It was Winston Churchill, twice the United Kingdom Prime Minister from 1940-1945 who made this statement about democracy on the floor of the British House of Commons November 11th, 1947.
“Many forms of Government have been tried in this world of sin and woe. No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise. Democracy is the worst form of government.’’ Churchill was right when he said democracy is not perfect. Nothing is perfect in an imperfect world. Not even democracy that’s always made to sound like a machinery of perfection even in its embodied imperfection.
Nigerians are still cooling off from the heat of our recent exercise of democracy. While many have moved on, some are still in the trenches of fighting the fight that was fought at the polls on February 25. But on election day; Bola Tinubu of the All Progressives Congress was elected President by almost nine million people. Tinubu’s election is facing myriad legal challenges at the Nigeria’s Election Tribunal. And the fiercest and most acrimonious battle against INEC’s declaration of Tinubu’s as President-elect is not waged by Atiku Abubakar, the man who came second, but by rabid supporters of Peter Obi who came far-off third.
Last week, Nobel Laureate, Wole Soyinka, called out supporters of Obi and branded them as fascists. Immediately and typical of Obi’s supporters, the hounding horde descended on the octogenarian with raking logorrheic inferno. Soyinka was dragged into scummy disrespect that he had to make another video to explain himself to people who have no scintilla of respect for dissenting voices. Prof did not know that the ‘obidient’ crowd is a mixed multitude. A small portion of them sincerely desire a Nigeria that works. My younger sister is one of them. On the other hand, are the ethnocentric fatally fascist that Soyinka alluded to. Nothing in the Nigerian arrangement will satisfy them. Their zest is to dominate and subjugate others. They want to remain the only voice heard in any assembly. They want a military coup. They want war. They want the antithesis of what Nigeria needs to move forward. Grim garrulity. Foul-mouthiness. Loose lips. Uncouth verbosity. These are their stock-in-trade and shibboleth. By their fruits the world knows them.
The brawlers desecrate old-age and often grind in the gutters of ethnic charades while they brand you a bigot and pummel their prey to submission and possible extinction. When I read their vitriols branding Soyinka a bigot; history came to mind. Soyinka was a lone voice in the wilderness of war when he took side with Biafra in the unfortunate Civil War of 1967. For that reason, he was held in detention by the Nigerian government for two years. He lost time and blew opportunities just because he fought for the fellas whose children are now fighting him. All because of an election in which he did not even have a candidate. And the older ones, where are they? Will they caution their offspring? No. everybody is probably acting a script generally assented to. In the aftermath, Soyinka made a video trying to explain himself. His explanation was like extolling a pop group to a deaf man. It fell on deaf ears. I was disappointed because the video made the noisemakers feel they had won. All they want to hear is that Obi is god without whom Nigeria will not be a nation.
Did Nigeria beat a disaster on February 25? Many people, including those who voted for Obi, are beginning to think so. Imagine if Obi had won that election and sworn in as president, where would freedom of expression and association be in this democracy and with these co-travellers? I feel sorry for Obi. He’s created the hornets that very soon may sting him silly. Some of these elements are already claiming that Obi does not own them. “WE own Obi,” I read all over social media. I heard the same singsong of ‘ownership’ too during the election. “We own Nigeria. We own Lagos.” We know what happened afterward.
These ‘obidients’ bunch definitely live in a terrestrial space of phantasm. Whether they are lettered or not, reality is falsity to them and vice-versa. They are not politically and electorally constructed to help their man win the Nigerian presidency. Isolationism, self-righteousness, and feeling of supremacy will not win Nigeria’s presidential election. Noise and nauseating attitudes will not take any man to Aso Rock. ‘Obidients’ strive to shut down voices that don’t acknowledge Obi as god who came to die for the many iniquities of Nigeria since 1914 amalgamation. And I knew that the undoing of Obi was in the vain men standing behind him and shouting down others. These are men who turned off possible voters away from Obi in the South-West and in greater part of northern Nigeria. They de-marketed the former Anambra governor who was held in some modest esteem among some Nigerians. I assure you that on this article you will later read comments that this writer is Jubril from Niger, or a jobless man looking for work in Tinubu’s administration, or a writing insignia of cumshaw who has taken of billions of naira from a political party to write what I write here. That’s how they roll. Rather than discuss, they disgust.
Democracy is a carrier of a society’s double-edged sword. The weapon of its modus operandus is always two-pronged. When the sunny side of democracy shines on you; you are bathed with the effusiveness of joy and more joy in the big bubble of victory. The gloomy side of democracy is awkward. And more often than not, it stares you in the face with its beastly bugaboo attribute. This happens when you are sliced a big pie of defeat. While victory is a delicious deal, defeat is a distasteful feel. Its lane is too rough to tread. Its ambient is replete with agony. Its pangs are made of fibers of petrifying pain. If nobody forewarns you; I will. The day you step into the vast resort of democracy, be assured that it’s going to deal with you in either a delicious or distasteful fashion.
When democracy deals with you, don’t burn down the house. Don’t burn down its builders. Democracy your feisty foe today may become a fine friend tomorrow.
Sit back and figure out why you lost.
Assess what you didn’t do right and make adjustments. You don’t need a horde of pastors you must call ‘daddy,’ or partition across religious lines to win an election. You cannot rule over a nation you strive to divide. Make friends among all people, not enemies. Build strong networks across the space and erect tents of friendships with people you want to reign over. The president-elect will not die before his time. There will be no interregnum or an interim government. On May 29, the man democracy has smiled at will be sworn in. I know this is too hard a pill to swallow for ‘obidients.’ But that’s how democracy works. When democracy deals with you; deal with it, and move on.
Twitter: @FolaOjotweet
