Beyond inauguration euphoria, what next?

Even as the flurry of inauguration activities in respect of re-elected President Muhammadu Buhari and 17 governors as well as 12 newly elected governors, was taking place in Abuja and 29 states across the country, concern over the expectations from them between 2019 to 2023, remained topical in every theatre of public discourse. Much of the discourse is driven – more by deeper fears and less by the shallow expectations, over how the country will move to the next level, during their respective tenures. As the festivities were running, not a few Nigerians were contemplating on several aspects of governance, especially how much legacy of positives on one hand, as well as leftover woes on the other, would the out-going administrations bequeath to the incoming ones. The various   arguments leading to sundry conclusions were often backed by real life instances – many featuring stark arbitrariness in both government action, as well as other less visible processes of governance in the country.

Even at the risk of this column being labelled unpatriotic and a spoilsport for drawing attention early in the day to this questionable legacy of virtually every government in Nigeria at the point of exit from office, the wisdom in the enterprise is accentuated by a welter of factors. These factors comprise instances deriving from details of the contents of just a few of the hand-over notes exchanged between some outgoing and incoming administrations. In these handover notes are reports of humongous uncleared debts, uncompleted projects and unpaid workers’ salaries, not to talk of unfulfilled promises made to the electorate at the point of campaigning. Just as well too, these faces of bad governance – though not exclusive to, may be more manifest in the cases of fresh, incoming governors with less than rosy relationships with their predecessors, and who can be disposed to expose the latter. However, given that these rookie governors are only 12 out of the 36 states, while the returning ones are 17, the scope for concealment of such by the latter from public attention, is easily appreciated.

Yet there are more dramatic instances of outrage in governance with perhaps Rochas Okorocha of Imo State leading the pack. A typical incident was when barely a few hours after his exit from office as governor of the state, public angst against his outgone administration of spiked to a crescendo, and aggrieved members of the public started to attack his legacies starting with attempts to pull down the ‘Akachi’ statue of a hand with a finger pointing heavenward, and situated along Aba Road, Owerri, the state capital. It took the prompt intervention of the new governor, Emeka Ihedioha, to stop the street rage against his predecessor, Okorocha. The ‘Akachi’ incident did not come to many who are conversant with Imo State politics by surprise as resentment against the unmitigated streak of arbitrariness by the outgone administration of Rochas Okorocha featured throughout his eighth year reign as governor of the state. Nigerians cannot forget in a hurry the climactic situation when it took a combination of political forces in that state and beyond to stop the installation of a Rochas hegemony, through rigging his son in-law Mr. Uche Nwosu as his successor as governor of Imo State.

Coming to Ogun State is the hard evidence that the incoming governor, Dapo Abiodun, is inheriting a complement of headaches courtesy of his predecessor, Ibikunle Amosun, including the spirited rejection by various communities, of traditional rulers who were recently upgraded by the latter. Many see the elevation of the monarchs at the tail end of Amosun’s administration, as an act in bad faith by him, even as he had never hidden his aversion to the ascendancy of Dapo Abiodun as the new governor. It is easily recalled that the Ogun State APC had resolved to facilitate the cancellation of all of Amosun’s last minute appointments and contracts.

A more poignant reason for considering these leftover woes derive from the deleterious role they often play with respect to the performance of incoming administrations. This syndrome remains well documented and to say the least is sad. Often, some new administrations cite such shortcomings of past administrations to define their priorities, even when such a dispensation conflicts with public good. Typical instances when incoming administrations elect to abandon projects initiated and partially executed and repudiate debts owed by their predecessors abound across the country. The cumulative price for the country is the crises of failure of governance at the various tiers, with consequences that have rendered the Nigerian society inoperable.

The fore going situation coalesces into a question of whether the nationwide euphoria that trailed the serial inauguration ceremonies on May 29th 2019 will  be sustained all through the next four years? This is the question whose answer remains a capital no for obvious reasons. Nigerians have come to see governance as a dispensation that is determined by the whims and caprices of whomsoever holds the reins of power.  By the same fact, the power of life and death over Nigerians has unwittingly and metaphorically been given to the inaugurated President and governors who collectively constitute the most potent and hence critical component of the country’s leadership community.  Which level the country will go next – whether up or down, will now depend on the decisions of the potentates both as individual actors, or when and if they act collectively.

If the logic behind the argument of this tacit emasculation of the Nigerian society by leaders, whom the people routinely celebrate and inaugurate by ritual after every four years is not readily acceptable, it is not surprising. Just as well is it also not surprising that many Nigerians have come to accept their insensate subjugation by the powers that be, as a divine right of the leadership. Because of a fastidious attachment to some outdated cultural values, Not a few Nigerians have allowed their condescension to feudal instincts becloud their appreciation of the tenets of modern day democracy.

It is mainly for this reason that the interface between most Nigerians and their President as well as governors terminates soon after the euphoria of the inauguration ceremonies, beyond which it becomes the master-servant business as usual.