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| Nigeria We Hail Thee! towards 2015 Presidential Election |
Introduction
There is an emerging trend in
Nigerian national politics. This trend is more or less a spectre haunting
Nigerians, their national security and their standing among the comity of nations.
The ongoing campaign for the presidency has opened the bare conflagration of misuse
of national institutions by the incumbent regime towards obtaining re-election.
It is the case of this article that national institutions like the Army and
Intelligence Agencies are not immune from corruption and regression as their
leaderships are open to influence. The leadership may be connected in an
interlocking network of powerful interests whose greed and desire respects no
ambiguities, disrespects (rule of) laws and disrespects due process.
Context is Everything
Nigeria is preparing for
presidential and other elections in February 2015 and of all the parties’
candidates, 2 stand above the rest. The incumbent president, Dr Goodluck
Jonathan, for the ruling party (PDP); and the former military head of state,
General Muhammadu Buhari for APC are locked in electoral battle. Apparently
both candidates have tasted power at the highest level and desire to taste it
again. Nigeria’s election tradition is penchant with challenges that upset
electorate vote on election days.
As a process, it is work-in-progress
for a number of reasons including but not limited to malignant mindset of the
elite to concentrate power. The implication touches on every aspect of life
with spatial distribution of uneven development, uneven distribution of
resources and uneven distribution of opportunities. What obtains is massive abuse of every tier
of governance by elected and selected leaders irrespective of their party
allegiance, ethnic nationality, level of educational attainment and
institutional background.
So there is desperate pursuit of
power in a country with massive natural resources reserves. For the
elite the country is a meal ticket and political power is the key.
(Se) Election Victory by Any
Means
Running for political office is
not for the faint-hearted. Political campaigns can be likened to war not
according to the Theories of Clausewitz, rather is Guerilla war to be specific
because electoral rules are defied, preponderance of questionable elections strategies
and deployment of asymmetrical tactics/theories of Sun Tzu/Mao/Che Guevara.
Desperation plays an important part in motivating and driving candidates
especially those of incumbent/ruling parties.
The incumbent president, Dr
Goodluck Jonathan, is a candidate for re-elections with satisfaction deficit
and confidence deficit of his records in government. A classic example is the
impairment of the country’s territorial integrity by Boko Haram under his watch
as Commander-in-Chief including massive loss of lives and property. There are other yawning gaps between his
first pre-presidency promises and the actual outcomes. On security, economy,
employment, opportunities, infrastructure, rule of law, health and education;
performance is struggling, is regressive in itself and as holdover from
immediate past administrations. On these and other accounts, PDP is rallying its
candidate to obtain re-election by any means necessary.
Apparent awareness of the
electorate and increasing vigilance of the electorate/voting process seem to
have impacted strongly on PDP to deploying desperate measures. In the absence
of rigorous planning and robust manifesto in addition to poor performance in
government; personal and weak attacks on the opposite candidate is the main
plank of PDP presidential campaign. Issue-based campaign is discredited!
Desperation Incorporated - Unfortunate
Tools of Abuse
The first salvo of the government
against opposition is the involvement of Department of State Security (DSS), an intelligence agency, dedicated to
among others covert intelligence activities, to issue warnings in public to
other political parties and their apparatchiks. This event took place as media briefing. It is unprecedented for intelligence agencies to be overtly
involved in elections against the police force and other agencies with
appropriate authorities. It is an expression of deep dereliction of duty and
abuse of process. For an administration in power to misplace priorities to the
extent of involving intelligence agencies in overt activities is disturbing.
What strikes potently is the
near-absence of concern in the media or the publics regarding this abuse of
process and abuse of authority!
The big adventure of this abuse
of authority showed the extent the incumbent president and his campaign team
overreached their hands. In the bid to damage the opponent in the person of
General Muhammadu Buhari, a former head of state, misinformation was inserted
in the media on his ‘questionable’ qualification based on education attainment.
In response the General informed
the public and electorate that his certificates and credentials are in the
possession/archives of Nigerian Army which he served for over 30 years. Then
everything broke loose. Nigeria Army, already suffering from credibility
deficit, projected poor leadership and regressive attitude professionalism.
Nigerian Army spokesperson concurred with media misinformation of course aligning with PDP campaign objectives. (Please the pictured uniformed personnel is an air-force officer contrary to the caption). Does it mean that General Buhari or
Nigeria Army lied? Both cannot lie at the same time? What has Nigerian Army to
gain from discrediting its own, a former general and a former head of state?
Evidently Nigerian Army confirmed
its discredit, regressive and immorality in the public space. It confirmed its
unfitness for purpose, infection with malfeasance and questionable leadership. This
is contrary to a quote on the Nigerian Army’s mission statement web page
reading thus, ''If you build an Army of 100 Lions & their Leader is a Dog, in any fight, the Lions will die like a Dog, but if you build an Army of 100 Dogs & their Leader is a Lion, all Dogs will fight like a Lion''. (The spelling errors on the original are of Nigerian Army). In these contradictory actions Nigerian Army projected distrust,
corruption, confidence deficit and shame on the country. This is a serious damage
to the country and her image for years to come. This is non-trivial, reprehensible
and humiliating.
The Real Scoop
For sections of the country,
Nigerian Army is contextualised as one of the last bastions of remaining positive
elements of the polity, a positive agent of dedication, an unbiased arbiter of
command and principled executor of law. Sadly this is a false presentation and
rather a walk of shame. This realisation is important as it exposes the depth
of corrosion, abuse, malfeasance and regression in Nigeria’s institutions.
Ideally Nigerian Army represents a member in the highest echelons of probity,
integrity, excellence and honour. In reality, the observed is far from the
ideal. This is the truth the electorate must absorb and possess as catalyst
towards reforming Nigeria in the short, medium and long terms regardless of 2015
presidential election outcome. Those who exposed the Army and Intelligence
agencies to these humiliations desire further scrutiny before voting in the coming elections.
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