Practically everyone that holds any political power in Nigeria as president, governor, local government chairman, legislator, minister, state commissioner, councillor, board member of any parastatal or government-owned enterprise, or political party official, is in a conspiracy against citizens of Nigeria.
Elite consensus in Nigeria is actually an elite conspiracy against the interest of the poor masses. It’s the most cunning scheme to convert the commonwealth of the country to the advantage of a few.
The first weapon of the political elite against the people is section 2(1) of the 1999 Constitution, which provides that “Nigeria is one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign state…” This gives state actors the impression that the maintenance of the state is their main assignment, so they pay scant regard to the welfare of the people.
So the biggest portion of every annual budget is devoted to the maintenance of agents and agencies of the state because the state is considered to be more important than the people – the way the Communist Party of the Soviet Union was superior to the people of the Soviet Union.
No wonder Nigeria’s equivalent of city fathers, many of whom were military officers and beneficiaries of the Nigerian state, insist that the unity of Nigeria is not negotiable, though the state is not working for the masses.
The second shot against the Nigerian people is section 6, the ouster clause of the 1999 Constitution that says you cannot compel the government to guarantee democracy; social justice; federal character; economic development; freedom, equality and justice; and to also guarantee equal and adequate educational opportunities; promotion of national interest; and protection, preservation and promotion of Nigeria’s culture and national ethics, all as enumerated in Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution.
This ouster clause completely castrates section (14)(2,b) of the 1999 Constitution that pretentiously “declared that the security and welfare of the people shall be the primary purpose of government.”
In order to ensure that the worst of Nigerians can easily become president, governors and legislators, the political elite introduced sections 65(2), 106(c,d), 131(c,d) and 177(c,d) into the 1999 Constitution.
These sections say, “A person shall be qualified for election (into any political office) if (a) he has been educated up to at least school certificate level or its equivalent; and (b) he is a member of a political party and is sponsored by that party.”
To further water down qualifications for elective offices, section 318(g) asserts that “school certificate or its equivalent means (a) a secondary school certificate or its equivalent, or Grade II Teacher’s Certificate, the City and Guilds Certificate; or (b) education up to secondary school certificate level; or (c) primary six school leaving certificate or its equivalent.
“And (i) service in the public or private sector in the federation in any capacity acceptable to the Independent National Electoral Commission for a minimum of 10 years, and (ii) attendance at courses and training in such institutions as may be acceptable to INEC for periods totalling up to a minimum of one year, and (iii) the ability to read, write, understand and communicate in the English language to the satisfaction of INEC, and (d) any other qualification acceptable by INEC.”
The ridiculous part about “any other qualification acceptable by (INEC)” has been interpreted by fertile and mischievous minds to mean that an electricity bill is probably acceptable to INEC as evidence of education.
Imagine an elected public official who is weak in the head leading a team of PhDs holders and experts in the most esoteric aspects of academics.
Most of the time they will be speaking past his head and the nation will be the worse for it. Because he may not know what choices to make per time, he will tend to delay, accept counsel without enough reflection or become cynical due to inferiority complex.
If logicians are correct with the argument, “Not to decide is to decide,” it means that an indecisive president, governor, local government chairman or legislator may have inadvertently ‘taken’ a decision to arrest the progress of his constituents.
The elite have also weaponised poverty against the people. During the 2021 COVID-19 lockdown, the elite, not only locked up stacks of palliative but the more insensitive of them began to use the palliatives as souvenirs at birthday parties.
The elite have realised that by keeping the masses poor through inept and intentionally wicked policies that lead to perennial shortage and scarcity of every commodity and service, they can continue to control the masses.
As the piper dictates the tune, the oppressor who can give a measly financial inducement can get a poverty-stricken voter to cast his vote against his own interest– for immediate gratification. Some poor Nigerians sell their permanent voter cards, even if it will only temporarily meet their needs.
Remember the Bible story of Esau who gave up his inheritance to the scheming Jacob, his brother, for instant existential gratification. Remember also Estragon of Samuel Beckett’s drama, “Waiting for Godot.” He is impulsive, simplistic, and mostly concerned with eating and sleeping.
In what looks like a ploy to ensure that citizens are unemployed and stay forever poor, the elite initially used the state to prevent regular electricity supply through an aptly named Power Holding Company of Nigeria.
When the Western world mounted pressure, the elite came up with a halfway house solution by creating commercially run electricity generation and distribution companies but wedging them apart with bureaucracy through the government-owned Transmission Company of Nigeria.
Even if the Gencos produce as much as the 12,000MW of electricity which they claim to have the capacity for, the TCN, with lower capacity, will ensure that no more than 5,000MW get to the Discos. That way, industries will forever perform below the installed capacity, and the regime of shortage and scarcity will continue.
Imagine the number of manufacturing companies that went under because of the dismal performance of the electricity sector, which is now held hostage by Nigerian investors who have neither the technical nor financial capacity to deliver adequate and consistent electricity supply.
A devilish scheme that the elite employ to oppress the masses is multiple taxation and rate. The Ministry of Finance, Budget and National Planning even came up with an obnoxious policy to appropriate unclaimed dividends and the balance in the dormant bank accounts of citizens.
When a staring and shouting down compelled the government to drop the idea, they came up with the idea of confiscating monies in bank accounts of associations, clubs, town unions, age grades, foundations, or churches that are not registered with the Corporate Affairs Commission.
Another thing the Central Bank of Nigeria did was to significantly reduce interest payable on bank savings accounts, fixed deposits and treasury bills in order to corral retired Nigerians holding liquid assets to invest in the brick-and-mortar sectors of the economy.
This harebrained policy was ostensibly adopted to reignite the comatose Nigerian economy, without making adequate infrastructural provisions or introducing appropriate macroeconomic policies.
Sometimes, political elite who steal public money are protected by their kinsmen who are officers of law enforcement agencies and the judiciary. Observe that the Major General Muhammadu Buhari(retd.) regime filled the hierarchy of most security and revenue-generating agencies with people from the same region.
This is the ultimate strike for state capture and citizen oppression.
Credit: Lekan Sote