PRESIDENTIAL SUCESSION IN POST-COLONIAL NIGERIA: 62 YEARS INTO NATIONHOOD, SEARCH FOR A JUST, PEACEFUL, DEMOCRATIC, SUSTAINABLE TRANSITION CONTINUES

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Creekvibes Stamp of Excellence Awards Holds today August 27th, and also launches the all glossy magazine.

ACHEOAH OFEH AUGUSTINE (a Political Scientist, Full Fellow of NIIA and a
UN Scholar, Associate Editor with CreekVibes Magazine) 07032948290, Email: acheoahaugustine6@dan

When leaders fail, nation pays says a political philosopher. This article is an introductory edition of a segment on national politics in CreekVibes Multimedia as part of the quest for a virile, just, equitable and united Nigeria.

The work is borne out of patriotic sense for my country as a contributory input to the broader discourse on the Wayforeward towards a stable, peaceful, democratic Nigeria. I drew  legal strength from the Universal Declaration of Human Right (1948) under Article 19 which provides for everyone, the right to opinion and expression including right to hold , seek, receive  and impart information and ideas through any media and regardless of frontiers”  and from arbitrary arrest Article 10. Section 39 of the 1999 Constitution of Nigeria which re-enacts the freedom of expression, to hold opinion, receives and imparts ideas and information without interference. No part of this article should be misconstrued out of its solution-oriented context for national peace, unity and sustainable development of our nation Nigeria.

The question of how best and who is best to govern a political society (the state) had caught the philosophical and intellectual tractions of philosophers and thinkers for centuries and had remained dominant them of intellectual traditions for millennia as evident in the classic works of Plato, Aristotle, John Locke, and J.J. Rousseau to mention but a few.  Before Aristotle, Plato’s  ‘Republic’ was a treatise on social political reforms  and a philosophical masterpiece on justice , exploring how justice can be realized within, between individuals and the state through socio-political institutions.  On who is best to govern, Plato’s thesis was ‘The Philosopher King’ which to him was the lynchpin for the realization of his Ideal state. An ideal ruler is ‘not one that only perceives the minds of his subjects but also transforms them.  Why Philosopher King?, Plato postulates:

“……Until philosophers becomes kings in the world or till that we now call Kings and rulers really and truly becomes Philosophers, and political power and philosophy thus come into the same hand…There is no other road to real happiness, either for society or the individual” (Plato 423-347)

The question first is who is a philosopher and why should a Philosopher be the best to govern? A philosopher is one who has keen passion for knowledge on the best ways to organize a society, the best way our world should be ordered and human race can ideally become. Platonic ideal state is one built on good wisdom, courage, temperament, self-control and justice. Aristotle gave the state (Polis) and political society central themes in his Political Philosophy that: the epitome of human association (Union) and the pinnacle of social evolution; that all human and individual fulfillments are realizable through the leverages, structures and institutions provided by the state. Anyone that does not feel the need of the state was either an angel or a beats; that the state is at the forefront in all efforts towards realizing the full goals of humanity; the instrument of human perfection as political animals; that all associations are in parts of the political associations. Distributive justice for Aristotle demand that offices and wealth, rewards and dues be distributed among different social classes based on merit underpinned on constitutionality; proportionate equality underpinned on the theory of just rewards. The philosophical legacies of these great thinkers bestride on contemporary state system, politics and governance like colossus. What agitated their minds still confront contemporary political societies: order, Justice, peace, good governance

Succession crises are not contemporary political phenomena; they are part of the histories of monarchical dynasties where dynastic legitimacy on the rightful heir to the throne plunged kingdoms into Wars.  The crises of absolute monarchism gave force to the thesis of Republicanism. Rome had nasty times when it struggle towards Republicanism.  In Britain, the Magna Carta was signed in 1215, a collection of 37 statutes in Runnymede South England. England is The Birth of Parliamentarianism in Westminster the first step to transfer power from the king to the person climaxed with the signing of the Bill of Right in 1689 which sets out Civil rights and the rightful heir to the monarchy. 

