Prof. Diamond, who was delivering the inaugural edition of the Freedom House Democracy Lecture Series at the Muson Centre on Lagos Island, said: “You cannot have the police and the military blocking the supporters (not to mention fellow governors) of one party from moving about a state and campaigning, and call that a fully free and fair election.”
He said democratic elections require a level- playing field and that every step in the electoral process must be monitored to ensure transparency. The former Fulbright scholar at the Bayero University, Kano, was worried about the future of constitutional government in the country, like most Nigerians.
In his view, Nigeria’s problems are products of deficient institutions and a culture that has grown up around them. He added, however, that people make institutions and that can still change them.
“There is a chronic tendency in Nigeria and abroad to see the country’s prospect as nearly hopeless. But Nigeria is not condemned to suffer endemic corruption, waste, ineptitude, and insecurity,” Diamond added.
“Think of how different Nigeria’s modern history would have been if it could simply have held free and fair elections. Compare Nigeria for a moment with another former British colony that is also a complex agglomeration of peoples, cultures, and languages: India.
“India has a huge number of problems, and it has seen a disturbing acceleration of corruption over the last decade. There is no question that corruption and inefficiency have retarded economic growth and human development in India. But India has a serious state, and it has constructed a formidably honest and efficient apparatus for administering elections.”
Diamond said at this time of growing disaffection with the performance of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, it is important that all Nigerians—even young Nigerians who have no memory of those days of dread and depravity—appreciate this lesson of their own history, and that of other countries. He said however troubled the national situation may become, however scandalous or inept the performance of elected government may be, civilian rule remains the best option for the country.
To him, the core problem of Nigeria today is the chronic deficit of honest and effective governance.
“We have learned in Nigeria, and in Pakistan, and in Thailand, and in so many other countries around the world: there is no military shortcut to governance reform. The challenge lies with the civilian institutions and actors of democracy: parties, politicians, legislators, judges, civil servants, and civil society,” he stressed.
Boko Haram, he said, represents only one symptom of the problem, and it is not an unfamiliar one in Nigeria because during the late 1970s and early 1980s another violent religious movement, led by Maitatsine, wrought havoc on the North, leading to thousands of deaths.
Diamond thanked former Governor of Lagos State and National Leader of All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, for the honour of being invited to deliver the inaugural lecture and for his record of developmental performance during his eight years as Governor of Lagos State. He said Tinubu’s stewardship as governor was significant because the country has largely squandered staggering natural resource wealth and human potential for more than half a century of independence.
In his opening remarks, Tinubu said Nigerians do not understand enough about democratic governance and practice.
He added: “What we practise often is not democracy. How this nation is governed is a hybrid process where democracy is often the junior partner and minority attribute. As such the system of governance we practise has not yielded the desired results – the dividends of democracy have been painfully elusive.”
Tinubu lamented the fact that the Federal Government had arbitrarily reduced the revenues flowing to states in the opposition party, in order to punish them. “In effect, the Federal Government has imposed economic sanctions simply because some political leaders have the temerity to belong to another party. What an abuse of power,” he added.
Butressing Diamond’s point about the Ekiti election, APC National Publicity Secretary Lai Mohammed said rigging started long before the election day. “We are going to court to challenge primarily the constitutional infractions; not for Ekiti, but for future elections,” he noted, adding that it is an abuse of power and abuse of institutions.
Diamond, who is a consultant to many international organisations and a writer, spoke on the theme, “Nigeria’s Governance Predicament: Poverty, Terrorism and Democracy”. His latest book, “The Spirit of Democracy: The Struggle to Build Free Societies Throughout the World”, explores the sources of global democratic progress and stresses the prospects for future democratic expansion.
He noted that though he had been asked to speak about the challenge posed to democracy by poverty and terrorism in Nigeria, the core problem in the country is not poverty. “Neither is it one of terrorism. These are manifestations of a deeper and more diffuse malignancy: bad governance. Governance that is not addressing the central policy challenges of the country,” he added.
Nigeria’s huge oil reserves, he noted, has largely been a curse, because it distorted the structure of production and discouraged agriculture. “Corruption booms, because the money is there for the taking— unimaginable amounts of it — and it is not really anyone’s money anyway, it is just spewing up from the ground,” he added. It is a different ballgame, he said, when compared to countries like India, which relied primarily on taxes.
The lecture was well attended by politicians, particularly members of the APC. They include: Rivers State Governor Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi; Deputy National Chairman Chief Segun Oni; Senators Gbenga Ashafa, Oluremi Tinubu, Olorunimbe Mamora; and Minority Leader, House of Representatives, Femi Gbajabiamila.
Others include Deputy Governor of Oyo State Moses Adeyemo; Speaker of the Lagos State House of Assemby Adeyemi Ikuforiji, who was accompanied by 24 members of the Assembly; chairman of Kano APC, Hon. Umar Haruna and Mrs. Kemi Nelson. Bishop Mathew Hassan Kukah, among others was there.
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