SECURITY; AN EXPECTED DIVIDEND OF DEMOCRACY. A CRITICAL ANALYSIS( NIGERIA AS A POINT OF REFERENCE)

BEING A PAPER PRESENTED ON THE 3RD POLITICAL AWARENESS PROGRAMME ORGANISED BY JAMA’AT TA’AWUNIL MUSLIMEEN (IBADAN CHAPTER) ON 17TH JULY, 2011.

THEME: 12 YEARS OF DEMOCRACY; PROGRESSION OR RETROGRESSION.

TOPIC: DEMOCRACY AND SECURITY: ANY DISCREPANCY?

RESTRUCTURED TO: SECURITY; AN EXPECTED DIVIDEND OF DEMOCRACY. A CRITICAL ANALYSIS (NIGERIA AS A POINT OF REFERENCE)

DELIVERED BY: ALH M.D AKANMU JINADU, PREPARED BY AKANMU SEMIU A.

16TH JULY, 2011.

Chairman of the occasion, the dignitaries on the podium, the organizer; an amiable organization of advocacy for social change (JTM), brothers and sisters in Islam here present, other protocol well observed.

As Muslims, I say: May the peace of Allah, His blessings and bounties be with every one of us; Asalam alaekum waramatulahi wabarakatuhu.

It is a golden opportunity being here today; neither for jumbo dancing nor merry making, but to discharge our responsibility as Allah’s vicegerents on earth i.e. His overseers and custodian over all other beings (living and non living), saddled with the responsibility of keeping the earth in order. (Q2vs 30)

Invariably, as Muslims, we must be political partakers and administrators so as not to relegate our esteem position on earth. This convincingly will be achieved by organizing intellectual fora and assemblage like this with the primary and sincere motive of raising the true political consciousness of the masses especially in our immediate neighbourhood, and Nigeria as a whole.

It is against this backdrop that I want to appreciate the giant stride of this organization, as we must never be dispersed until our dream Nigeria becomes a reality. John Stalin (1937) said: “… when change is not completed, we shall continue to criticize and analyze, and when change is completed, we shall continue to consolidate, we shall never rest.”

Going to the topic proper: Democracy and Security; Any Discrepancy? With due humility and respect, I will want to restructure this topic so as to avoid any grammatical illusion and contextual ambiguity, hence, Security; an expected dividend of democracy; A critical analysis (Nigeria as a point of reference) will be suitable, taming towards the theme of this political awareness programme; 12 years of Democracy; Progression or Retrogression.

First and foremost, defining Democracy is from diverse political theorists, with that of Abraham Lincoln as the most popular and all encompassing. Lincoln posits that: Democracy is the government of the people by the people and for the people; a fusion of two Greek words; demo-people and cracy- government.

For Democracy as a political institution of governance to maintain its tenets and for the expected dividends to be a reality, its underlying principles must be religiously upheld as the only way to the manifestation of its dividends, therefore establishing the content of its purpose. Few amongst these principles are: credible electoral process, equity, fairness and justice, respect for the rule of law, and most importantly Democracy championed by Democrats and not Oligarchists, Dictators and Aristocrats as presently experienced in this nation of ours; Nigeria.

It is equally noteworthy that Democracy as a political ideology cannot solely administer human due to the multifaceted social and economic challenges. Due to this fact, socio-economic theories and policies must be implemented simultaneously in the cause of governance, not only as subordinates but also as catalysts to help in the realization of the expected impacts of Democracy.

Political Economists have therefore sub classified Democracy in terms of its imbibed economic ingredients to Socialists’ and Capitalists’ Democracy taking socialism and capitalism as tools of political economy administration. While the former has its basis on social and economic planning of production, the later is on private property exploitation, in a clearer term: exploitation of man by man.

Without mincing words, Security which is expected to be a dividend of Democracy can only be achievable when our Democracy is positioned on genuine political and socio-economic independence of Nigeria; a way to the emergence of True federalism and Resource control. Security is equally a conceptual institution where life and property are relatively free from external negative interference. It is indeed a relative term since earth in its entirety is never a peaceful place since the insurgence of mankind. Allah says: “….Indeed, mankind is created in toil (survival insecurity and difficulty)”.Q90 vs.4

It is never an overstatement that no continent, nation or country on this planet is 100percent secured: catastrophes could be natural or artificial with the end product of loss of life and property.

However, statistical analysis will bring to the fore that Nigeria is a war zone where its security machineries have not only collapsed but equally dead, waiting for burial. This insecurity ranges from the alarming rate of crime: armed robbery, arson, kidnapping, ritual killings, political assassination and politically staged-managed unrest: like the recent factional clash of the members of NURTW in Oyo State, to mention just but a few.

The unfortunate state of the nation’s security is undoubtedly traceable to the faulty foundation on which our Democracy was built and equally the erroneous marauders parading themselves as Democrats whereas they are cheap political sycophants and opportunists. Nigeria’s Democracy had failed to secure her citizenry because of the adopted economic polity where all the exorbitant budgetary allocation had never translated to food on the table of the common man.