The Crises of transitional politics or what I choose to term Politics of Presidential Succession is not peculiar to Nigeria, they are symptomatic of the underdeveloped political culture of some regions in the world including Africa. Post-colonial Africa had seen the assassination of over 42 Heads of States and Governments including: Patrice Lumumba of Congo (17 January 1961), Tarfawa Balewa (January 15 1966), GTU Ironsi (July 29 1966), Murtala Muhammed (February 13, 1976), Thomas Sankara of Burkina-Faso (15 October 1987),  Pierre Ngendadumwe (15 January 1965), Joseph Bamina (15 December 1965), Melchior Ndadaye (21 October 1993), Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda (6 April 1994), Samuel Doe of Liberia (9 September 1990), Silvanus Olympio of Togo (13 January 1963) to mention a few. Last year, Haitian President Jovenel Moise was assassinated on 7 July 2021.

 In some cases,  Presidential assassinations dragged these  nations into needless civil war such as Nigeria (1967-1970), and Rwanda in 1994 that followed the coups and counter coups of January 15 and July 29 1966 in Nigerian ( the assassination of political leaders) and the April 6 1994 assassination of President Juvenal Habyarimana of Rwanda (an ethnic Hutu). This political desperation has hounded the political development of the region, relegated Africa to the periphery of international community remembered only for refugees, famine, poverty, heavily indebted trajectories. This Machiavellian thirst for power has led to the tragic assassination of a childhood friend and strong ally: Thomas Sankara by Blaise Campaore. On the 29 of September 1979, a fratricidal execution was carried out against a blood uncle: Francisco Macias Nguema by his nephew Teodoro Mbasogo Nguema who had been in power for 43 years, one of the longest serving heads of states and governments in the world joining the ranks of Paul Biya many for whom the disbanded Organization of African Unity was at the twilight of its regional diplomacy dubbed: the Dictators’ Club’.

The political history of Nigeria has shown that, the question of where the next President of Nigeria should hail from among the three major ethnic nationalities which translates geopolitically into North versus Southern parts of the country has been a major source of political crises in the country. This ethno-regional struggle among the three major ethnic groups still regrettably remained a feature of mainstream succession politics 62 years after independence. This article seeks to discountenance the misperception of the Amalgamation of 11914 as the root of Nigeria’s crises. The position of the author is that: Amalgamation is not the cause, neither was it a mistake as Sir Ahmadu Bello remarked in misgiving: The Mistake of 1914 has come to light”  in riposte to the actions of Southern parliamentarians on the motion calling for Self-Government in 1956 by the Late Pa Anthony Enahoro (MP AG). The North had opposed early independence with a phrase: As soon as Practicable”.

The position of this paper on the Political development of Nigeria is that the Amalgamation of Northern and Southern Nigeria and the Colony of Lagos was indeed the greatest imperial legacy in British West Africa; that the very mistake is the inability to unite the pre-1914 people that were federalized into present Nigeria, a mistake that successive post-independence political leaders have not succeeded to correct rather we saw mismanagement of diversity particularly in the political milieu (Power-relations) and allocation of statutory values. The author concludes that, the triangular tribal struggle among the three major ethnic groups gave us no single hero among the Patriots of October 1st 1960; that a unity among the three ethnic groups rather than unity between two remained the lasting solution to all the political crises in the land. Once the three major ethnic groups come together to respect their rights of equal access to Presidency side by side with the rights of all the people from the other over 250 ethnic nationalities to ascension as envisaged under section 131 of the 1999 Constitution, the Crises of politics of Presidential succession will be addressed; that the socio-political cohesion needed to transform Nigeria can only come first through unity among the three major ethnic groups; attempt of one to dominate the politics of the country heightens fear among the others as well as fears of the minorities; the cost of political instabilities that had resulted from the politics of bitterness, hate and vendetta in the land are invaluable in material and human lives.

The major factor in the ethno-regional power struggle is that Nigeria by 1914 became an asymmetric plural political society in which Hausa, Igbo and Yoruba split demographic preeminence among them. How?

i.         None of the Empires entered a Union before 1914, they were running divergent systems of monarchy with traditional trading relations.;

ii.        None of the three ethnic group has 50% of Nigerian population as in the cases of Basotho in Lesotho with 99.7% (a near nation state); Hausa in Niger with over 50%; Hutu in Burundi 85%; Fang in Equatorial Guinea, 80.6% or the Swazi in Eswatini or Swaziland with 84%, in Burkina Faso the Mossi ethnic people took 51%  of the ethno-demographic composition or far away in Europe where the ethnic Russian mad up 80.9% of the population with a host of ethnic minorities: Tatar (3.9%), Chechen (1.0%). Nigerian is an asymmetric plural political society where like Angola where the Ovibundu takes 37%, the Ambundu 25%, the Bakongo 13% etc.

