Buhari Will Keep Nigerians On Their Toes

US based Prof. Omo Tsatsaku Ojior, is a professor of Political Science with speciality in Public Administration, International Relations, Comparative Politics and African Politics. He has taught at Brown College, Metropolitan College and Morehouse College, all at the University of Atlanta, Georgia. He currently teaches at Onima Institute, Georgia. In this interview with journalists in Benin (including JETHRO IBILEKE), he says Nigerians are in for a good time under the Buhari administration

Generally speaking, how would you assess Nigeria’s democracy for the past 16 years?

Nigeria’s democracy is picking up, that is, it is growing, it’s increasing in intensity in terms of understanding the process, what politics is, what the presidential system of government is and the role the electorate play in the system.

I must say that I’m very happy the way this particular elections went and the action and reaction within the system, am proud of it.

But I have something that I think I need to clarify, because I’m hearing of opposition party and the government in power and all that. I want to state that in presidential democracy, there is nothing like opposition party. What you have is the majority party and the minority party. The reason being that issues are discussed in the House. Some particular issues may not have their way without both parties participating. What I mean by that is, APC lawmakers may bring up an issue. Even if they are in the majority, they may not be able to secure the constitutionally required number to pass it without the minority members having an imput. So in that way, you have a by-partism to some issues, and if you have that, there is no party that is in opposition. It is more or less the interest. To both actors in the majority party and the minority party, it is the interest that determines what is passed.

So we do not have an opposition party. I need both the public and the politicians, including the legislators to know that there is no opposition in presidential system of government because it is issue-driven. If you have an issue that you know will benefit your constituents, whether you are in the majority party or not, it is that issue that will determine your vote, otherwise if it is an issue that will benefit your people and you abstain from it because you belong to ‘X’ party or ‘Y’ party, it will hurt you. For that reason, you watch out for those issues that are beneficial, whether they come from the majority party or not, if it is profitable issue, you go for it.

If really there is no opposition in presidential system of government, how will the ruling party be kept on its toes to deliver dividends of democracy?

As I explained earlier, the so called ruling party cannot do it by itself because there might be some members of the ruling party that are not in tune with the issue at stake. There are certain issues that if they vote for them, it will hurt them back home in their constituencies. So the entire system is issue-driven. They are not going to say that because you are APC and a PDP member brings up an issue that will be very, very appropriate and beneficial to the people, you won’t support it, else, in time, the electorate will remember that you blocked an issue that was favourable to them. So the entire system is issue-driven, not more or less ideological.

But again, even in the Nigeria’s political system as of now, there is no specific ideology like you have the Republican being conservative and the Democratic members being liberal [in the United States]. We do not have that here as of yet. Maybe as the system is maturing and the people begin to understand, then that will come up. They will begin to reason whether what this guy is talking, does it favour the less privileged or the affluent only?

•Prof. Omo Tsatsaku Ojior

What do you think Nigerian politicians can do to hasten our leaning process?

You see, the grassroots level is very important in this. A government is as good as the people it governs. If the people are aware that they become the tools by which those in the forefront, the actors will accordingly learn what they need to do and what they don’t need to do. And it is also good for the grassroots to interact with politicians, their members in the various House, it is very appropriate for people to interact with their members because the members you think they know all may not have the skills. So through the interaction, the people could assist their members to grow and mature politically.

There is no denying that there is a huge gulf between the electorate and the lawmakers in Nigeria. How could this gap be bridged to optimise their performance?

There comes in the media. The media has a role to play in that. As the watchdog of the people, the media has a greater role to play in informing the people, educating the people and entertaining the people in a way that will brighten their understanding of what ought to be done.

This is because some of the questions I heard some journalists asking the politicians are so trivial. They show shallow understanding of their role as the watchdog of the people, those who are supposed to let the people know what they ought to know. Sometimes I see that in the Nigerian media, things that have of no benefit to the people are emphasised, like things happening in Australia, in the US. My mother doesn’t have that understanding, unless you can localise the issue. Let the people know what they need to know, not what you want them to know. It’s not just news, because they need to learn everything they need to know within the environment. Politics is interest-driven. Is there benefit for my people?

Issues should be tied to the interest of the people. That gap needs to be filled by the media by educating the people, letting them know their right, what they ought to know, not what they don’t need to know. As far as Nigeria is concerned, the greatest interest of the media is to push the Nigerian ideal into the minds of the people.

How do you react to the notion that the nation’s democracy is the most expensive (and corrupt) in the world?

I agree totally that corruption is a problem in the politics of this country. [President] Jonathan is not the originator of most of the cases of corruption that we’ve been suffering in the politics of this country today, it has been there in the system. It has a beginning, but it appears the end is here. The end being that the people are becoming aware, they are getting to know their right. And a major factor in the corruption business has to do with the need to go for foreign taste, foreign ideas.

From your assessment of 16 years of democracy in Nigeria, will you say the masses have gained?

You see, it has not been very beneficial to the grassroots in the sense that the grassroots level itself does not have the complete understanding to ensure participating in the political process. It is only during elections that the politicians move to the interior and give them one bag of rice and things like that to canvass for votes. But the people don’t have that skill or knowledge to ask for their right to participate in the political process or gain the benefit that political democracy brings about. So the people have not really benefited.

