Founder and Chief Executive Officer of online newspaper, TheCable, Simon Kolawole, speaks to ALEXANDER OKERE about his new book, ‘Fellow Nigerians, It’s All Politics’, and the state of the nation
Your debut book, ‘Fellow Nigerians, It’s All Politics’, came at a time when political parties are fine-tuning strategies on how to capture power in 2023. What inspired you to pen your thoughts in this area and manner?
Ironically, the title of the book is similar to the title of an article I wrote in April 2007. The title was ‘Ladies and Gentlemen, It’s All Politics’. (Former) President Olusegun Obasanjo and his deputy, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, were engaged in an all-out war ahead of the presidential election. Obasanjo did everything he could to stop Atiku from succeeding him. He claimed that he was fighting corruption. Atiku fought back, even claiming to be fighting for the survival of our democracy. In the real sense, it was a personal fight disguised as something being done in the national interest. I wrote a similar article in June 2013 when the battle for the 2015 presidential election started and there was war in the Nigeria Governors’ Forum. The article had the title, ‘Fellow Nigerians, It Is All Politics’. I lamented that at a time that Dubai was planning to build a world-class hospital to encourage medical tourism, our own leaders were busy meeting day and night just to strategise on winning elections. Again, this was passed across as a fight for democracy and good governance by both sides. I saw nothing but politics.
As we are now preparing for 2023, another political ecstasy has broken out and all sides are saying they want to turn Nigeria into heaven on earth. The selection of new and old articles in my book should help refresh our memories so that we do not get deceived again. Nigerian politicians are very good at getting power. The problem starts when it is time to use the power to make Nigeria better. You then begin to hear excuses. If this book will succeed in getting many Nigerians to interrogate the candidates from the viewpoint of history, I will be delighted.
How will you assess the current level of political consciousness among Nigerians, especially the youth, in comparison to what existed at the return of democracy in 1999?
I was a young man when the 1999 elections were held. I queued up to vote and I was happy that Nigeria was returning to democracy. I could not vote in 1993 because I registered in Lagos State and I was observing my national youth service in Ogbomoso, Oyo State. I was in Ilorin, Kwara State, enjoying my weekend with my cousins when the June 12, 1993 election took place. They did not vote. If you compare and contrast 1999 with now, youths have a louder voice now. Nobody was really talking about youths in 1999. Today, our youths are easier to mobilise and they seem to have found a common voice about enthroning good governance. I think it partially started in 2011 with (former) President Goodluck Jonathan being called ‘a breath of fresh air’. In 2015, it was about ‘change’ — sending the Peoples Democratic Party out of power after 16 years. In 2023, our youths are definitely making a bigger statement that they are ready to be more politically active than ever. Things are definitely changing, at least, at the level of consciousness. Let us now see if it will translate to votes.
You posited that Nigeria has not recorded the level of development it deserves largely due to its leaders’ obsession with playing politics. Can you shed light on this?
When Nigerian politicians are strategising for elections or to descend on their rivals, they hardly sleep or eat. They hold meetings all over the country, flying in jets and all that. They know the best lawyers in town. They will go to any length to win elections. They will whip up ethnic and religious sentiments to achieve their purpose; but when they get to the office, the story changes. Now, imagine if they replicate the politicking passion and commitment in governance. Imagine governors and commissioners meeting day and night, discussing how to tackle issues around health care, education, sanitation, water, roads, and gender development, Nigeria will be unbeatable. But they are more interested in politics and personal comfort than the purpose of politics, which is to, as much as possible, make the citizens live the best of lives, in the words of Socrates.
Interestingly, Nigeria’s political system is drawn from the United States of America, which is largely regarded as a free country where democracy works and American politicians are accountable to those they represent. Why do Nigerian voters get different and adverse results with the same system of government?
People usually say the US has practised presidential democracy for over 200 years and has perfected it over time. Comparing Nigeria’s 23 years of uninterrupted democracy may be a mismatch. But I think that if the military had not truncated our democracy in 1983, we would have been better off, especially in areas of accountability and people-oriented leadership. Compared to 1999, I think we are asking more questions now and putting our leaders on their toes. It is slow progress but it is steady. Now, we are looking into every line of budgeting and querying government expenditure, and highlighting what social amenities should be provided. Personally, I don’t like the presidential system. I am pro-parliamentary because I think it is more open and accountable. The prime minister is first among equals and can be grilled in the parliament by the opposition. The presidential system creates a rather powerful individual, like a monarch.
