Essays (13)

At this moment, America is paying the price of incompetence. The US President, Donald Trump, shifts his position everyday once the truth beams a light on his previous day's ridiculous statements. His truth lasts only for a day, because the reality continually chases him. He has nowhere to hide or run from Covid-19, the worst pandemic of this generation. But America freely elected incompetence.

Trump was chosen to close America against the rest of the world, and provide a safety net for his ardent supporters against immigrants and non-Caucasians. His supporters thought he had the seriousness to restore their glory days, when skin color defined privilege, before Martin Luther King came to blow it all away. Trump promised a return to Egypt and Trump got the job.

The credentials of the "king of bankruptcy" never mattered to his supporters. He relished defaulting on bank loans and other forms of debt, and has failed to release his tax returns for more than five years. His companies have been fined, even under his presidency, for all kinds of violations.

Trump's personal life is not one for a book on morality. Although he has the backing of the Evangelical movement, the so-called Christian right, none could defend the amoral life of their president, who has since been exposed by prostitutes and other women he allegedly sexually abused.

It is hardly strange that the supporters of the American president do not care to this day about his suitability for the job. The US President won, and has survived, on the support and absolute loyalty of those who see him as their messiah; as well as the complex and anachronistic American electoral college system. Hillary Clinton, his opponent, won 2.1% more of the popular vote than Donald Trump in 2016.

In the three years that he has been president, Trump has offended people at home and abroad beyond reason. America has never had a president quite like this. He relishes attacking just about anyone who opposes him while recklessly exposing the American national interest on the slab of personal gain.

It is no wonder he has been impeached, although he could not be removed because of the unswaying support of the Republican-controlled Senate, whose majority is guaranteed in the same way that Trump became president - a bizarre electoral system that gives representation equally regardless of population.

Trump ruled with nauseating pride and offending sensibility, using short texts on Twitter to attack his opponents relentlessly, spending more hours tweeting than working. Though obviously incompetent and limited naturally by a lack of preparation and self-education, he would make up for his deficiencies through the absolute support of his devoted troops and the privileged who benefited under his tax laws.

In truth, America elected an inept candidate to the highest office of the land, not expecting that a history-writing infectious disease such as Covid-19 would come. At the time of America’s greatest challenge in a century, she has found herself in the hands of an incapable leader.

Oh well! The chicken has come home to roost. A political volcano that started with the Republican Party’s presentation of George W. Bush - who took America through 9/11 incompetently - has turned into a tsunami under Trump. At a time of crisis, Mr. Trump has quickly unraveled. And as a result of his lack of understanding of the enormity of a pandemic, thousands of Americans are dying. What he called the "Chinese virus" has now destroyed more Americans than any other nationals.

Being incompetent, the warning by the previous Obama administration about an impending pandemic as was ignored. Meetings held early in 2016 to warn his administration were taken just like a pizza party. Instead, Trump deflated the Federal bureaucracy, claiming America did not need as many federal civil servants. Seeing the lack of seriousness of his administration, career civil servants left in droves for the private sector.

When Coronavirus made a landfall in Wuhan, China in late 2019, a clueless Trump made reckless statements, rather than prepare for war. On January 30, in the early days of the public health crisis, history will have recorded that President Trump said in Michigan that: “We have it very well under control. We have very little problem in this country at this moment — five. And those people are all recuperating successfully.”

Such unguarded statements have continued. It has become so bad that even on television, administration health officials contradict Trump at his daily press conferences. He shifts his position when truth overtakes his assertion. He has become a public spectacle, a shame for the most powerful nation on earth. A pain to his people and an untrusted leader.

That is the price that any nation will pay for electing incompetent politicians to power. The price for America is a massive $6 trillion dollars in spending bill, as unemployment tops three million persons within one week. The price includes school closures, students not graduating, sickness, fear, despair, hopelessness and the death of thousands.

The US Center for Disease Control and Prevention has warned we have not event started yet. Apart from New York, other major cities such as Chicago, New Orleans and Detroit are gearing for the worst, as the US Surgeon General, Jerome Adams, warns that next week would be one of reckoning.

Americans, whether we admit or not, know Donald Trump was never the right guy for the job. He got there for a reason not based on reason and common sense. And a price must be paid for every bad decision.

While nations like Singapore, Sweden, Denmark, South Korea and Japan are rising to the challenge because of competent political leadership, America falters. Electing good leaders is a firewall against disaster.

This is a great lesson for corrupt developing nations such as Nigeria, a lesson that may be too late as well. Various signs of incompetence are showing in the management of the pandemic. Regardless of administration tales, testing for coronavirus has not been going well. As the capacity for testing rises, we will soon find that the infection rate is far more than reported.

The nation should be on a lockdown right now, but it is not. Civil servants are being told to stay at home but all others are roaming. With a dense population, Nigeria is the worst-case scenario. In a CNN interview on March 26, billionaire philanthropist, Bill Gates, said his greatest fears are for Nigeria and India, densely-populated nations with a lack of capacity to deal with an infectious disease of this magnitude.

At least in India, a somewhat serious lockdown has been effective for more than a week. Public transportation has been shut down and people are required to stay at home. In India, citizens have regular electricity and high-speed Internet. Productivity will not suffer an extreme loss. And India does not rely on a single product for its national income, as Nigeria relies on petroleum.

So far, most Covid-19 tests are being administered on the rich, the connected and the powerful in Nigeria. Ordinary people cannot get testing done. But the safety of the influential will not save Nigeria from disaster. The fake sense of safety that Nigerians have may soon be exposed.

A state governor declared a work-from-home order when most people really lack the resources to do that. Another state governor declared a one-day lockdown as if one day will have any effect on a pandemic as consuming as coronavirus. The federal government is still articulating a coherent response, much reliant on the nation’s billionaires for a bailout.

