The US and the Destruction of Democracy in Nigeria - Essay Example

U.S. and the Destruction of Democracy in Nigeria The US has been at the forefront championing and supporting democratic governance throughout the world. However, Professor Amechi Okolo believes the US is not as democratic as perceived. Democracy calls for the rule of the majority for the benefit of the majority, this rule spearheaded by the majority. America has also been on the forefront in the safeguarding and ensuring human rights are at all times observed. Amechi feels that this is American hypocrisy as the history of America shows how Americans have oppressed other people and never cared for the observation of human rights at any given time. He talks of slave trade where the most productive Africans were forcefully taken to work in plantations in America thereby robbing Africa its crown jewel that could have spearheaded development. Professor Amechi feels that the American government is plutocracy in nature rather than democratic. The US sending a 40-member delegation to Nigeria irritates the author as he feels the delegation is not heading to Nigeria with a democratic agenda of ensuring the April 2007 elections are free and fair, rather the delegation is aiming at rigging the election. The rigging is to ensure the candidate who is handpicked by the US, to further US interests, is elected. The author is also very angry and cries aloud for the rest of the world to join him in condemning the US electoral process. The US is sending a delegation of election observers yet its own elections are rigged and none raises concern. The delegates led by the former Secretary of State, Madeleine Albright are thus portrayed to be, incompetent, hypocritical, and lacks the moral authority to serve as observers of the Nigerian Electoral Process since they have failed to raise concerns of the stolen US elections. To the author, the then president, George Bush is a criminal of election malpractices and murderer who has committed crimes against humanity in Iraq. President Bush together with his vice president, Dick Cheney are said to have stolen the 2000 elections. One of the things they are said to have done is to bar over a hundred thousand black voters from voting and of manipulating the Supreme Court to declare them the duly elected candidates. The legal system is portrayed as corrupt, for allowing itself to be manipulated by Bush, in fact the author says that he is convinced the US is the most corrupt and undemocratic nation on earth. The Americans in the text have been said not to ever care about any other nation and thus their presence in Nigeria is not for the sake of Nigeria but for the sake of the selfish interests of America. American leaders are corrupt and they are only interested in their welfare and not that of the common American person. Bush and his administration attacked Saddam Hussein regime in Iraq once Saddam refused to heed to the American demands and rather started serving his people. The attack on Iraq and the maintenance of the anarchy and violence was necessary for the leaders to enrich themselves elevating their social and political status in the world. Bush does not want to be viewed as a common ordinary president rather as a war president. Dick Cheney the vice president owns the largest military supplying company and thus the war must continue, so that his company can continue to be awarded, unrestricted, and uncontested contracts. At the end of the day, Cheney and other leaders smile and merry of the hefty profit made from the war while the common American family mourns the loss of a loved one. Bush support corrupt individuals and regimes that support America’s imperialism. Bush having been in power illegally has been rigging elections for his supporters in the world. One such person helped by Bush is Obasanjo the then president of Nigeria. Obasanjo supports every initiative by Bush, in turn he is offered protection, and intelligence are sent to Nigeria to ensure he stays in power at the same time serving the interests of the Bush regime. During Obasanjo’s re-election, the US delegation of observers acknowledges that indeed malpractices were witnessed, but those malpractices could not have changed the result. This, the author says is an indirect acknowledgement that the US recognizes leaders that are elected through rigged processes. Obasanjo is seen as a close ally of Bush who sees Bush as his mentor and thus an oppressor as well. The US is undemocratic in that after attacking Iraq, Bush indirectly set up a court to try Saddam Hussein the ousted Iraq leader. Saddam had for a long time done the US bidding, killed people with chemical gases supplied by the US. After he differs with the US, he is attacked and captured. Since the US fears Saddam might reveal his connection with them, they hang him. The author is thus furious that the US pretends to care about Nigeria, which is not the case. The National Democratic Institute (NDI), which is headed by US personnel talks of ensuring Nigeria becomes a democratic nation, but has failed to make the US one. The author admits that both his country of origin, Nigeria, and his country of adoption, the US, are corrupt and have crooked unfit leadership. He however distinguishes the two in that Nigerians are aware of their situation and are trying, though with little support, to change the status quo, the awareness he owes credit to the Nigerian system of education that teaches all Nigerians that the county’s leadership is corrupt from the word go. However, most Americans, according to him are not aware of the corrupt nature of their government, as the American system of education is fashioned to emphasize loyalty, patriotism, and respect. Therefore, Americans are moderate in criticizing their governments (Ojo 65). The author concerned that the US is traversing the world monitoring elections yet it has failed to streamline its system, as its elections are fraudulent. The author asks why the US cannot have observers from Nigeria, Zimbabwe or any other country supervising and monitoring the US elections. Since presidents like Mugabe know Bush is in power after having stolen the elections then they cannot heed or listen to the US bidding. The US, according to the author, should concentrate on its electoral process and leave the mandate of monitoring elections to the United Nations (UN). Election malpractices are a global issue affecting all parts of the world and the UN must take control without any interference from the US. However, the author seems not to take into account that the US is the main country that funds the UN and thus the UN would be biased. The US has also interfered with the democracy process by, alienating, barring or assassinating democratically elected leaders. Chief Moshood Abiola, the author says was assassinated by the CIA. Moshood Abiola was advocating for following the right procedures and being just to all and thus could not tolerate US’s malpractices. He was also very intellectual, very rich, and had a worldwide connection. When he contested to be elected in 1994 presidential elections, he democratically won but due to the US fearing he might not be suitable to serve their interests, influenced in the cancellation of the elections. Abiola went ahead and swore himself in as the new president, a factor that led to his detention. After four years in jail, he was to be released on condition he was to relinquish his presidential claims, which he refused and consequently was killed while in prison, and reported that he died of a heart problem. The US did not respect the will of the Nigerian people thus an obstacle to democracy (Okollo 1). The author says that many leaders in the world serve the US interest, as they have been put in power by the US through election rigging. The US thus has no right or moral authority to claim it has a democratic system of government. Leaders who oppose or do not serve the US interests are assassinated or labeled as terrorists. The US then mobilizes other countries to put sanctions on the said country. Leaders who have differed with the US leading to their alienation or assassination include, Moshood Abiola of Nigeria, Patrice Lumumba of Congo, Hugo Chavez of Venezuela, Saddam Hussein of Iraq, and Robert Mugabe among many others. The author therefore believes Nigeria and other countries especially the third world countries would be far off without foreign interference and patronage, especially of the US. The US is also a country that needs major reforms for it to claim it exercises democracy. The author has a sustainable point in criticizing the US. The US is only interested in countries that are of strategic importance or are rich in minerals, oil deposits, and natural gases. The US did nothing about the 1994 Rwandan Genocide that left eight hundred thousand massacred yet was actively involved in the Nigerian (oil rich) elections, which had no humanitarian crisis (Okafor 45). In 2011, the US is continuing with its patronage. It recently attacked Libya and it is viewed that the US is interested in the oil deposits. Countries like Somalia have been fighting for decades but since it has no natural resources, the US cannot intervene. Works Cited Ojo, Bamidele. Problems and Prospects of Sustaining Democracy in Nigeria. New York Nova Science Publishers, 2001. Print Okafor, Victor. Nigerias Stumbling Democracy And Its Implications For Africas Democratic Movement. New York: Greenwood Publishing Group, 2008. Print Okollo, Amechi. Democracy, Free Elections and US Observers in Nigeria: A Critical Analysis. Williamson: Social Justice Center, 2007. Print Read More