But am proud of what Governor Adams Oshiomhole [of Edo State] has done in opening up the rural areas of the state with network of roads. This is very important to the movement of goods to and from the rural areas. But in terms of brightening idea, sharpening focus, understanding issues whereby you can take up opposition, the grassroots level has not had that opportunity.

The press can help in this area by ensuring that what is going on in the three tiers of government gets to the hamlets and villages so that they can be part and parcel of the political process. That gap has to be filled.

How do you react to the alleged high percentage of the national and state budgets allocated to the legislative arm of government?

You see, that is where I am seeing that the people have not been participanting in the process. If it were somewhere else, when you find out that such exorbitant part of the national cake is being taken by few hands, the people will rise up and ask for a proscription of such arbitrary cheating. That is not fair because in the United States where I am, members of the Congress and so on don’t receive such money, even some are part timers. When I heard N30 million per man, I could not believe it, and I have not seen or heard of particular bills that are of interest, things that are yielding dividends to the people. It’s not there. But the people have not reacted to such and am afraid.

I understand why the people have not reacted the way they should. The reasons include ignorance, lack of understanding and fear. The fear comes from the actions of the police and the military of this country. Each time either the people or the students rise up, the way the armed forces confront them does not allow the participation of the grassroots in the political process through positive reaction like mass, peaceful protest. The way of developing the political process is a way of checking those who are responsible for law making.

The police always shoot to kill, and that is affecting the participation of the masses in the political process in Nigeria, and I think that needs to be checked because such protests are in the interest of the armed forces, those in uniform and those not in uniform because if they succeed, those in the uniform are not going to be cut off from enjoying whatever it is that the people were protesting for or again. So the masses need to stand up and the media need to help them to know their rights in the democratic process.

Is that an indictment on Nigerian politicians; making use of security operatives to harass and intimidate the masses?

First of all, I will not indict the politician, rather, the armed forces who do not know that by law, they are paid with the taxes of the masses. Secondly, when the masses rise, it is also on behalf of those in uniform. Take the case of Corazin Acqino for example. When he called out for the tanks to move on the people, the armed forces rolled out the tanks, but they saw that men and women were in chain, they moved back to the palace and told him that it was a human barricade. Acqino took off from the top of the roof with helicopter and went on exile. When he passed away, the people refused his corpse to be brought home. That’s how powerful the people’s movement could be in a democracy.

Our people are afraid, they are afraid to die together. But singularly, they are not living. For a democracy to thrive, some people must suffer. For example, Gani Fawehinmi of this country was a democrat. He fought on behalf of the people alone, nobody joined him. So the press needs to educate the people, let them know their rights in a democratic process.

Do you think the new administration of President Buhari could be the turning point, the change Nigeria needs?

Frankly, I must say that change is always good. Change is the only permanent thing in life. Every other thing moves. That the batton moves from Goodluck Jonathan now to Buhari, I think there must have been a reason beyond our understanding and the reason beyond our understanding is always for the good of the people.

Yes, I was here when Buhari was in power, I knew some of the things he did, some of the nice moves he made. It was through Idiagbon and him that we had the queueing culture which was very good because Nigerians are very impatient. But with him, every Nigerian started to be aware that we are all together. Therefore, let’s tolorate each other, we wait on each other, one after the other.

I think that Buhari in this new administration will not be like what he was before. He was a military man who took power by force and he behaved like a force man. But now, if you look at his personality, he looks like a changed man because the overwhelming acceptance by the people informs him that this is the time he needs to do what he needs to do for Nigerians.

I heard in his inaugural speech that “am for everybody and am not for anybody.” That in itself is very instructive. To sum it up, I think Buhari will keep Nigerians on their toes, he will assist in eliminating corruption. But Nigerians are difficult people, even though that Buhari we know is a disciplined man, he enjoys the confidence of the people. That in itself is going to be a motivation for him to do the right thing.

The other thing is that in a political democracy where people know their rights, and Buhari is aware of that, he is not going to be autocratic or dictatorial like he was before. I think Nigerians are in for a good administration. But Nigerians need to help him by ensuring that if he is going off-course, he should be reminded that this is a political democracy and not a military era. If Nigerians can from time to time call his attention to that, I believe that we are in for a good administration.

My fear is about some of those people who have decamped from the previous administration to his administration now; APC needs to watch them because it will be difficult for those who have been eating sand to leave eating of sand. So they need to be watched because I don’t think they are ideologically driven, but they are power-driven, which is why they are decamping and it’s very poor of them.

I’am happy that this election went the way it went because if this election had been marred, Nigeria would have been in soup. I won’t even have been sitting with you. But because of the outcome of the election, I’am taller than I am now! Every Nigerian anywhere feels great because we have done something some people thought we don’t have the intelligence to do. So I am proud of every Nigerian and I congratulate them on the way they handled the elections, the outcome and everything.

And kudos to Jonathan for his mature sense of judgement. In fact, I will recommend him to whoever is giving out the Nobel Prize for peace. Jonathan is due for that for what he did, because if anything had gone wrong with this Nigerian elections, it would have affected everywhere in the world in terms of refugees, bloodshed. He averted that. Congratulations to him, congratulations to Nigerians.