The inability to learn the obvious from the lessons of history is perilous. After the torrid events in Ibadan, the capital of Oyo State, our political establishment across partisan divides must be re-directed towards the history books. This ought to be unnecessary in the first instance. For most of them cannot possibly have been too young not to understand what truncated two previous republics.
In condemning the acts of thuggery, which closed the local governments’ tour embarked upon by the state governor, Abiola Ajimobi, we must also make a dispassionate assessment of the role of the police in our democracy which, alas, is still a work in progress. Police intervention was ineffective in the view of ensuring bloodshed. The inadequacy of the response is baffling. For, in view of the simmering political turf wars long going on in the state, the police should have anticipated trouble and prepared to nip it in the bud.
To state the obvious, modern policing is largely about taking pro-active measures as a result of painstaking anticipatory intelligence gathering. It does not really take the intellect of a rocket scientist to have known that sections of the political class in Oyo have been looking for the slightest opportunity to ferment trouble. In this instance, the failure of the police is disturbing.
With pivotal elections just weeks away, this should not be the time to question the efficacy of the police force, its policing methods and crucially its operational independence and political neutrality in a democratic state. Unfortunately, perception is everything. They are clearly not helping matters by getting involved in a myriad of unnecessary controversies such as the ones in Ekiti State and the controversy in the National Assembly. The danger here is that the perceived impartiality of the Police Force will be decisive in the coming few weeks. The police, like the judiciary as the critical arbiter and buffer in a democracy, must strive at all times to convey their unambiguous impartiality and loyalty to the Constitution as opposed to partiality in seemingly protecting the position of a partisan consideration.
The despicable and totally unjustifiable bloodletting in Ibadan has shown that members of our political class have learnt nothing and forgotten everything. This is not in their own self-interest. Those in the political establishment have benefitted most from the ‘dividends of democracy’. Indeed cynics will argue that they have been the only beneficiaries. For this reason, they have everything to lose if our democracy is truncated.
The goings-on in Oyo reflect a nationwide dysfunction. Politics has become a source of economic opportunity in a stultified economy with increasingly limited opportunities. This is why phrases such as ‘do or die’ and ‘stomach infrastructure’ reflect a sad reality.
What ought to have been expected by now is that the politicians with their own self-preservation in mind should have negotiated among themselves and possibly codified a ‘national democratic agreement’. Such a mechanism spelling out the dos and don’ts, as well as the conduct of political activity, is indispensable in a democracy. In fact, it is the oxygen of democracy in countries where a democratic ethos is in play. This is highlighted by elections which are not accompanied by or lead to an orgy of bloodletting. The fact that losers in an election graciously concede defeat is because the political establishment in well-established democracies operate a national democratic agreement.
In their own interest, our political class had better do the same in the very little time left before the commencement of the election season.
