Constitutionalism and the National Question in Nigeria

Constitutionalism and the National Question in Nigeria
Julius O. Ihonvbere
The number one political contradiction or challenge in Africa today is how to deal with the national question.  The continent’s history and the contradictions and engagements of the post-colonial era have precipitated deep political fault lines and congealed interests on both side of the political divide.  Put simply: on the one hand are those that are benefiting from the current status quo and see no reason for change.  To this group, the “problems” of politics, economy and society would resolve themselves or be resolved with time.  On the other hand are those that feel that the African past had been squandered, the present mortgaged and the future so uncertain that politics could no longer be taken for granted.  Consequently, they have demanded a re-negotiation and recompacting of relations between the power elite and the people.  This time, they are demanding to be fully involved in the process of remaking the constitution in order to ensure that those issues that affect them and their communities are not trivialized or relegated to the dustbin of political decision making.
This article advances one argument: in order to address the national question in Nigeria, the political elite can no longer be trusted to do the right thing.  To safeguard even its own narrow interests, the power elite must concede to an open and popular recompacting of the constitution.  Only a truly consultative and participatory process can put the national question up for democratic debate and negotiation without resort to violence.  Such a consultative process could be utilized to mobilize and educate the people politically, establish new rules of politics, reconstruct institutions, and redefine the foundations of governance.
The National Question and the New Politics in Africa.
Given the historical suffocation of civil society, the privatization of the state, and the arrogance of privatized power, the contemporary challenge for all Africans is how to take apart the state and subject the national question to popular debate.  At all spheres of society, Africa is being rocked by new discourses, new alignment and realignment of social forces, the emergence of new institutions and leaders, and the construction of alternative political platforms.  Given the extent of socio-economic deprivation of the last three or more decades as well as the levels of political repression and marginalization of popular communities, these developments represent a breath of fresh air. The culture of corruption, mismanagement, insensitivity to the plight of the poor, elite privatization of the state, and the subversion of traditional values and institutions culminated in new challenges to the state and its custodians.  These challenges witnessed a new enthusiasm for democracy and human rights among women, students, professionals, workers, religious leaders, and other non-bourgeois constituencies.  The result, as is now clearly evident, has been the gradual restructuring of political spaces to enhance pluralistic politics and re-establish new political values and the construction of new institutions.  The issue today is that no matter the level of resource endowment, the size of the population, the size of foreign aid, or how well-intentioned some leaders might be, until the political question is resolved, peace and progress, much less growth, development and democracy cannot thrive.  The inherited state and class forces and structures can no longer move the cause of growth, development and democracy forward in Africa.
Today, irrespective of justified reservations, we can claim that here is an increasing feeling of euphoria in Africa.  For a continent that was awash with brutal dictators, corrupt regimes, misplaced priorities, institutional decay, and social dislocation and violence, the recent political openings and renewed commitments to democratic values is a welcome relief.  True, there is much to worry about in the illiberal democratic realities of the continent.i  In fact, most of the newly elected politicians still act and sound very much like the dictators of the past.  In Nigeria, elected politicians and appointed officials appear impatient with democracy and continue to see politics as an opportunity for very rapid primitive accumulation.  Hence Claude Ake is convinced that:  “The triumph of democracy may be more apparent than real.
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Constitutionalism and the National Question in Nigeria