Politics of Cynicism: The Nigeria's Type

Mohammed, Suhaibu
mohdsmc@yahoo.com

For many ages, when ever the buzzes of politics have been buzzing, I
tried to look at the Nigeria's type through the lens of just and fair beyond
the normal picture of actuality. Even so, what I always got in synopsis
was a bunch of hydra heated debates between the upper-classes/riches
and the lower-classes/masses. Although the democratization of Nigeria
was a little baby; it is, nonetheless, so weird that since the handing over
of military to the civilian government in 1999 almost nine years today,
there has not existed on the landscape of Nigeria, an average election one
in which half the citizens be contented with. Far from been contented,
there is the issue of totality of hope termination by an able Nigerian. The
zeal for the core value of the electorate has dramatically altered counter-
clockwise by the dull leadership of the Republic: first, in trying to hold
power to its bid and second in the interest-based system it infuses of
upgrading the self and dehumanizing others that are not territorially
.within the border of it(self) simply put it-- self prejudice

Underlying this, however, the Nigerian politicians worsen the condition

of these masses by injecting hostility in the politics within and across
party lines. Even though politics has been viewed as a dirty game; the
hostility shouldn’t be intense and deadly as in the case of Nigeria. It
offers no consensus in post-campaign moments and the way PDP is
ruling, sometimes one loses focus in pulling out from a democratic
thought, and pushing into a dictatorial discourse. While the former was
pro-people type, the later was anti-people and despotic in nature and
scope which have an oversimplification in its correlation with Nigeria's
party bias (PDP vs. ANPP); tyranny (government vs. the electorate); and
despotic identity (counter-people). Elites have long been out of
politicization process for they are not casting votes for so long and if you
insist in questioning why, the reply you will get is: "my vote is not going
to be count"! On the same vein his fellow poor, illiterate or ailing
Nigerian believes to cast his vote for whoever give him money the most.
Talking about money, this is a uniform factor that dilapidates Nigeria's
political system in which you will see a university graduate, lying and
fooling a candidate together with his jungle/sub-group yelling and
.shouting for some hundreds to the course

Essentially, while all these persist, you can witness a cancer undiagnosed in the heart
of Nigeria's politics—the cancer of fear and corruption. So "in the end—in the end—
in the end, that is what this election is about. Do we participate in the politics of
cynicism or do we participate in the politics of hope?" (Obama: 2004). An answer to
this question requires some serious looking at some serious issues in
some serious Nigeria. If our politics is/was hope-yielding what is/was its
stand? Well, from the transition to democratic power in 1999 ending the
fifteen years of military regime and the acclamation of Obasanjo as the
first civilian president, tensions intensifies, conflicts heightens over
power, ethnicity and political divide and Nigerian government has done
little to end the macro/infra, multi/ethno and socio/political conflict. And
with the corruption on ground, and the dismissal of an entire layer of
senior officers in the name of a corruption program by Obasanjo in 2000,
we only witness the hyper/ultra politico-violence in the north which set of
call for Nigerian separation to a looser confederate of ethnic
regionalization (Guardian Weekly 2-8, March: 2000; The Economist, 8,
.(April: 2000, IRIN, 11 October: 2000, IRIN, 20, October: 2000
If Obasanjo administration was the hope of Nigerian election and
transition, we could tell. In 2002 according to World Organization against
Torture (WOAT), Security Forces operating with direct orders from the
government claimed 1,000 lives just in response to social unrest. In a
farce 2003 election, which has been generally viewed as war-centric, full
of allegations and fraudulent-based, was considered by many
international observers as null and void. European Union observers said
earlier that the election was marred by fraud and irregularities. The
Washington-based National Democratic Institute said it had found 'ballot-
stuffing, rigging, voter intimidation, violence and fraud', particularly in
the Niger-Delta region and southeast. Opposition parties opposed it for a
'fraudulent democracy is worse than a dictatorship' (Globe and Mail,
.(April 23, 2003

And now our politics could be seen as not only the seemingly unrest
between political caucuses and the fellow poor but extended to the
waxing greediness of wealth-likeness, power stickiness and growing
selfishness within the executive wolfs. When tension busted in 2006
between the president—Obasanjo and his vice—Atiku Abubakar of
which the boss accused the vice as being dishonest and corrupt, and
Atiku, the vice maintained pinning the boss against the roll of the third
term. So the conflict between them raised a decline in performance and
slow-flowing of government activities often causing doubt and
skepticism as to whether the electoral commission has the capacity to run
a proper vote. Also the 2007 election had made history as one, if not the
worst election in the history of politics they made that happen and we are
never be grateful for what they sacrifice to get it done. Prior to the
election, the government rejected demands from the opposition parties to
delay the presidential election which resulted to non-violence protest and
called the citizens to boycott the election. The election went ahead as
scheduled and was considered deeply as flawed, which undermines
.Yar'adua's presidency and upset the electorate

These are the kinds—the Nigeria's—type of politics: counter justice,

counter productive. There has never been an election in the history of
Nigeria, which goes without lives were been claimed. The electorate in
Nigeria is far behind the gates of his government: he doesn’t see his
government; he doesn’t communicate with his government; he doesn’t
feel his government. The government appeared to him as a ghost, but
overwhelmingly exploits him in the face of a horror vampire sucking his
blood. The flip-flop trend of Nigeria's democratization is deceiving,
unraveling the ethical promise of nationhood by forming a mini-
community of selfhood. Be that as it may, the nation's state of
governance, of post-military regime can be termed as broken and
unstructured with numerous clashes; mayhems and unrest in consequent
of power abuse; corruption and misrepresentation; coupled with dirty
politics of bloodshed, rigging, fraudulent, voter intimidation and extreme
violence that sweep away lives, leaving the common Nigerian in doubt,
.fear and cynicism