The less than one week show of force by the Nigerian Army is over, leaving behind according to the music legend Fela Anikulakpo Kuti, “sorrow tears and blood them regular trade mark” Those at the receiving ends of the altercation are the mothers whose sons and daughters have been sent on the journey of no return, families, who will never set eyes on their loved ones again, friend who will never set eyes on their friends again. What about the injured, the physically maimed as a result of the fracas, who have lost one or more vitals parts of their human configurations and probably nursing their wounds somewhere if they can afford it. The economic losses to both the government and people of Abia state is another issue altogether. Operation Python dance might have come and gone, but the sad memories will again be entered into the ugly historical records of Nigeria. But after all said and done, the Python Dance if at all Python dances at all, could have be replaced by TAP dance if both the leaders and the led took their time to learn the dance steps of TAP dance.
The agitations for return to democracy from the mid-nineties up to the late nineties did not factor in what to do with democracy when we finally get grasp of it. The anger of the pro-democracy forces then was why Abacha should transmogrify from “Khaki to Agbada” but they failed to stop Obasanjo, another Khaki creation through fraudulent electoral process from putting on Agbada to reap from the sweat of their hard earned battle for democracy. What constitutes good governance was clearly ambiguous to the citizenry, the bourgeoisie and the civilian elites. It was a matter of time that the fraudulent electoral processes that brought Obasanjo to power was swept under the carpet. No sooner than Obasanjo was sworn in when everyone dusted their Resume, Abuja became a beehive of lobby grounds for political jobbers, king makers, party loyalists political appointment hopefuls et al. In all these, no one cares to ask the questions of good governance, delivery of dividend of democracy or how to make the lives of the citizens better than what was obtainable under the military regime. They all have one single aim, they have a bite of the National Cake which has been the exclusive preserve of the military and their cohorts for decades. How they go about it does not matter, the end justifies the means.
Obasanjo with his military background continued with a hybrid military and civilian style of leadership. Human rights were flagrantly abused using the military, the military still occupy the presidential villa and were used to every now and then suppress any insurrections. The demand for accountability are made based on vested interests by those making the demands under the pretext of representing the voice of the voiceless, these groups of individuals are those that were not relevant to the system then or did not have the opportunity of participating in the political party activities but are hell bent in benefiting from the National cake. Thus, the triangular distance between Transparency, Accountability and Power widened. The Nigerian people went back to the status quo, and they see no changes from the military regime to the civilian administration.
When civilians eventually took over the mantle of leadership, they maintained the military style and fashion of leadership, of cronyism, nepotism, god fatherism and abuse of power, Nigerian citizens still with military regime hangover are ignorant of how to demand accountability and transparency from those leading them, the resultant effects became the high level of corruption and impunity since the seventeen years of return to democracy.
At seventeen, a human being might have attained full maturity and is expected to be warming up to exhibit some level of wisdom from age eighteen upwards. For Nigerians to enjoy dividends of democracy, they should learn to dance the TAP (Demand for balance between Transparency Accountability and Power) dance so that their leaders will not send reptiles, amphibians or other aquatic creatures to dance with them. Balancing the TAP (Demand for balance between Transparency Accountability and Power) DANCE is what Nigerians should start learning going forward, more so as 2019 election year draws closer. The citizens should increase their level of participation in governance and refrain from being apathetic to what is happening in the corridor of power.
It is high time Nigerian citizens saw those representing them from Ward Councilor, Local Government Chairman, members of State Houses of Assembly, House of Representatives members and Senators in the National Assembly, Governors and up to the President as their workers who are paid monthly wages from their tax payers money which they should demand accounts of their stewardship on regular basis and remove any non-performing workers.
Constant demand for Transparency, Accountability and consistent political participation that transcends the election period is the only glimmer of hope for Nigerians to enjoy dividends of democracy and curb excessive abuse of power as has and still been displayed by various military operations since the return of democracy.
The outcry of marginalization by Ndi Igbo, which Nnamdi Kanu and his IPOB members hijacked and transformed into a movement is not an isolated happenstance in Nigeria political space. There is no part of Nigeria that is more developed than the other. It’s the same set of rogue leaders who do not believe in Nigeria that reigns throughout the length and breadth of the country delivering the worst leadership unknown to human history. The five eastern states have been receiving federal allocations on monthly basis from Abuja for the past seventeen years, they have been generating revenues from market women, commuters, transporters, farmers, artisans and taxes for same period, but there is nothing to show for it. The proponents of Igbo marginalization would have done a better job and might have been commended if they had taken their protest to various state houses of assemblies, local government areas secretariats to demand for what those representing then in government is doing with the money they are generating and the allocations they are receiving from Abuja. Few of the budgets of the South Eastern state are made open to the public. Igbo politicians are demigods and emperors who the citizens hardly questions or challenge.
Reasonable percentage of Igbos in the South East are more interest in what happens in the market than on how government policies and programmes affects their daily lives or will affect their future. According to statistics released by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) in March 2017, the South East States has the lowest records of biometric accreditation for permanent voters’ card during the last 2015 general election. The level of political apathy and participation by South Easterners is so apathetic to the point that leaders are foisted and imposed on them more than any region in the country. In some remote areas in the South East, elections hardly take place, the political elites simple endorse a candidate, present the candidates to the Igwes and the deal is sealed. It is high time South Easterner begin to interrogate the style and fashion of their representatives. They should learn and dance the TAP dance and demand for Transparency, Accountability and full participation in the Power arrangement in the region.
If the South Eastern states manage their resources efficiently, the region will be well developed to the point of attracting investors from far and near. The next step then will be to engage in full political participation at the centre having fixed their region. That way they can change the political appointments narratives mediocrity to a performance based ideology at the centre based on battle fought at regional level. The appointment they so desire to be part of now is nothing but a cesspool of corruption and mismanagement of people’s commonwealth, aka sharing of National cake that benefits only privilege few.
The rest of Nigerians should brace up and organized themselves at National, regional, state and community level around issues that affects them ahead of 2019 elections and look forward to politicians and political parties that will address this issues for them. It is high time to identify issues that will transform the country into a better place for the next generation and align our interests and support to individuals, groups or political parties that will deliver just that. . It is high time Nigerians shy away and refused to be used by greedy politicians by refusing to cast their vote for personalities based on popularity, ethnic, religious or regional interest. Beyond election period, Nigerians should constantly and consistently engage their leaders in an unending balanced TAP (Demand for balance between Transparency Accountability and Power) dance throughout the political life cycle. This way, the politicians will be held accountable and will be kept too busy to court snakes, reptiles or amphibians to terrorize the people. It is only then that the Nigeria of our dream will materialize for the present and future generation.
James Ugochukwu a Development Practitioner writes from Abuja. He can be reached onJamesod@gmail.com, Twitter: @jmzdouglas
