NIGERIA AND MILITOCRACY: A CASE STUDY OF EKITI AND OSUN STATES GUBERNATORIAL ELECTION
Few years back I came across the word “militocracy” through one of my lecturer and mentor, Femi Olabisi, who said militocracy was the blending of military and democracy. It is a devoid and adulterated form of democracy in which people are governed as if they were in a military government.
But do you know that I never understand the meaning or detail of the coined word “militocracy” until the recent Ekiti and Osun state gubernatorial election in which the Federal Government opted to militarized. The election in those states might have come and gone but it left behind series of issues to be treated and the need for our so called government and adminis-traitor to respect the fundamental right of the citizens and stop treating us as hew-man.
Prior to the election, I got the news of the heavily armed military personnel in the states and I retired to my sit booting on what the concept of democracy might mean to our government under the leadership of Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan GCFR who sanctioned the deployment. The answer was not far-fetched as I remember the popular definition of democracy by Abraham Lincoln “as the government of the people by the people and for the people”. The abuse of the Nigerians in both Ekiti and Osun states during the election raised an alarm of the extent to our government is willing to go in capturing the states. In almost every nooks and crannies of the states, military personnel and policemen were spotted in all entry and exit point with their weapon both on land and in the air scrutinizing and subjecting the electorate to unnecessary fear. To my own candid opinion, these were not the first time military personnel were deployed to states for elections. Anambra, Edo and Ondo state guber elections had same experience but the exceptional case of Ekiti and Osun state.
Political analysts, observers and several party leaders opined that the deployment was necessary due to the furore and uproar that preceded the election campaigns between the political parties vying to be the number one citizen of the states, while the peculiarity of the PDP candidate Senator Iyiola Omisore and the incumbent governor Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola of the APC might prompted the Federal Government to sanctioned the deployment of the heavily armed military personnel. While some other observers and opposition parties consit that it was a tactics by the Peoples DemocraticParty (PDP) led federal government to intimidate the incumbent governors, Kayode Fayemi in Ekiti State and Ogbeni Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State both of the All Progressive congress, to sweep and prepare the ground for its candidates, Ayodele Fayose who won in Ekiti State and Senator Iyiola Omisore who was thoroughly beaten.
In my opinion, I disagreed by reinventing what my political science lecturer, Ganiyu Zubair asked in my class few years back that “Can Nigeria Nascent Democracy survived? The heavily armed military usage for election process on both states is dangerous for our own democracy even more than the Ebola Virus Disease.
The experience of River State governor, Rotimi Amaechi and Edo State governor, Adam Oshiomole whom were both debarred by the military personnel from entering Ekiti State to attend APC last mega rally left mouth watering questions. While the abduction of the APC national secretary, Alhaji Lai Muhammed who recounted his ordeal after the election in Osun State was a questionable and unconstitutional act of the Federal Government.
Majority of APC chieftain had their own spoil of the incident, Rochas Okorocha of Imo State and former lagos state governor, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu were prevented from taking off at the Akure Airport after the Ekiti state mega rally and resolved to travel by road.
APC national chairman, John Odigie Oyegun, at a press conference in lagos said the activities of the Federal government during the election was unconstitutional that threaten the very fabric of the nations nascent democracy and said Ekiti and Osun were turned to war zone by the Federal Government under the guise of security provision and he conceived that PDP are too obsessed and desperate to capture Osun and Ekiti state at all cost.
Professor Wole Soyinka also reacted by questioning the authorization of military personnel involvement in electioneering process, who then urged the national assembly to investigate and unravel the culprit behind the unconstitutional act. He proceeded by slamming the military that it has lost it respect for concurring with such unlawful act to be used in a democratic process.
The big question now is what are the expectations of the Nigerians as the 2015 election is around the corner and whether or not election violence can be stopped by the deployment of thousands of soldiers and security personnel to each states of the federation.
Monthly Archives: December 2014
GOLD IN THE CLAY
GOLD IN THE CLAY
Life without definiteness of purpose is a life going nowhere and a life without bearing but until u picture how and what you want your future to be, you might just be a passerby on this our planet earth. The world and life generally can accommodate every individual on the planet but only gives the best to the visionary and the thinkers. Imagine how life will be if Thomas Edison failed to picture the light bulb, the entire universe would have be in a great darkness and without form but because he was able to have a sketch in his mind, the light bulb was. Mary Kay Ash said “there I see the woman”, that was the picture of the woman she want to be. You are whom you are right now because you have never seen that man or woman inside of you who is better off in everything.
By now you might have gotten the clue of what the concept of my write up is “gold in the clay”. You might be wondering of what I meant by the title, but some people have becomes great because they discover there was a gold in their clay and they uncovered it, the world sings of their names today. All female knows whom Mary Kay is because her vision have beautify the femine gender, Bill Gate for his invention of people-friendly software (Microsoft empire), Thomas Edison for the light bulb that have illuminate our homes, streets and offices while Steve Jobs who through his vision gave us computer. May I asked you now, what will you do to be remembered or I should framed it like this, what will you be remembered for?
