The culture of disregard for term limits

WHEN, in 2015, the then incumbent president of Nigeria called to congratulate his opponent ahead of the announcement of the election winner, it was hailed as a heroic act; one that not only further cemented the country’s democratic maturation but also avoided the imminent disintegration of the country had the president not accepted defeat. It ensured a stable and successful transition of government in a country that was at the brink. The former president of Niger was awarded the Ibrahim Prize for Achievement in African Leadership because of his respect for term limits. For eight years, nobody was found worthy of the award, which points to the  disgraceful culture of disregard for term limits and bastardazing of democracy by African leaders. What’s more annoying, though, is the culture of celebrating the few ones that respect the term limits. When we understand that it’s the moral imperative of our leaders to bow to the people’s will, to respect the constitutional authority that put them there and dictate their term limits, then we wouldn’t rush to make a big deal of it, lionizing them, presenting them with awards, kissing their feet. We tend to forget and forgive their misrule. It’s the great disenchantment with the previous administration’s sadistic style of ruling that made Nigerians ready to go to any length to vote out that party.

They were ready for war if the election got twisted. So it’s the morally and politically correct thing to do, that is,  hand over.  Most of these leaders leave behind enormous debts, worsening insecurity, cases of corruption and so on.  The recent coups in Guinea and Chad and the foiled one in Niger are indications of the frightening facts that West African countries are far from political stability. Military intervention hardly changes matters. It shouldn’t be the response to a faulty democracy. The West African  subregion should completely shake itself off the yoke of any military powers. Democratization of the whole of sub-region would go a long way in stabilizing it. Not that democracy is perfect per se (what with her so-called upholders violating one of the fundamentals: periodic election) but that we can and should practice it most purely, quite distinct from the military system. There should be an atmosphere that’ll  facilitate proper reforms of democracy.  A stable system of government will guarantee peace and also bring about the desired developments.

It’s on this premise that I now address another factor that is damaging to our democracy, threatening what little peace and stability is left in the region: electoral processes.  In my country Nigeria, once it’s time for elections, people that live away from their states of origin start rushing back to their hometowns because elections have been made to be synonymous with violence, leading to the death of many people. There should be peace for people to exercise their fundamental right of voting. Instead, thugs are paid to violate the process. Many people are believing in the quote that ‘our votes do not count, otherwise, they wouldn’t let us vote’.  However, that is not were the problem lies.  I believe that we’re capable of holding free and fair elections as we’ve done in the past. We can cite many examples with Nigeria as a case study. The Fourth Republic election in Nigeria that brought Chief Olusegun Obasanjo to power was free and fair. The two elections that put Buhari into power were free and fair as well. We simply cannot forget the annuled election of June 12, 1993.  To some extent, this refusal to leave officer is the catalyst of most of our problems. In Cote d’Ivoire, President Guei refused to leave office even after his defeat thickened the plot  of a chain of events  that led to civil war.

After the civil war, President Laurent Gbagbo refused to accept the results of another election. This caused massive unrest that cost nearly 3000 lives. So the crux of the matter is not really putting the people into power but making sure they serve us well while in power. And of course the bigger problem of kicking them out. That, as Hausa people would say, is where the spider tangle us in a web.

Let’s take Nigeria as a case study again. In all our democratic governments, the first elections are free and fair but second term elections are rigged and violent. The First Republic second term elections were massively rigged, leading to a military intervention that culminated in a civil war. The Second Republic was almost a repeat because when the citizens attempted to vote out a failing administration, the politicians rigged election, not knowing that they were touching the proverbial monster’s tail as the military eventually overthrew them. During the Fourth Republic, a man was fished out from shadows of death in prison, cheered as a messiah, and put into office. We can’t confidently say that his second term election was badly rigged but he won and went ahead to attempt to modify our constitution to give him an unpopular third term. That became a big challenge for Nigerians. Nigeria succeeded in forcing him to respect the constitution but he also succeeded in installing a man of his choice in power. The current administration, as I earlier mentioned, was free and fair but is performing so badly now.

I was born in the early 2000s. My generation is said to be the ‘golden generation’ because the Nigeria we’re born into is of a democratic dispensation, free from colonial and military powers. But my generation is suffering from a collapsing system of education (most have to attend private schools because the government ones are total craps), suffering from frequent strikes in universities; and insecurity that is devouring our lands like an inferno. This semester, I was looking forward to the fieldwork we are supposed to go on in a literature course but had to resort to what our lecturer calls ‘mental research’ because nowhere is safe. This generation is so angry, an anger that manifested in the #EndSARS protests, the country’s largest social movement, spoilt by thugs and state sponsored killings.  On days like this, I sit and reflect on the happenings in my nation while my fellow teenagers are out having fun, draping their bodies in the country’s colors and posting things like ‘happy independent’ on social media. The ghosts of Chinua Achebe and Abubakar Gimba surround me as I struggle to intellectualize my thoughts, building it on Achebe’s dictum (the trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership) and Gimba’s theory that differs from Achebe’s. I am a lover of columns.

• Lilo writes in from Zaria, Kaduna State.

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