The fear of ethno-political domination of one or two against the other is at the bottom of the acrimonious power relations among them. So, the mistake is not amalgamation but the mismanagement of diversity in governance by the political, religious and traditional elites. Diversity is not a problem but the abuse of diversity for undue benefits over other fellow citizens. The Mistake is the failure of the political elites to see reasons to live together in Peace by forging all-inclusive power relations. So Nigeria continued to suffer. The Sectional and ethnic characters of the January 15 and July 29th 1966 Coups that dragged us into the needless Civil War is not intended to be analyzed in this paper but this old truth must be told. Corruption, banditry, invasion of community, military intervention in the politics, mindless looting in public service and the dearth of ethics and accountability are the symptoms of the politics of bitterness we inherited from our founding fathers many of whom became victim of the disunity.

It is fundamental to note that these inherent diversities are the attributes make Federalism most appropriate principle of state formation for Nigeria. How, prior to 1914:

i.         There was no inter-group unity or inter-ethnic harmony among the political entities that Nigeria was created out of that would have made a unitary system more viable (the cleavage is a federal quality itself, that’s where unity comes in);

ii.        To guarantee some degree of local autonomy;

iii.        To mitigate inter-group suspicion and minimize the struggle for power at the Center; (it was that fear and suspicion that prompted the Sir Henry Willink Minority Commission in 1957).

iv.        The Plurality of the Nigerian societies

From contemporary remarks on 2023 Presidential succession one can discern that Presidential politics is in part a factor in the secessionist agitations in some parts of the country 52 years after the civil war. Why? Was it that the wounds of the Civil War had not been healed?, What factors drive 21st Century Neo-Biafran Movement? . No Nigerian President had wished the country break under his watch. Before General Gowon in 1967-1970, General Ironsi had put out the secessionist declaration by Isaac Adaka Jasper Boro (an Oloibiri indigene) when he declared the Republic of Niger Delta Republic headquartered in Yenegoa on 23 February 1966 adjudged as the first armed rebellion against Federal Nigeria and the forerunner of environmental justice in Niger Delta, a struggle Ken Saro-Wiwa substituted with pen only got criminalized in the 21st century. General Gowon had these to say while countering secessionist move in the late 1960s. General Gowon’s argued that we have over 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria…that if each is to secede under the quest for self-determination, we will have over 250 nations from Nigeria. So we may wake up one day and take over the UN:

“…There are over 250 ethnic groups in Nigeria, and if each of these two hundred and fifty ethnic groups is to be granted right to self-determination, then we will have over 250 nations in Nigeria. Don’t you worry; we can go and take over the United Nations tomorrow”

In the fray, viable socio-cultural bodies like Ohaneze, Arewa Forum and Afenifere that are supposed to partner with UNESCO and the Ministry of Culture and Tourism in promoting the rich culture of people of these great tribes collectively through whom God gave Nigeria its identity that world ethno-demographers have revealed that 1 in 5 blacks across the world is a Nigerian, that Nigeria is the most populated Black nations in the world with one of the economic dividends of the Nigerian demographic preponderance “that Nigeria is the biggest market in Africa” who trades with Nigeria is trading with over 200 million people.

Who cares who scores the winning goal for Nigeria? All we need is a win, whether the goal will come from Ahmed Musa, Obafemi Martins or Mikel Obi, or Steven Keshi or Yekini Rashidi , Nigeria’s all-time highest goal scorer (of blessed memories). It is in the political milieu that the division is sharp and exploited demagogically by some of the political elites.

