The demagogue, prejudices and poverty

  

Demagogue: Advanced learners Dictionary of English Language Meaning:A political orator who derives power from appealing to popular prejudices

If a majority of people in country find it hard to get the basic things in life in the midst of state controlled wealth that is of enormous proportions, there are bound to be consequences. All manner of agitators would creep out of the wood work expressing the failure of the state and claiming to have a better antidote to the suffering of the people. Sometimes such agitation could culminate in armed struggle for self determination; in other occasions it could simply lead to a few people gathering together to express their displeasure about prevailing circumstances. Often in the middle of all this a demagogue is created, more by the pressures of society and the drive of an individual or group and through oratory he can summon a gathering of people.

In Nigeria the term: marginalization has entered the political lexicon and it is used to describe a situation in which a part of the country does not get enough representation or resources from the central government.  Such terms as Islamization and Hausa Fulani domination have characterized the speech of many of the outspoken people. It appears that the exuberant policy of Federal Character has eaten into the consciousness of the Nigerian to make him think that he must be represented at cabinet positions of president even beyond the 36 ministers which the constitution says must reflect the states of the federation without exception.  Fairness and equity have replaced competence in governance and what we get is mediocre results and horrible outcomes.

The demagogue has become so popular today, whipping up ethnic, tribal and religious sentiment has been his stock in trade. He rides on popular but detrimental sentiments to get noticed or to get into political position. The irony is, if he does get political power, he hardly ever does better than those he replaced.  Ahmed Sani Yerimah is a good example. He rode into office in impoverished Zamfara state bandying  Sharia as the answer to the problems of the people. On getting elected, eight years down the line nothing appears to have changed by way of poverty in Zamfara state and Yerimah is now in the Senate. To add insult to injury, Zamfara in recent times is one of the states worse hit by Cerebral Spinal Meningitis an ailment which the incumbent governor of the state described as punished from God for the sins of the people of the state. Emir of Kano Alhaji Mohammed Sanusi II told a gathering that Zamfara State started Sharia in Nigeria; it has the highest rate of poverty in the country today. In essence, religion has become a political tool of deception used by the demagogue to enthrone himself . Yerimah currently faces charges of corruption at the Independent Corrupt Practices and other related offences (ICPC).  Other states also instituted Sharia in 1999 the same year that the former Zamfara governor did and the results are practically the same.  Its widely believed that poverty and neglect is the cause of the Boko Haram militants on slaught in the northern part of Nigeria. The leaders in the north have made trips the United Arab Emirate, particularly Dubai where Islam is liberal . They see the level of development there, but they tend to close their eyes.

In the south east, the demagogue has taken a different form. Groups agitating for the Sovereign state of Biafra hold sway. Many of them use distorted versions of history to capture the imagination of a youthful populace who do not know what really happened during Nigeria’s civil war. The Nigerian Civil War, better known as the Biafran War, (6 July 1967 – 15 January 1970), was a war fought between the government of Nigeria and the secessionist state of Biafra. ... Immediate causes of the war in 1966 included a military coup, a counter-coup, and persecution of Igbo living in Northern Nigeria. Some people who were not even born during the war period and have a distorted version of history and are whipping up ethnic and tribal sentiment claiming the rest of Nigeria hates the Igbo nation. This is an irony. The Igbo, one of the smaller ethnic groups in Nigeria have lived among the Hausa , Yoruba and other groups for centuries and command a lot of the economic prowess in the nation. Known for their business acumen and painstaking trade activity, the Igbo are situated all over Nigeria, providing goods and services in some of the most remote parts of the country. Their nationalistic and communal instinct puts them among the groups that develop their homestead through self help programmes. A traveler through Igbo land in the south east would be surprised at the level of real estate development found in some interior parts of the South East.  Again the demagogue has infected the thinking of people in the environment such that impassable roads, lack of pipe borne water is blamed on the Federal Government instead of the state governors who have been fleecing their people for decades and ignoring the calls to develop their states. A case in point is Abia state where 16years of democratic governance has yielded very little development such that the incumbent governor is burdened with filling in the numerous gaps that his predecessors have left. It’s a tragedy of monumental proportions.

