There is indeed no doubt that Nigeria is fast degenerating into fascism or outright totalitarianism. The signs are there for all to see since the emergence of the All Progressives Congress (APC) into power in 2015 when President Jonathan, either patriotically or what may now be regarded as naively conceding power to the morphing belligerent opposition party believing that our politicians would learn from his worthy example. None of that. President Muhammadu Buhari was very autocratic in his eight years in power. He never pretended to be a democrat.
He ruled Nigeria with impunity and nepotism. His clannishness was total. He ensured that members of his Fulani tribe control all reins of power and juicy appointments during his eight years of locust. He deliberately sidelined the South East region in his major appointments and excluded the region in the security architecture of his bad government. Despite his promise to bequeath a democratic culture to Nigeria by conducting a free and fair and transparent poll, Buhari supervised the worst election ever in the history of the country before exiting from power.
He mismanaged our diversity and the nation’s economy. The problems he left behind are now begging for urgent attention from the present government, which is not quite different from the one it replaced on May 29 this year. Buhari and Tinubu, as events are trying to prove, are two sides of the same old coin. They are like APC and the former behemoth, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). Tinubu was instrumental to Buhari coming to power in 2015. Therefore, Tinubu was and is still part of the problem.
Buhari was equally instrumental to Tinubu coming to power in 2023 despite having the same faith ticket and other problems. It will take a very long time for Nigeria to recover from Buhari’s maladministration and Tinubu’s bourgeoning one-party state. The rulings from the various electoral tribunals, the Appeal Courts and the Supreme Court lend credence to the fact that Nigeria will soon become a fascist state under Tinubu if nothing is done quickly to check the encroaching and looming totalitarianism, the rule by one man.
According to English online dictionary, totalitarianism is “a system of government in which the people have virtually no authority and the state wields absolute control, for example, a dictatorship.” This is opposed to democracy which is “rule by the people, especially as a form of government; either directly or through elected representatives.” Some apologists of our brand of democracy will argue that we have elected representatives and others, the reality on ground shows that Nigeria’s president is the most powerful on earth. His powers are absolute.
Past Nigerian leaders, including President Jonathan acknowledged this fact. Our governors are so powerful that they rule the states as their private estates and don’t listen to any advice. The recent sack of the governors of Zamfara, Kano and Plateau states by the Appeal Courts in favour of the new ruling behemoth is a sure sign that Nigeria is fast morphing into a one-party state under the all-powerful APC.
The way the APC political train is moving or planned to move, the party wants to control everything in Nigeria including the legislature and the judiciary. Under the APC, the principle of separation of powers between the three arms of government exist in theory and not in practice. Under the APC, the mantra is to grab power and run away with it and this is exactly what the leaders of the party are doing. They have captured the people, INEC, the judiciary and the legislature.
APC came to power because of the benevolence of the ruling PDP under President Goodluck Jonathan. But since APC came to power, it has demonstrated that power is never served on a dinner table. It has shown that power must be fought for and grabbed with the force of thunder and brimstone. It has no pretense for free and fair elections. Under the APC behemoth, the opposition may not smell power at the centre. They will tend to occupy Aso Rock as far as they want and like. They took Rivers and Lagos states by force during the 2023 general elections. Now they want to take Kano, Zamfara and Plateau States by force through the courts. Nigerians must stand up and resists the looming fascism and political anarchy that the APC wants to plunge the country into because of political greed. Why should the APC insist in controlling Lagos, Rivers and Kano states?
Therefore, the recent alarm raised by former Vice President Atiku Abubakar that Nigeria is degenerating into a one-party state should not be dismissed. While the opposition party won in the recent Liberian presidential poll, which Nigerian leaders hailed to high heavens, they find it extremely difficult to conduct a transparent election where the citizens and not the few justices of the election courts will decide the winner.
Like Jonathan, President George Weah has shown a good example for African democracy. A defeated George Weah conceded defeat and said: “Tonight, the CDC has lost the election, but Liberia has won. This is the time for graciousness in defeat, to put the national interest above personal interest. The Liberian people have spoken, and we have heard their voice. However, the closeness of the results reveals a deep division within our country.” That is a statesman talking. This speech can only emanate from the heart of a patriot. Apart from President Jonathan, how many Nigerian leaders can emulate George Weah’s example?
It is a fact that western form of democracy is alien to Africa. We have not shown good examples in representative democracy. Our democracy has tended towards oligarchy, monarchy which had been the norm in many African societies before the emergence of modern nations. The story of democracy is not so good in Africa. It is a story of misrule, despotism, coups and wars and political alienation and rule by one strong man.
This is perhaps why former Nigerian leader, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo recently made a case for afro-democracy, which I think is a democracy that will take care of the peculiarities of African countries. Obasanjo might be right. There is no one form of democracy the world over since it was invented by Athenians, many centuries ago. Other countries, including Britain and America have modelled their democracies to suit their own people. Likewise, African countries should fashion their own indigenous democracy and infuse it with their cultural and political sensibilities.
Nigerians must sit down again and decide what type of democracy we really want. We have practised the British parliamentary system of government and it failed because we did not allow it to grow because of the military intervention in politics of January 15, 1966. We started experimenting with the American model of presidential system of government in 1979. Since 1999 when democracy was restored after the long period of military dictatorships, we are still trying to make something out of our new found democratic model.
After about 23 years of experimenting with the US model nonstop, there are signs that the system has also failed us. Is the problem with us or with the system of government we run? I do not claim to know all the answers. But I can say that the problem is partly with us and partly with the system. For the parliamentary system of government, the politicians of that era really abused it and did not allow it to function effectively hence the disorder that necessitated the January 15 military coup.
For all us, military rule was one big disaster that will not be delved into it in this article. It will be a topic for another day. For the US presidential system of government, we did our best out of it until political greed sets in and corrupted the system. Our attitude to politics may also be a major snag to our political development and evolution of an enduring democratic culture. We must domesticate some aspects of Western models of democracy that will serve our people well alongside some aspects of our indigenous models.
Our democracy must exemplify our unity, brotherliness and care for extended families. Our democracy must work for the people and not for the ruling elites. Something very close to South Africa’s “Ubuntu, a Nguni Bantu ideology that focuses on people’s allegiances and relations with each other.” Nigeria is sliding into a one-party state and Nigerians must rise up against the ugly political move that will only bring ruins to the national edifice. Nigeria’s problems are man-made, they are not beyond redemption.