Nigeria needs a bridge builder, a unifier, an hegemony to give us cohesion across, freed off military regimentation. Even MK, was integrated into the South African Defense Forces Mandela was a bridge in South Africa torn by racial segregation under Apartheid regime.  President Jacob Zuma on 10 December 2013 at Mandela’s funeral in Qunu while eulogizing Mandela submits:

“We did not call Mandela father of our rainbow nation for political correctness and relevance. We do so because he laid a firm foundation for the South African of our dreams-one that is united, non-racial, non-sexist, democratic and prosperous…South Africa needed a leader like Madiba to help us through a difficult transition from apartheid to a free democratic society…One of its kind who never wanted to be viewed as a Messiah or a Saint”

One eulogy noted: “When they say to Mandela, you are resilient, he retorts, Walter Sisulu was resilient’ acknowledging all the veterans of the anti-Apartheid struggle. In Nigeria is when our leader die that we here eulogies from their lifetime political opponents. The Eulogy Ojukwu received at interment, if he got it while alive from same quarters, the perception about him while alive would have been different because he proved a Biafran and a Nigerian when circumstances changed nothing that: “If truly there was no victor and no Vanquish Nigerians should vote in an Igbo man as a President” . To me Odumegwu Ojukwu remained in memory of those who struggle for a place out of the fractures of ethnic political struggles that dragged his name into a page he never saw in 1957 when he joined the Nigerian army abandoning wealth for defense of his fatherland but like hos War time rival, General Gowon noted: “I was not trained to govern a nation but the circumstances of 1966 changed all that. Ojukwu did not join Nigerian army (N-29) to lead a break up regime.

What is the way out of impasse?

i.         do we run a bi-regional diarchy between north and southern Nigeria if that is what will give us the Peace and national cohesion towards an Ideal political society?;

ii.        do we run a tri-ethnic Triumvirate along the three major ethnic lines and allow other over 250 ethnic groups to be onlookers who only go and vote others into power while there hopes outlined under Section 131 that “A citizen, 40 years and above, belongs to a political party and is beign sponsored; or

iii.        Should we go the way South Africa went and decentralize the real Loci of Power’ (Presidency, the Parliament and the Supreme Court) in this manner: Amend the FCDA Act 1976 and bring National Assembly to Ibadan (the Capital of Old Western Region), take Supreme Court to Enugu (the Capital of Old Eastern Region), and let the Presidency remain in Abuja or relocate to Kaduna (the Capital of Old Northern region. This institutional decentralization will ensure that there are multiple centers of power among three arms of government. South Africa.

 No leader would want a nation break under his watch. Ironsi stopped Boro’s Republic of Niger Delta in 1966 before Republic of Biafra. Outside Nigeria, Patrice Lumumba strove to prevent the breakaway of Katanga and sought help from the East during the Cold War. General Ironsi was the last Force Commander of the UN Peace Keeping ONUC in 1964, the first UN Peace keeping enforcement in history of the UN, it paid off.

Abraham Lincoln was of the philosophy that his nation cannot suvive half slaves and half free. His abolitionist stance became a threat to the Southern States when he won the November 1860 election. During the war, he made effort to maintain the Union and narrowed             party differences with the Democrats forming alliance with Andrew Johnson. A National Union Party was formed by alliance between the Republicans and faction of the War Democrats (Members of Democratic Party who backed the Union and Lincoln as against Fire –Eaters and the Copperhead) against the Democratic nominee George B. McClellan.  M. Gorbachev tried to carry out reforms at the twilight of the Soviet Federation: Perestroika (restructuring), Glasnost (openness) and Demokratizatsiia (democratization)

While some are of the view that the Igbos are being isolated from emerging as President of Nigeria for the events of 1966-1970, there are also fears that secessionist agenda has not been forgotten by the people of South East Nigeria which the activities of MASSOB and IPOB validate as Neo-Biafran Movements.

•          The WE and THEM duality between northern and Southern Nigeria

•          Breakdown in food chain across the regions of the country Palm oil in the East, a whole list of food items in the north: Cow beef, fish, onion, spices, garri and other seafood in the West (Lagos);

•          Elections become ethnic census, demagoguery and opposition politics without decorum (Incumbent Presidents are not given their credit in the areas  they did well;

•          Hyphenated Presidencies: northern-presidency, southern-presidency, Hausa-Fulani Presidency, Igbo-Presidency, Yoruba Presidency (sending second class citizens’ consciousness to the over 250 minorities;

•          Enduring secessionist threats among the three major ethnic groups to secede from federal Nigeria as a loss of confidence in the Nigerian state;

•          Massive military spending in peace time ahead of agencies providing basic amenities (Health, education see ) due to widespread self-inflicted insecurity

•          The international cultural, economic and diplomatic standing of the nation will be smothered into pariah entity;

•          The militarization of the Nigerian state;

•          The rising debt profile of the nation due to leakages and wastages amid fiscal indiscipline amid impending fiscal cliff with a-N1.89 trillion decline in revenue (according to Fiscal report from the Ministry of Finance on 2023-2025 Medium Term Expenditure ); over N3 trillion fiscal deficit in three months; 78% of government spending going into debt payment and personnel cost.

