The entire democracy project hangs on an intriguing concept: all men are born equal. In other words, the great Aliko Dangote with his zillions of Naira, many trucks and thousands of employees has the same voting power as his cook. In a democracy, the opinion of a Bill Gates whose intellect created the incredible Microsoft software that drives almost all of human activities has the same weight as his janitor. Mark Zuckerberg, the mastermind of Facebook who today also owns the mega platforms, Instagram and WhatsApp has no voting power stronger that any of his thousands of employees across the globe. A Barack Obama with his political sagacity and deep experience in world affairs casts one vote and that vote is in no way superior to that of a homeless man begging for coins in front of Washington DC's Union Station.
I was talking with a big player in the present Nigerian government. I had asked him why the government does not appear to listen to what the Nigerian intelligentsia says, especially as elections are coming close. He looked at me, sighed and said mockingly, "the government does not need the votes of the intelligentsia to get to power. Their vote is too expensive! Go to the motor park and the marketplace with some bags of rice and salt and some Naira notes and all the votes you are looking for are there with very little grammar" You see why the bullion van concept has taken hold?
Donald Trump, the defeated, twice impeached and loquacious former president of the United States who could not keep his hands off his twitter handle and who tells blatant lies about practically everything, was elected by Americans in a one man, one vote process, even if it is the electoral college variety. Should that not make you think? With his incredible megaphone, the Donald who today practically owns America's Republican Party, set out to destroy nearly all the institutions that has made America special for decades.
Across the Atlantic, Donald Trump's former friend, Boris Johnson who wears his hair in a scattered fashion like Mr. Trump is doing everything to scatter the rules and decency for which British Prime Ministers have been known for ages. Boris Johnson is also a product of the democratic process.
The world must watch out! What has happened to the Americans and probably the British should be a warning to humanity as to how dangerous, romantic terms such as 'self-determination', 'independence' and 'sovereignty' have become in the hands of demagogues with the skills to manipulate innocent people around the world looking for someone to blame for their frustrations, difficulties and shortcomings. In a system of one man one vote, all that is required is to introduce hate, religion, race or ethnicity and voila, it is really not that difficult to aggregate the votes of the uninformed and frustrated and unleash mayhem everywhere. One man one vote does not mean one good man one vote. It is does not mean one intelligent man one vote. Just ask yourself how a person as appalling as Donald Trump insulted everyone and manipulated his way to the most powerful office in the world. Come to think of it, was Adolf Hitler not a product of the democratic process?
Back home, we are faced with the same challenges. I have little doubt that if a one man one vote referendum is held in Nigeria's South-East today, it will not be difficult to get enough people to vote for an independent Republic of Biafra. The concept is romantic. I am a proud and unapologetic Igbo man. I am however not sure that my people have given sufficient thought to the cataclysmic consequences of Independence. For instance, where do you fit the millions of Igbo men trading in every nook and cranny of Nigeria? What do you do when your market of 180 million people suddenly shrinks to 40 million? What happens to the investments, properties and deep ties that the Igbos have developed across Nigeria? Where is the guarantee that the suspicions and persecution that we complain about in Nigeria will not be replicated in Biafra or even made worse with some Igbo groups lording it over others? There is no question that we love the concept of Biafra, a romantic land full of milk and honey that we will enjoy to the exclusion of others.
The problem with romance is that when you are in love, you see only the good things about the one you love. Almost always, you are blinded to the fault of your lover. Think of it: all the thousands of people in divorce courts were once in love. Why do you think there is so much divorce?
What applies to the Igbos applies to our brothers and sisters in the Niger Delta who want to blow up the country because they want 'self-determination', 'independence' and 'sovereignty'. The Yorubas who keep dreaming of an Oduduwa Republic may be in the same boat. Investigate and you will find that always there are puppeteers pulling the strings and hoping to deploy the values of one man one vote to achieve their pecuniary objectives.
I hope you do not come to the conclusion that I object to the concept of one man one vote. No! I am a democrat, but this human system has its flaws and we must be conscious of those flaws. Democracy can be hijacked and is being hijacked with dire consequences. The world must watch out! Recently, with the quantum progress that China is making, people are beginning to pay serious attention to the Chinese political model so derided not long ago. As a student of human progress, I have a duty to ask the question: is one man, one vote the solution to the many problems we have?
See you next week.
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