How does politics in Nigeria compare to what exists in neighbouring African countries?
I think things are similar. The number of African countries making progress politically is not huge. You still hear of voter intimidation, vote manipulation, ethnic and religious sentiments, corruption and abuse of human rights. But I think the size of Nigeria makes the country look worse. Even though there are over 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria, there are three major ones — Hausa-Fulani, Igbo and Yoruba — jostling for power. In other countries, there is usually a dominant ethnic group, so the tensions are less pronounced. A small country with one major ethnic group will appear on the surface to be more stable than Nigeria, even if in reality its politics is backward and development is not delivered to the people – look at The Gambia, for instance. Generally, Africans practice politics the same way, just that some countries are better than others. Many of them have life presidents.
What are your thoughts on the concept of weaponising poverty as a political tool in Nigeria? Or is it a false perception by the politically-conscious among the downtrodden?
It is a bit complicated. I don’t think social inequalities were deliberately created to keep the poor perpetually under control. I think what has happened over time is that when we hit the oil boom in the 1970s, the government became awash with petrodollars and there began a fierce struggle to be part of the sharing of the national cake. You needed to be in government, or be close to somebody in the government, to become rich. It became a matter of who knew who. If you were down the ladder, your chances of climbing up were few. You had to start waiting for the crumbs. Our leaders and politicians saw a big opening there and started distributing cash and rice and other inducements at election times to win votes. The poor people also conclude that this is the only time they will ever benefit from the politicians, so they collect the goodies to vote. To that extent, we can say politicians have weaponised poverty. But I would rather think it happened on its own. It is not a design.
Religion has featured prominently in Nigerian politics and is currently a subject of controversy. Why is it difficult to separate it from governance?
It is all politics (laughs). There are several identities you can easily mobilise at election times in Nigeria. One of them is religion. Another is ethnicity. They are somehow intertwined in Nigeria because almost every ethnic group is dominated by one religion. When the Fulani and Tiv fight in Benue, it is as religious as it is ethnic, because the Fulani are Muslims and the Tiv are Christians. The raging controversy now is the Muslim-Muslim ticket of the All Progressives Congress. You will see people who supported the Muslim-Muslim ticket in 1993 now opposed to it for whatever reason. You will also see people who will never support a Christian-Christian ticket now saying there is nothing wrong with a Muslim-Muslim ticket. It is all politics. At other times, it will be about power shift to the North or the South. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can do about the politicisation of religion. It is a sentiment that sells any day and politicians must politick as a matter of necessity. We can campaign that religion should be separated from the government, but those who stand to lose will not listen to you. We will have to live with this for much longer.
Why do the masses easily fall for the strategies of politicians when it comes to religion and what can be done to reverse the trend?
Religious emotions are very strong. People hate and kill in the name of religion. Religion divides more than unites a diverse community. The Yoruba appear to have this under control, but it won’t be forever. Some cracks are already appearing as we saw with the issue of hijab in schools in Osun State and complaints that Yoruba Muslims are marginalised in Yorubaland. One way to reverse the trend is for religious leaders to undergo a diversity orientation. They should keep preaching the virtues of their religions to their congregations, but they should stop preaching hate and stoking a fire. The clerics are critical to promoting peace. There are enough verses in the Bible and the Qur’an that preach love and accommodation. The clerics should be encouraged to emphasise those verses above the ones that tend to paint people of other religions as sub-human.
What role have the media played, should play, and not play in Nigerian politics?
There are different tendencies in the media. I belong to the school that says the media should be politically neutral and should hold public officers accountable. But when you look at the great nationalists and founding fathers of Nigeria, they were also journalists. They used the media to fight colonialism and also to promote their political agenda. Historically, therefore, politics and the media have been like twins in Nigeria. Globally, you have media outfits with political sympathies. Some lean towards the left, some towards the right. It is difficult to separate. But I will vote for a situation where a majority of the media outfits are centrist. I want to read a newspaper believing that the facts being presented are not being manipulated to promote partisan agenda. You cannot be totally neutral at all times, but you can be fair to all at all times.
There are concerns in some quarters that the rising level of political consciousness among the youth is a keg of gunpowder if the outcome of the 2023 presidential election does not meet their expectations. Is this also a concern for you?