•          Post-War instabilities that kept defense spending higher than budegets for agriculture, education and health sectors;

•          Military incursion into politics of the nation with the excuse of installing ‘Corrective regimes”  and save Nigeria from disintegrating, …that the military may not have uphold their constitutional mandate by folding their arms and watching the country sliding into disintegration;

•          The widening north-south political cleavage;

•          The politicization of national security and the unpatriotic use of violence in pushing power shift.

The presence of the three major tribes had given Nigeria its pride of place in the international stage since 7 October when Jaja Wachukwu hoist Nigerian flag as the 99th member nation.  Today, a Nigerian citizen from the Igbo extraction is the first African and a woman to head the World Trade Organization. Another Nigerian Lawyer the former President of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Chile Ebue-Osuji. These feats are not new in our history of excellence at the international stage. Before Chile Ebue-Osuji in ICC, Teslim Olawole Elias also became the first African to head the International Court of Justice, one of the authors of the defunct OAU’s Charter. These Nigerians towered at the global stage by merit.

In the diplomatic arena, Nigeria paraded some of the finest diplomats in the history of the UN. Maitama Sule (Danmasanin Kano), Chaired the UN Special Committee Against Apartheid which Mariam Makeba testified against the regime in her Fatherland while she was banished She lost her citizenship in the struggle and became honorary Citizen of Guinea during the regime of Lansana Conte. Names like Joseph Nanveh Garba, Ambassador Alalba Ogunsawon, Ambassador Tijami Bande and Joy Ogwu are some of the Nigerian sons and daughters that did Nigeria  proud at the foreign stage. Wole Soyinka stood out and Chimamanda Adiche and many others are showing the world that Nigeria has no short of manpower but political integration and national unity.

 In the military, the former Nigerian military head of state: General J.T.U Ironsi served as the last Commander of the UN Force in Congo ONUC when internal power strife among the Congolese elites: Patrice Emile Lumumba, Moise Tshombe, Joseph Kasavubu led to a Civil War there. Ironsi was a Major-General in Congo  while a Brigadier General in Nigeria and emerged Balewa’s favorite when the Nigerianization of the Officer corp took place in 1965, he succeeded General Welby-Emerald as the first indigenous G.O.C Nigerian Army among the trio: Brigadiers Ironsi,  Adesoji Ademulegun and Zakariah Maimalari two of whom Nigerian lost to the January 15 1966 misadventure. Maimalari was the First Regular Combatant Commissioned Officers and one of the first set of Sandhurst trained while others rose through Order ranks. That Coup killed the espirit d’ corp. within the military and created two militaries within the military institution: the ones in statehouse (military politicians) and the ones in barracks guiding their colleagues in power, national security was narrowed to regime protection with incessant coups until 1999.

Nigeria saw for the first time a winning coalition of Political Parties that drew Politicians widely from Nigeria in 2013, there was a sigh of a beacon of hope and again when the President in his inaugural address declared he belonged to everybody and to nobody. Nigeria needs a cohering figure that bestride on the entire nation. Why has past and present leaders failed to unite Nigeria as one? Are there forces undermining their efforts? What the elites have failed to change is disunity.  Nigeria needs a unifier and not a divider, a bridge builder and not a polarizer. Nigeria need upright men with genuine patriotism not power grabbers. Politically above all, Nigeria needs Political unity among the three major ethnic groups not unity between two, unity among the three (Hausa-Fulani, Yoruba and Ibo). Not unity in rhetoric, but unity in truth and indeed. When that happened, all the ethnic nationalities will align with them. That was the very political mistake of colonial and our independent leaders not Amalgamation of 1914 as noted by Sir Ahmadu Bello. The Political, traditional and religious leaders from these three great tribes must tell themselves the Old Political truth: That the inter-ethnic power struggle among them is the biggest threat to our political existence and that has created a root cause of all the major crises in the country since 1960.

