By Abiola Akintunde
There is an adage which says that “ideas rule the world”. Without ideas the world would remain in a state of immobility, behind every great invention or innovation you will find an idea deeply rooted in it. Ideas precedes development, development is not happenstance, it is a product of deeply conceived ideas. When a nation is bereaved of ideas, all the manifestations of backwardness and retrogression will be visible in such a nation. A thinking nation can’t be a stinking nation, in a thinking nation the politics of ideas is preeminent.
The NIGERIAN state was built on diverse ideological foundation unlike other countries that has uniform political ideology, this ideological diversity also has it detrimental effect on the NIGERIAN state. Our nationalists operated at different ideological pace. Awo conceived his own variant of socialism which brought appreciable development to the western region of NIGERIA. Awo’s ideological preference made western region a pacesetter region in NIGERIA even though Awolowo had his flaws as a mortal but Awolowo’s ideologically inclination, propelled western region towards development. The ideological inclination of Awolowo made the western region of NIGERIA a beautiful attraction to other regions and also other countries in Africa and the world. The ideological inclination of Awolowo made him achieve many indelible landmarks which outlived Awolowo. Today, many beneficiaries of the ideology of Awolowo parade themselves as “Awoist” a conception which represents what Awolowo stood for during his eventful lifetime. Unfortunately, many “Awoist” profess the tenets and ideals of Awoism but their actions and inactions are totally inimical to the Ideals of Awoism. Awolowo’s variant of socialism was modelled after the Indian nationalist M.K Gandhi who Awolowo admired so much. Awolowo’s eyeglasses is a model of that of Gandhi. The Gandhian doctrine and principles was religiously followed by Awolowo, although he remodified the ideology in line with the realities of his politcial terrain. Awolowo was a man of ideas, the ideas of Awolowo are still visible long after his departure from this mortal earth.
Contemporary political actors particularly those who dress like Awolowo are bereaved of sound ideology, they use the ideas and ideals of Awoism to market themselves to the public but when they have access to power they are more fixated on the politics of mediocrity instead of the politics of meritocracy, they are ideologically rudderless, there is nothing driving them beyond the quest for power, the word Awoism is now deployed for fraudulent political intentions. What many of this fraudulent Awoist are deliberately oblivious of is the fact that if Awolowo didn’t live for something there will be nothing for them to leverage on to have access to power quickly. It will be very difficult if not practically impossible to pinpoint the ideological persuasion of any contemporary political gladiator in NIGERIA, even those who parade themselves as intellectuals in politics are ideologically barren when in power. When you make reference to Awolowo, you will inevitably remember his doctrine of democratic socialism. When you make reference to the great ZIk of Africa Nnamdi Azikiwe you will remember his ideology which he termed “proto-welfarism” or “Neo-welfarism”. When you make reference to the Late. Sultan of Sokoto Ahmadu Ibrahim Bello you will remember his ideology of conservativism. On the foundation of the ideological diversity of the nationalists, the realities of the existential challenges in the NIGERIAN polity will be obviously seen. The only disservice our nationalists did to the NIGERIAN polity was not the absence of ideology but the presence of conflicting ideology which became permissible due to the politcial configuration of NIGERIA. In the viewpoint of the nationalists, the NIGERIAN state housed three nations with dissimilar agenda and projection which was difficult for them to subsume into the NIGERIAN agenda. The NIGERIAN agenda was a back-bencher while sectional agenda was a front-bencher, which is still our reality in this contemporary time.
The politics of power in Nigerian polity is given more preeminence over the politics of ideas. The contestation for power is far more important than the contestation of ideas, it will not be wrong to lexically say that the politics of ideas plays the second fiddle in the NIGERIAN polity. In the run up to 2023 election, the politics of ideas is still manifestly missing but that shouldn’t be a surprise because the politics of ideas has always been held captive by the politics of power. The reality of the NIGERIAN polity is that ideas really win elections, if the politics of ideas is prominent in NIGERIA many political actors today will be domestic staff in the presidential villa.
When you ask the candidate of APC about his ideology what you will get is “Emilokan” which is a projection of personal and sectional sentiment. When you ask the candidate of PDP about his ideology what you will get is “Unifier” which is full of inexplicable interpretations, what he wants to unify is not explicit. When you ask the candidate of Labour party about his ideology what you will get is lamentation without solution and need to be “Obidient” to what you don’t rarely understand. All the major candidates haven’t dispensed any sound ideology but what can be manifestly seen is the craftiness in the contestation for power which is not built on the foundation of ideas.
The politics of sensationalism beclouded us from political objectivity in 2015, the political misdeeds of PDP became the political of fortune of APC but nothing has rarely changed in the Nigerian polity. The outcry pre-2015 is still the same outcry post-2015, the fact is that APC didn’t promise NIGERIANs anything they only identified the ills in Jonathan’s administration and projected it to NIGERIANs without identifying the approach and methodology they will use in solving the problems, they gave outlet to the problems so that PDP will have a monstrous political outlook and NIGERIANs will look to their political direction for salvation. What APC did in 2015 was a display of wittiness and craftiness in the game of power, it wasn’t a game of superior ideas which will translate into development. The same political sensationalism in 2015 has started gaining traction in the political landscape of NIGERIA, this time it is against APC and PDP, the challenge against the two major political parties makes our democracy interesting but it hasn’t shown possible and realistic solutions to the existential challenges in our democracy. The politics of ideas has been finding it very difficult to gain inroads into the political landscape of NIGERIA and without the politics of ideas, the politics of primitivism will gain precedence and overshadow the politics of development. The Nigerian polity will only imagine development but the NIGERIAN polity will not experience development if the politics of ideas remains in a state of perpetual relegation.
The Nigerian state is not beyond redemption, the NIGERIAN struggle with statehood or nationhood is not alien but the NIGERIAN adamancy with the “monstrous norm” of underdevelopment is the limitation between Nigeria and development. Some will say it has something to do with leadership, I partially agree but I believe that it has something to do with the collective. When NIGERIANs take ideas seriously, the redemption and development of NIGERIA will emerge. There is nothing wrong with the name NIGERIA but everything is wrong with the NIGERIAN disposition.