This question jolts me a bit, I must confess. The #EndSARS uprising easily comes to mind. As we saw in October 2020, it takes just a little spark for the city to catch fire. I am seeing a lot of desperation among some of the youth, who are campaigning for their preferred candidates. Some are so optimistic about winning that they are not ready to accept any other result. They may say it was rigged and may spill into the streets and start mayhem. I am worried but I guess the security agencies will be looking at the possible scenarios already. Most importantly, the elections must be seen to be free and fair. I agree that not all politicians will accept that they lost an election, no matter how transparent the process was. They will always say they were rigged out. I hope reason prevails but my sense is that we will survive the elections.
You have repeatedly complained about Nigeria’s leadership challenges. Is there a way out?
The first way out is for us to accept that our leaders will always be flawed. We are not going to have angels as presidents, governors, or lawmakers. With this at the back of our minds, we should prepare to engage constructively with those in authority so that we can hold them accountable without any sentiments. We must scrutinise them, ask questions, suggest solutions and be ready to partake in nation-building. I believe this kind of attitude and engagement will be very useful in putting the leaders on their toes to deliver the goods. People talk about educational qualifications and pedigrees as critical to good leadership; I don’t think we can argue against that. But having the best résumé will not automatically translate to good governance. Vote for qualified people but also police them with sentiments. If Nigeria becomes great, we will all enjoy it. It is in the interest of everybody. When our leaders know that we are united in the demand for good governance, I think they will be in a tight corner. A lot of that is happening already, but it is not significant enough yet.
The increasing use of social media in Nigeria has brought with it positive and negative impacts. Do you think social media will be a force in the 2023 elections?
Social media will continue to play an important role. Politicians will communicate with us through social media. Supporters will campaign for their candidates using social media. People will also use social media to spread fake news and incitement. We should expect the good, the bad and the ugly. But I think social media is overrated when it comes to voting. In my experience, the majority of voters are not active on social media.
In your article, ‘The Menace of Misinformation and Defamation’, you lamented how an article critical of the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Mr Peter Obi, was credited to you. How much of a problem will fake news be in electioneering and the forthcoming elections?
It is already a big problem. Quotes are manufactured and attributed to people endorsing or castigating one candidate or the other. Things that never happened are being created to paint candidates in a bad light. Videos are being doctored. People now do mischief with commentary on videos. The videos themselves may not say much but the person running the commentary will tell a series of lies to whip up sentiments. Old videos and photos will be repackaged to paint a picture of electoral malpractices. Some videos and pictures I saw in 2015 were repeated in 2019 and are already being circulated again ahead of 2023. I think fake results will also be circulated. We need to brace for it.
How can Nigerians shield themselves against this menace?
There are credible media outfits to trust and follow on social media. Some do fact checks regularly. Anybody who is sincerely interested in knowing the truth should not just swallow everything being circulated on WhatsApp or Twitter. It behoves people to seek confirmation from credible places. But when something plays into our emotions and biases, the last thing we want to do is verify. That is why we easily fall for these things. We don’t even ask questions. We just re-share instantly.
How will you describe the Nigerian business environment as a publisher?
It is tough, no questions about that. Costs are growing but revenues are not growing at the same pace. The advantage we have as an online newspaper is that we do not incur costs associated with printing a newspaper. But we run on diesel and we also have to pay meaningful wages under this harsh economic climate. Thankfully, we are creative with revenue generation, so we are not doing badly.
What are some of the challenges linked to the Nigerian brand of politics, corruption, the pressure to compromise and threats to your life that you have had to deal with since you founded TheCable eight years ago?
The blackmail! TheCable does not belong to any political, ethnic or religious persuasion. Ordinarily, this should be good news. But there have been all kinds of threats and blackmail because we are doing our job as professionally as we can. We fact-check politicians who make incorrect claims, but those whose principals are not favoured take to Twitter to try and intimidate us. During the #EndSARS uprising, some rioters threatened to burn down our office because they said we were supporting the government. My team was scared. I had to encourage them (employees) to keep doing their job and play safe. This is what I call mob censorship. The mob wants to dictate to us journalists what we should write and what we should not write. If care is not taken, journalists will soon throw away professionalism and start to follow the mob just to protect themselves. Some are already being led by the mob. For us at TheCable, we remain unshaken. We will continue to do our job with all our might and every sense of responsibility. If we make mistakes, we will correct ourselves. But we will never devalue professionalism because of threats and blackmail.