The bitter fact must be told to the indigenes of our great ethnic majorities that: The political unity of Nigeria must be sought first from among the Elites of the three major ethnic groups. They must respect their rights to equal access to Presidential succession side by side with the rights of over 250 ethnic minorities in the country. Nigeria’s biggest problem stems from the political disunity among its three major ethnic groups. If Nigerian Federation fails, history will blame them and if it works the three take the political credit for managing diversity inclusively with fairness and justice for all. The solution is in our hands. If we stand up for Nigeria faithfully in unity then all our national challenges will be reduced. We need peace in the land. Without Unity, there cannot be peace and without Peace and Unity no Nigeria leader can change the country for the better.

Collectively they have the highest number of states, Local Government, House of Representatives and Senatorial Seats. They decide where power goes and who becomes what in the polity of Nigeria because of their natural ethno-demographic predominance. It is time to galvanize their diversity for national development, first by forging lasting unity among them. Hegemony is not earned by force but ideas, they have some of the best minds in all filed of enquiry. They are the most visible image of our national identity but unhealthy and acrimonious power relations, a throwback of the NPC, NCNC and AG power struggle. They have the biggest political responsibility in the quest for a workable, virile and just federal Nigeria. Attempt by one or two of the three to monopolize power can drive the inter-ethnic political mistrust. They must convince all Nigerians regardless of their ethnic extractions that a Nigerian President can emerge from anywhere in the country so long as the citizen fulfils the constitutional requirements outlined under Section 131 of the 1999 Constitution. 

To say Igbo Presidency will end secessionist agitation in the East only lend force to my worry that in the course of the triangular tribal ethnic power struggle among the three major ethnic groups secessionist appeal had remained an ill approach. If all the over 250 ethnic groups took to secessionist agitations then in the word of General Gowon we will have 250 nations in Nigeria. Let’s learn how to live together as a people through the right legal instrument whereby political equality is the touchstone. The political, traditional and religious elites from the three major ethnic groups must converge for Nigerian Unity, if they must change the trajectory for better. How many deaths will it take till we know that we have lost many innocent Nigerians to the politics of bitterness in the land? Is it a crime to come and live together? Who cares who score a winning goal for Nigeria but the goal?

Those aspiring to succeed President Mohammadu Buhari should investigate why past leaders predecessors failed to unite the Nigerian people in spite of their efforts. Every solution begins with the question why? We need to ask why, where did we got it wrong? What Nigeria needs most today as ever had remained a true national unity, first among the three major ethnic groups and when that ethno-political cohesion is achieved, all other minorities will follow suit with the new hopes, peace and prospects the new era will usher. Nigeria has remained a crawling giant because there is no true unity among its three majority ethnic groups who collectively should have led the nation and its people to the promised land, as Sonny Okosun lyrically captured it in one of his pro-Nigeria solidarity melodies:

“Many years after independence we still find it hard to start, how long we shall be patient still we reach the promised land.

