By Daniel Kanu

Prof Sofiri Peterside is an activist, teacher, sociologist and political historian.

In this encounter with Sunday Sun, the respected academic at the Department of Sociology, University of Port Harcourt, looked at critical national issues, including the failure of Nigerian state, intrigues by North to keep power, betrayal season by Southern delegates, insistence on restructuring and the way out of the mess. Excerpt:

How would you evaluate the ongoing political permutations and intrigues, especially as it concerns the presidential contest?

Of course, the entire process has been monitised and it does appear that the political elite are taking advantage of the poverty in the land, and so it’s money, hard currency exchanging hands and that is not a good one for our democracy. But I also think that the masses should take the blame, particularly, those who actually voted or to vote at the various primary elections (convention) conducted. It does appear that people tend to forget the state of the nation and the consequences of that on the general well-being on the citizens of this country. But it does not appear that it matters to the majority of those who participated or who are still participating in the process, what they want is just the immediate gratification and satisfaction of their own acquisitive tendencies rather than the general cognizance, the state of the country and the very glaring suffering the citizens are going through. What we are witnessing is a very terrible one for our democracy. Democracy is simply the government of the people, for the people and by the people, but now only a select few who had the opportunity of participating and who saw that as a medium of actually collecting whatever they want to collect. Some of them if you speak to them will tell you that after this time they are not likely  going to see this people (elected officials), so for them they want to get what they want to get, but that is very wrong because you have mortgaged the future of this country and I think it’s not good for our country and democracy.

The Third Force is also positioning for power as an alternative. Do they really have a chance?

When you look at our political situation, actually, there are two dominant political parties in our country and that is the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) and the All Progressives Congress (APC) and then when you look at the other political parties, you will also see that there is no fundamental difference because if there is, in terms of philosophy, in terms of manifesto, it will be very difficult for one to move from one party to the other and to even get nomination. What we have seen in advanced democracies is that those who are Republicans stay in their party; those who are Democrats stay in their party, and cast their votes the way they want to. It is the same thing that happens in Britain, but here (in Nigeria) you see people move in the morning from one party, in the afternoon they join the other and the next day or after one month when things are sorted out you see them return, so they are in perpetual state of flux. And that means the political and contestation processes are not predicated on any kind of ideology and so most of those who are participating in the process are very much interested in their stomach and I am not surprised because one writer once wrote that “democracy is a word that grumbles meaninglessly in an empty stomach”, so what you see is people now talking about and practicing that democracy of the stomach, afterall in our own time we can see and hear such things in our political lexicon  what is called stomach infrastructure and that is very amazing and it’s a very bad omen for the democracy in our country.

But with the latest development of citizens getting sensitized to get their PVC’s, who knows things may turn out to be different. Lets watch the development because the entrance of Peter Obi to Labour Party (LP) seems to be changing the political calculation but let’s watch as it goes first. The attitude on voter registration can only tell you that Nigerians are not satisfied with what they are getting but making a statement with their votes is the issue.   

How would you react to a situation where power goes back to the North, looking at the emerging intrigues despite agreements on rotation, zoning and all that…?

(Cut’s in) What I see honestly, is a very interesting study because it’s just unveiling, even those who are from the South, I use the concept South here for: East, West, South-south, these are the people who were saying that they want power to shift back to their zone since the North will be concluding its eight-year  tenure next year, 2023. They have argued that they are all equal partners, that the various regions are and should be equal partners in this country, in terms of governance of the country. But curiously, you still see those who are saying that they are equal partners also collect money and forget whatever they had said in the past. And I think, that is what is most intriguing about the whole thing. Now, the PDP has elected a Northerner as their presidential bearer,  and the APC has followed. You saw the circumstance that led to the emergence of Atiku, which creates the impression that, really the North is not very willing to cede power to the South. Emerging political intrigues show that the North is still very much interested in power remaining with them. Imagine somebody that people perceive to be a very close associate of one of the aspirants, but at the dying minute, instead of saying I am withdrawing, I am no longer interested in the race, he said rather: I am withdrawing, but all my supporters please cast your votes to so and so person. Some of those who are from the South who have moved to other parties, those parties are actually parties that exist on paper, that is just the problem. In terms of the nitty gritty of what a political party is and the spread of these political parties is also a problem. So if people from the South are going there and becoming presidential candidates it may not actually materialise to power moving from the North to the South.  I stand to be contradicted, maybe as the election process unfolds, we will come to know whether really, there is this collective interest in ceding power to the South to just give people from that region the sense of belonging that we are all equal partners in the Nigerian project.  The truth is that the North still have their eyes on the ball.

