Democratization in Nigeria

1. Democratization in Nigeria Julia Gettle Andrew Labombarda Jay Singh

2. Thesis British execution of colonization in Nigeria undermined future attempts at democracy, promoting an unstable political climate vulnerable to military coups and corruption.

3. The Colonial Period Direct British control over the Niger region escalated preexisting ethnic and religious tensions through by alternately ignoring and recognizing cultural differences between the regions of the Nigerian protectorate. The area was officially unified in 1914 into a completely artificial structure that disregarded religious and ethnic differences. The western and eastern regions of the new Nigeria were traditionally fairly devolved, whereas the heavily Islamist north had a fairly rigid emirate hierarchy. As a result, British rule in the north was very indirect, using the preexisting structure as a base for governance; administration in the south took a more direct approach involving westernization, Christianization, and the creation of a more involved, more representative system in the south. Governor Frederick Lugard largely established the principle of indirect rule in the northern region. His The Dual Mandate in British Tropical Africa illustrated the prevalent attitudes toward colonial administration in his day: in order to remain a superpower, Britain had to ascribe to the current colonization fad, especially when doing so meant gaining control of areas before France or Germany did. The Dual Mandate prescribed rule through the indigenous emirs (nobles) “[s]ince native authority, especially if exercised by alien conquerors is inevitably weakened by the first impact of civilised rule.” In order to prevent internal conflicts and “maintain the control of the Central Government over all aliens,” Lugard insisted that any part of the native administration should be staffed entirely by members of the same group; ironically, by keeping the various ethnic groups completely separate in the early unified government, British administrators set the stage for difficulties when the entire country was joined in a single representative democracy. A stable administration, virtually guaranteed (so Lugard argues) by these methods, is most profitable to the “caretaking” nation, which was of course the point: profit from development of the colony. Emphasis on profitability for the imperialist, however, naturally propagated neglect of cultural realities and the long-term future of the protectorate. The northern and southern blocs in Nigeria were governed distinctly differently because that was the most efficient system at the time; little attention was paid to the long-term effects these policies would have. This divergence in policy combined with the natural cultural cleavages led to heightened tensions and disunity between the two regions that would continue to trouble the Nigerian state.

4. Independence Nigerian independence from Britain came in the form of a series of new Constitutions. Beginning with the so-called Clifford Constitution of 1922, the Nigerians were incrementally granted self-determination, initially through the addition of a legislative council to the southern region and continuing with the Richards and MacPherson Constitutions, which expanded legislative elections and formalized regional autonomy. The process climaxed on October 1, 1960 in a ceremony that officially declared Nigeria’s independence from Britain and established another Constitution under the Commonwealth. However, every degree of self-determination was granted by the British. First Prime Minister Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa is clear in his address at the independence ceremony that Nigerian self-determination had not been a conquest but a gift: “Words cannot adequately express my joy and pride at being the Nigerian citizen privileged to accept from Her Royal Highness these Constitutional Instruments which are the symbols of Nigeria’s Independence… Each step of our constitutional advance has been purposefully and peacefully planned with full and open consultation, not only between representatives of all the various interests in Nigeria but in harmonious cooperation with the administering power which has today relinquished its authority.” This assessment of the nature of the transition was paralleled by the conduct of the independence ceremony: Princess Alexandra of Kent bequeathed Nigeria’s “Freedom Charter” to the new Speaker of the House, Jaja Wachuku, during the proceedings. Britain had been caught up in the decolonization trend; wracked by debts from two world wars and caught in a wave of domestic anti-imperialism, the British decided to relinquish control over its colonies, including Nigeria. The fact that Nigeria became an independent republic by the grace of its former overlords destabilized the foundations of democracy: there was no charismatic figure to guide the new state through the formative early period, leaving it weak and vulnerable to conflict, electoral fraud, and coups.

5. Nigerian Civil War • The Nigerian Civil war, which is also known as Nigerian-Biafran War, lasted between July 1967 and January 1970. The war was a political conflict caused by the southeastern province of Nigeria which called itself the Republic of Biafra. The causes of this war vary; though among them include the different groups of people who occupy different parts of Nigeria. The British unified Nigeria, which contained a variety of groups of people. The Southeastern part of Nigeria was primarily Igbo, and declared itself independence because of consistent violence against its people. The difference between the Igbo region and the other two regions (Hausa-Fulani of the North, and Yoruba of the Southwest) of Nigeria is that the Igbo people had a governmental system set up in which every man could participate. For the regions in which the population was dominated by the Hausa-Fulani or the Yoruba things were opened up to the people less. The decisions were mainly controlled by the Sultan, who had control over the Emir’s who were the heads of each community. These decisions executed by the Sultan were final, and the entire population of people was required to follow the decisions made. In May of 1967 in the Declaration of Biafra, Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu said, “Affirming your trust and confidence in me; Having mandated me to proclaim on your behalf, and in your name the Eastern Nigeria be a sovereign independent Republic…I…hereby solemnly proclaim that the territory and region known as and called Eastern Nigeria…shall henceforth be an independent sovereign state of the name and title of The Republic of Biafra.” Ojukwu went on in detail about the way the new Republic would operate. This was a clear break from the rest of Nigeria, which was mainly brought about with the radical differences in operation of the regions. Though there was a clear divide in the country noticeable to outsiders, only 4 countries recognized the new Republic, though many European countries expressed sympathy. The war went on mainly staying in a stalemate from 1968 onwards, though the war finally ended in 1970 when the federal forces forced a Biafran surrender. It is estimated that the conflict between the differing regions caused a million people to die mainly because of starvation.

