 2023 election was the chance for generations of deprived Nigerians to reset and change the political trajectory in order to allow the country to heal and begin what is an arduous journey on the path to acceptable political ecosystem, economic freedom, respect for our laws and the yearning for geo-political restructuring. Sadly, the status quo is putting up a fight of their expiring lives assisted by their goons and poor spirited compromised INEC insiders.

Overwhelming majority of Nigerians have so far experienced nothing but political and financial corruption, electoral violence, impunity, nepotism in government and complete failure of leadership and inefficient economic management. Which country will tolerate a sitting central bank governor who engaged in partisan political activity openly? In which decent country will you have generations of academics who are recruited to manage the electoral process only for them to use it as a means to collect rent thereby aiding the corruption of the process in favour of their criminal paymasters. 

How sad it is for lovers of Nigeria to see a fellow Nigerian who earned the position of a professor to be so conflicted? This man was entrusted with the management of the national electoral process with the responsibility to deliver a free, fair and credible elections but he fell for the lure of the proverbial apple and allowed himself to be corrupted by professional political criminals and lawless thugs. Did the INEC chairman act out a predetermined script when he announced the supposed winner of the presidential elections at 4:00 am when even some night watchmen might be dozing on their posts? Did Yakubu Mahmoud exchange the trust of the Nigerian people for personal gain? 

What we are experiencing in Nigeria today is not new. Africa has not experienced effective and free democratic self rule mandated by the people in recent memory. What Africa has experienced since the supposed end to colonial rule has been series of illegitimate military regimes brought about by violent overthrow of quasi-legitimate regimes, corrupt dictatorships devoid of working democratic institutions as Nigeria has had in the last nearly twenty four years of the so-called democratic dispensation (1999 - 2023). 

An election has just been stolen in broad day light and there are some Nigerians, both young and old who are defending the fraudulent process the world just witnessed as it unfolded for partisan, tribal and/or religious considerations. In Lagos, Port Harcourt, kano and all over the country criminals (including state some governors with questionable sanity) colluded with INEC, muddied the water, rigged the elections and declared as winners characters who never believed in free, fair and credible electoral process. Come 12 June 2023 will Lagos, Kano, Port Harcourt and the rest of Nigeria celebrate Democracy Day after the blatant fraud the world just witnessed in the country?

Africa will not grow beyond the status of a bunch of beggar nations until the current band of heartless criminals are tagged and prevented from showing their ugly faces in our political spaces. Nigeria and the continent of Africa will always occupy the unenviable position at the bottom of the pile judging by any reasonable metric if we continue to allow criminals to occupy our political spaces. As the leading and most influential African county, Nigeria had the last ditch opportunity to allow the most anticipated change in the conduct of free and fair elections by means of an electronic process using the BVAS but, again, we failed.

As Dave Hand put it succinctly "Until Africans change their own social and economic culture into one that is far more responsible, family focused, educationally driven and respectful of honest democratic government nothing will change. Africans have the same abilities and intelligence as any race but unless they make the effort to make better cultural choices they will be left behind. Mandela is an exception as black leaders are more interested in seizing power and stealing from their countries to support their extravagant life styles and flee to Europe if any difficulties arise. Africa is a wealthy continent and should be a contributor not an endless drain". 

To change our "social and economic culture" we have to begin by changing the way our leaders are elected. We must begin from now to start taking actions to clean up the political ecosystem. To achieve a fair and transparent electoral process will not be brought about alone by changes in the law as we just learned. A lot of work needs to be done in voter education as well as the involvement of the private sector players to look at strategies to develop the rural economies and create wealth for the people who these politicians have deliberately kept poor in order to be used as pawns in their sick political games during elections.

Why are we so mean to ourselves? Why can't Africans manage the affairs of Africa effectively and for the overall benefits of Africans? Some do blame the effects of slavery, colonialism, imperialism, racism and all the '....isms' they can coin to defend a chronic lack of strategic planning, corruption, incompetence and complete failure to appreciate and harness the developmental potentials of the continent. Post independent Africa has been plagued by imperial forces which has come in to destabilise it's governance, social and economic development. The effect of external influence would not be as significant if Africa is organised, politically and economically fit. Africa has a lot of work to do to defend itself from internal saboteurs and external destabilising influences.