Securing this nation is not by the amount budgeted on security viz-a-viz the number of police men, agents of SSS, other security personnel employed or the sophistication of their arms and ammunition, but simply by making life comfortable through the provision of basic social amenities and infrastructural facilities.

Karl Marx posited that: “the substructure of all superstructures is the material base, a foundation for all structures. To make a man happy, give him materialism.”

I have overtime researched and scientifically concluded that: Unemployment is the mother of poverty, Poverty breeds hunger, hunger breeds anger, Anger breeds Violence. Taking guns away from the Niger- Deltans without the deployment of armed soldiers characterized by the amnesty programme started by late Umar Yaradua (of blessed memory) is a convincing fact that no right thinking person, gainfully employed or empowered will risk ruining his life.

Not to over-emphasize economic instability as the remote cause of the nation’s insecurity, lack of education, juicy financial gain by our partisan politicians and the monster; corruption are inseparable entities from the lingering state of Nigeria’s insecurity; jeopardizing the ideals and values that should be the flourishing gains of our nascent democracy.

Nigerians must be educated; education that is qualitative and affordable. Also, proper civic education and respect for social norms and nuances must be passed to the blood streams of Nigerians; a clarion call for revolutionary struggle for economic emancipation which does not lie on racial, ethnic, religious and political sentiment. It is on this note that I want to crave your indulgence to collectively condemn the barbaric, uncivilized and faceless struggles of the so-called Islamic sect; Boko haram. Without reservation and apology whatsoever, Education of our conventional institutions is not compulsory for whosoever see it as forbidden; haram, and therefore must not be made a general rule against the interest of who do not share the ideology. However, it must be clearly stated that it is incorrect to tag the education we enjoy as being western because the word “west” connotes a description of a geographical location or an ideology of the people of this political bloc. Nor of these can explain in its real sense what we learnt in our economics, geography, government, physics, chemistry e.t.c., and therefore I want to subscribe to the submission of one of our teachers; Umar Paiko who said: Material education will precisely describe the nature of our conventional education because it is the study of matter; material.

Many of these faceless strugglers are coerced with brainwashing ideology due to the fact that they are not properly educated not only the material education as highlighted but even the correct Islamic teaching in accordance with the Sunni Islamic jurisprudence.

The expensive administration and governance as being experienced in Nigeria’s democracy has equally fuelled the nation’s state of insecurity due to the fact that politicians has made to see elected offices as antidote to their financial and economic imbroglio, and not as a call to serve humanity; this is the message from the attached jumbo pay of our political offices. This is the main reason why people seeking elected offices desperately witch hunt their co-contestants and exercise a do-or-die antics; a signal from the high rate of political assassinations and politically staged managed unrest; thus perforating our security network.

Establishment of an egalitarian society will chase the monster called Corruption which has eaten deep to our fabrics as Nigerians; a development from the oppressive life lived by the few elites and members of the high social class; a syndrome that has changed the psyche of an average Nigerian, and every body want to make pecuniary gain of any office or opportunity he had, either by crook or hook; making our country socially insecure.

For security to be enjoyed as a dividend of Democracy, our economic structures must be well institutionalized in order to cater for the needs of the citizenry. Affordable and qualitative education, and comfortable livelihood as entrenched by the constitutional provision of chapter IV, section 33, 34 and 35 of 1999 Constitution of Federal Republic of Nigeria( as amended) must be enjoined. As this is the only way to prevent our constitution from becoming a quasi material, and just a fold of papers as good as a waste basket product.

Security will be a mirage in the enlistment of Democratic dividends if things are not gotten correctly as a fore discussed and positioned, and what is required in Nigeria and other countries where security is a scarce commodity (Bahrain, Egypt, and Cote’dvoire etc) is not civil, ethnic or religious war, but a revolutionary war whose goals should be total liberation. This is what Amilcar Cabral had warned that: “we form part of a specific reality, namely Africa, fighting against colonialism, racism and imperialism…”

Conclusively, criticizing the theme of this programme for proper positioning takes an intellectually robust, scientific and empirical analysis to submit whether our Democracy is progressing or retrogressing.

As far as I am concerned, a point of reference must be specified in this assessment because there are numerous intervening variables which are capable to make any hasty submission faulty. In terms of the nation’s security, a graphical representation of a sine curve (sinusoidal wave) will depict our security trend, where as our socioeconomic indicators have been practically on the decline due to the rated hyperinflation and consistent devaluation of our currency.

Nonetheless, in terms of building our democracy as a political institution, there is a steady progress and improvement towards the dream Nigeria, as a clearer comparism in the electoral process, independence of the judiciary and respect for the rule of law between the dispensation administered by Olusegun Obasanjo and the present government will convince us and give us the hope that one day Nigeria will become a developed nation; socially, economically and politically.

I must equally reiterate that to us in the civil society, Nigeria is yet to attain democracy as defined by advanced political theorists, and what we are experiencing in Nigeria is a democratization process which painstakingly will take us to our promise land; Democracy, where all right will be respected and the common man will have food on his table with convenience; the only path to a secured nation.

No food, No security.

Thanks and God bless you all.

Asalam alaekum waramatulahi.