By Tochukwu Ezukanma
It has, for long, been postulated by many conservative Whites that Africans cannot rule themselves. This was succinctly stated by the then Apartheid South African president, Peter Botha, “Black people cannot rule themselves because they don’t have the brain and mental capacity to govern society. Give them guns, they will kill themselves. Give them power, they will steal all the government money. Give them independence and democracy, they will use it to promote tribalism, bigotry, hatred, killings and wars”.
It was this assumption of the Black man’s inherent deficiencies, especially, in statecraft that informed and underpinned the South African Apartheid system. This political and economic structure founded on race-based gradation of the human race, placed Blacks at the lowest stratum in a race determined peck-order. It also informed Rhodesia’s (later renamed Zimbabwe) Unilateral Declaration of Independence (UDI) from Britain. In the 1960s, as many African countries prepared for independence, the white settlers (minority) in Rhodesia were frightened by the prospect of the emergence of an independent democratic Rhodesia that will invariably be ruled by a Black majority. To forestall this, the white settlers pre-empted the British and unilaterally declared Rhodesian independent of Britain. They imposed a white minority government on Rhodesia and severely circumscribed the participation of Blacks in politics.
Surprisingly, some Black Rhodesians were aficionada of the white minority government. In the 1970s, I met a number of black students from Rhodesia in the United States of America, who, to my chagrin, were totally sold on the idea that Africans cannot govern themselves, and therefore, should not participate in the political process in Rhodesia. It seemed unimaginable that Africans can be apostles of such monstrous eugenic nonsense. However, they argued obstinately and vehemently, and furnished evidence to buttress their point.
Revolted by what we considered atrocious racist rubbish, Africans determinedly challenged this racist belief and the race-based social and political structures that it underpinned in South Africa and Rhodesia. But then, majority rule came to Rhodesia (Zimbabwe) and Apartheid ended in South Africa; and the helm of affairs in the two countries devolved to the Black majority. What became of Zimbabwe, since the advent of Black majority rule? And what became of South Africa, since the end of Apartheid and the emergence of Black majority rule? Have the realities in both countries not demonstrated the obvious incapability of Blacks to govern societies? Yes, they have. And is the unvarnished reality across Africa not lending a powerful credence to the Black man’s inability to govern himself? It has.
The most obvious and most disgraceful case of the Africans’ incapability to govern themselves is Nigeria’s Leadership. “Give them guns, they will kill themselves. Give them power, they will steal all the government money. Give them independence and democracy, they will use it to promote tribalism, bigotry, hatred, killings and wars”. Goodness me!!! What an apt description of Nigerians. At independence, Nigeria, with the largest black population in the world, relatively enlightened, skilled and talented work force, expansive arable land and enormous mineral resources, was the emergent giant and leader of Africa. But then, we bungled up everything, squandered our resources and dashed every hope. With guns intended for protection of lives and property and securing the country’s territorial integrity, we kill ourselves; and with political powers, the remorseless and conscienceless thieves that rule us are stealing everything within reach. We perverted the essence of independence and democracy, and promoted tribalism, bigotry, hatred, killings and wars.
In any country with any hope of redemption, in the encompassing chaos and moral degeneration, there must remain a few vestiges of incorruptibility, especially, the judiciary. Therefore, in this vast scene of confusion that is our beloved country, Nigerians should find hope and relief in the judiciary. After all, the judiciary has globally confirmed itself a principled and impartial arbiter; bastion of incorruptibility; sturdy bulwark in defense of individual rights and against despotism and abuse of power by the ruling elite. Lamentably, our judges have shown themselves susceptible to lucre and other sirens of life. Thus, they are corruptible and prone to doing the bidding of the highest bidder.
Secondly, in any worthy and sustainable democracy, the electoral umpire must be an unquestionable sentinel of democracy. It should ensure that the will of the people is lucidly and accurately expressed in credible, free and fair elections. But in Nigeria, the electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is not an unbiased arbiter. It is a cesspool of ghoulish intrigues and devilish prestidigitation. It flouts election rules, guidelines and laws; and routinely, reduces the electioneering process to a charade. For a consideration, it rigs elections in favour of candidates. It subverts our constitutional right to elect candidates of our choice in credible elections. In the last presidential election, in a giddying abracadabra, it stole victory from the winner and bestowed it on the loser.
The amoral shenanigans of the judiciary and election umpire have been disastrous for the country. They strengthened an evil oligarchy, and enabled it to retain its suffocating, monopoly grip on power. Routinely, at deferent levels of government, the oligarchy, in defiance of the will of the people, foists its protégés on the country. In their corruption and grasping avarice, the oligarchy and its protégés are relentless and ruthless thieves; they robbed the country blind and left it tethering perilously at the brinks of an economic collapse. Thus, we have the Nigerian oxymoron: oil-rich poverty. Nigeria is the poorest oil-rich country in the world. She has little to nothing to show for the billions of petrol-dollar that accrued to her over so many decades, but excessively bloated private accounts of innumerable kleptomaniacs that masquerade as public servants.
In their demonstrated lack of “brain and mental capacity to govern society”, in addition to looting public funds, our rulers ride roughshod over the Nigerian masses, tear down the system and pander to terrorists and an assortment of unhinged murders. Consequently, the country is marked by poverty-rive, hungry and dispirited masses of people; moribund and dysfunctional institutions; power outages; frayed, broken and decaying public infrastructure; failed educational system; wrecked healthcare delivery system; social indexes of the poorest and war torn countries; kidnappings, ritual killings and dalliance with satanic forces; banditry, terrorism and utter anarchy.
Nigeria is an established case of the Africans’ inability to govern themselves. Not surprisingly, despite her enormous potentials and splendid prospects, she regressed, in steady gradations, to a failed state.
Tochukwu Ezukanma writes from Lagos, Nigeria.
tezukanma@gmail.com
0803 529 2908
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