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Sure far greater majority are traumatized by the way we do things in our space. The driver of a vehicle wants to get to his destination in the shortest time, it won’t matter if he has to take the wrong lane or drive against traffic. The young lady desires to sleep with the male chief executive since she must beat competition to get to the commanding height. Students are eager to pay lecturers money to pass courses.
Political leaders have made a mess out of the electoral process with various forms of procedural subversions. It has made democracy look like something else but democracy. Judiciary is on a rollercoaster journey. A case of total destruction rules the atmosphere.
The argument began by philosophers whether the end justifies the means, popularized by Italian dictator Machiaveli, hotly debated during the era of legendary civil rights campaigner, Martin Luther King, it has become the topic in our country recently. The 2023 general election with its attendant poor conduct made the topic a front burner issue. The verdict of the Presidential Election Petitions Court last Wednesday has further elevated the matter to one Nigerians must decide or be ready to face far greater consequences than anyone could imagine right now. Narcissists appear to be winning. But their strong attitude that brooks no rule is turning out very costly for both the country and her people.
Those who gain undue advantage insist that all is fair in a contest. If the society gained positively from that path then there won›t be need to worry but the thing is that each «conquest» which the subverters make, creates the feature and feelings of a “state capture”. It serves no good. The larger society turns out ruined in negative progression pattern. Social tension everywhere. Loosening of government hold on society leading to palpable fear of failed state. There is the other angle of economic downturn and in fact retrogrssion.
So there are those who insist and rightly so that bad can›t produce good because the seed of good is never in bad, meaning processes determine outcomes. If history is a good lesson like the world has come to accept the later is the truth. Society is hurt terribly when fair process, equity and justice are trampled upon. Human elements are destroyed and society runs pepetually on the path of near total extinction when men become gods. Martin Luther helps us explain the phenomenon in far better perspective: “Never, never be afraid to do what’s right, especially if the well-being of a person or animal is at stake. Society’s punishments are small compared to the wounds we inflict on our soul when we look the other way.”
Luther continues his admonition: «It is possible to work for moral ends through moral means. One of the great debates of history has been over the whole question of ends and means, and there have been those that argue that the end justifies the means. The means must be as pure as the end, for in the long run of history, immoral destructive means cannot bring about moral and constructive ends.»
Dr. King believed that the process of attaining an end is the most important. The steps that are being taken affect a great number of people. The example that is set must be based on fairness and highest morals and so, the result will reflect the means that were used in the methods
Speaking Queen›s english has become for us a sign of sound education, for other academics and lawyers for example it is in copious quotes and brain child of other more illustrious scholars from far flung climes but these are no education. Sound is ability to improve our intuitive faculties in such a way that they become capable of identifying societal challenges and able to churn out peculiar but sustainable solutions, ones that won’t end up adding new but complicated injuries. Sound education should equally produce sound thinking and more importantly bring out attitudinal behaviors that take along moral principles. Every good and acceptable conduct must not necessarily be a product of legislation.
Every member of society should know when might and subversions become like norm we end up inviting anarchy. Pleads don›t avert this end only proper conduct does. When societies treat very serious matters with disdain or levity the outcome is usually not very pleasant. When «white» people came up with the idea of trade on humans and subsequently establishing the abominable act of slavery as a business and system , it looked good to the oppressors, at least the vast untended lands lying fallow in the Americas would be cultivated for mainly private gains using cheap or even free labor. From the selfish point of view it was a “great idea” and enterprise, novel and workable but from the intrinsic perspective of dignity to human life something was obviously off the board that could provoke societal upheavals and torment the souls.
Slavery did then, the act kept the pepetuators and their societies restive, if it ended this way perhaps it would have been tolerable but it stretched far beyond what the purveyors of that evil system thought was within their control to hold on to; fatal conflicts that hit them had its roots in this act of perfidy, what is more, these seeds sown over six hundred years ago is still at the root of most social tension making life uncomfortable in Europe, the United States and many parts of the Latin America today. This is to demonstrate the power of evil.
The country is in a fix right now simply because of simple things we as a people ought to have done, things we know but chose to rather to ignore in the false thinking that nature has a supernatural means of fixing omissions, distortions, stalling their often negative but very painful effects and replacing them with rich gains in the forms of great social relations, cohesion and very beautiful atmosphere for right visions and creativity. This is the illusion. This platform is ironic.
Martin Luther from our earlier paragraphs wasn›t talking about faith and its aftermath of great life when we perhaps would destroyed ourselves by our reckless actions on earth and would have passed on to life after life as captured in various religious books; he was pointedly making reference to current existential reality when he posited that immoral destructive means cannot bring about moral and constructive ends. Every act of distortion throws up far greater challenges.