Nigeria may also pay a price for incompetence.

By 1993, the strain of military rule had become unbearable. Nigerians lived like chicken in a battery cage. They were weary, weakened and battered, having been brutalized and deceived as the children of Israel under Pharaoh. As pressure piled against the military's "hidden agenda" to rule perpetually, the regime of the former military dictator, General Ibrahim Babangida, succumbed to organize a presidential election.

There were surreptitious attempts to derail the election, lasting up to a few hours before the polls. In spite of the shadow cast, when voting started on June 12, 1993, Nigerians conducted themselves in the most civil manner as they optimistically picked between the candidates of only two parties registered, M.K.O. Abiola of the Social Democratic Party and Bashir Tofa of the National Republican Convention.

Hopes that change had come was quickly dashed. Although the elections were held, free and fair, Babangida stopped the release of the results initially, before he later annulled it altogether, throwing Nigerian into a political turmoil that would consume the “Maradona.” Nigeria then went through a political crisis similar to that which is troubling Venezuela at this moment 

As events unfolded, Babangida lost his mojo and was eased out, setting the stage for his associate and predator, General Sani Abacha, to usurp power and run Nigerians through a few years of brutal repression until their prayers were answered when Abacha died suddenly by divine intervention.

Under mysterious circumstances, the man rightfully expected to take the mantle, M.K.O. Abiola, suddenly died while negotiating the terms of his release. From this point, the political stage became toxic for the military. Their game was up. Democracy returned in 1999, albeit power was handed over in an adulterated form to a former army general, Olusegun Obasanjo, under a constitution drawn up by his military friends.

Since 1999, Nigeria has operated a democratic government, holding elections when due and transferring power to whom it is due. The civilian rule has not been perfect, but it has been working. It worked most perfectly when General Mohammadu Buhari became the President through a peaceful transfer of power from President Goodluck Jonathan in 2015. It was the first time in Nigeria’s history that power would move to the opposition through an election. The proud moment of our democratic heritage happened less than four years ago but in a month's time, all of that could unravel.

Various warning signals are blinking before our eyes, indicating that the outcome of the February 16, 2019 election could take Nigeria right back to 1993 - a time when the election produced chaos instead of a president. Those who understand the past cannot fail to draw the similarities between the transitional stratagem of the Buhari administration and the Babangida regime. Developments signify that President Buhari is frantic about handing over power to another political party if he loses.

There are fears that the election may be marred by rigging, intimidation, violence, cronyism and judicial manipulation. Before our eyes, President Buhari is shaking up the administrative structure supporting the electoral process in a manner suggesting he will be the sole beneficiary, by appointing those considered to be loyal to him. A level playing field with the opposition parties is being rolled back as quickly as possible.

One of the signs of trepidation within this administration is the timing of the ouster of the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), Justice Walter Onnoghen. If a public official is caught in an unethical or criminal behavior, he or she should be removed; but only after a fair trial according to due process. Not only has Justice Onnoghen not been given a fair trial, the timing of his removal is suspicious. Could it be that the administration is not comfortable with the likelihood that an unfriendly judge could determine the outcome of the election? Likely so!

Reminiscent of 1993, foreign governments are sounding an alarm. The UK government stated that the “timing of this action, so close to national elections, gives cause for concern,” while the United States said it “is deeply concerned by the impact of the executive branch’s decision to suspend and replace the Chief Justice and head of the judicial branch without the support of the legislative branch on the eve of national and state elections.” The belligerent reaction of the Buhari Government to these concerns raises even more concern.

The courts play a big role in our elections. In 1979, the Supreme Court single-handedly gave power to President Shehu Shagari in the famous "twelve-two-third" judgment. Easing out the head of the third branch of government days to the election, taken together with other events, creates a halo of uncertainty around the February 16 election in which there is really only one other strong opponent, Mr. Atiku Abubakar of the People's Democratic Party. 

In the same manner that judicial power appears to have been crushed so close to the election, the power of the Nigerian Police to enforce law and order appears to have been compromised. The Inspector General of Police was replaced one month to the election, with the added implication that several police officers senior to the new police chief must resign, according to tradition.

A third troubling development is the appointment of President Buhari’s relative, Amina Zakari, as the head of the election collation center by the Independent National Electoral Commission, without a care about the appearance of unfairness or cronyism. The collation center is where results of the presidential election will be announced and the President’s in-law will manage it.

Not only has the opposition been incensed by the appointments, other geopolitical groups are asking why most, if not all, of the replacements done in the wake of the elections has been in favor of someone from the President's ethnic group. By his own hands, President Buhari is fanning the flames of tension.

Statements from the administration are also raising the political temperature. Minister of Information, Mr. Lai Mohammed, has claimed without evidence that "the opposition (is going) to orchestrate widespread violence in the country, using insurgents and criminal elements within and outside the country. Their plan is to scuttle the election and then push for an interim government, having realized they can’t win a free, fair, credible and peaceful election."

Those statements are reminiscent of those by Babangida's spokesman, Comrade Uche Chukwumerije, in 1993. It will not be a stretch too far to reason that the Buhari camp is settling for a deadlock, during which it plans to use the police, the electoral body and the courts to suppress and declare victory.

If the reasoning has any percentage of probability, then the administration has become a danger to our democracy.

Nigerians everywhere must carefully watch these events, drop their robe of partisanship and rise to protect our democracy, should it become necessary. If the election ends up not being free and fair, violence may erupt and the outcome will be a lose-lose scenario for all. Buhari’s pedigree as one of the military generals who foiled democracy in the past must always be remembered.

Nigerians must not allow the relapse of June 12 under any circumstance. A peaceful transition of power leads to an enduring democracy.