A British Example Nigeria Could Apply To Its Nationality Crisis

One of the four Nigerians who recently won elections into the British parliament is aiming for the highest political office in that country, a reminder of how Nigeria can bridge its debilitating nationality chasms with democracy. Vincent Obia writes

Ahandy expression for any Nigerian politician is, “The country is not mature enough for that.” Most socio-political problems troubling Nigeria today could be traced to this mentality. For their own convenience, politicians in Nigeria are at odds with many things that would advance democracy and good governance. Their grounds are always that the country is not mature. They seem intent on shutting their eyes to the fact that the things they oppose are the necessary ingredients for the maturity of the democracy and development of the country. From the issue of card reader to electronic voting, fiscal federalism or true federalism to state police, the story is the same. Ideas and innovations that would promote freedom, social harmony, and public confidence in the state, and enable the leaders govern better, are consistently jettisoned and wasted on the altar of parochial sentiments. While the gainers here are the inordinate ambitions of some politicians, the perpetual losers are national development and the sense of nationhood.

But a good example of how Nigeria can use democracy to resolve its awful nationality question and degrade the parochial influences that divide the people is on display in the United Kingdom. Four Nigerians won seats in the 650-member British House of Commons at the May 7 parliamentary election in that country. Chuka Umunna, Chi Onwurah, and Kate Osamor won on the platforms of the Labour Party, while Helen Grant was elected on the platform of the Conservative Party.

The Nigerians will be representing territories where, under the pervasive political culture in their native country, they would have been mere strangers or non-indigenes with votes that are only needed to make up the numbers – but political ambitions that are more or less viewed as sacrilege.

Umunna has taken his political aspiration further. On Tuesday, he formally declared his intention to become the next Labour Party leader, a position that could take him to 10 Downing Street as Britain’s Prime Minister, if he defeats four other aspirants for the post and the Labour Party wins the general election in 2020.

What the successful political adventures of the Nigerians in the UK are exposing is the folly of the narrow ethnic and religious considerations that are accorded great importance in Nigerian politics. They are teaching that what is important for any society is good leadership, and what makes good leadership is the competence of the leader – not his tribe, tongue, or faith. Nigerians are holding too tight to a debilitating political culture that seems to be putting development on all spheres of national life on hold.

The feat of the four Nigerians in the British parliamentary election does not imply the total absence of racial discrimination and other narrow-minded sentiments in the UK politics. But the electoral victories denote a conscious and consistent effort by the British people to move away from parochialism in their national thinking. Nigeria has a lot to learn from the experience of this.

After experiencing the incapacitating effects of playing politics based on flimsy sentiments, Nigerian politicians must begin a necessary rethink of how they conduct politics, if only to encourage the sense of nationhood, which every political figure gives mouth to. The country’s politicians and leaders must learn the virtues of broadmindedness in politics.

Lagos State demonstrated a good deal of political liberality at the last general election. In one of the biggest upsets of the polls, three non-indigenes of Lagos State and non-Yorubas won state and National Assembly seats. Mr. Oghene Egboh, Mrs. Rita Orji, and Mr. Tony Nwoolu won the House of Representatives seats for Amuwo Odofin, Ajeromi/Ifelodun, and Oshodi/Isolo 2 federal constituencies, respectively. While Egboh is from Delta State in the South-south, Orji and Nwoolu are from the Igbo South-east. They all contested on the platform of Peoples Democratic Party.

In the Lagos State House of Assembly election, another Igbo, Mr Emeka Idimogu, was elected to represent Oshodi-Isolo Constituency II.

The elections seem to re-enact the preindependence era of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and the National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (later National Council of Nigerian Citizens), when Igbos in Lagos won seats in the regional and central legislatures. Although, the choice of candidates of Igbo and Niger Delta extractions by PDP in Lagos State had more the appearance of a strategy to exploit the large Igbo population in the state than of a deliberate decision to be liberal. But the development marks a significant shift in the perception of non-south westerners by the political class in Lagos State.

The outcome of the state and National Assembly elections in Lagos State is a cue for more open-mindedness in politics in all the states of the federation.

Nigeria can learn a lot from the pattern of politics that enabled Nigerians to win seats in the British House of Commons.