08 Nov 2008 |
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Could Obama Have Won In Kenya? While the electoral process was on-going to elect a new president for the United States of America, I declined to comment on the election because frankly I am not versed in the issues around American politics. I do not for instance understand how a simple word like ‘Change’ could catapult an obscure, minority, one-term Senator of an opposition party and of Negroid origin to the White House to dethrone a ruling Party!
I did not understand how issues like tax policies, war on terror, national security, energy and the economy could become important factors in evaluating who is fit to be president. In Nigeria, these issues take the backseat on the campaign agenda of people who aspire to rule the nation. Leadership is evaluated not by the positive impact it makes on the people but the ferocity with which public funds are commandeered for personal use.
I did not know how it could be possible that a presidential candidate could emerge from keenly contested primaries over several months without a nocturnal convention of political godfathers. Above all I did not comprehend how a president could just emerge from any part of a country without a zoning formula.
That is not all. I did not know that it was possible to organise a presidential election in a country without the chairman of the country’s electoral body becoming a Newspaper hero. I am still not sure who the fellow is, that conducted the American election so noiselessly without being heard or seen in the radio, television or newspapers, making comments on how ready and prepared he was to conduct a credible and transparent election. He did not need to do all these because the American people did not expect anything less from him.
I could not imagine that an Obama could be allowed to contest the Presidential election without the Supreme Court of the USA having to give an order to that effect because some ‘INEC’ Chairman somewhere has earlier disqualified him for daring to display so much an audacity and hope as black man gunning for the White House!
I did not know that one does not need political thugs to prosecute even a local government chairmanship campaign not to talk about a Presidential election. Although I have this funny feeling that if thuggery was to be condoned in American politics, Obama would not have had need of his oratory skill or charisma, or cyber fundraising capabilities for the race. A whole lot of black Americans including immigrants often ‘scapegoated’ (is there a word like that?) to be behind crime in America, could have been his most valuable asset instead. Obama would also have needed to make use of his Kenyan blood like his causin, Raila Odinga and his supporters did after the flawed election in his native Kenya.
But like the popular black American musician, I think his name is Akon, sang recently ‘you can’t put the blame (of my ignorance) on me’ because I am an African and, most sorry to say, a Nigerian where the definition of democracy is somewhat dependent on whose interest is on the line. In Nigeria, Democracy is literally a DEMO(nstration) of CRAZY lust for power. The rules of the game are not sacrosanct. They can be distorted at will.
Indeed my Nigerian orientation about how politics should be played did not afford me the luxury of conceiving how a winning candidate could emerge without a godfather or how one could wish to become president without the blessings or what we call ‘anointing’ of the incumbent. At least not even the fifth columnists in the Nigerian media have reported a secret endorsement of Obama by the junior Bush (man) in the White House. Here in Nigeria they are expert in reporting all sort of secret deals, agreements and intrigues that play behind the scene whether they exist or not.
Just imagine, Obama did not even bother to take on an American’ name. He remained Obama meaning that his siblings, uncles, nephews are actually bearing that surname in the Nyanza Province, Kenya, under the horn of Africa. Here in Nigeria, I can easily imagine that his opponents could have called him a non-indigene and probably gone to court to challenge his qualification to run for the presidency not necessarily to stop him but to at least distract him. Some compromised judge could easily have given an interim injunction restraining him from parading himself as the Democratic Party candidate or issued their more popular but vague order to preserve the status quo.
And what role did the FBI play in the whole process? Doubtless they should have dossiers on each candidate but they did not come out to clear nor ban any candidate. Indeed, if they had any case against any of the candidates, that candidate could have been behind the bars long ago. They would not have waited till election time to begin to reel out their dirty deals of the past like the EFCC did during the last General election in Nigeria. That would be blackmail. But here (Nigeria), it is politics and we play it dirty.
When the results of the American election emerged, I observed that it tallied with the prevailing mood of the American people who yearn for change, a people who are tired of the warring bullies of the Bush dynasty and the Republican Party. The pre-election polls were so accurate that one could easily suggest that in the future, America could save money by not conducting elections but rather using the popular pollsters to coronate their president.
But here in Nigeria you could always be certain that election results must run contrary to the people’s mood. So it was no surprise that the PDP ‘swept’ the 2007 polls despite the drab performance of the Obasanjo Administration and the fact that the opposition Action Congress literally held the ‘broom’. When a Nigerian party has grown so unpopular with the majority of the people, like the PDP has, then that party has qualified to boast of their clout to rule the nation for 60years if not eternally because here in our Nigeria it is not the people that count.
And I could not help thinking about Professor Maurice Iwu. What thoughts would cross his mind as he watched the American election? I mentally picture Iwu twisting his fingers in disgust at the foolishness of American ruling party. How could they not know that it’s easy to delay voting in those centres suspected to be opposition strongholds or ensure that inadequate voting materials reach those places? How could it be so difficult for them to device a simple strategy like ballot box snatching? (Well America doesn’t use ballot boxes anyway). Or better still, how would the Election Bureau Chief fold his arms to allow an opposition party to humiliate his ‘boss’ when he could easily manufacture the results of the election before the voting took place?
I truly sympathise with this man called Iwu. If he knew what they call shame, he should have buried his head in it by now. Onasanjo, Mugabe and Kibaki should follow suit.
But how on earth could Bush forget that he is the Commander-In-Chief of the American armed forces, and fail to deploy the Army, Police and the Coast Guards to ‘forestall any breakdown of law and order and protect government interest’? Mind you there could be no higher breakdown of law and order in Nigeria than for an opposition party to win elections against the incumbent.
America has again educated the world how to practice democracy. They have shown us particularly in Africa, particularly in Nigeria, how to elect a President. It is rather ironic that it is African Presidents, most of whom are products of fraudulent elections who are falling heel over each other to congratulate Obama because he is African. On top of the list is Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki who stopped Obama’s causin Odinga from becoming the President of Kenya. So the question our African Presidents need to ponder is: could Obama have won in Kenya?
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