The most popular demagogue in the South East is Nnamdi Kanu who has hit it big with the youth in the South East states. Kanu is championing secession of states in that part of Nigeria to create the Sovereign state of Biafra. His oratory mixed with hate speech started via Radio Biafra which sent such hateful messages into Nigeria that it’s a wonder that violence had not broken out long ago. Kanu, feeling he was not making enough impact from his base in the UK migrated to Nigeria, a place he once called a zoo in one of his broadcasts, and got locked up to boot. He is now on bail as popular as ever. A lot of what Kanu says is not true. But locking him up has given him attention and he has become the conscience of many people of eastern origin who truly believe that they are marginalized.

The Niger Delta agitation is one that dates back to Isaac Adaka Boro Major Isaac Jasper Adaka Boro (September 10, 1938 – May 9, 1968), fondly called "Boro", was a celebrated Nigerian nationalist and Nigerian civil war hero. He was one of the pioneers of minority rights activism in Nigeria. Boro believed that people of the Niger Delta deserved a fair share of the natural resources of the area of which they have been deprived.  Present day agitators have taken the shape of the demagogue getting billions from the federal government but pocketing it, not really caring about the people that they claim to represent. Again people in the Niger Delta area seem to find it easy to forgive their governors who have made away with billions of dollars in wealth. They tend to blame the federal government of Nigeria and the oil extraction companies who have degraded their land and waters for generations and have not found it necessary to develop the environment.

Government Ekpemupolo ("Tompolo")(born 1971) is a Nigerian militant commander of the disbanded Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta

For years Ekpemupolo was a commander in various guerrilla groups in the Niger Delta which were all agitating against the insensitivity of the Federal Government and the international oil companies towards to exploitation and degradation of the Niger Delta. Ekpemupolo's wealth, derived mainly from oil bunkering, played a major role in founding both MEND and also his own fighters.

Ekpemupolo embraced amnesty on October 4th 2009, in order to allow for peace in the area, and for the government and oil companies to carry out development projects, and provide jobs and training.  Ekpemupolo is believed to have been rewarded handsomely by government and has become very rich in the process. But his people still agitate. This has been the practice of many people in the region. We must not over look the fact that massive neglect and corruption has occurred among government institutions that were created to help develop the Niger Delta. The Niger Delta Development Commission(NDDC) is known for its numerous uncompleted projects and contracts in the region and recently the Ministry of the Niger Delta joined the fray of government regulatory bodies that are supposed to help develop the Niger Delta. Progress is slow and virtually none existent in this area.  

South West Nigeria, where the former  capital,. Lagos is situated, is possibly the most developed  part of the country beyond Abuja the Federal Capital Territory. Many people believe this is due to the foundation erected by the legendary Obafemi Awolowo whose policies after independence gave the Western part of Nigeria a leg up compared to many other parts. Apart from that, many people resided in Lagos and its environs because of government duty and trade and this led to the development of the area.  Politics in the south west has its root in sociocultural groups that metamorphosed into political parties. The Egbe Omo Oduduwa is one of the most renown. In today’s world, the Afenifere seeks to influence the politics of South West Nigeria, but many people look at this group with disdain and find much to be desired. In the last elections in 2015 the Afenifere backed incumbent President Goodluck Ebele Jonathan. Members of the group received gratification for their support and as such pitted themselves against other people in that part of the nation who felt betrayed by this. Jonathan instituted a National Conference in 2014 which was convened to discuss the vital reforms needed by the nation Nigeria. Many of the issues raised at the conference were of vital importance to the continuous harmonious existence of the Nigerian nation. Resource control and restructuring were key issues. Ironically, Jonathan was not able to implement any of the reforms before he left the presidency. Many people believe that he used it as a political bargaining chip to seek reelection. Right now the demagogues in the South west, many of whom benefitted from the Jonathan administration immensely, are crying out for resource control and restructuring. Nobody seems to realize that these same people have become richer and more influential as a result of the cries that they had made during the past administration. It appears that this is the age of the demagogue. Cry out loud enough, get a few people to follow you, it doesn’t matter if what you are crying for has been established before or whether you have integrity or not. The louder you can cry and the more people you can get to follow and listen to you, the better. You are bound to make money from it. Become a demagogue today.