By Bassey Ubong
On June 6, 2023, Professor Addison Wokocha, former Provost in two Colleges of Education and former Executive Secretary, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria would have turned 75, but he bowed out of this side of the world on March 6, 2019. He came to my mind as I pondered the new round of democracy we waltzed into on May 29, 2023, the fifth in what has been described as Nigeria’s Fourth Republic.
At a time I asked him about a policy action I thought should have no place in a democratic framework,he dubbed it “guided democracy” and the terminology appears to fit the Nigerian democratic experiment from independence till date.
When Premiers in charge of Regions pulled off layers of bitumen on roads to communities which voted against their parties during reelection, guided democracy took the centre stage.
When the immediate past government withdrew subsidy on petroleum products to take effect two days after they handed over, we saw guided democracy in action.
Despite the evident rightness of the action with respect to the suspension of the Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefiele, as well as the Executive Chairman of Economic & Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC), AbdulRasheed Bawa, some Nigerians believed due process should have taken place.
The occupants of the two offices were confirmed by the Senate and their ‘suspension’ (no suspended employee ever gets back to the office more so substantive ones are appointed while the suspension lasts) should have involved the Senate.
In essence, guided democracy stands like the incredible hawk we used to see in a film series took the upper hand and upstaged true democracy.
Nigeria has run “nascent democracy” from the 1950s till date, which means she had been on it before independence.
No nation in the world runs pure or quintessential democracy as conceived by political scientists. Democracy started – in the form we know today – from Athens, Greece in the 5th century, Before Christ.
In the city state of Athens, men (yes men, for women were excluded) were sent to represent wards or ‘demes’ in the Senate.
Today, such goes by the tag representative democracy practiced in countries such as the United States of America (US). But the key issue of pure representation has remained unresolved in all countries involved in the democratic system of governance, because elected persons pursue their self-interest rather than the interest of the electors.
The matter becomes one of degree, for instance, the average elected official in the US thinks of, and consults his/her constituency in public policy matters and takes remunerations sufficient to facilitate representation.
In Nigeria, elected officials are in office first for themselves, families, and few friends; second for self, families, and few friends, and the iteration continues to the hundredth level and beyond.
The electors receive crumbs during the campaign and appear to be content with such till the next election cycle.
Gone are the days when politicians, such as Senator Wilson Asinobi Ake in Rivers State took his constituency allowances home and empowered youths in his zone though skills training in one or two institutions of higher learning.
Today, constituency allowances as well as salaries of domestic staff are batched and paid into the accounts of legislators and the story ends.
This should make us seek to know the classic definition of democracy. The text book definition regards democracy as a system of government. But the definition which finds commonest use came from President Abraham Lincoln of US in the Gettysburg address on November 19, 1863.
He saw democracy as “government of the people, by the people, and for the people.” This definition spells out what true democracy should be, but goes on to indicate what it may never be in the world of practice.
A government of the people should be one elected by a well-established electorate known to change daily as young people reach the age to vote.
Those due to vote should choose their representatives in line with established processes which ensure absolute representation of the state of mind and orientation of the electors. But in the world’s number one democracy today, people do shout about suppression of votes, fraud, and general electoral malpractices.
If election goes against expectation, violence can be invited to intervene as it happened on January 6, 2021 at the US Capitol. President Trump lost reelection and called on his supporters to mount protest at the Capitol where the National Assembly (Congress) resides despite disagreement on the act by elected men and women of the Republican Party which the President belongs.
Guided democracy continues to play out in the US today in one form or another, but no administration in recent memory epitomized it like Donald Trump’s.
Who talks about Russia where Vladimir Putin arrests, locks up, and traumatizes his opponents? Although a coup attempt failed in June 2022, it made the crucial point – guided democracy if any democracy exists there – rules in Russia, while true democracy reigns.
