‘No one pretends that democracy is perfect or all-wise, indeed, it has been said that democracy is the worst form of government EXCEPT for all others that have been tried from time to time.’
Winston Churchill
‘Under a dictatorship, a nation ceases to exist. All that remains is a fiefdom; a planet of slaves regimented by aliens from outer space.
Wole Soyinka
There appears to be an uneasy calm in Africa’s democratic space lately. After the Arab Spring revolution that began in 2010 culminating in regime changes in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya and Bahrain in addition to a protracted civil war in Syria, Africa once again is witnessing a disturbing erosion of the famished legs of its fragile democracy by military coup dètats. Tchad, Guinea, Sudan, Mali and now Burkina Faso are all currently under throes of Jack-boot military dictatorships that swept democratically elected governments out of power. Aside Sudan in Central Africa, all the other coup dètats occurred in West African thereby threatening to transform the sub-region into a dictators haven.
Many experts and keen observers of political events as well as political gladiators themselves are not surprised about this development. However, some individuals that are not given to paying much attention to the shenanigans of political class are asking a perplexing question, ‘what is happening in the sub-region? They are wondering whether democracy is failing in Africa and if so why is it happening preponderantly in West Africa? Many thought that Africa and indeed the world have put the era of military coups behind them. So they cannot fathom a reason for resurgence of dictatorships that seem to be spreading speedily like the Arab Spring in the sub-region. To understand or impute a reason to this disturbing trend, I will like to reflect on just three key factors for now. These are the way that democracy is being practised in Africa, African politics and the geo-political topography of West Africa, especially the Sahelian area.
For a start, a common and seemingly operant definition of democracy as propounded by Abraham Lincoln is ‘government of the people, by the people and for the people.’ In its simplistic form, democracy translates to a form of governance that is all encompassing and is deferrent to wishes of the majority. However, democracy in Africa does not follow this principle. Instead, it has become a form of government ‘for a few, by the people for a few.’ This is because as we have witnessed, a few elites and intellectuals in company of certain wealthy individuals usually come together to form political parties, invite the people into their fold for purpose of elections only and when they capture power, exclude the people while helping themselves, families and cronies to spoils of public offices. Rather than pursuing good governance denominated by preponderance of policies and projects for common good while in public offices, they pursue narrow and selfish interests at the detriment of vast majorities. When citizens demand or beg for inclusion, they are either given crumbs on selective basis or denied any outrightly. The masses normally seek to protest non-exclusion from governance or its products, as part of their fundamental rights in a democracy. You know what?, the same politicians that the poor electorates voted into power turn around to harness State security and judicial apparatuses to harass and harangue them into submission or latent dissent. As experience has shown us, a secret dissent left to fester will over time mutate into popular agitation in various forms. This is what gave rise to the various security challenges like terrorism, insurgency, kidnapping and banditry plaguing many African nations today. In Nigeria for example, Boko Haram insurgency and terrorism are said to be consequences of bad governance, official corruption and State repression. Same goes for similar groups that have been destabilizing the peace, security and internal cohesion of Nigeria’s neighbours in the West African sub-region. Unfortunately, rather than returning to the fundamental principles of inclusiveness and pursuit of common good that are inherent in democratic governance, many African leaders prefer to maintain the status quo while unleashing their security forces to quell dissenting forces and voices. As we have also witnessed, this has proven ineffective due to the inappropriateness of it majorly and inadequate capacity of Government security forces additionally. We have seen how national security forces in African countries have been repeatedly overwhelmed by superior firepower of insurgents, terrorists and bandits. Majority of the juntas that ceased power from civilian governments in parts of Africa have cited non-provision of requisite tools for tackling the security challenges affecting their respective countries as a major reason for the putsch. Whether or not their actions are justified, most African armies and security forces especially in the West African sub-region lack modern war fighting tools and equipment for a fact. Aside politicians and government functionaries; including African military hierarchies that are busy enriching themselves from war economy of insecurity to the detriment of operational effectiveness of their forces, the reluctance of advanced countries; especially those in Western Hemisphere, to sell armament and systems to African countries also contributes to current security imbroglio of some African States. This however is a topic for another discussion at another time. Therefore, it is safe to conclude that African democratic practices are contributing to resurgence of military coup dètats in Africa.
Another reason why we are witnessing coup dètats in Africa currently is the nature of politics in the Continent. Whereas politics is practised with decorum, finésse and in accordance with prescribed laws in saner climes, it is a matter of internecine engagements, chaos and wanton destruction of lives and properties in Africa without regard to any laws.
Nowhere is this more prevalent than in Sub-Saharan Africa where every election and preparations for it is a war that is fought with high human and material casualties. It is estimated that more than a million lives have been lost to electoral violence in Nigeria from independence till date while the cost of material losses is estimated to be more than N1.5 trillion. Engagement of political thugs, arsonists and hired assassins by politicians and political parties has become part of electoral culture in Africa. In Nigeria for example, incumbent governments usually harness State resources, including security forces to intimidate or eliminate opposition in order to rig elections. Similarly, we have witnessed how many incumbent African Presidents, or by whatever nomenclatures they are known, have manipulated their respective National Assemblies to effect unlawful constitutional changes that enabled them to remain in power perpetually. These in addition to several perverse democratic practices of politicians and leaders question legitimacy of democratic governments so-called, of many African countries. These also are among the grievances being openly peddled by the new juntas. Finally, the geo-political topography of the West African Sub-region with emphasis on the Sahelian region offers a complex security challenge to governance in terms of Africa’s colonial history and physical landscape of the area. Most countries in the sub-region are Francophone that have enduring ties with their colonial master, France. The Francophone countries are practically governed as appendages of France that is less sensitive to the cultural traditional and religious aspirations of citizens.
