On the Cult of Personality and Its Consequences —2016 version
Ladies and Gentlemen, I am worried.
I am not worried about the recession.
I am not even worried about Buhari’s said Nepotism and stubborness.
I am not worried about our government’s underperformance. This isn’t new.
I am worried about Buhari’s cult of personality and it’s effect on our already fragile democracy.
Before I go any further, let me make a confession:
Prior to the elections, I listed Buhari’s cult of personality as a plus. Let me explain…
I felt that his cult of personality would be very important in helping people in the part of the country where that cult of personality was most powerful in the following ways:
a. It would help them feel included and make it easier to gain their involvement in Nation-building.
b. It would make them take steps to break cultural fetters and take actions towards goals like improving girl-child education, abolishing child marriage e.t.c.
Wow, was I wrong…………… but that is an issue for another day
Since President Buhari came into power, I have realized that my calculation omitted some important issues. Reading about Mao, Hitler and Stalin has also shown me the other side of a cult of personality. I will try to list out my worries about this and why I think it is a great danger to our democracy if left unchecked.
Firstly, such huge cults of personality allow leaders to break the rule of law without being questioned. One thing Buhari has consistently held is that the rule of law is a handicap to him, his more educated supporters have also gleefully gone to town stating that the constitution needs to be suspended to allow him govern efficiently. The danger, incompetence and stupidity this kind of mentality shows is quite deep. People who would normally defend against breaches of the rule of law are making excuses for suspension of rights and selective accountability. Here is my response to them, if it was wrong for <insert the president you hate the most> to do X, it is wrong for Buhari to do X, no matter his intentions. Buhari is as human as the rest of us.
Examples abound of rulers who were allowed to circumvent the rule of law, either because they were considered to be men with the right intentions or that the situation required it, who have led their countries to very poor situations: Take for instance Stalin during the great purge. We can all agree that the more he was “allowed” to break the rule of law, the more people in Russia suffered. Stalin and Mao’s “well intentioned” excesses led to deaths by famine, mob killings, repressive acts etc.
A second problem with the existence of such cults of personality is the deformation of the feedback loop that makes governance/ policy work for the people. Currently, many Buhari supporters go out of their way to shout down, scorn or even act violently towards anyone who criticizes the actions of this government.
A funny example of this is the following conversation between two “APC” people I saw close to a year ago:
APC Supporter 1: We have not had light for 3 days.
APC Supporter 2: Bros, how could you say this, I used to respect you
The young man felt that that his elder friend’s complaint was an act of joining the “wailers”. This may seem trivial, but anyone with an imagination can see how dangerous such a worldview would be if many people held it.
For a good example of how dangerous such behaviour can be if it becomes widespread, one needs only to look at the actions of Mao’s supporters during the “great leap forward”. During the great leap forward, local supervisors felt it necessary to report higher yields and cover up any reports of the failure of the policy. People who raised their voice to point out failures were ostracized, beaten up or worse. This destruction of the feedback loop which policy needs to be successful (by a combination of wilful lies and acts by followers to drown out the voice of dissent) led to millions of deaths in the famines that were to follow.
Lying to make leaders feel good or to show your undying support of a “great leader” can be extremely costly, not just in monetary terms but in human lives. Please see below a graph showing the birth and death rates in China over the past century. I want you to note the part where the death rate surpasses the birth rate; lying to make leaders look and/or feel good was one of many factors behind this, such behaviours are more common and extreme when strong cults of personality exist.
Policy requires constant input at the formation and evaluation stages. Policy X may seem smart till it starts to affect the SME people, farmers e.t.c. who weren’t considered when it was being drawn up. Their feedback may be helpful in improving or discontinuing such a policy. However, if anyone who airs a voice of dissent is seen as an enemy of the nation or an enemy of the “great man” and shouted down, such feedback may be missed while the country slides quietly into avoidable dangers.
A third problem with a cult of personality is the fact that it is difficult to worship a being and hold them accountable at the same time. Democracy’s greatest strength is the power of the citizens to check power if all else (institutions and rules) fail. This period is a nadir of sorts for citizens’ power in our democracy, Journalists are being silenced, arrested or bought and everyone is acting like it is normal. The “acting normal” is the bad part.
The usual “we no go gree” that we saw when the Obasanjo’s and Jonathan’s of this world tried such things is nowhere to be found. The killings in the middle-belt do not concern many because it doesn’t fit into the picture they have of the man they revere. The death of Shiites has not seen the proper demands for accountability because the act was carried out by disciples of Buhari most infallible, most divine (At this point, I must change my clothes and have a bath because I have used this most unimpeachable name).
The problem with waiving accountability because our man is cleaning up the country can be shown through many examples in history: From how people in Mao’s government (especially the Gang of Four) misused power on Mao’s behalf, we see that waiving accountability for the great leader only allows folks in his government’s more latitude to do what they want with the power. Even if you trust Buhari, do you trust ALL his lieutnants?
There are a few positive bits about the cult of personality though: e.g. Nigerians would have probably tried to revolt against any other leader in a situation half as bad as this, but the hope in Buhari and the realization that he was a choice they made, has helped them cope better so far. It remains to be seen if this extra patience will be put to good use
I will try to touch on more issues related to this later, but I think this, is a greater danger than any of Buhari’s personal tendencies or any other near-term issues we may have with the economy.
