In the Grandiose Parlor…

With less than six months to elections in Nigeria, the New York Times’: “Money and Violence Hobble Democracy in Nigeria“, showcases the sleazy and often dangerous political terrain aspirants tread in pursuing their ambition.

Using events in the southwestern state of Ekiti as a pivot – a state that has suffered some recent political misfortunes – and profiling Kayode Fayemi, a former pro-democracy activist turned gubernatorial candidate, the NYT article captures the rot that has eaten deep into the Nigerian political fabric.

The opener of the article captures the do-or-die nature of Nigerian politics:

Early one Sunday morning in June, a mysterious text message flashed across Kayode Fayemi’s cellphone. “Since you continue to oppose Governor Fayose, we shall kill you,” the message read, referring to the bare-knuckled incumbent at the time, Ayo Fayose. It was signed, “THE FAYOSE M SQUAD.”

Nigerian politics is money-driven, and synonymous with arm-twisting and often fatal tactics. It’s now routine for top-political aspirants to assemble and finance Fayose-like “M Squad”. Afterall, there are thousands of unemployed frustrated youths all over the country, and throwing a couple of thousands of Naira at this folk is all it takes to covert them into members of specialized fighting and killing units, answerable only to the financiers.

The usual practice is for the financiers to assemble these bandits under the umbrella of the “Youth Charter/Wing” of their political infrastructure. The most troubling fact is that several incumbents (governors, and members of the legislature) have their own ‘youth wings’.

At the moment Fayose, the governor referenced earlier has been indicted for murder of a one his political challengers who was killed in August. While Fayose has fled to only-God-knows-where after his impeachment, several of his ‘boys’ have been arraigned for murder.

This excerpt from the NYT article is troubling:

“Mr. Fayemi has spent freely on this election, handing out stacks of Naira notes as donations to local party organizations, with extra thrown in for the women and youth sections. On a recent campaign swing, he handed out nearly 500,000 Naira, or $4,000, in a single day. He estimates that winning the election will cost him $4 million, a sum he has raised from allies and friends in Nigeria, as well as from his contacts in the West.”

There is really no justification for a Nigerian gubernatorial aspirant to burn $4 million campaigning for an elected office! This amount is about half a billion Naira, a mighty heap of cash, even by Nigerian standard. If one factors in the fact that Ekiti state is relatively small in size and population, about 2 million; one gets to see how Nigerian politics has been decimated to nothing more than a cash-game.