6. Buhari topples Shagari in Coup • In 1983 military Major-General Muhammadu Buhari overthrew Alhaji Shehu Shagari’s civilian government. Shagari who was elected as President of Nigeria in 1979 was thought to have been corrupt especially in the re-election process. This prompted the militaristic coup lead by Buhari. Though both these men were of the Hausa-Fulani ethnicity of Nigeria, the military was the backing of the coup of the Presidency and the formation of a new government. At the time it was seen as a relief by Nigerians to have Shagari’s position be taken over and the structure of the government changed because of the fraud associated with the election and also the world oil prices going down. Also another cause of the overthrow was an increase in religious and political violence which was caused by the diversity in Nigeria. In his maiden speech, Buharia mentions many of the reasons the coup had to overthrow the current Nigerian government, “the constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (1979) has been suspended, except those sections of it which are exempted in the constitution. The change became necessary in order to put an end to the serious economic predicament and the crisis of confidence now afflicting our nation…It is true that there is a worldwide economic recession. However, in the case of Nigeria, its impact was aggravated by mismanagement… The last general election was anything but free and fair. The only political parties that could complain of election rigging are those parties that lacked the resources to rig” Buharia then went on to mention the changes that the new government would bring, “The economy will be given a new impetus and better sense of direction….Corrupt officials and their agents will be brought to book… This generation of Nigerians, and indeed future generations, have no country other than Nigeria. We shall remain here and salvage it together.” The ideas he has to bring change for Nigeria are vague, but have good reason. Also the last thing he mentions is the togetherness of the country as a whole. He shows how he wants to unify the country and not have it be a bunch of separate factions of people. Buharia, however was removed from power only two years after he overthrew the old government. Though the reason he was overthrown was not because he did not want to follow through with his plan at hand, but instead because he was following through with the plan too closely. He wanted to investigate the supposed fraudulent awarding of contracts in the Ministry of Defense in the past administration, though if he was to carry out this investigation many senior military officers would have been affected. This caused General Ibrahim Babanigidda to overthrow Buharia to save the corrupt military officials. Eventhough Buharia did overthrow a civilian government he did so because of the corruptness at hand throughout the original government, and he promised to bring change and bring the corrupt officials to justice, though this was the reason he was taken out of power. Lastly one more ironic fact of the failures of Buharia’s career is that he ran for Presidential election in 2003, though was defeated by Obasanjo. He contested that election, which had many convincing arguments for being corrupt, though the people told him to stop and said that he was wasting his time. To continue his failures he also was a candidate in the extremely controversial 2007 elections in which Yar’Adua supposedly won.

7. The death (heart attack) of military dictator General Sani Abacha in June 1998 left General Abdulsalami Abubakar in power who created a new constitution allowing multi-party elections. Through a series of bloodless coups and military threats, General Sani Abacha seized control of Nigeria from ’93-’98. Abacha's regime demolished any semblence of democratic institutions put in place by his predecessors and was accused of multiple human rights violations, the most notable being the execution of Ken Saro-Wiwa (a journalist and an activist) and the imprisonment of former President and Nigerian Army General Olusegun Obasanjo (for “treason”; would later serve as President again from '99-'07). Abacha died of a heart attack in June 1998 leaving General Abdulsalami Abubakar to take office. Abubakar created a new constitution for the Federal Republic of Nigeria which not only allowed multi-party elections but actually mandated some sort of party affiliation for elligibility of office (a way of keeping military leaders who have no political affiliations from becoming legitimate). Chapter VI, Part I, Section 134 of the Nigerian Constitution sets forth the rules and legitimacy for multi-party elections and how a winner should/will be decided. Abubakar’s Constitution also set up a framework for the democratic process by outlining 4-year terms (Chapter VI), separate branches of government with checks and balances (Chapter I), devolution of local government (Chapter I), and the supreme power of the constitution above all other legislature (Chapter I). Abubakar stepped down from office as soon as he was able, serving for a little less than a year. Abacha's regime was a huge step backwards from democracy and only helped to reinforce a long-running trend of dislike for Democracy among Nigerians. However, his successors have accomplished major strides towards a democratic republic for Nigeria, the constitution outlined by Abubakar being only the first milestone.

8. Current President Umaru Yar Adua allegedly stole the 2007 election with Obasanjo's help, but it was still the first time the government transferred power from civilian government to civilian government. Obasanjo made great strides towards democracy and Adua promises to continue that. On April 21, 2007 the federal republic of Nigeria held its federal elections as set out by the Nigerian Constitution. In a day that would have seemed to deal a serious blow towards the democratization of Nigeria, polls were opened late, voters were intimidated into not voting, votes dissappeared or were duplicated, and the entire process was heavily corrupted. The end result: Umaru Yar Adua, the handpicked successor of Obasanjo, won the election by a landslide and was sworn in May 29, 2008. The other two major candidates filed to have the election invalidated due to fraud, but a Nigerian court has struck it down. After petitioning the Supreme Court of Nigeria, they were struck down again in early December 2008.According to Nigerian publication “The Punch” Supreme Nigerian Court Justice Niki Tobi found no evidence that the election had been rigged: “The way politics is played in this country frightens me every dawning day. It is a fight to finish affair. Nobody accepts defeat at the polls. The judges must be the final bus stop.” In any event, Obasanjo had accomplished many feats during his presidency in pushing Nigeria towards democracy, and Adua has promised to continue and expand upon his projects. Adua filled a pre-election promise by announcing his personal assets to the public to prevent corruption and to set a precedent for future politicians. Another important point is that for the first time in the history of the presidency of Nigeria, power is being peacefully passed from one civilian leader to another. So while the process in itself is grossly undemocratic and corrupt, the end result may lead to a more democratic future for Nigeria if Adua is willing and able to continue along Obasanjo's path.