The first point to note in our current state of national anomie would be the fact we allowed a few persons to ride roughshod over the rest of us for too long, the outcomes are salutary at all. Poor statecraft has become a national culture replicated and accepted as normal. We see the terrible effects and all we do is place our hands on our chins and laugh at our collective folly. We embraced democracy but see what we made out of a fine beautiful concept producing great results elsewhere. An exercise as simple as the conduct elections we have made to look like fighting inter tribal wars of ancient things. Governance is reconfigured it has the toga of whims and caprices of very few demented section of the society.
Judiciary that by social activism knocked sense into deviants in society especially with the upper class, who insist on rewriting laws with sound erudition drawn from fountain of classic logic and deep philosophical knowledge of what an ideal society should be has in our case co-conspirators in the stagnation of positive growth and depoliation of a country naturally destined for greatness. A judge in the twenty first century doesn’t see what is wrong running for two political offices in the same same election season. Even if existing rules hasn’t a shield against such recklessness, he ought to know the power he has can create just as it can obliterate. Most political rules in civilized climes came via rich Judiciary activism. But not here. So election has right to run within rules clearly made public before polls begin.
This is the Nigeria of modern world where most countries have ceased from talking elections but exploring outer space.
The point has been severally made that the jettisoning of federalism made so by the hijacking of state power by a band of military pseudo messiahs took us to the point where there is no sense of ownership of the entity called Nigeria. Refusing to renegotiate nationhood has ignited a struggle or is it a scramble for the soul of the country.
The after- effect is with us now and it is what we are crabbling with currently. Fiercely contested polls is one of them. Things are threatening to boil over and we are desperately trying to hold on to a leaking basket with bare hands. Democracy has no challenge, it is producing elsewhere very great dividends but in our case it is obliterating the equalibrium, provoking life threatening eruptions that end up inducing convulsions across the land. Everywhere is tensed, and otherwise respected persons dance naked in the market square without caring a hood shame has departed the land, all because of lack of ownership mentality and the scramble melee that has followed it. Minor things we should do right we are unable.
We chose democracy but we are unable to take in the basic tenets. So, we have democracy without democrats. No idealogy hence we leave serious issues and dwell on the mundane. We say it is one nation but highly placed public officials make religious recitations on public occasions before they would speak yet last time we checked our constitution claimed ours is a “secular state” whatever that means. Our constitution still makes representation to be based on “indigenship” in a supposed federal setting. Our political parties have become an “all purpose vehicles” just to convey citizens with aspirations to public offices and nothing more. Political parties are meant to be gathering of men and women who share particular ideals. It isn’t in our case. It is rather a business group trading on citizens misfortunes.
In our political parties internal democracy is as good as dead,consequently, the leadership recruitment process has become tainted yet like the incurable optimist we have turned out to be, we demage the process and still turn around to expect best materials for national leadership. We add to the above a general election that lacks a modicum level of transparency, fairness and justice. For decades we turn a simple process that should look like a carnival to the most nasty game where might and other acts of chicanery have the upper hand, we emerge with results that defy logic and the small class that “triumph” ask the rest especially the” vanguished “to “go to court”.
The Judiciary wasn›t meant to decide electoral outcome, this responsibility belongs to the people in their capacity as the sovereignty. As it is the task has long been wrestled away from the people and shared between the electoral body and the Judiciary. If things were well done and in a very sane manner the Judiciary should step into the arena only in very rare circumstances but in our case there is no rare occasion at all , the electoral body and every contestant work to have the courts have the final say. This political culture is throwing up her own peculiar challenges which to many decerning people isn’t positive.
Democracy we already observed is beginning to look like «democrazy”. The other thing would be pre and post elections litigations are taken tolls on the Judiciary. It is unmasking that vital arm of government. The level of opporobrium is immense, it has gotten to a level we should all be worried and demand a quick change. The bigger danger would be when we destroy the Judiciary, we would come to sad reality that collectively carried stupid to a very rediculous extent. The price would be far too costly perhaps the Hobesian state would become too real.
On a final note it would be pleasant if we reorder our election sequence. It will make great sense to go from the bottom up, this way it would be very clear which party is in the running to win the biggest office which is the presidential seat. There would be room for an upset but then everyone can flow the trend, the swings and when an upset occurs it can be explained away even by the most lowly among us. The other would be to have all post elections matters done with in finality before swearing into offices the winners. It is difficult to convince that those sworn into offices with pending cases don’t reap undue advantages. The truth is they do. Let our means justify the end and we would see tensions associated with elections will just disappear.
