Power without responsibility

Kwame Nkrumah, the Ghanaian nationalist leader and foremost Pan-Africanist often referred to neo-colonialism as the worst form of imperialism because, “…those who practice it, it means power without responsibility and for those who suffer from it, it means exploitation without redress.”   What particularly irks Nkrumah about neo-colonialism is that “In the days of old-fashioned colonialism, the imperial power had at least to explain and justify at home the actions it was taking abroad. In the colony those who served the ruling imperial power could at least look to its protection against any violent move by their opponents. With neo-colonialism neither is the case.” The neo-colonialist exercises untrammelled powers without the corresponding responsibility that goes with the power. That is why Nkrumah considers this situation so dangerous to African states and advocated for the creation of an African Union, in the mould of the United States of America, to prevent Africa‘s colonial masters from surreptitiously exercising destructive influence in their former colonies.

But it is not only former colonial powers that exercise power without responsibility in Africa. Another group is what Nkrumah refers to as the ‘invisible government’, a loose amorphous grouping of individuals, cabal, kitchen cabinet, or even godfathers as we call them here,  who though unelected, wield untrammelled powers without any means of being responsible or accountable for the powers they wield. And in our polity dominated by ethnic politics, such groups are likely to be made up of the leader’s kinsmen or those from his part of the country.

The existence of this cabal around President Buhari has been an open secret, but the outburst of the President’s wife put to rest questions about the existence of such a powerful cabal. The outburst showed a clearly frustrated Mrs Buhari unhappy with the direction her husband’s presidency is taking. She conceded that “things are not going the way they should,” and that “nobody thought it’s going to be like this”. She went further to call into question the rationale for the existence and even the loyalty and motives of the cabal: “they don’t know our party manifesto, they don’t know what we campaigned for, they don’t have a mission, they don’t have a vision of our APC!” while declining to mention members of the cabal by name, she indicated that they are known to all within the country who read the papers.

Indeed, as the initial appointments of the president showed, virtually all members of this cabal are from just one section of the country. The president justified this by saying they are people who have been with him through “trying times”, and were being rewarded for their “dedication and suffering”. Again, he said they are people that will work closely with him. But even more unfortunate is the existence of a more powerful individual(s) who holds no formal office but wields perhaps even greater powers than the president himself. These buccaneers, it is claimed with good evidence, have completely walled the President and serve as “gate-keepers” between the president and the country so much so that even ministers cannot have access to the president except through this cabal.

Characteristically, the President sees nothing wrong with this as arrangement. He claimed “superior knowledge” over his wife and the political opposition and urged his wife not to interfere in politics but to go back to the kitchen, the living room and other room where she belongs.  This is vintage Buhari who accepts no criticism or correction!

But there should be no mistake about it; this amorphous group of individuals are the greatest threat to our democracy. Prior to elections, they are always very quiet and invisible and only spring to life after the elections, grabbing and exercising powers they did not legitimately receive from the electorate and alienating both the people and those who had electoral mandate of the people in the process.

Another amorphous group of those who exercise powers without responsibility is the upper middle class in Nigeria who are always at the service of the ruling class. They often speak the language of the downtrodden until they are noticed and called to the service of the ruling class where they have proved especially useful in fashioning strategies to further the exploitation of the downtrodden. One of the characteristics of this group is that they accept no responsibility for any of their actions. They advise; they help legitimate regimes; they run ministries and agencies but when things begin to go wrong, they take the first exit door and begin to point accusing fingers at the ruling elite. Is it any wonder then that none of the Nigerian academics, technocrats and professionals that helped create the phenomenon known as IBB today accept any responsibility for the legitimisation and institutionalisation of corruption, nepotism and patrimonialism in Nigeria? They simply moved on to the next ruler, offering their services as usual.

With the dawn of democratisation, they have learnt to offer their services to political parties or candidates seeking high office. Their remit is simply to legitimise the candidacy of their client and present him/her in the most favourable light regardless of his/her past and inclinations. Once their job is done, they simply slip away and leave the people with the consequences of their choice but not their role in shaping the people’s choice.

It was not therefore surprising when Nigerians, weeks ago, created a twitter storm calling on Nobel laureate, Wole Soyinka, to tear up his green card as he had earlier threatened to if Donald Trump is elected President and return home.  Although the Nobel laureate was angry and reacted with a lengthy piece asking those ‘rude Nigerians’ to basically ‘fuck off’, he missed the point because he failed to get the essence of the call. As one of those who helped sold the Buhari candidacy to Nigerians, the people feel betrayed when, in the midst of the recession, grinding poverty, and abjection, the Nobel laureate jets off to live in the US abandoning them to their fate here. Many Nigerians simply felt he should man up and return to Nigeria and also experience the Buhari ‘change’ he so strenuously marketed, even if they are aware he would still be better off than most of them.

In 2007, the Nobel laureate angrily rejected the retired general’s candidacy saying “to invite back into power a man who did so much to destroy a people’s self-esteem, dignity, and faith in law and justice, is a sign of self-abasement, lack of self-esteem, a slave mentality that dooms, not only the present, but succeeding generations”. But by 2015, everything has changed and Buhari is the only messiah that can save the country. When the economy went into a tailspin, all the Nobel laureate could do was to call for a conference to discuss the nation’s economy. Of course, the President quickly heeded the call and summoned a conference. But nothing has changed since then and the economy is in total shambles with inflation at its highest and 1984/85-type scarcity looming over the country.

But how does he care. After all, Nigerians have no regard for history and are unlikely to hold him to account for his flip flops!

Christopher Akor