By Samuel Ejike Arum (Ojemba)
According to a Greek philosopher, Plato, ‘To lead is to educate’. Hence, the adage; leadership is by example. Considering democracies of the world, particularly America, which we copy, their leadership is inclusive in every ramification.
In 1776, when the United States of America had her independence from the British Colonial Administration, America had her first president; George Washington (1789-1797), till the present president; Jeo Biden, the practice of democracy had been rule of law based.
In the forthcoming November 5th 2024 American presidential elections, the incumbent president, gave a nod to his vice-president; Kamala Harris to contest on the platform of Democrat, against the former president and Republican candidate; Donald Trump.
This entails equal treatment, and communication, mutual. You hardly can differentiate the leader from the led; no trickle-down form of communication. And they sustained democracy through communication flow; the leaders relating with the people, doing what the people want, and the people supporting the government by complying to the dictates of the constituted authority.
Nevertheless, here in Africa, there appears to be a complete departure from the practice of democracy. The leaders do not listen to the people they govern. Whether there is hunger in the land, it is none of their concern. Once they assume the position of authority, the people are forgotten. It has not ended there.
The electorate equally have share of the blame. Candidates with financial war-chest who contest various positions of authority, give them money, they sell their conscience and do the bidden of the pay-masters. In the long run, they suffer it.
The people are always at the receiving end. The worst of all happens when the military take over. Typical examples are Mali in 2020, Chad, Guinea, Sudan in 2021, Burkina Faso in 2022, Niger and Gabon in 2023.
In Nigeria today, the only thing we are sure of, from 1999 till date, is that the military have not taken over the realm of government. The issue is not whether PDP ruled for sixteen years or that APC has ruled for nine years.
There is little or no adherence to the rule of law. It clearly showcased itself in the brain-drain; the Japa syndrome. There seems to be no hope in our electoral system.
Anytime we have slight improvement in the conduct of elections, the next elections that should follow suit, become flawed with irregularities, starting from the conduct, till the time when it will experience ‘technical glitch’. At this point, account is lost. The recent hike in petroleum prices has worsened it all. Even the so-called rich cry. Therefore, no one is left out.
My worry is this; when are we going to start to get it right? This is a country that our nationalists; Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Owolowo, Ahmadu Bello, and the like, struggled and got independence from the British Colonial Masters, and began to set things right. A clear instance was in the 1970’s when Dollar equalled Naira. Today, what is the position of Naira to one Dollar?
Be that as it may, we must start by electoral reforms. Using machine (card-reader) to conduct elections could be the solution towards conducting free, fair and credible elections. Citizen in diaspora can as well cast their ballots.
This is to avoid multiple and over-voting, thereby ensuring that the number of accredited voters is the number voted. Hence, accreditation runs simultaneously with voting. Electoral officers should not allow any form of inducement from politicians.
This, to a very large extent, will engage political parties in combing attitude, thereby fielding credible and qualified candidates, for without this, their candidates will return unelected.
The electorate should endeavor to register as well as cast their votes to the credible and qualified candidates, irrespective of party affiliation, gender, tribe or even religious leanings. At least, the recent judgement by the supreme court on financial autonomy of the local government, is welcomed by all and sundry.
Definitely, this will enable the people to ask direct relevant questions to the council chairmen, haven known how funds are collected and disbursed.
Democracy augurs well when the leaders and the lead have mutual understanding, communication and benefits, basically, a clarion call for inclusive governance becomes Paramount. And this buttresses the point made by the sixteenth President of America, Abraham Lincoln, when he defined ‘democracy’ as ‘The government of the people, by the people, and for the people’.
