How lessons of June 12 will be fully learnt – Kalu

It is my honour and singular privilege to be invited to this occasion not just as a regular guest but as the guest lecturer. Whatever criteria were deployed in assessing the many other erudite options that the organisers obviously had, I sincerely hope that I will justify the faith and confidence that you have reposed in me.

Let me start by making a declaration that reflects my deepest instinct as a Nigerian patriot, a public servant and a private entrepreneur in a country that has more or less been in a state of flux for well over half a century: I came, I saw, I took a stand (veni, vidi, accepi resistere – with all due apologies to Gaius Julius Caesar).

As the governor of Abia State (1999 – 2007), I took a stand and declared June 12 a public holiday and it was observed as the de facto Democracy Day in Abia State throughout the duration of my double tenure as the governor of God’s Own State. For those who query why I took that stand, the answer is quite simple:  It was imperative for me to do so in order to signal the fundamentally historic importance of that date – a date that will live in infamy for eternity as a rebuke to dictatorship. A date that is already immortalized in the memory of the Nigerian people as a milestone in our struggle for democracy. It was vital for me to give a tangible expression to an abstract date and to say: We must never forget.

OPC came, OPC saw, OPC took a stand. OPC took a stand right from its inception as a bulwark against injustice, against oppression and against all forms of hegemonic tendencies, whether intended, actual or potential. OPC took a stand to promote the rich cultural heritage of the Yoruba people. OPC took a stand today and thus launched this 20th Anniversary of the strangulation of democracy and the treasonous usurpation of the historic will of the Nigerian people – freely and enthusiastically expressed at the ballot exactly 20 years to the day today.

More Nigerians must take a stand. All Nigerians must take a stand. The vigilance that is an absolute necessity in pushing back against tyranny and autocracy in all societies is nurtured by the relentless dedication of groups like the OPC. And let me state categorically that as I stand here today, I am standing before a group of fellow Nigerian compatriots committed to the unity and progress of our nation under democracy, under peace and under God Almighty. I am not standing before or amid terrorists or terrorist sympathizers.

“We state here as a matter of fact that the OPC is a visible organisation, with known addresses all over the country. Its leaders are also known and accessible to all Nigerians, including security agencies. We draw our strength from our membership of more than seven million. It is also on record that we don’t engage in clandestine activities, since our activities are known to all and recorded for history by the vibrant and courageous Nigerian media, and therefore in no way a security threat to the country.” – Otunba Gani Adams, National Coordinator,  Oodua  People’s  Congress.  (http://saharareporters.com/press-release/we-are-not-terrorist-organization-oodua-peoples-congress)

Well, Otunba, I take it that this public statement was indeed, made by you and that you stand by it. If you do, it is good enough for me.

I was offered a couple of subject matters among which I was required to make a choice and to base my lecture upon. The first options were serially withdrawn and ultimately the organisers offered me the above subject. It is the more challenging among the topics considered. Not because the others were easy or their boundaries better defined. But it is correct to say that they were less amorphous and some of them dealt specifically with national institutions and historical events that lent themselves to the comfort my own prior knowledge and experience. This topic is different, made so by the sheer daunting nature of its broad range.

Why must we be talking about survival for a country that is marking 100 years of its amalgamation next year, and which is already 53 years old as an Independent country?  We need to talk about survival on the 20th anniversary of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, because it was one exercise that had the potential of pedestalling us as a true nation, but which sadly almost became our albatross.  June 12, 1993, was the day Nigerians spoke with one voice to reject religious bigotry, voting massively for a Muslim-Muslim ticket of Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola and Babagana Kingibe, as president and vice president, respectively. June 12 was also the day Nigerians overwhelmingly rejected ethnic politicking, with Abiola of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), beating his rival, Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention (NRC) in Kano, where Tofa hailed from.  On June 12, 1993, Nigerians shunned all tendencies that had always divided us as a people, and voted for change, for a new dawn.

Eleven days later, when that election was annulled by the military for reasons that have not been made clear to us till today, Nigeria was truly and verily at the brink of war.  There were spontaneous riots in many parts of the country, particularly, in the South-west where Abiola hailed from, and in the weeks and months that followed, hundreds of thousands of Nigerians moved back to their areas of origin.

