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Democradura

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DemocraduraEssays on Nigeria’s Limited Democracy

N. Oluwafemi Mimiko

Carolina Academic Press

Durham, North Carolina

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Copyright © 2017N. Oluwafemi Mimiko

All Rights Reserved

ISBN: 978-1-61163-270-5eISBN: 978-1-5310-0623-5

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Mimiko, Nahzeem Oluwafemi, author.Title: Democradura : essays on Nigeria’s limited democracy / N. Oluwafemi Mimiko.Description: Durham : Carolina Academic Press, 2016. | Series: African World Series | Includes bibliographical references and index.Identifiers: LCCN 2016043697 | ISBN 9781611632705 (alk. paper)Subjects: LCSH: Nigeria--Politics and government--1984-1993. | Nigeria--Politics and government--1993-2007. | Nigeria--Politics and government--2007- | Nigeria--Economic conditions--1970-Classification: LCC DT515.8 .M56 2016 | DDC 966.905--dc23LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2016043697

Carolina Academic Press, LLC700 Kent Street

Durham, North Carolina 27701Telephone (919) 489-7486

Fax (919) 493-5668www.cap-press.com

Printed in the United States of America

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To our ever radiant mom,Iye’uka Muinat Mosekonla Mimiko

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ix

Contents

Foreword xvPreface xviiSeries Editor’s Preface xxi

Part I Global Interaction

Chapter 1 A Cele bration of Idealism 3Chapter 2 Africa as Centerpiece 5Chapter 3 Lessons of Gbadolite Reconciliation 7Chapter 4 The Limits of Optimism 11Chapter 5 Nigeria’s New High Visibility 13Chapter 6 Nigeria and Israel 16Chapter 7 Has the Cold War Really Ended? 18Chapter 8 Thoughts of the Times 21Chapter 9 Mistakes on Cote d’Ivoire 23Chapter 10 News from Cote d’Ivoire 26Chapter 11 Re- focusing the UN 28Chapter 12 Dictator Guei’s Ouster 30Chapter 13 U.S. Electoral Stalemate 32Chapter 14 The Currency of Crisis in the Congo 34Chapter 15 Knowing President George Walker Bush 36Chapter 16 Wider Implications of September 11 38Chapter 17 The Reparation Volte Face 40Chapter 18 Bush’s Axis of Evil 42Chapter 19 Mandela and the Zimbabwe Elections 45Chapter 20 The Middle East Cauldron 47Chapter 21 From OAU to AU 49Chapter 22 The New South Africa 51Chapter 23 The Incipient Weakening of the UN 53Chapter 24 Nigeria- IMF Tango 55Chapter 25 The Bakassi Debacle 57Chapter 26 Britain, Nigeria, and Bakassi 59Chapter 27 The Erosion of Cote d’Ivoire 61Chapter 28 A War Amer i ca Should Not Have Fought 64Chapter 29 The Colony of Iraq 67Chapter 30 Before Bakassi Is Handed Over 70

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x CONTENTS

Chapter 31 Need We the Security Council Veto Vote? 73Chapter 32 As Liberia Emerges 76Chapter 33 Bakassi as High Treason 78Chapter 34 Zimbabwe — Going, Going, . . . ! 82Chapter 35 What Africa Needs from Obama 86Chapter 36 Lessons from Other Lands, Part I 91Chapter 37 Between Charles Taylor and Jonas Savimbi 94Chapter 38 As Charles Taylor Comes to Town 97Chapter 39 Professor Bolaji Akinyemi on Charles Taylor 100Chapter 40 As Coups Resurge in Africa 103Chapter 41 Rebecca Garang: An Unsung Heroine 106Chapter 42 Some Korea, Some Story: Besting a Dozen Embassies 108Chapter 43 Egyptian Crisis Can Inspire Anti- democratic Forces 111

Part II Education and Human Capacity Development

Chapter 44 Adieu NYSC, Adieu Nigeria? 117Chapter 45 ASUU — FG Parley 119Chapter 46 As the Strike Breaks 120Chapter 47 On the University System 121Chapter 48 NADECO University 123Chapter 49 Lessons from Other Lands, 2: The USMA Example 125Chapter 50 A Harvest of Doctorates 127Chapter 51 The Limits of Varsity Autonomy 129Chapter 52 On the BSc- HND Controversy 132Chapter 53 This Outreach Nonsense 137Chapter 54 The Next Agenda II: Education 140

