“Democracy entails integrity of the electoral process and respect for the people’s sovereignty. Manipulating elections is a grave offence that undermines the will of the people and threatens democracy just like a military coup.” – Bishop Godfrey Igwebuike Onah
In Yoruba, “dobale” signifies cultural respect in greetings, and showing courtesy to someone or something. A further breakdown shows it is a two-in-one word depicting courtesy. “Do” means greet while “bale” means respect. Technically, when you dobale for somebody or something, you have due regard for them and decide to greet them respectfully.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s unfortunate fall at Eagle Square on June 12, 2024 while climbing up to take the Democracy Day salute was comically handled by him to mean a show of respect to democracy. There couldn’t have been any better chucklesome way of handling the regrettable and infelicitous incident than that. Also, the fall which set the Nigerian public into panic over the health of the President reminds us of the fallibility and humanity of every being irrespective of status or wealth. Thank God the President braved it and was able to stay up and conclude the day’s programme with that knee-slapper.
In the past, such an incident involving the number one citizen would have been kept a top secret and made to circulate only in the rumour mill. No longer is anything under the sun hidden with the advent of social media. Just as technology shrinks the world into a village, so has social media made no hiding place for anyone, including all-powerful Presidents. So the fall was an open secret just as was the President’s incoherence (“balablu” and “bluba”) of the electioneering days.
Political Musings will be anchored not necessarily on the fall because there is no need to gloat or be in any malignant pleasure over the misfortune of an elder but will attempt to dissect the President’s cogent and valid understanding that democracy deserves to be accorded such maximum respect of ‘dobaleing’.
Nothing can be further than the assertion that democracy should be well respected. If democracy is seen globally as the best form of government. In most countries in Africa where it’s being practised, things are not going well. This points to the kind of respect politicians accord to it. It then means that the problem is not in the type of government in operation but in the operators of the system.
If democracy is given its due by following its dos and don’ts, good governance would not be a mirage or an illusion the way it has turned out to be in Africa. Public funds would not be found in the private pockets of individuals but instead deployed for the common good.
Before we delve into how we should respect democracy, let us go into what democracy is all about. Democracy remains the best form of government because it is the government of the people by the people and for the people, meaning that it’s people-centred in all ramifications.
Therefore, in an ideal democracy, any action or inaction that is not tailored towards uplifting the living standards of the people is not following the dictates of democracy. That’s why the basic requirements of any government are the provision of the welfare of the populace and the security of lives and property, this indeed is the best “dobale” for democracy.
The noise in social media after the mishap and what happened subsequently during the President’s inspection of the parade with the public shouting, “We are hungry” and “We want minimum wage” shows clearly that the President’s dobale does not reflect in his administration. What does it matter to an elder you hold in scorn but “dobale” for each time you see him? Such “dobale” is mockery and does not in any way epitomise reverence.
Anybody sincerely dobaleing for democracy must observe all (at least, 99.99 per cent) of its tenets as a mark of approbation and a sign of holding it in high esteem.
What are the tenets of democracy? I consulted Meta Artificial Intelligence on tenets of democracy and it listed ten sub-heads which need to be observed in an ideal democracy. They are “Free and Fair Elections: Citizens have the right to vote for their representatives; Rule of Law: All citizens are equal before the law; Separation of Powers: A system of checks and balances among the legislative, executive, and judicial branches; Respect for Human Rights: Protection of individual rights and freedoms; Accountability: Leaders are responsible to the people; Transparency: Government decisions and actions are open and transparent; Participation: Citizens have the opportunity to participate in the political process; Representative Government: Citizens elect representatives to make decisions on their behalf; Independent Judiciary: A fair and impartial judicial system; and Protection of Minority Rights: The rights of minority groups are protected.”
The above tenets, judiciously followed, ensure that power is distributed evenly and that the government serves the people’s needs and aspirations.
Now, which of these 10 principles of democracy can our President beat his chest and say his leadership is faithfully observing to the letter? The President’s earlier pre-warning, even before the elections that power is not served a la carte but should be grabbed to run away, has no place in democracy. How he eventually came into power, which was in line with that grab-and-run rhetoric, placed his election on record as the worst in the nation’s electoral history.
A notable tenet of democracy is the rule of law under which every citizen is equal. The election that brought in the President in 2023 and the manipulations and manoeuvrings therein have put the nation’s judiciary in their lowest reckoning ever where judgements were obtained on a cash-and-carry basis. As the third arm of the government that is supposed to be professionally detached principally to checkmate the excesses of executive and legislature, the judiciary under the President’s watch has been glaringly corrupt, evidently and discernibly devalued.
Separation of powers and respect for human rights as fundamental tenets of democracy are also not being faithfully observed. The continued incarceration of the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu, and the frequent abduction and harassment of journalists all under the watch of the President does not show sincere “dobale” for democracy.
Other critical tenets that are not alive in this dispensation are accountability and transparency. Corruption and corrupt activities are prevalent under the nose of the President and at the National Assembly, involving ministers and directors of agencies.
Democracy also encourages citizens’ participation and balanced representation. In the electoral commission’s vote count that brought the President to power less than 25 million people voted out of over 80 million registered voters, by democratic standards all over the world this is extremely poor. Even using cooked official figures, only about eight million of this number voted for the President.
In political representation, the President by his nepotistic style in appointments has grossly gone against the equity of balancing. His predecessor Muhammadu Buhari started it with Fulani stock and Tinubu has worsened it significantly with ethnic Yoruba people in every revenue point and other strategic institutions of the federal government.
Anybody who respects democracy must follow its principles. For instance, if you like basketball as a sport but play football on a basketball court or fail to recognise that one is played on a court and the other on a field with different sizes and different numbers of players, you are not to be taken seriously.
By the 10 tenets listed above what we are practising in Nigeria is not democracy, what the President did “dobale” for on June 12 at the Eagle Square is his god of democracy which derives from his grab-and-run rhetoric, not democracy. When democratic principles apply, the people will rejoice because they will take centre stage and their interest will be paramount. That perhaps explains why a founding father and third President of the United States, Thomas Jefferson, is on marble as saying, “Government is the strongest of which every man feels himself a part.”
The majority of Nigerians do not feel like being part of what has been going on in the name of governance in Nigeria in the last year. When people-driven governance comes, pulling them out of poverty will be a primary goal of the government, not building super highway coastal highways and flyovers, building second mansions for themselves and carriages for their luxurious cars purchased with public funds.
Where democracy is sincerely and effectively respected, the leadership won’t be contemplating buying more aircraft for the President when the people are dying on the weight of currency devaluation, unprecedented inflation and cost of transportation as a result of petrol subsidy removal.
So, based on the available body of facts, the last 12 months in Nigeria under the watch of President Tinubu, do not show that his comic dobaleing is sincere and empirically supported. Nothing on the ground from election time 16 months ago through 12 months of governance shows that democracy under the watch of President Tinubu is flourishing.
The people who are the centrepiece of democracy are hardly factored in this dispensation. Until most or all of the tenets of democracy listed above are dutifully respected and followed until electoral integrity exists and our “elections are based on the democratic principles of universal suffrage and political equality as reflected in international standards and agreements and are professional, impartial, and transparent in its preparation and administration throughout the electoral cycle.” (Kofi Annan Foundation, 2012). Dobaleing of any kind remains a joke that amuses only those who installed the Tinubu Presidency. God help us.