Igbo domiciled in the West moved back to the East, and in the process, many of them perished in road accidents. Dark clouds of war hung over Nigeria, and it was only by the mercies of God that the country survived.   Eventually, the military struck again on November 17, 1993, with Gen Sani Abacha sacking the Interim National Government of Chief Ernest Shonekan This began another era of military rule, which lasted for the next six years.

While the Sani Abacha and Abdulsalami Abubakar regime that succeeded it lasted, it was an uneasy calm in the country.  There was widespread agitation that Abiola be released to assume his mandate as president.  Only his death in military detention on July 7, 1999, laid the agitation to rest.   Even then, with the return to democratic rule in 1999, the presidency had to be conceded to the South-West, to assuage the feelings of the people.  That was why we had the unprecedented situation in which the two main presidential candidates, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and Chief Olu Falae, were Yoruba, from the South-West.

The annulment of the June 12 election, and the political crisis it precipitated, was a veritable danger to the continued existence of Nigeria as one.  This is why the topic of this lecture today is very relevant: 20 years after June 12, options for survival.

Nigeria, a nation?

Before I consider the options that are available to us if we want to survive, let me do a brief appraisal of the controversial issue of whether Nigeria is a nation, or a conglomeration of many ethnic nationalities, which has not been blended into a true nation-state.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo, great nationalist, and “the best president we never had,” (apologies to the late Ikemba Odumegwu Ojukwu), once described Nigeria as not a nation, “but a mere geographic expression.”  By that, he meant we were just a collection of people forcefully lumped together by the British in 1914, with each component part having its own different aspirations politically, economically, socially, etc. In other words, Nigeria has not been blended into a true nation-state.

Addressing the same issue at the centennial birthday of Chief Awolowo a couple of years back, Nobel Laureate, Prof Wole Soyinka, said: “Is Nigeria a nation today?  The answer – Unsure.  Can it?  Possibly.  Should it?  My answer to that is absolutely non-sentimental, purely technical and subjective.

So, for now, we may continue to sleep, dream, open our eyes at dawn on the recurring vision of nationhood on the horizon, hopefully not receding, indeed, almost close to touch, requiring only the complete surrender of hegemonic dreams, the ethos of exclusivity, the recognition of religious privacy, community primacy, and the manifested will of the authentic landowners of a designated nation space.”

In simple language, what was Professor Soyinka saying?  Nigeria is not a nation yet.  Collection of ethnic nationalities, yes, but not a nation.  And if even nations fail, as happened to the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, and many others, then a contraption that has been forcefully cobbled together like Nigeria, which has not metamorphosed into a nation 100 years after, can fail very, very easily.  And the way we live as a country makes it quite possible that Nigeria may fail.

There is injustice in the land. Corruption, inequality and unemployment are a time bomb. There is impunity and ethnic cleavages, which are stronger now than at any time in the history of the country. In fact, there is a lot of dissatisfaction in the polity.  If we are not careful, Nigeria may fail in a matter of months, not years, and thus fulfil doomsday prophecies, which had put that eventuality at the year 2015.  That is why a topic like this is important.

What are the options for Nigeria, if we are to continue as a united entity, a country that will eventually become a true nation-state?

There are many options available to Nigeria, if we want to become a true nation.  But today, I will focus on just three: social justice, fashioning a workable electoral process, and nurturing our democracy.

Social Justice

Nigeria is a country built on injustice and inequity, and which continues to trudge on, with that faulty foundation.  No attempt has been made to rebuild the foundation, or correct the faults in the sub-structure.

Tell me, how can a country survive for long, if social justice is truly lacking? The very structure of the country promotes social injustice and inequity. Nigeria, a country of more than 300 ethnic groups, is today classified into majority and minorities.  Of the majority, the Igbo, Yoruba and Hausa are predominant.  And we have many minority groups, including Ijaw, Urhobo, Itsekiri, Efik, Ibibio, Tiv, Idoma, and many others.  Today, through a combination of circumstances, a minority is ruling the country as president.

