Teaching Comparative Government and Politics

Friday, October 08, 2010

Drama in seven acts?

Jeremy Weate used his Naijablog to offer a link to a potentially valuable analysis of Nigerian political history. (Thank you.) Dr. Adekeye Adebajo is the executive director of the Centre for Conflict Resolution and author of The Curse of Berlin: Africa after the Cold War. This op-ed analysis was published in South Africa's Mail & Guardian. It offers a useful, brief summary of Nigerian history since independence. Students can check out his contentions using their textbooks.

The seven horsemen of Nigeria's apocalypse

Our tale here refers to the biblical vision of four apocalyptic horsemen representing conquest, war, famine and death.

Since 1960, Nigeria's leaders have failed to lift 70% of their compatriots out of poverty, to build and maintain viable infrastructure and to stem profligate corruption that has resulted in more than $380-billion being siphoned into foreign bank accounts. Might the next horseman to ride on to the Nigerian stage represent the end of the country as a viable entity?

The petty ambition and often inhumane greed of many Nigerian leaders have prevented a country of enormous potential from fulfilling its leadership aspirations and achieving its development potential…

More positively, Nigeria's foreign policy has been impressively active…

The achievements of Nigerian artists, professionals and sportsmen have also been noteworthy…

Nigeria's prolific film industry, "Nollywood", has attracted positive international attention…

In spite of this talent, Nigeria's 50 years of independence can be viewed as a drama in six acts, with military horsemen appearing on the national stage to save the country from the decadence of corrupt politicians, only to descend themselves into similar venality…

In May 2007, after a disgracefully flawed election, Obasanjo handed power to Umaru Yar'Adua, the first university graduate to govern Nigeria… Yar'Adua... died in office five months ago before he could implement real change. His southern deputy, Goodluck Jonathan, took over as president and announced, two weeks ago, that he would contest elections scheduled for January 2011.

Northern autocrat Babangida also announced his candidacy. The powerful north strongly opposes what it sees as Jonathan's violation of the unwritten accord in the ruling People's Democratic Party, an agreement to alternate power between north and south.

Could Babangida's declaration lead to a volatile situation, one that could yet generate a crisis and eventually lead to the triumphant arrival of the seventh horseman of Nigeria's apocalypse?