I conclude by saying, no matter who becomes the President of the country, until there is true patriotic unity among the three major ethnic groups (Hausa, Yoruba and Igbo), the Ideal virile, just, peaceful and prosperous Nigeria we aspire can never be attained. Those who think Buhari failed or he doesn’t mean well for the nation should read Okonjo Iweala’s Reforming the Un-reformable” …how vested interests clogged political feasibility and spoil sincere attempt to transform the society. We need change not the Sloganeering typology of hypocrite elites, a change that will unveil a new mindset about our citizenship, nationhood and leadership. A change in which the three major ethnic groups will begin to respect their equal rights to presidential ascension and the hopes of the over 250 ethnic minorities that when a Nigerian citizen from among them so merits it, they will vote him. Political socialization is central to this re-engineering. The way we socialize, recruit and mobilize the citizens are factor in the character of political culture we will have in the land. Stop ethno-regional demagoguery. All the contestants who satisfied the Constitutional legibility should be respected: Citizen Bola Ahmed Tinub, (Champion of the first winning coalition in the political history of Nigeria); Citizen Atiku Abubarkar, Citizen Peter Obi, Citizen Kwankwaso and all other contestants should all be respected in terms of their rights to vie. Let the electorate speak. They are the decider, INEC is the Umpire, and God knows who among them will be the Nigerian next President. Nigeria is not a two-party state but a multiparty state in which competitive elections are some of the strength. As they all file out for 2023 pre-election campaigns, they should embrace peace and decorum in their political languages before, during and after the 2023 elections. Language is a source of conflict and peace. They must couch it pacifically, knowing that the nation and the principle endure after every election season. It is not starting in 2023 and it will not end next year.  Democracy came from Athenian Greece not Nigeria and is older than our nation. We adopt it and we must uphold its principles. We must let it grow by allowing the people to decide and respect the will of the people. Ethnic slur, name calling should be off the game, we hoped to see right sportsmanship within the rule of the game. In the game,  the Parliament is  FIFA (that makes the rules of soccer), the aspirants are the sportsmen (the Athletes) while INEC is the Referee.

To the politicians, (the Athletes) I will say, I hoped you find useful thoughts from a Physiotherapist by reading this article. What the Physiotherapists are to Athletes, Political Scientist are to Politicians, as I noted in some of my introductory remarks, no discipline claims ideological  ownership to democracy as a principle of governance that places the people at the front and center of governance but  Political Science (Political Theory/Thoughts), the Science of the State, with power its analytical core.  If you take away John Locke’s thoughts, Adam Smith from history, then you have a reactionary reversal of the world order to Mercantilism and Absolute monarchism. There would never had been the Soviet Empire or Communist China (the PRC) if Karl Marx and Friedriech Engel had not bequeathed a change treatise: The Communist Manifesto”…In which they developed a thesis on materialistic discern of history of human socio-economic development (Sociology of Capitalism), the state as na instrument of oppression and exploitation, noting that Philosophers had interpreted history but he has come to change it, a change that will produce new social order. The same way orthodox Marxist Ideas produced the Communist world so Lockean gave us Liberal democracy: the truth that the 13 Colonies of British America came to hold to be self evidence, that all men are created equal with inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness were actually Lockean espoused in his “Two Treatises of Government” (1689).

 As Robert Nester Bob Marley plagiarizing the Late Ethiopian Emperor, His Imperial Majesty, and Haile Selassie lyrically captures it:

“…That until there no longer first class and second class citizens of any nation there will be war; that until the basic human rights are equally guaranteed to all without regards to race there will be war”

. The tensions in the land stems from the political fears of some groups on what the political future has for them in a united Nigeria. The elites must wake up and restore hopes beyond election seasons. National Orientation Agency should live up to its mandate. The banditry and sectarian killings across the country are part of the consequences and disunity in the land. If we unite as one people, we will stop those mayhems in the land but we saw appalling levels of the politicization of national insecurity, the ethnicization of the polity and the politicization of trans-humans pastoral normadism. Today the story has changed. Indigenous people are being killed in their home villages with impunity.

A stable, peaceful, virile and prosperous Nigeria is inconceivable outside political unity among the three major ethnic groups: Hausa Yoruba and Ibo as a concomitant for political stability in the nation. Present leaders should not repeat the mistakes of our founding father by failing to unite the entire nation though ingredients of peace: Justice, fairness, inclusion, equity, patience, inter-ethnic marriages, inter-faith dialogue, enculturation, decorum in opposition politics (Whereby a ruling Party or government will not be given credit when it counts well or deserves a praise, President Buhari has to beg critics to be fair to his administration: “I want Nigerians to be fair to this administration…), politics without bitterness (Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim of GNPP espoused), respect for the will of the people, decorum when speaking and referencing our President, bipartisan collaboration for national unity,  leadership by example, listening to genuine yearnings of the people and respecting the rights of citizens from all ethnic nationalities to presidential succession when the constitutional and electoral requirements are satisfied (political equality and above all the Fear of God). When this new train of national unity is moving across the nation those who have sabotages efforts to unite the people in the past, to keep the people permanently divided or undermining the peace efforts of the government will be defeated in victory for the good people of Nigeria.

May God have mercy and compassion for the People and leaders our Country Nigeria@62