But among the majority groups, how has power been shared in the past 53 years of independence?  Permit me to quote from a presentation I made recently to the British House of Commons on the inequity in Nigeria.  How has power been held by the various geo-political zones?

1. North Central - 17 years 11 months 20 days

2. North West - 13 years 11 months 10 days

3. South West - 11 years 10 months 8 days

4. South South - 5 year 23 days (by May 29 2015)

5. South East - 6 months 13 days. 

A citizen of Igbo extraction has occupied the presidency of Nigeria for just six months and 13 days in about 53 years of independence.  What is social injustice, if this is not? Of course, not only the Igbo have been victims of social injustice in Nigeria. We know what was happening in the Niger Delta region, which led some of the people to bear arms against the state through acts of militancy.

Oil, which is the mainstay of the Nigerian economy, is extracted mainly from the Niger Delta area.  But that area became the most blighted, the most impoverished, and the most degraded in the country.  The people were like those who were surrounded by water, but who went thirsty. They were like people surrounded by food, but who went hungry.  It was social injustice at its highest, and the Nigerian federation was indifferent to their plight till the militants took up arms.

The Umaru Musa Yar’Adua government thankfully came up with a disarmament process, leading to amnesty for the militants. Today, there is a measure of quietness and peace in the region, but I hasten to add that it may turn to be the peace of the graveyard, the calm before the storm, unless real and lasting development is brought to the Niger Delta. That is the only way peace can be enduring, and not though the payment of money to former militants.

Social injustice pervades every part of the country, creating a large army of dissatisfied, disgruntled people.  In fact, this large army can become the army of Armageddon, which may one day precipitate the end of Nigeria, if we are not careful.

If the rich get richer, and the poor get poorer, then it is a time bomb waiting to explode.  If the rich oppress the poor, and the poor have no recourse to redress, one day, the rich himself will be in jeopardy, when the poor will rise in anger.   If government is not responsive to the yearnings of the people for a good life, for access to healthcare, to gainful employment, to a decent retirement, to accessible and qualitative education, decent housing, and they see government officials luxuriating in plenty, one day, not even all the armies in the world will be able to contain the anger that may be unleashed on people in government.

Social justice is the way to go, if Nigeria will evolve into a true nation, and continue to exist as one country.

Free and fair elections

We are commemorating the 20th anniversary of the June 12 elections, believed to be the freest and fairest in the history of the country.  That election could have positioned the then military president, Gen Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida (IBB) as the authentic Nigerian hero, celebrated at home and abroad, but alas, the election was voided, and it threatened the fabric that held us together as a country. Therefore, another option available to Nigeria to become a true nation-state is the option of free and fair elections.  In fact, it is an irreducible minimum for the progress and development of the country.

Remember the Operation Wetie in the West in 1965?  What led to that orgy of killing and arson, in which untold destruction was visited on the Western Region?  Election rigging.  The violence is still a watershed in the country today, almost 50 years later.

And ironically, one election in Nigeria has been progressively worse than the other, except perhaps, for the one held on June 12.  Even the April 2011 elections were still followed by massive violence that led to killings in parts of the North, and we also saw the process subverted in other parts of the country, including the East, and Abia State, particularly.  I was a senatorial aspirant in that election, and I can give you firsthand experience.  It was an exercise in which security agencies, particularly the military, were used to subvert the will of the people.  Can a country continue that way?  No.  Such a country would only end up in perdition.

Successive elections in the country, whether organised by FEDECO, NEC, NECON, or INEC, have always ended in great controversies.  In fact, one election is usually worse than the other, whether superintended over by Michael Ani, Justice Ovie Whiskey, Professor Eme Awa, Professor Humphrey Nwosu, Professor Okon Uya, Chief Sumner Dagogo-Jack, Justice Ephraim Omorose Akpata, Dr. Abel Guobadia, Prof Maurice Iwu, or Prof Attahitu Jega. Umpires may change, but the nature of elections in Nigeria has not changed.