This had bred resentment and dissent among hardline religionists over the years. It therefore did not come as surprises to many when civil wars, insurgency, terrorism and kidnappings took roots in some Francophone African countries especially in the wake of global jihads that were waged by Al-Quaeda and ISSIS. In the case of Nigeria, although UK which is its former colonial master does not exert as much influence on the country as France does on its former colonies, Nigeria’s divisive domestic politics and poor governance tapered by endemic official corruption were what gave rise to Niger Delta agitations and later the Boko Haram insurgency. To compound the internal security situation of West African countries, the Sahelian area of the sub-region is characterized by large swathes of arid and semi-arid scorched lands delineated by porous international borders. The porous borders offer criminals, including insurgents and terrorists, limitless freedom of movement and action within the sub-region.
Thus far, it appeared that civil authorities in the Sub-region are overwhelmed by the sheer complexity of providing adequate security in area. Regrettably, they also failed to provide adequate support to their security forces to crush rebellion and criminality decisively. Instead, they are preoccupied with political gains and clinging to power. The juntas that executed putsches against their civil governments in Africa recently have been vociferous about this and averred that they acted out of frustration. Overall, one can safely subsume that inadequate democratic governance or lack of it is responsible for current coup dètats that in parts of Africa. Have we seen the last of it? may be yes and may be not.
May be yes because it seems that security forces in most African countries have imbibed adequate democratic culture and therefore will remain subordinate to civil authorities. Additionally, the hierarchy of security organizations as currently constituted in places like Nigeria for example, is skewed in favour of the President’s general geo-political zone. Therefore, the prospect for dissent within the nation’s security architecture that could threaten their position appear remote. This is my thinking. Conversely I said ‘may be not’ because African politicians, especially those in Nigeria, seem to have learnt little or nothing from the history of our country’s political evolution. For example, since restoration of democratic governance in Nigeria on May 29, 1999, the country has not witnessed significant developments in terms of infrastructure, good governance and general living conditions of citizens. Politicians from all the political parties that have been in power since restoration of democracy in Nigeria and other public servants have engaged in more corruption and poor governance than the military which they constantly lampoon and accuse of being responsible for the country’s under-development. Similarly, the current structure and hierarchy of security organisations especially the military as currently exists is skewed heavily in favour of one particular geo-political area. For example, appointments and deployments are no longer based on merit and competency neither are geo-political and creed balancing that previously guided the efforts of any relevance to this government. Most officers that do not belong to certain geo-political area of Nigeria or are not adherents of certain creed are excluded from ‘lucrative’ posts in the military. Meanwhile, a few others perpetuate themselves or rotate between these juicy offices simply because they ‘belong’. There is a lot of disquiet among security forces on account of these brazen injustices and regimental impunity. This scenario transports us back to events of 1966 in the military that nearly destroyed us as a nation. Yet, civilian authorities look away or pretend that all is well because it suits their common pecuniary interests and political aspirations. Howsoever anyone chooses to look at or interpret these issues, they are not healthy for the polity and growth of democracy in Nigeria. We cannot afford to re-write our negative history on account of divisive politics. Let anyone that doubt these allegations try to gauge the morale of security forces in Nigeria discreetly and determine whether or not they are happy with current situation. This is not to talk about the seething anger and despondency in the polity among most Nigerians; especially everyday ones over prevalent poverty and suffering in the land. Nigerians cannot particularly understand how and why pervasive insecurity has reduced the country to a daytime nightmare. They are frustrated by the seeming inability of the country’s security architecture to tackle criminal onslaughts and offensive activities of insurgents, terrorists, kidnappers, armed robbers, ritualists, assassins, cultists, drug barons and drug addicts, yahoo boys and yahoo girls etc. decidedly. Yet, what matters most to an average Nigerian politician currently and his/her political party is how to win the next election so that his or her fingers can remain in the national till continually. Nigerian politicians seem to be playing only lip service to the plight of commoners. This type of attitude it is that led to the military putsch that we witnessed in parts of Africa recently. It is therefore a wake up call for African politicians especially the Nigerian stock and those that govern others to put personal and party considerations aside for now and provide good governance to all without ethno-religious or other narrow considerations. In our case, let Mr President ensure an all inclusive polity; including inside his security organizations within the small span of his remaining tenure in order to salvage his image and reputation. My concluding thoughts are however these. No matter the allure of what is happening elsewhere in Africa currently regarding coup dètats, let our military forces know equally that no matter how bad democratic governance may be, it is a thousand times better and preferable to generality of peoples in this civilization. And lastly, let it be known also by them that a million armoured tanks accompanied by a huge armada of jet fighters cannot defeat the revolt of an angry, maltreated and malnourished citizenry. To be sure, they can ask their counterparts in Sudan for a first-hand experience of what mass movement and civil disobedience are all about. I rest my case please!
Usman Okai Austin is a Political and Public Affairs Analyst. He contributed this piece from Abuja