Part III Po liti cal Parties and the Electoral Pro cess

Chapter 55 Okadigbo’s “Mixed- Breed” Politicians 145Chapter 56 New Parties: New Guidelines, New Mistakes 147Chapter 57 On the New Voter’s Card 149Chapter 58 Let a Thousand Ideas Contend 150Chapter 59 Cross Carpeting in Nigeria 152Chapter 60 General Obasanjo’s Electoral “Law” 154Chapter 61 That Ekwueme Speech 156Chapter 62 PDP/AD: The Anatomy of a “Tainted” Pact 158Chapter 63 What Is INEC up to? 161Chapter 64 The Need for a New INEC 164Chapter 65 INEC and Party Registration 166

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CONTENTS xi

Chapter 66 On the PDP’s Emergent Legitimacy 168Chapter 67 AD: Guided Primaries and the Corruption of a Heritage 170Chapter 68 Public Servants and Politics: How Many Supreme Courts? 173Chapter 69 Of AD, Mbadinuju, and Progressives 176Chapter 70 New Direction in Yoruba Land 180Chapter 71 The Siege Is Over! 184Chapter 72 Buhari’s Blackmail 186Chapter 73 The Specter of One- Party Dictatorship 189Chapter 74 The Politics of Census in Nigeria (7) 192Chapter 75 The Secret Pact: Who Owns the Land? 194Chapter 76 Three Conceptual Errors on “Election” 2007 196Chapter 77 Election 2007 and the Somalianization of Nigeria 199

Part IV State- Society Interaction I (2000)

Chapter 78 A Shattering of Myths 205Chapter 79 Again, “The Beginning of the End?” 207Chapter 80 Nigeria’s Ethnic Militia 209Chapter 81 Why Are We So Blest? 211Chapter 82 Angling for Resource Control 213Chapter 83 Tribute to Emeka Anyaoku 215Chapter 84 Clinton and the Man Obasanjo 216Chapter 85 Tinubu’s Debt Forgiveness Thesis 218Chapter 86 Opadokun and the Northern Strategy 220Chapter 87 The House of Thieves (?) 222Chapter 88 Presidentialism on Trial 224Chapter 89 Obasanjo’s Bitumen Commitment 226Chapter 90 The Lagos Mayhem 228Chapter 91 Avoiding Conflict between the Executive and Legislature 230Chapter 92 Ondo State Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow 234Chapter 93 The El- Mustapha Show 236Chapter 94 These ALGON Jeeps 238Chapter 95 “Saworo- ide” 240Chapter 96 Ea glet Generals Indeed 242

Part V State- Society Interaction II (2001)

Chapter 97 The Zero Allocation Phenomenon, Part I 247Chapter 98 The Zero Allocation Phenomenon, Part II 249Chapter 99 Insecurity in Nigeria, et al. 251Chapter 100 Obasanjo’s (New) Cabinet 253

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xii CONTENTS

Chapter 101 Turning the Captivity of Zion: Ondo State at 25 255Chapter 102 The Making of a Legacy 257Chapter 103 Deregulation and Decentralization 262Chapter 104 Politics of Salary Negotiations 264Chapter 105 Petrol and Democracy 266Chapter 106 In Search of a Nigerian De- Klerk 268Chapter 107 The Rumblings Have Resumed 271Chapter 108 The First Ondo State Economic Summit 273Chapter 109 State of the Nation 274Chapter 110 The Po liti cal Imperative of Deregulation 276Chapter 111 Lagos, a Jungle 278Chapter 112 Obasanjo’s Geo- Political Constitutional Talks 281Chapter 113 Sports Administration in Nigeria 283Chapter 114 General Malu’s Sack 285Chapter 115 The Phillip Asiodu Sack 287Chapter 116 AKURE 2001: Welcome to Oshodi 289Chapter 117 As the Circus Resumes 291Chapter 118 Between June 12 and May 29 292Chapter 119 On Good Governance 294Chapter 120 The Fajuyi Question 296Chapter 121 Welcome, O Ye Banks 298Chapter 122 For Deputy Governors: The Jigawa Option 300

Part VI State- Society Interaction III (2002)

