Quote: Even though, ethnic politics has characterised Nigerian government and politics, since its inception of the first republic, I found it incredibly unimaginable, the extent and roles ethnic and religious biggotism played in the just concluded 2023 elections. Ethnicity, ordinarily is not a problem but the politicisation of ethnicity, especially with the dimension it played out in the just concluded election in Nigeria is the great challenge
By Kunle Alaye
Election remains the cardinal mechanism for the recruitment of political leadership and it is indeed the key to participate in a democracy and democratic process of any modern or sophisticated political system.
The Nigerian state, having suffered a long trend of colonialism for almost a century, gained independence in 1960 and became a sovereign nation in October, 1963 respectively. Which of course marked the very first republic and set a pace for the very first indeginous political system of the Nigerian State.
Significantly, the democracy left behind by the colonialists has been argued by some scholars as distorted and shattered with several imperial sloganeering. Thus, grossly encapsulated the first republic with so many pitfalls and ethnic biggotism which apparently brought the collapse of the republic with the sudden invasion of political system by the military in January 1966.
Be that as it may, Nigeria has gone through different chronological phases of democratic transitions since the abolition of the first republic, through to the second, third and currently in the fourth republic of its political and democratic chronology.
Even though, ethnic politics has characterised Nigerian government and politics, since its inception of the first republic, I found it incredibly unimaginable, the extent and roles ethnic and religious biggotism played in the just concluded 2023 elections.
Ethnicity, ordinarily is not a problem but the politicisation of ethnicity, especially with the dimension it played out in the just concluded election in Nigeria is the great challenge. As if that was not enough, it continued in another paradigm even after the general election as some aggrieved Nigerians hell bent on self-inflicted destruction of the country’s democracy.
The most shocking of it all, was the preposterous and absolutely chauvinistic instigations of some bunch of hedonists and unpatriotic Nigerians with very naive minds, calling for military take over and apparently installs “Interim Government”.This act if you ask me is not only divisive but barbaric and subversion of Nigerian constitutional democracy in the height of it.
I have not read or heard anywhere in the world, even in some of the middle east countries where their democracy have been perennially truncated, they are still agitating for civilian rule.
Quite honestly, “no sane society is governed by the military.” There is either state of anarchy or laborious circumstance. It is not in a country like Nigeria that has enjoyed almost 23 years of unbroken democracy. This is pretty appalling and unpatriotic indeed of some unscrupulous elements.
Indeed, such action could have also called for suspicion if you ask me. Because, if the alleged group calling for such a very disturbing act of interim government, has truly won the election as they claimed, I would have thought the best action at the moment was to settle down and work on how to perfect all their evidences to nail the supposedly declared winners of the presidential election, ditto to the gubernatorial and the national assembly elections.
Again, it baffles me, how the same group had also consciously or foolishly forgot the fact that should interim government be installed all their purported seats in the national and state houses of assembly, including the state won would all be abrogated immediately.
Why ignorantly shooting yourself in the foot in the first place? You claimed the election was characterised by so many irregularities yet you won incredibly in some of your oppositions’ strongholds in the same election that was alleged to have been engulfed by electoral manipulations.
I really do hope that the conglomeration of these naive minds would have a rethink and put the interest of Nigeria and Nigerians at first and not just their purported solidarity for any political personality.
God bless Nigeria!
Kunle Alaye (PhD) Department of Political Science and International Relations Chrisland University Abeokuta Ogun State Nigeria.
