DEMOCRACY DAY AND THE FRENCH EXAMPLE
The French Presidential Election holds lessons for Nigeria
The recent election in France of a 39-yearold Emmanuel Macron who ran as an independent candidate has captured the imagination of the world and for a while, the main issue on the Nigerian social media. But as we mark the 18th anniversary of the current democratic dispensation—the longest in the nation’s chequered political history—and the mid-term of the Muhammadu Buhari administration, it is important for our country that we learn the right lessons.
Political education, progressive involvement of the people at the lowest strata of society in deciding what affects them and the redefinition or the role of “ideology” in politics are important elements in any attempt to drive popular participation. The French example will therefore serve us in Nigeria since it rests on an established political culture of choice, as well as the invocation, not invention, of extant democratic norms. At the end of the day, Macron won because majority of French voters cast their ballots for him in a clear rejection of extremism which the opposition represented. To a large extent, the 2015 election which brought President Buhari to power in Nigeria also approximated to popular will. But that perhaps is where the similarities end.
In France, within hours of being sworn in, President Macron began to establish a balanced government and with that, he sent a clear message that those who seek power must do their homework and have an idea of where they want to lead their people. His ministerial picks were drawn from a broad spectrum of the French society, including political parties with both right and left ideological leanings, and the civil society. Half of the 22 cabinet members are women with a 33 -year-old Mounir Mahjoubi, of Morocan origin, being the youngest.
There are many lessons in that for us in Nigeria. These are bipartisanship, gender balance, youthful energy, inclusiveness as well as urgency in tackling national problems. They are all critical success factors in government. If we use these yardsticks to measure how President Buhari’s stewardship has panned out in the last two years, as indeed we should, then we can understand why Nigeria is where we are today, despite the euphoria with which the government was ushered in. For instance, it took almost three months for Buhari to pick personal aides, six months to inaugurate a cabinet comprising mostly of his party men and the number of women appeared more as mere tokenism than any serious attempt at gender balancing. Meanwhile, there are several positions in government that are yet to be filled with many acting heads of critical agencies now also having to hand over to subordinates in acting capacities.
Beyond the issue of preparation - or lack of one - on which the Buhari administration has been sorely exposed, there is also the matter of popular participation which is the ultimate safeguard of democratic norms. Unfortunately, President Buhari conveyed the impression, both in his speech and action, that he is doing the Nigerian people a favour by being their leader. He is not. The position he occupies is neither his personal fiefdom nor anybody’s fiefdom. He therefore should listen more to Nigerians, operate an inclusive government as the new French leader has done and begin to rally together our people for the peace and prosperity he promised when he was campaigning for office.
Even if we concede that the health challenge that has kept him abroad for the better part of this year may have impacted negatively on his administration, the fact also remains that President Buhari has not shown enough understanding of the challenges that plague the nation nor has his government applied itself enough to meeting those challenges. Therefore, the score card of the last two years is, to put it mildly, rather disappointing. But there are still two more years ahead. However, to advance the cause of our democracy, it is not only the executive that must buckle up. Much more is expected of the National Assembly and the Judiciary.