The tragedy of Nigerian politics

BY VICTOR TERHEMBA

Oftentimes than not, I have heard and read countless times people lazily summarise our political parties as lacking ideology. The philandering basically informs this error of politicians who continue to loiter in the corridors of politics, moving from one party to another and back. The cross-carpeting nature of these politicians has fuelled the notion that Nigerian political parties are founded on everything except ideologies. Nothing else can be further from the truth.

When Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, three political parties were poised to present candidates for the presidential elections – PDP, AD, and APP. But AD and APP chose to enter into an alliance in order to defeat the PDP which had emerged as the dominant political party after the February 20, 1999 legislative elections. Even then, the political parties were clearly defined along ideologies. The PDP presented a pro-capitalist/conservative party while the AD and APP were more leaned toward the socialist left. And this was/is evident in their respective manifestos and programmes. Similarly, the two political parties established by Ibrahim Babangida’s military junta to contest the 1993 elections, National Republican Convention (NRC) and Social Democratic Party (SDP), were also ideologically distinctive. NRC leaned to the right and SDP to the left.

As it was in 1993 and 1998, so it is today. Each of the current 18 existing political parties has its ideological distinctiveness. However, what has blurred out the ideological differences is the calibre of politicians that immigrate and emigrate from the political parties from time to time. For the Nigerian politician, a political party is just a mere vehicle for political power. Besides, whoever becomes the president becomes the leader of the party and at that point, whatever political ideology the party was founded on goes into oblivion and the party takes on whatever ideology the leader – the president – has. This is one of the novel or disingenuous (depends on your opinion) inventions of former President Olusegun Obasanjo who announced himself the leader of the party after being elected president in 1999. And of course, he ran the party like an extension of Nigeria or his personal business. Of course, in most parties around, this is also obtainable, where the president becomes the leader of the party, but not to the degree as experienced in Nigeria.

Ideally, a political party is a means to political power but political parties are also founded on ideologies and it is expected that politicians or members of political parties are those who hold the same ideological views.

Therefore, the position of many Nigerians that our political parties do not have ideologies is faulty and false. Perhaps, what could be said is that political parties do have the discipline to insist on members who share their ideology. Instead, it should be said that it is our politicians who lack any clear political ideology, except for a few.

This anomaly can be traced to as far back 1993 when the late MKO Abiola, who was a serial businessman that profited from the exploitation of works and enjoyed certain monopolies from the government joined the Social Democratic Party and emerged as its presidential candidate and went on to win 1993 annulled presidential elections. Ironically, his “Farewell to poverty” campaign manifesto was purely socialist in nature so that it aligned with the socialist-leaning of the SDP.

Another classical example is Atiku Abubakar, a well-founded capitalist who twice, in 2007 and 2015, attempted to be president of Nigeria on the political platforms of ACN and APC respectively, both whose political ideologies are socialist in outlook

As we head into the 2023 general elections, once again we are witnessing the political philandering of politicians and their infidelity to party ideologies. For example, a market-inclined individual like Kingsley Moghalu aspired to be president of Nigeria under a socialist party like the ADC. Peter Obi, a businessman and investor is vying to be president of Nigeria on the platform of a workers’ party, the Labour Party, which is basically a socialist party. His running mate, Dr. Yusuf Baba Datti-Ahmed, is another serial businessman and capitalist. Incidentally, both were members of the PDP, where their ideological outlook aligned with that of the party. APC’s presidential candidate, and likely winner of next year’s election, Bola Ahmed Tinubu feigns to be a socialist but his only connection to socialism is his admiration for the Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo who was a socialist and pan-Africanist. Tinubu’s ambitions and drive describe that of a man who fancies being an emperor, with state tightly captured in his palms so that he can be the sole determinant of who gets what, how much, and when. When Tinubu becomes president, his administration will not be dissimilar to that of the outgoing President Muhammadu Buhari. With what the country has experienced so far, it should be enough dread and motivation for the citizens to ensure that the APC does not retain power in 2023.

But why is the issue of political ideology blurred in Nigeria? In democracies where political parties are clearly defined along ideologies, citizens become members of political parties that project their ideology as well. Ideally, in many developed democracies around the world, political parties sponsor candidates for elections and candidates raise campaign finance through public donations. That is also the ideal situation here in Nigeria as enshrined in the Nigerian constitution of 1999 (as amended) but the reality paints a very different picture. Perhaps, it might be because we are not yet a developed democracy. The idea of party membership dues sounds very strange and alien to most Nigerians in the current political dispensation. The traditional idea is that they are supposed to benefit from the party in exchange for their support

In our clime, political campaigns are sponsored and funded by money bags, thus, it explains why the odds for electoral victory are greatly in the favour of those with bullion vans of money or backed by those who have such. This phenomenon can be traced back to the beginning of the third republic under the regime of Military President Ibrahim Babangida. When IBB decided to lift the ban on political activities, imposed when the second republic was toppled by Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, he banned certain politicians from participating in the political process. Unfortunately, these politicians were the guys with the money. And since they were not allowed to participate, they began to sponsor their cronies and proteges to occupy political offices. And that was how godfatherism and money bag politics established themselves in Nigeria.

To reverse the current trend in our political culture, we will have to re-engineer our politics and politicking. This has to go hand-in-hand with mass education of the people, development, and security that guarantee the welfare of the citizens. Our current political posture does not promise any of this and I do not see in the foreseeable future the willingness of the decision-makers or Nigerians to adjust to a different system away from this. But it’s not impossible.

Victor Terhemba is a civil society advocate and acting executive director, Raising New Voices, Abuja, Nigeria. He can be reached via @Victor_Terhemba.