How do we, the bourgeois, participate in Nigerian democracy?

agbalumo
agbalumo
Jul 25, 2017 · 6 min read

From my research so far, there 2 easy ways to participate in Nigeria’s democracy. Before I continue there is something you need to understand and get it deep into your mind. Nigeria is officially a democracy but in practice, feudal. I’ll explain below, please pay attention.

There is a series of divides in Nigeria; simply put, like most African countries, we have never actually been able to successfully reconcile traditional feudal institutions with modern democracy.

You see, in precolonial times, most tribal communities within the area we today call Nigeria. Feudalism works like this (from a Yoruba perspective); you have a geographical space (let’s say Ojodu) owned by an extended family (let’s call them a clan) who has previously conquered and assimilated the aboriginal population of that area headed by someone called a “Baale” who serves as the Head of the Family.

So within that geographical space, you have several other clans and what used to happen was that the most influential of these clans would come together and consolidate their resources and the Heads of each of these clans would come together and elect a King (the Olojodu of Ojodu). This was not always the case in all communities but quite similar. The King in turn taxes every family (or clan) living on “his” land(s). This was how traditional institutions raised revenues for State functions like rituals, festivals, etc.

Now fast forward to the late 1800s, the British enter the picture, they use armed force to conquer all relevant tribal communities using freed slaves (most of them Hausa, hint at why the North is more powerful than the south today ;-)) and then realizing how influential and well organized our traditional institutions are, decide on the method of Indirect Rule.

Indirect Rule is weird because it means we got to keep certain aspects of our culture and discard those which did not fall in line with the mercantile interests of the British, for example they replace the lingua franca with English because it’s easier to pass instructions that way. This is the origin of that divide I mentioned earlier. This also means that only the ruling class are fully aware of who’s in charge, the rest of the populace are not informed of these changes which causes even more confusion.

The result is what you have today; the omo-onile (land grabbers) and agbero phenomenon for example (omo-oniles and agberos are the remnants of these traditional institutions, descendants of the feudal lords mentioned earlier), so you see, in practice, although Nigeria is indeed a democracy at Federal and sometimes at State level, at local level, much of the country is still feudal. What we doing today is running 2 parallel systems, the first feudal traditional structures and the other one a fully democratic structure introduced by the British. Both systems have opposing ideology, the former believes in the divine right of Kings and the latter government for the people, by the people. Get it?

So far, we have learned that the British never actually completely disarmed traditional institutions as such they have remained quite relevant to our politics since Independence. This is why the Oba of Lagos has a lot of say in who gets to be a governorship candidate in Lagos state. So from this, we can deduce that the current system has too many anomalies. For example, on paper, the Local Government chairman is allocated millions in road contracts, he in turn awards these Obas and local Chiefs contracts to fix roads through dummy shell companies. The idea is, traditionally, paved streets have never been a norm so it makes no sense to the Olojodu of Ojodu that the road in front of his “palace” requires paving to assist development; Kings do not answer to the people.

So very much like his ancestors, he just shares the money with his boys (usually a crop of omo-oniles and agberos) and pockets the rest. I’m not saying our traditional institutions are our enemies, am saying they help perpetuate a lot of the crime with impunity that goes on today in Nigeria. A lot of these Kings and Chiefs have small armies (mostly agberos and omo-oniles) which they use during elections to bully and intimidate voters for example. Another example is how they resist the fixing of roads unless they are paid for it. Also don’t forget that some of these traditional institutions run the illegal drug trade in Nigeria. Don’t be surprised if the Kingpin of crime in your local government happens to be the Oba.

With our understanding of this background, the easiest way to participate and actually effect change is to vote. The finale of the recently concluded Big Brother Nigeria show really got me thinking; 11 million votes could easily translate to 5 million votes in the next general elections, but we actually have to get up, brush our teeth, leave the house, and queue under the sun for hours to actually make a choice.

The corrupt ones amongst us know that the Nigerian bourgeois only practice democracy on social media. They know the best you can do right now is write article like the one am writing right now (lool), they know you won’t actually leave your house in 2019 to go vote, they also know Nigerians in the diaspora won’t come home to vote so they focus much of their campaign on the traditional institutions because they are the ones who go out to vote (which is a big shame by the way). The Yoruba market women who grinds your pepper, the suya dealer at the junction of your street, your local mechanic and vulcanizer, the agberos and commercial drivers, these are the guys who make up the highest number of voters! Not you, not me!

The problem with this is that the people mentioned represent Nigeria’s third estate, and we know that they do not recognize democracy as an ideal, they answer more to traditional institutions (which like we said earlier are not democratic) than to the Federal or State government. So they do not actually know the difference between a good candidate and a corrupt candidate. Most of them don’t use social media, neither do they even speak English enough to read a party manifesto, what they know is Senator A bought me a new okada so am voting for him, isn’t Nigerian democracy amazing?!

Why is your vote important?

Well because your vote could be the one vote that edges out a corrupt competitor making way for the Awolowos of our time. Also you don’t vote or pay taxes, in a democratic setting, you do not have a right to complain. It is not enough to sit in your house in Atlanta and write defaming articles about Nigeria and call it activism, what actually matters is your vote! Refuse to be intimidated and vote!!!

The second way to participate actively in Nigerian democracy is to register as a member of a political party and attend ward meetings. Identify a political party you know has good intentions and lesser corrupt elements, register with them and attend ward meetings. KOWA Party for example has a registration fee of just N1000, some of us spend much more than that in a day!

What is a ward meeting?

A ward meeting is a local gathering of members of a political party within a geographical area. These meetings are where the real decisions are made. It is where delegates are chosen.

Who is a delegate?

A delegate is a member of a party who gets to vote for a candidate at primary level. Delegates are the ones who decided whether or not Ambode would represent the APC during the governorship election so it’s a pretty big deal to be a delegate.

How do you become a delegate?

I’m not sure but I imagine if you attended ward meetings regularly, participated actively, donate money also, your chances of becoming a delegate really go up.

Why is it important to attend a ward meeting?

Because it is where all the important decisions are made! Guess who attends wards meetings? yup you guessed right, the third estate ! What if we the bourgeois actually attended these meetings? What if we made our impacts felt at local level such that at State level, things begin to shift in the direction we prefer? What if you woke up one morning to well paved streets with street light ? From my experience, ward meetings are rough, as in really scary type of rough, people threatening each other’s lives and keeping their word kinda rough but it’s not impossible, the more we are, the better our chances of actually doing something about the mess Nigeria is in today.

And guess who told me about ward meetings? My grandma, a retired teacher is her late 70s actually told me about ward meetings and she’s not on Facebook or Instagram lool but she attends ward meetings meaning she has more mouth than I do.

agbalumo

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agbalumo

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