Contestants, voters treat ideas as enemy, favour stomach infrastructure

By John Ogunsemore

Former presidential candidate, Dr. Kingsley Moghalu said Nigeria’s development remains stunted because the political elite and electorate are averse to ideas and intellect.

Moghalu stated this in a Facebook post on Thursday while relishing his decision to quite partisan politics.

In December 2022, the 2019 presidential candidate of Young Progressives Party (YPP) announced he had quit partisan politics in Nigeria.

The former Deputy Governor of Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) observed that the typical successful Nigerian politician is anti-intellectual because his environment demands it.

He said, “One of the best things about leaving the political space in Nigeria behind you is that you can actually exercise your mind and intellect properly and freely without being made to feel as if you have to apologize for it.

“Whereas, in developed countries you see politicians arguing about philosophy and how it relates to public policy, which is the basis on which elections are fought, in our country we have ‘democracy’ in which both the contestants and the voters, dulled by ‘stomach infrastructure’ issues, view ideas and intellect as the enemy or, at best, a distraction.

“To be a successful politician in Nigeria today, you have to be anti-intellectual.”

The pioneer President of the African School of Governance (ASG) lamented that the quality of the political class has declined sharply after the time of Nigeria’s founding fathers.

Moghalu said, “How can a society like this rise? How can it ever overcome the poverty of the many and the wealth of a very few? It was not always so.

“Our Founding Fathers like Nnamdi Azikiwe (the Great Zik of Africa), Obafemi Awolowo, and Ahmadu Bello were intellectuals and teachers of men and women. What happened?”