People who use political patterns from the US and Western Europe to interpret political situations in Nigeria's context are either naive or mischievous.
It will actually make better analysis if you use Turkish or Russian democracy to show what is politically possible in Nigeria.
It will actually make better analysis if you use Turkish or Russian democracy to show what is politically possible in Nigeria.
The worst, for me, are people who use the emergence of Obama, Trump, Macron, etc as examples of how an 'outsider' can take over the political system.
As if, in those democratic contexts, up to 70% of the general population are poor, underemployed, and undereducated.
As if, in those democratic contexts, up to 70% of the general population are poor, underemployed, and undereducated.
Democracy will not evolve outside the socio-cultural paradigm. This is why social awareness/consciousness have to evolve first. This awareness requires education. Not the formal certification process, but an understanding of (as much as possible) humanity's existing knowledge.
And for Nigeria, this means cherishing thinkers, intellectuals, people who challenge our existing knowledge and preconceived notions, people who force us (whether we are formally educated or not) to think through uncomfortable perspectives that seem to go against 'common sense'.
Until we have this mass awareness, this growth in social consciousness, this understanding that the existing structures are inherently unjust and unsuitable for the diverse experiences of people we term 'citizens', then there will be no democratic and political evolution.
But as long as the general aspiration is to be integrated within the existing oppressive political system - or as we say 'to make it' - then there will be no incentive for change, no incentive for democratic evolution.
Unfortunately, the inherent oppressiveness of a system will not readily be apparent as long as people continue to believe that they have a chance 'to make it'. This hope is what politicians sell every 4 years, and many of us 'educated' Nigerians are accomplices in this 419.
Vote every 4 years. Participate in the electoral processes. But be aware that our so-called democracy is a facade for an autocratic patronage system which benefits only an elite -- and this will not change until there is a mass consciousness of the need to remake the system.
In summary: preach to the people to vote, but also educate them that we will need to do MUCH MORE than voting if we are truly aspiring to a type of liberal democracy.