Rather than working to get organised and fit, what most Africans do is to engage in blame game. Some ague that independent African nations are too young to figure out the political and economic systems suitable to serve their collective needs. Look at what they are doing to South Africa. Apartheid was terrible however, 1994 is a long time but we are witnessing the African character visibly shaping post-apartheid South Africa - corruption, nepotism, tribalism, incompetence and ignorance. South Africa is not very far from taking the political and economic shape common to the rest of Sub-Sahara Africa. 

That being said, we can ague that the negative effects of outside forces of instability is significant and that is due to the absence of self organisation and internal fitness. Political parties see themselves as arch enemies rather as partners with shared goals in their overall interest but with different objectives. Politicians care very little about political ideology or economic philosophy, they just want to get into office and do very little but engage in wasteful exercise planning to rig the next elections and worry about the activities of their opponents.  

Let us not forget that every country has their internal and foreign affairs objectives including African countries. The problem is that African countries' foreign affairs objectives are are not visible and, in most cases, driven by dependence on the dictates of western donors and vested personal interests. In most cases, the internal affairs objectives of African countries get buried in corruption and incompetence. African leaders and their goons simply do not care about the welfare of Africans period. 

How far has Africa travelled and how successful are we or should be? While some sections of Africans lay claim to the fact that they were never enslaved, the truth is that having been in slavery, colonised or ruled by an imperialist interloper does very little to explain why an average African country is poor, badly governed and dependent on foreign donors. This is beside the fact that the most naturally endowed square mile of land in terms of mineral resources is found in the continent of Africa -  unmatched deposits of mineral resources which politically privileged Africans love to corruptly give away for paltry personal gains.

How did the other race of people who were also enslaved centuries ago become successful after gaining their freedom in comparison with Africans. I am not interested in what God promises were to one race or another. We are all God's creation and God is in all of us if you believe that God is omnipresent. We all have the blessings of God as a matter of fact. What others countries did to succeed has a lot to do with social and political culture and belief in my opinion. The problems with Africa is complex, unique but solutions can be found with sincere patriotic efforts.

How difficult it is to emulate good practices to achieve success? Sadly, Africans adopted middle eastern and western religious practices and aspects Western cultures which has influenced our traditional ways of life. What are the aspects of these foreign cultures and religions has Africans, both leaders and the average person, emulated for the benefit of Africans? Is it respect for law and order? Is it human and social capital development? Is it to provide electricity, good roads, food security or safe environments? Have they emulated the positive aspects of competitive economic environment, healthy and clean living conditions, access to affordable healthcare and the respect for the law of the land?

African leaders are not very good at emulating whatever is good which others are doing to provide for their people. They are very efficient in emulating all that are bad and are not in the interest of their people. They emulate and weaponize corruption. They corrupt good democratic processes; quite efficient in corrupting every process in order to gain political headwind. They are simply economic brigands. They create and weaponize poverty, insecurity and hopelessness. The recently orchestrated Naira redesign and withdrawal limit shenanigans is a case in point.

These are some of the key reasons why Africa is failing to rise above the basic level in the hierarchy of human needs. Is it any wonder why Africans are poor, hopeless and helpless in the face of plenty? Which of the continents are richer than the African continent? The world has been and is still being powered by what is being extracted (stolen in most cases) from Africa in terms of human resource and material wealth. 

What Africans need are all beneath our feet but we are the most in need and the poorest. Is this sad state of affairs not a clear vindication of the late legendary prophet and reggae star, Bob Marley who said "In the abundance of water the pool is thirsty". It is plain insanity when people steal from themselves as Nigerians steal from their their own commonwealth especially the mindless theft of crude oil and solid minerals.

In the abundance of huge crude oil and natural gas resources, Nigerians are always being denied their rightful access to refined petrol, diesel, cooking gas and kerosine. Undetermined number of innocent Nigerians have lost their dear lives from kerosine stove explosions, carbon monoxide poisoning due to exhaust from portable home electricity generators as well as poisoning from carbon soot coming from illegal oil refining.  We have multiple refineries which are defunct but it is reported that refinery workers are still being paid their monthly salaries.

This is Nigeria but a new Nigeria is possible not too far into the future.