To show that Nigeria may have become jinxed when it comes to elections, what happened a few weeks ago at the Nigerian Governors’ Forum is instructive.  Governors, the helmsmen of states, which comprises of scores of millions of people, could not conduct a simple association election without acrimony.  At the end of the exercise, the Governors’ Forum was split right down the middle.  This is ridiculous.  Very, very ridiculous, and gives us a sense of foreboding about the 2015 elections.  If governors cannot hold a simple association election, in which just 35 of them were present, what will then happen when millions of Nigerians go to the polls?  Surely, chaos and controversy, as we have always had in previous elections.

What then is the way forward?  This is my prescription:  Let all elections hold the same day, except in states where circumstances have forced them to have staggered elections because of the terminal dates of incumbent governors. Let all elections, Houses of Assembly, federal legislature, gubernatorial, and presidential hold the same day.

Why must we shut down the whole country for three or four consecutive Saturdays, simply because we are holding elections?  This has grave economic and social consequences.  Many countries of the world go to the polls on the same day.  America votes on a Tuesday, and the nation is not shut down.

The best global practice today is to hold all elections in one day, and Nigeria should adopt that option.  It will be cheaper ultimately for the country.  Apart from America, other countries like Venezuela, even Ghana and Sierra-Leone, hold their elections in one day.  And it works for them. Why can’t it work for Nigeria?  Holding elections in one day will eliminate the bandwagon effect that characterizes our polls today, in which people have seen the direction of voting/victory, and simply follow in that direction.  That is a teleguided democracy in a manner of speaking.

It is also fair to provide a platform for Diaspora (absentee) voting where eligible Nigerians abroad can vote. After all, every Nigerian citizen who is 18 years and above is by law allowed to decide his or her representation at democratic governance at all levels through voting.

The voting mechanism must be accessible and convenient to all citizens as much as possible and practicable. In this modern time, distance, physical disability and any other disabilities should not constitute or create any hindrance whatsoever to the citizen’s right to vote.

My challenge to our lawmakers is that the Electoral Act should be amended to provide for holding of all elections in one day.  The INEC chairman, Prof Attahiru Jega, has also canvassed this position, and it is something we should give a trial.  It will engender better electoral processes for our country, and promote national cohesion and unity.

Nurturing our democracy

Just about two weeks ago, we celebrated the 14th anniversary of unbroken democratic rule in the country.  That is no mean feat, considering the chequered history of democratic rule in the country.  This is the longest our democracy has lasted, as the military would have struck, saying it needs to correct certain things in the polity.

An option we cannot do without in the growth of the country is the nurturing of our democracy.  Politicians must play the game according to the rules. Political parties must uphold and promote internal democracy in the way they do things.  Non-democratic tendencies must be jettisoned, and democratic tenets upheld whether it pleases the powers-that-be or not.  Democracy must be nurtured, if it would continue to grow and flourish.

For us as Nigerians, we are like a wife who has married two husbands, and who can judge which one is better.  We have experienced the authoritarianism, even tyranny, that comes with military rule.  And we have experienced the liberality of participatory democracy.

Never again must we return to tyrannical rule.  But then, it is not automatic.  We must nurture our democracy.  We must groom it, prune it, and fertilize it, so that it will bloom.   At the individual level, political party level, ward, local government, state and national levels, let democratic ethos thrive and flourish, and we will see our democracy waxing stronger and stronger.  It is the only option.  Any other option must never be considered.  It is forward ever, backward never.

Final words

Once again, I want to thank the organisers of this lecture for inviting me as the guest lecturer.  I am quite delighted.  I believe in Nigeria, a progressive, prosperous Nigeria.  I believe that this is a resilient country, a land of illustrious people, and a land, which can hold its own any day in the comity of nations.  We have been on the brink many times, but God has always pulled us back.

Henceforth, let us stop living dangerously.  Let us stop tempting fate.  Let us uphold social justice.  Let us evolve a free and fair electoral process.  And let us nurture our democracy to full stature.  In that way will the lessons of June 12 be fully learnt.  In that way will Bashorun M.K.O. Abiola would not have died in vain.