Chapter 123 The War in Owo 305Chapter 124 Double Honors Due to Kolade 307Chapter 125 Okadigbo’s Albatross 309Chapter 126 The US Embassy Alert: Time to Reflect 311Chapter 127 Obasanjo on Loot Recovery 313Chapter 128 The Year 2001 in 2002 316Chapter 129 Bola Ige: Who Did It and Why? 319Chapter 130 Fixation with the Presidency 322Chapter 131 Amendment as Fraud 324Chapter 132 What Is Happening to Our President? 326Chapter 133 Tragedy Extraordinary: Six Posers 329Chapter 134 Victories for Decentralization 332Chapter 135 No Work, No Pay 334Chapter 136 Why Are Our Pensioners So Treated? 336Chapter 137 Lobbying, Nigeria Style 338Chapter 138 Transition Committees: Every body Was Wrong 340Chapter 139 Enough of This Concocted Hysteria 342

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CONTENTS xiii

Chapter 140 The Second Term Bid 344Chapter 141 Capitulation on Abacha 346Chapter 142 Single Term Agenda 348Chapter 143 Police and the Po liti cal Vio lence Bill 350Chapter 144 Again, Kaduna Riots 352Chapter 145 ICPC and the National Assembly 354Chapter 146 The Threat of Impeachment in Context 356Chapter 147 The Secret Pact: Who Owns The Land? 358Chapter 148 The Next Agenda 360Chapter 149 Thursdays and Fridays as Holidays 362Chapter 150 Fuel Prices and Demo cratic Pro gress 365Chapter 151 The Role of Travel, Tourism, and Culture in

Fostering World Peace 367

Part VII State- Society Interaction IV (2003–2016)

Chapter 152 Accidents and (Commercial) Drivers 373Chapter 153 Oyinlola’s “No Salary for Me” Gimmick 375Chapter 154 Nigeria at Forty- Three 378Chapter 155 DSP and the Shame of a Nation 381Chapter 156 Citizen Samuel and Jungle Justice 384Chapter 157 The Crash of Values 387Chapter 158 Is the Time Up for the Ethnic Militia Units? 389Chapter 159 Democracy as an Irritant (2) 392Chapter 160 Debt Repudiation and All That 394Chapter 161 Nigeria’s Festering Instability 397Chapter 162 Of Inauguration Speech and Ominous Signs 401Chapter 163 Buhari and a Template for Real Change 407

Part VIII Postscript

Chapter 164 From Obama to Trump: Questions Over a Helluva Transition 415

References 419List of Acronyms 421Index 427

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xv

Foreword

Femi Mimiko is, undoubtedly, one of Nigeria’s finest social scientists/public intel-lectuals, who has made notable contributions to the intellectual and educational de-velopment of this country.

The conventional expectation of a social scientist is a pedantic, arcane and recon-dite theorist, armed with technical register and ponderous ideological flamboyance. However, a public intellectual conscious of his public platform must emerge as a pop-ular communicator who is clear-sighted, comprehensible and accessible. Femi Mimiko, who is at once a social scientist and a public intellectual, comes through in this most engaging study, Democradura: Essays on Nigeria’s Limited Democracy, with a lucid narrative that is touchingly readable, whose thought process is simple without being simplistic, and whose content is eloquent and graspably relevant, topical, urgent and envisioned. Segmenting his public outings in the print media that spanned nearly three decades of over 150 chapters into seven sections, Mimiko takes us through the challenges of the nation’s dashed hopes — a potentially great country that riles need-lessly in dysfunctional leadership and visional inadequacy. In this event, the nation only manages to attain a minimal (limited) democracy or, at best, a civil social order. This, as the author aptly defines it in the book’s title, is democradura. Herein he pres-ents the anger, frustrations and hope of an activist/stakeholder in a disarmingly or-ganic, objective and pragmatic prose that is devoid of celebrative idealism.

The manifest outcome in this book of essays is a socially engaged scholar’s interro-gation of the Nigerian society. It is a story told, with perspicacity, in subdued anger but inimitable bluntness, about the nation’s failure of fulfillment in political, ideological, economic and democratic terms, yet the narration succeeds in pragmatic objectivity and stubborn resistance to stoic cynicism. The all-inclusive thematic preoccupations are rendered in a tellingly strident and uncluttered style. They comprise global inter-action; education; political parties and the electoral process; and fifteen years of state-society relations.

