to be drawn from various strands of the Nigerian social, economic and political life. To the ruling elite, this is simply heresy. It is as if election has become not just a means to an end but an end in itself. After all, individuals have committed billions of naira to the impending contest already.
To be fair, there were other well-meaning individuals outside the ruling clique, who also voiced their opposition to the proposal on grounds of ideology and practicality, much of which stem from a fundamental misreading of Afe Babalola’s intention. A luminary figure of his stature would not just wake up one dreary morning and start lashing out. The genesis of his latest intervention in the public discourse of this kind has its roots in the pre-1999 agitation for a Sovereign National Conference.
The military junta, led by General Ibrahim Babangida, spat in the face of Nigerians by announcing the cancellation of the results as they were flooding in and showing the winner to be streets ahead of his main rival. Babangida had been in power since 1985; before then, Major General Muhammadu Buhari was in power, having overthrown the civilian government of Alhaji Shehu Shagari in 1983.
You cannot foist a constitution on a people who have not been asked to give their consent. No point sugar-coating it, the phrase “we the people” in the introduction of the 1999 Nigeria’s Constitution is a barefaced lie. No referendum of the people ever took place to approve. Consequently, the simmering agitation has persisted. The elections held under that same constitution since then have been illegitimate but the politicians benefiting from it have developed a vested interest in upholding it.
There is a feeling in the air that Nigeria is back in the pre-1999 mood for a root and branch change of the ‘Sovereign National Conference now, or else’ type. Afe Babalola senses this, as do millions of young people. There is a three-way split in the reaction to his proposal. First, the establishment, who does not want to see their dinner party interrupted. Second, the revolutionary, who would rather burst through the dinner party.
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