Israeli voters have found themselves captive to one of the greatest political manipulators in world history, Mr. Benjamin Netamyahu. He has already served for four terms and appears ready to serve for life. He has stage-managed accusations of corruption, and continues to use the instrument of fear of Arabs to hold Israelis captive. His big palms straddle the Knesset (Parliament), his Likud Party, and the entire administration as far as the USA.
If “advanced” democracies such as those mentioned above champion guided democracy what should we expect of Nigeria?
While the country awaits the outcome of the Presidential Election Petitions Court which Nigerians, based on history can guess the outcome, guided democracy continues. The Senate, as guided, will confirm nominees for offices of Minister of the various ministries, just as the former Central Bank Governor floated into office with acclaim in the Senate despite inability to explain the whereabouts of ₦500 billion he confessed developed wings under his watch.
Government by the people should mean the representatives rule based on best practices as dictated by the electors. But who cares to consult the electors, more so the constitutional provision for recall amounts to a joke?
Elected officials do what they like, while career public servants play along once they are just fine. Someone quoted the erstwhile Governor of Akwa Ibom State, Air Commodore Idongesit Nkanga (God rest his soul) who said his mother taught him to keep his mouth shut whenever food entered it. The position arose from a question on his reason for being quiet in the face of assumed corruption in the state.
I recall with excitement a constituency meeting organized by Barrister Gabriel Etuk (God rest his soul) when he represented Etinan Federal Constituency in the House of Representatives between 1999 and 2003. He arranged a Town Hall to give updates on Federal Government policies as well as Bills before the House. Thereafter, I am unaware of one politician who has organized something close to a Town Hall to let the people have their say, while the rulers have their way.
It sounded funny when the immediate past administration in Akwa Ibom State published redacted proceedings of the State Executive Council meeting for the first time in eight years one month to the end of tenure. Amused citizens asked the reason the proceedings of the meeting which discussed use of arrears of 13% derivation funds from Federal Government of Nigeria were kept in wraps. People only knew such monies came when Governor Nyesom Wike of Rivers State announced it “on behalf” of the Governors of the crude oil producing states.
Government for the people requires no discussion for the elected to know how they conduct business.
As mentioned earlier the electors receive the “just due” during campaigns from one cup of salt to gas cylinders to various amounts based on status in the party. I have refused to join apologists to condemn citizens who collect pittances in exchange for votes. Persons who have seen the specter of hunger can tell with clarity what ₦2,000 means on a particular day. Nigerian politicians are aware of the desperation in the system and abuse it during elections.
At the end of the day, democracy in Nigeria continues to be a system of self-selection of persons to political offices for the interest of those declared winners by the electoral agency. The ‘winners’ serve for themselves for a term till the next cycle of selections. During their tenures the favoured guide the process to ensure maximum benefit to themselves and chosen few. And, given the controversy which dogs their paper and related qualifications as well as how they manage the common wealth, the outcome qualifies for the term KAKISTOCRACY.
For persons who may be interested, Kakistocracy found first use and relevance on August 9, 1644 in a sermon by Paul Gosnold at St. Maries, Oxford, England. It comes from two Latin words, kakistos (worst) and kratos (rule) and refers to rule by the worst, the least qualified, the least suitable, and the most unscrupulous.
In recent times, Kakistocracy found application in United States under Donald Trump (see Avi Selk in The Washington Post of April 13, 2018). Other countries with frequent mentions of Kakistocracy in recent times include Russia under Vladimir Putin, governments under Rodrigo Duterte in Philippines, Benjamin Netanyahu in Israel as well as several African countries.
Nicolo Maduro of Venezuela runs a pseudo-democracy, while Kim Jong Un of North Korea’s as a dictator rules under a one-party arrangement.
One of these days unbiased political scientists will review the Nigerian system and tell us whether we have stepped into the first stage of democracy, or whether we practice Kakistocracy in disguised or open format.
Dr Ubong, a writer and public policy analyst, lives in Uyo