Over the years, Nigeria’s political process has suffered from one problem or another. This unfortunate situation makes it difficult to elect credible leaders and enjoy good governance. Providing incisive insights into the subject-matter is a renowned Professor of Research Methodology, Nigerian Government and Politics with an emphasis on Elections and Party Politics. A careful study of the 31st Inaugural Lecture of the Babcock University, Ilishan-Remo, Ogun State could be the needed blueprint to change the political narratives of Nigeria from that of a quagmire to an enviable polity. The foregoing was the thrust of the Babcock’s 31st Inaugural Lecture delivered by Prof. Michael Abiodun Oni; the incumbent Head, Department of Political Science and Public Administration of the institution titled, “Conception and misconceptions of majoritarian democracy and elections in Nigeria” and chaired by the President/Vice-Chancellor, Prof. Ademola S. Tayo.
Prof. Oni, a seasoned journalist and former lecturer at the Nigerian Institute of Journalism (NIJ), affirms that in the search for majoritarian democracy, the underlining demands of democracy and elections tend to be the bane of Nigerian politics. He disclosed that majoritarian democracy involves direct and indirect manipulation before, during, and after elections. While an direct method is visible to the eyes, indirect method usually comes in the form of mental or psychological manipulation of the people as the electorate could be brainwashed into yielding to sponsored propaganda, manipulated polling or orchestrated electoral ‘prophetism’ during electioneering just as manipulated research are equally being used to perpetrate electoral fraud, saying the reality is that most of the categorical statements emanating from electoral ‘prophetism’ were suspected to have been doctored and sponsored by politicians.
The inaugural lecturer suggested that making our electoral process less problematic would require tackling the malaise of vote-buying and the use of financial inducement in politics, the continued use of smart card reader machines, and the construction of forensic laboratory across the country’s 109 senatorial districts to carry out scientific investigations on ballot papers and result sheets to authenticate their genuineness before use. Another salient point given by the Don has to do with the mode of appointment of the leadership and members of electoral management bodies and the rationale for zoning executive and legislative elective offices for equity and fairness across the country. These innovations would promote peaceful co-existence, political stability, and equitable power-sharing between the people and different geopolitical zones.
The Professor proposed that the appointment of Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) and Resident Electoral Commissioners should be limited to serving or retired vice-chancellors, rectors of polytechnics and provosts of colleges of education in federal and private institutions, while those to be selected, should have not less than between six months to one year to conclude their tenure in office and must not serve more than one term of five years only. Such appointments should be done through the chief executives’ respective umbrella associations such as the Association of Vice-Chancellors of Nigerian Universities (AVCNU) and nominations forwarded to the INEC Administration Secretary for appropriate posting after doing due diligence before forwarding the nominations with the involvement of security agencies but state institutions’ officers should be excluded to avoid being influenced by their state governments.
The second option proposed by the Don requires the use of regulatory agencies such as the National Universities Commission (NUC), National Board for Technical Education (NBTE), and National Commission of Colleges of Education (NCCE) by nominating qualified candidates through the INEC Administrative Secretary. He called for compulsory education in political science and public administration at the diploma level to enable both leaders and the led to having a clear understanding of politics, government, and governance. He recommended that INEC should conduct elections on weekdays to allow members of the Seventh Day Adventist denomination, which coincidentally owns the Babcock University, to participate in the voting exercise as this would not only boost voters’ turnout during elections but also promote the politics of inclusiveness. He recommended legislated cross-tabulated zoning and rotational arrangements, the adoption of two-party systems, and six years single term for specific elective positions to prevent political domination.
The inaugural lecturer then made a case for the nation’s democracy to be a mixture of both the majority and minority rule. Majoritarian democracy, as presently being practiced would only fester the politics of exclusiveness and domination by the privileged section at the federal, state, and local government levels and that westernised majoritarian democracy is anathema to the Nigerian political environment, which should be discarded. He emphasised that until Nigeria takes into proper cognisance, its environmental peculiarities, the search for majoritarian democracy would continue to encourage maiming, killing, and making widows and widowers out of Nigerian politics. More importantly, the Don solicited for attitudinal change on the part of the people why politics should be seen as a call to service, the electorate should realise the implications of the new development while those in charge of public affairs in Nigeria should correctly understand the concept and attributes of good governance, which should truly be the essence of virile political participation, politics and political process.