Some critics say that without restructuring Nigeria the country cannot be salvaged. Do you share in this view?

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You see, that is what is amazing. Most of these politicians were those who were actually talking about restructuring and most of them, particularly those from the South are just paying lip service to that because in the manifesto of the dominant political parties, if you look at them, we don’t see such a programme. Even parties that have rotation in their constitution are not even looking at that, so it is very worrisome.

What exactly do you see as the solution to Nigeria’s myriads of problem?

Honestly, I am an apostle of representative government because I do not believe that violence should be the option. But I also believe that all it takes for the evil men to take over a society is for those who see themselves as being good people to keep quiet. The agitation and demand for a balanced federation may not be easily attainable, but I think that it is a project that is worth giving attention and giving the much needed energy and for those who think that they are being excluded in the Nigerian project the way the Nigerian state is being managed or mismanaged, governed or mis-governed and until those who think that they are occupying that kind of servant position rise up and make fundamental demand on the Nigerian state, particularly, on members of the political elite from  the same South because it is possible to just have power without a coordinated effort by the South and we can see the way things are happening that the South seems not to be coordinated. Every person wants to get something and I think until the South realizes that in terms of politics, people must come together as it’s a game of number. Also, you bring your philosophy down to the people. Those who are casting their votes in the South should be able to know what they are casting their votes for, but at the moment those kinds of liberation politics have not actually taken place in our own country, and particularly in the South and that is a very worrisome development.

What is your greatest fear for Nigeria today or you have none?

Honestly, my fear is that in a country where we are all supposed to be equal and certain sections of the country and certain citizens are considered second class, I think it is not a good one, just like Prof Wole Soyinka had written: “The man dies in all who keeps quiet in the face of tyranny” and those who actually are being humiliated and intimidated need to stand up, get organised in a democracy and mobilise. It is not a two-year, four-year or seven-year agenda, it should be a well-coordinated agenda and the citizenry must be well-mobilised in our area, in the South to make sure that they understand what the nitty-gritty is, afterall those who are attending these conventions, who had already voted, the majority of them also come from the South. If the South understands what the issues are or what is at stake and the mere fact that Nigeria is a collective project, some of them who sold their conscience wouldn’t have done so, but I think that the conscientization must continue.

What do you make of the insecurity in the land and the ruling party’s constant claim that government is on top of the challenge?

Remember that at the Lancaster House in London when the president addressed them, he and his political party were the government in power and the international community thought that Mr. President, given his antecedents and being a former Military Head of State, will posses that capacity to address those nagging challenges. It was among the issues that gave him international support that given who he is and where he is coming from that he had the capacity to tackle the security challenge,  but that has not actually materialised as expected or as promised. Although the argument had always been that it is very difficult to fight terrorism because it is not a normal or conventional warfare where you have battle grounds and battle fields, but in this kind of circumstance that it is a difficult one. My take is that the government has not fulfilled its pledges and the manifest it is presenting to this country on how to address the nagging issue of insecurity is not working because the more the government thrives the more the country becomes insecure. No part of the country is safe, people can’t travel by road again, people cannot travel by train through the rail where people thought was quite easy and more safe than being on the road. We are in a vicious circle today in terms of security in our country.

There are also a lot of challenges outside security. In the universities,  for instance, they are shutdown completely, the federal universities and children are at home. That also compounds the problem. This is the government that people had expected was going to rise to the occasion, that is not happening. There is poverty in the land, there is also hunger in the land and so the living condition of the majority of the citizens is also very appalling and as I said earlier, democracy is a word that grumbles meaninglessly in an empty stomach. That is why people are prepared to sell their votes, that is why people are prepared to sell their conscience, just for a pot of porridge and again I think that is not good for our country. Every indices had shown that the economy is not doing well, the educational sector is also in crises, and our health sector is also not living up to challenges. In fact, Nigeria requires urgent attention and until the leadership in our country and those that are also aspiring gets serious, we will continue to walk in circles. What people should be asking is: if this government is not doing what it promised they were going to do what is the manifesto for the alternative? That should be what the electorate should look out for as we are approaching the presidential and the general elections in our country.

At last the presidential candidate of the APC, Bola Tinubu has chosen a muslim as his Vice…?

(Cuts in) I do not think, it’s a good political calculation. It is left for Nigerians to speak with their votes at the polls…Simple.