WHICH KIND DEMOCRACY BE THIS?

WHICH KIND DEMOCRACY BE THIS?

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. 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 told people that the British would never vote to leave the European Union. It made no sense to me. I was wrong, terribly wrong. Please forgive me for believing that the British are a thinking people and as a thinking people, would not ignore the warning of the array of world leaders and experts that told them of the devastating effect of walking away from their kith and kin in Europe.  

I was sure that the British had a high opinion of Barack Obama and would listen to him. But, if they had suddenly changed their minds with respect to Obama who is an American, what of David Cameron who the British elected as their Prime Minister? Gordon Brown, Prime Minister before Cameron warned them not to leave and so did Tony Blair, the one before Brown. Even David Beckham, their soccer duper star begged them against Brexit yet the British voted to exit the European Union!

 

Voting is one thing and making sense of the vote is another. Now, Theresa May is wrestling with crocodiles. Brexit is making the poor woman dizzy and her grey hair is going greyer every day. There is simply no way to implement the result of the referendum. Recently, two of her key ministers resigned including her loquacious Foreign Affairs Secretary, Boris Johnson, a flame thrower that wears his hair like Donald Trump.

The guy, Donald Trump, who cannot keep his hands off the twitter handle of his not so smart phone 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 us think?

The world must watch out! What has happened to the British and probably the Americans should be a warning to humanity as to how dangerous romantic terms like '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. In a system of one man one vote, all that is required is to introduce hate 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 despicable as Donald Trump insulted everyone and manipulated his way to the most powerful office in the world.

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 just like the British, we 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, property 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. 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'. Investigate and you will find that always, there are puppeteers pulling the strings and hoping to deploy the system 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 we must recognize that this human system has big flaws. It can be hijacked and is being hijacked with dire consequences. See what is happening all over Nigeria with the crazy Party Primaries and how political contractors across the country are manipulating the will of the people.

Woe betide you if you are seeking any political office in Nigeria today and you have not set aside many sacks of cash in different denominations to be doled out to delegates. I am told that in one of the primaries this week in one of the states across the Niger, one of the candidates was doling out 200 US Dollar notes in white envelopes while another candidate was doling out 100 US Dollar notes in brown envelopes to each of the many thousands of delegates. Many of the delegates collected from both candidates. Who do you think was declared winner? Of course, it was the guy doling out 200 dollars in white envelopes.

I had asked a big player in the present Nigerian government why the government does not appear to listen to what the Nigerian intelligentsia says. He looked at me, sighed and said mockingly, "the government does not need the votes of the intelligentsia. Their vote is too expensive! Go to the motor park and the market place with some bags of rice, salt, ogogoro and some Naira notes and all the votes you are looking for will be there with very little grammar"

You see? One man, one vote, indeed!

See you next week.