Democracy And Its Malcontents By Chido Onumah

Columnist: Chido Onumah
Nigeria is a deeply flawed polity. And unless we brace up to this
reality and do something about it, we would continue to witness the
show of shame that is going on in the name ofdemocracy in Rivers State
and indeed across the country.
In July 2003, a pseudo-democrat and putative dictator posing as the
democratic president of the Federal Republic in cahoots with political
jobbers and miscreants sacked an elected governor of a state. Exactly
ten years later, history is repeating itself.
It was Karl Marx who in The Eighteenth Brumaire of Louis Bonaparte,
while complementing Hegel's assertion that every major event,
phenomenon or personage in history usually appeared twice, statedthat
the first appearance was usually a tragedy and the second a farce. If
Obasanjo/Ngige in 2003 was a tragedy; Jonathan/Amaechi ten years later
is certainly a farce. Or how else can you describe a situation where
five members of the Rivers State House of Assembly – an assembly
with32 members – impeached the speakerand replaced him with one of
their own.
The videos of that attempted coup have become a media sensation.
However, beyond the mindless violence that we witness and the comic
relief that they provide, the horror show is an indictment of our
democracy. But it is much more than that. It is window into a much
deeper national problem. Therefore, if we focus on the Jonathans
(Goodluck and Patience), Amaechi as well as their sidekicks and
disciples we miss the point.
For me, the crisis in Rivers State is a reflection of our crisis of
nationhood; the outcome of the distorted structure of Nigeria and its
power relations. Many of those who are shouting themselves hoarse
today will do the same thing if given the opportunity. Clearly, any
attempt to understand the current crisis without focusing on this
fundamental problem would amount to chasing shadows.
Prof. Chinweizu captured this reality when he noted during the January
2012 fuel subsidy crisis that, "Many of the deadly problems plaguing
Nigeriaare maintained by the provisions of the constitution as well as
the structures it has set up. Therefore, tackling many of Nigeria's
problems would require a comprehensive critique and gutting of the
constitution in which they are rooted".
Last year, former vice president, Atiku Abubakar, complained about
"the scandalously limitless powers wielded by anyone who occupies the
presidential seat in Nigeria". It is the same limitless powers that
governorsenjoy in their states. Of course, the political class will
complain and do everything except interrogate the very system that
makes this scandal of a democracy possible: Whether we are talking
about governors sacking local government chairmen with impunity, the
president using the apparatuses of the state to solve his personal and
intra-party problems or the National Assembly assuming powers it does
not have – in this case,the illegal and unconstitutional "take-over"
of the Rivers State Assembly.
Rather than being fixated on the Jonathan/Amaechi farce, perhaps, this
offers us an opportunity to begin discussing the bigger question of
restructuring the country. Unless we take that bold step, the affront
to democracy we witnessed in Anambra State in 2003 and Rivers State in
2013 will happen again, perhaps on a grander and much more farcical
form.
A few days ago, during a solidarity visit to Governor Amaechi, the
governors of Kano, Jigawa, Adamawa and Niger States called for State
Police. We must not stop at that. We should go a step further to
discuss resource control/revenue allocation, citizenship rights and
the many problems that make our democracy a huge joke.
conumah@hotmail.com