The author recollects his media outings with rippling freshness amidst impressive and relieved courage. There is a perceptible clarity of vision and resonant narrative organicity throughout the entire work in which repetitiveness reveals ideological con-sistency and emphatic interpretation of the Nigerian reality. The author’s preference for pragmatism in place of celebrative idealism in the nation’s policy thrust, which underpins the chapters on Black Bomb and Concert of Medium Powers among others, is clearly evident. He opts for technological breakthrough rather than a bogus ideal-ization of Africa in Nigeria’s foreign policy thrust. Consistent with this also is his ad-vocacy on upholding national interest and securing the ownership of disputed

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xvi FOREWORD

territories like Bakassi by Nigeria and Gao by India, as exemplified in the positions pushed by Obafemi Awolowo and Pandit Nehru, respectively.

This is a book by a committed social scientist, educationist and public intellectual about a nation whose agonies and disillusion he has lived through and experienced and whose future he is palpably committed to. It is a book to be read, enjoyed and be informed by, by a wide spectrum of students, politicians and scholars in social sci-ences, the humanities, education and even the natural sciences. It is readable, instruc-tive and straightforward.

Olu Obafemi, PhD, FNAL,Professor of English and Dramatic Literature, University of Ilorin, Nigeria;President, Nigeria Academy of Letters.

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xvii

Preface

Scripting the Nigerian story is fraught with many challenges for a Nigerian social scientist. This is because of the real ity presented by the country as one of enormous potentials and great promise but of equally daunting challenges and embarrassing fail-ures. The narration thus becomes an unusually herculean one for someone who must straddle the two worlds — that of a social scientist, expected always to be guided by objectivity, and that of a participant observer, nay stakeholder, who shares the hopes, aspirations, and indeed the frustrations of most Nigerians.

The challenge is, however, made much lighter by the par tic u lar genre adopted here. This is a collection of the thoughts of the author crafted over a number of years, but every thing running on the theme of the direction in which the Nigerian po liti cal economy should move. It is a pattern that has compelled the arrangement of the work in such a way as to create some order, a luxury that we never had in the course of writ-ing the pieces, as the comments were made in the years covered as events unfolded, week after week. Thus, we created separate sections on Global Interaction; Education and Human Capacity Development; and Po liti cal Parties and Electoral Pro cess. The pieces are arranged in chronological order under each of these chapters. There is, how-ever, a whole lot of the write- ups which could not be easily classified under the forego-ing headings. To snatch some form of order out of a basically fluid situation, we have arranged these, again in chronological order, under the general heading, State- Society Interaction, covering the years, 2001, 2002, and 2003–2016.

As expected, the Global Interaction section focuses on all pieces that revolved around the theme of Nigeria’s foreign policy. The Education and Human Capacity Development chapter captures all issues relating to education, while the one on Po liti-cal Parties and Electoral Pro cess is an assemblage of all the pieces on the nation’s electoral pro cess as it unfolded in the years covered in the volume. The three other sections are a broad narration of the Nigerian story taken from the very many dimen-sions in which it presented itself between 1988 and 2016. Included here are our per-spectives on some historical personages whose thoughts, actions, and inactions were considered weighty enough to define the path of the Nigerian nation at dif er ent times. Without doubt, some of the perspectives expressed in the pieces in this category may now admit of some modifications, for good or bad, as the personalities have since fur-ther emerged and the dif er ent tendencies tracked during the years covered in the compilation got better clarified on the Nigerian po liti cal scene.

Inevitably, the work is laced with some anger and thinly veiled frustration at criti-cal points. These were times when it seemed inexplicable that some actions decidedly injurious to Nigerians’ collective desires and aspirations were being taken by leaders and institutions that ordinarily should have defined their existence only in terms of

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xviii PREFACE

the good of the majority of the people. Again, it is understandable why this is so, as the narration covers the period from September 1987, when the author’s first public afair commentary got published in The Guardian, till the date the compendium was made ready for publication in this format, July 2016. This is a 29- year period, which, if you would not agree has demonstrated Nigeria’s incredible capacity for dysfunctionality, you would acknowledge has hardly been marked by any epochal leap forward com-mensurate with the nation’s potentials. Such failures, and disappointment at wasted opportunities for a nation that has no reason to be anything but developed, could not have evoked anything but anger.

