The diasporan actually shot his argument down when he asked that ‘civil servants’, should expose politicians, and ‘journalists’ should do their work of being society’s watchdog. He must have assumed that those constituencies – journalists and civil servants – were immune and innocent from the madness that has befallen Nigeria. That of course is far from true, for civil servants are oftentimes worse than politicians (some of them instruct the politicians on the best way of making money), and journalism has itself become a platform for laundering the images of politicians and some so-called journalists are all-out hirelings without a shred of conscience.
The statement that only a bloody revolution will cleanse Nigeria has been oft-repeated. But when many people talk about the prospects of ‘killing all the big men that have held us down’, they magnanimously exclude themselves and their ‘loved ones’. The other day it was Professor Ben Nwabueze, a one-time ‘Minister of the Federal Republic’, calling for a bloody revolution. As an ex-Minister, he is slam-bang in the region of those that will be targeted by the mob. But he seemed to think not. Because of this clichéd use of the word and term ‘revolution’, and its potential mismanagement in most scenarios, it is important that we examine that phenomenon as it pertains to Nigeria.
Some talk about the ‘Rawlings option’. They say that a ‘mad man’ should come and kill off all the big men, and politicians that have messed up Nigeria for so long. I used to subscribe to this idea and even an all-out killing spree revolution. But not anymore, for some reasons which I will explain. In the first place, an all-out, 70’s- type revolution may open up avenues for anyone to revenge against real and perceived enemies. In the 60’s and 70’s, people still had a bit of innocence, and it was easy for any leader (usually military), to convince them that such actions were being taken in their favour and on their behalf. These days, we know too much, and we over-analyse. It will therefore be difficult to get a broad-based support for any revolution, without people alleging all sorts. These days too, the superpowers are very much concerned with events in our type of country and will not sit by and watch any hot-head kill of their corrupt ‘friends’. Their creed is simply ‘self-interest’, and only a fool will believe what is happening in North Africa is for our benefit!
Then we have to reckon with the effect of the internet. If it was possible for Rawlings in the 80s to kill off some of Ghana’s most prominent politicians without drawing opprobrium, today, the pictures of live killings and beheadings will appear promptly on youtube.com and other internet platforms. Before you know it, the gory killings that we envisage, will appear on major TV stations worldwide, with much condemnation and condescension accompanying them. Commentators will not talk about how Nigeria is trying to reform itself, but how barbaric we are, to engage in extra-judicial killings under whatever guise. The dreamers of revolution must realize that the situation we have found ourselves is partly our fault, and the machinations of those other countries that they seek to impress.
Our culture is perhaps the most difficult challenge in this analysis. Before we engage in a Che Guevara expedition, we should ask how such a panacea will be absorbed by our psychological make-up. We are not a sedate people. Our people are often excitable. Revolutions are better digested by a people given to philosophy, who can anchor the disturbing events that occasion a revolution, on greater philosophical pedestals. Are we like that? Are we even training ourselves in that direction? A revolution here may easily dissolve into a civil war, for we are emotional people. We are given to rumours, and the benefits of a revolution may be frittered away on the wings of misinformation. How prepared are we for fifth columnists who may want to hijack the events. How do we even ensure that the entire revolution does not become another avenue for the world’s major arms-producing countries to dump more ammunition on us and watch us kill ourselves?
So, do you want a revolution? I will give you one. A peaceful one.
What if we staged a revolution at the polls? What if we really mobilized ourselves, our friends, kith and kin, to vote for real change and not mere promises? What if we identified, across the board, those candidates who may not have all the money in this world, but whose antecedents have shown that they may be different? What if we asked candidates to tell us their reform agenda? In our case today, it is not just about the economy, stupid, as they say. It is about serious reforms. It is about restoring the dignity of man – the Nigerian man, woman youth and child. We should demand from candidates how they want to reduce the cost of government. We should not be swayed by base sentiments as is currently the case, but by the potentials of true leadership.
One litmus test we can give to candidates is to see how many bad friends they are keeping. They say ‘show me your friends and I know who you are’. Some candidates are cavorting with the same bad godfathers that have turned Nigeria into Hell on Earth. It is not rocket science to discern that their allegiances will be to those whom they are collecting money from today. We can start our own peaceful revolution by going against the grain, and showing these oppressors that we want true change this time around.
But the greater revolution will have to come from within. Our revolution should be about self-reform. Yes we need true, honest leadership to shepherd us and anchor our efforts and emotions. But the harder work is ours. The revolution we need is to reform our values. We need to determine that the unbridled quest for wasteful wealth and self-aggrandisation is no longer what we desire. We need to heed the words of JF Kennedy, in that we should not only think of what Nigeria can do for us but what we can do for Nigeria. We need to heed Mahatma Gandhi by being the change we want to see in our world. Our revolution will be effective when we all police our society, when we refrain from obtaining more than our fair share of things.
There are two other options. One, we may hope and pray for that ‘mad man’. Only that no one wants to offer him/herself as sacrificial lamb. Nigeria cannot even produce a Mohammed Bouazizi, that Tunisian street hawker who set himself, and the Middle East, on fire. And if we get this ‘mad man’, the mismanagement of the process is a serious potential. The second option is that we get carried away, and vote for status quo because we are trying to get back at ‘Muslims or North’ or other primordial considerations. If that happens, we will continue to wallow in an oppressed society, where our leaders cocoon themselves in bullet-proof, tinted luxury cars, and disdainfully chase us the led out of the road, out of existence. For the understanding of leadership by the present crop of leaders cannot transcend self-worship and ego trips.
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