The generic title, Democradura, became apt in the sense that Nigeria, for much of the period covered in this compilation was and, arguably, still is a democradura. This is a concept coined from the Spanish word, dictadura (dictatorship) by O’Donnell and Schmitter (1986). Democradura is a po liti cal system that seeks to attain to the status of liberal democracy, but is still largely weighed down by sundry social forces and thereby still parades some key features of dictatorship that make it, at best, a limited or restricted democracy (O’Donnell and Schmitter, 1986; Arato, 2000: 25; Diamond, 2002: 21–35). It is akin to what Zakaria (1997) refers to as illiberal or uncivil democ-racy, one in which there are regular elections but with not much of civil liberties. Its adaptation here speaks to the fact that what is abroad in Nigeria under extant democ-ratization proj ect is at best, civil rule, a system striving to transit to democracy but is yet substantially defined by considerable authoritarian, profoundly elitist and rent- seeking currents in which civil liberties, both structurally and nominally, are wantonly violated (Mimiko, 1998: 44–57).

Much as we have tried, this compendium did not capture the totality of the write- ups of the author in the years covered, strictly because of the logistic challenge of retrieving all of them. However, just a few of such works are left out and eforts would be intensi-fied to ensure that a subsequent edition of the book is made to capture such omissions. In the same vein, some of the pieces did not come with full information on the exact newspapers in which they were published, and of course, the dates. Again, these gaps we look forward to filling in the next edition of the work. Furthermore, some of the articles would seem to be a little bit repetitive, recasting arguments that had earlier on been made. This is a consequence of the desire to emphasize some of the arguments and advocacies that we thought deserved to be put out again, and again. Being simply a collection of old works, anything more than the most minimal editing would be completely out of place, and so, some of the seemingly repetitive works are still found in the volume.

Without doubt, Nigeria remains, to all intents and purposes, a fragile state. Some would even argue that it would seem set inexorably on the path of failure; but it is hoped that our perspectives in this modest efort in public intellectualism would serve as some form of prescription and inspiration in the strug gle for a stable and func-tional nation. The work is in this sense also a clarion call of sorts on all stakeholders to drive in the right direction so that Nigeria would not only be led of the precipice but also arise to occupy the gapping space created for it by nature and history.

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PREFACE xix

I am im mensely thankful to Dr. Toyin Falola, the University Distinguished Teach-ing Professor, Jacob and Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities, The Uni-versity of Texas at Austin, who kept the pressure on me to ensure that this book got published. I also am most appreciative of Dr. Jessica Achberger, formerly of the Uni-versity of Texas at Austin, and Professor Omotayo Omolayo Oloruntoba- Oju, of the Department of En glish Studies, Adekunle Ajasin University, Nigeria, for the time they devoted to reading and correcting the manuscript. I thank Hon. Taoheed Ajao, who gladly agreed to peruse the manuscript. I am also immensely grateful to my wife, Bo-sede Solayide Ojibewaji, Opelenge Omo Oji m’olaj’ogun, for her support at all times. As expected, Ejilayomi and Emiope — at diferent times — were also quite helpful with the compilation. I thank both of them. Needless to add that a work of this nature couldn’t have been done without some noticeable errors. I take responsibility for them all, again in the hope that the next edition would take adequate care of all such.

N. Oluwafemi Mimiko, PhD, mni Cambridge, MA July 2016

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xxi

Series Editor’s Preface

The Carolina Academic Press African World Series, inaugurated in 2010, ofers sig-nificant new works in the field of African and Black World studies. The series provides scholarly and educational texts that can serve both as reference works and as readers in college classes.

Studies in the series are anchored in the existing humanistic and the social scien-tific traditions. Their goal, however, is the identification and elaboration of the strate-gic place of Africa and its Diaspora in a shifting global world. More specifically, the studies will address gaps and larger needs in the developing scholarship on Africa and the Black World.

The series intends to fill gaps in areas such as African politics, history, law, religion, culture, sociology, literature, philosophy, visual arts, art history, geography, language, health, and social welfare. Given the complex nature of Africa and its Diaspora, and the constantly shifting perspectives prompted by globalization, the series also meets a vital need for scholarship connecting knowledge with events and practices. Reflecting the fact that life in Africa continues to change, especially in the political arena, the series explores issues emanating from racial and ethnic identities, particularly those connected with the ongoing mobilization of ethnic minorities for inclusion and repre-sentation. Toyin Falola University of Texas at Austin

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