Isaac Newton in his famous laws of motion, law one said “all objects remain at the point of rest until an external force is applied”. That is exactly what you need to discover and have a clear picture of that gold inside of you. You’re naturally endowed and created for a purpose by God but for you to fulfill your God given destiny, you must have a vision, I mean seen beyond where you are and get a clear picture of what you are and get a clear picture of what you’re meant be. Laide Adeyemi at a seminar in 2013 said “you can take away all of someone’s possession but you cannot take what produced that possession unless you kill him/her” what produced those possession is what I called the “inate man” and that is the pure gold inside your mortal body.
You’re meant for greatness but until you applied an external force to stimulate you, you’ll remain where you’re without any special recognition. Remember the saying, you can’t be doing the same thing the same way and expect different result.
I charged you, there is a gold in your clay, Christopher Columbus said, “you can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore”. You have to learn and have the courage to swept aside the shore that vieled your vision and see beyond your nose. Thomas Edison said “Ihave not failed, I have just found 10,000 ways that won’t work” that was the mam who knew the gravity of his vision and have the courage to pursue it. I challenge you to make your life a master piece by uncovering the clay and unleashed the glittering gold.
Finally, it your choice to determined whom you want to be and what you want to be remembered for. “your life is in your hands, to make of it what you choose” John Kehoe. See you and your glittering gold.
WHEN THERE IS NO THOUGHT, THERE IS NO LIFE
WHEN THERE IS NO THOUGHT, THERE IS NO LIFE
Did you know and agreed that there is an agreement or connection between your thought and your life? That question sounds funny right, just tries and read through all the lines but prepares your mind to criticize and picked the important ideas.
Napoleon Hill in his immortal rules “think and grow rich” said thoughts are things and powerful things at that when mixed with purpose, persistence and a burning desire for their translation into riches or other material objects. Thoughts are the seeds planted into the garden of the mind which will produce the harvest that will be surely reaped, whether success or failure.
You might be wandering of what I meant by the title “when there is no thought, there is no life” but, cool your nerves and take a deep breath as I watered and inspired your mind with some great quotes and poems.
Personality is sometimes determined by your thoughts, your belief and attitudes. The major difference between the richest man in the universe and the poorest man is the pattern and structure of their thought. Take a close look at the quote below by James Allen “you are today where your thoughts brought you; you will be tomorrow where your thoughts take you”. If I may ask you, did you get something inspirable in that two lines quote, if you don’t then I will summed it up that if you want to take a step higher and further, you just need to step up the level of your thinking. Remember the saying that you can’t keep doing the same thing, the same way and expect different result. A change of methodology must be involved and the only way to get another method involved is to think and have a life.
Let me further inspired you by the poem I got while exploring Napoleon Hill “think and grow rich”.
If you think you are beaten, you are,
If you think you dare not, you don’t
If you like to win, but you think you can’t
It is almost certain you won’t
If you think you’ll lose, you lost
For out of the world we find,
Success begins with a person’s will
It’s all in the state of mind.
If you think you are out classed, you are
You’ve got to think high to rise
You’ve got to be sure of yourself before
You can ever win a prize
Life’s battle don’t always go
To the stronger or faster man
But soon or late the one who wins
Is the one WHO THINKS HE CAN.
Read through over and over and observe the words which have been emphasized, you will catch the deep meaning the poet had in mind. I belief and think YOU CAN but did you think YOU CAN? Decides now. Mary Kay Ash, the founder of Mary Kay cosmetics conceived in her mind that she will rise to the stardom, she said, “there I saw this tall, svelte, pretty, successful woman crowned queen as a reward for being in a company contest. I determined (she think) to be that queen the following year, which seems impossible. However, I decided to go up and talk to the president and tell him that I intended to be queen next year”. That is the power of thought that gave birth to Mary Kay cosmetics. An organization with 250,000 independent beauty consultants worldwide.
Finally, I want to inspired you with another poem by William Ernest Henley, this poem also inspired late South African President and the winner of Nobel Peace Prize, Nelson Mandela who said he recited the poem to himself and other prisoners as a way to bolster their spirit and motivate them to press forward. “Invictus”, a Latin word which means undefeated was written to inspire willing minds that want to take a step further.
Out of the night that covers me,
Black as the pit from pole to pole,
I thank whatever gods may be,
For my soul unconquerable soul,
In the fell clutch of circumstance,
I have not winced nor cried aloud
Under the bludgeoning of chance
My head is bloody, but unbowed.
Beyond this place of wrath and tears
Looms but the Horror of the shade,
And yet the menace of the years
Finds, and shall find, me unafraid.
It matters not how strait the gate
How charged with punishments the scroll.
I am the master of my fate
I am the captain of my soul.
The poet did a great job, but you need to step up your thinking faculty to deeply understand Henley’s lines. The ether in which this planet floats is a form of energy moving at an inconceivably high rate of vibration, and that the ether is filled with a form of universal power which adapts itself to the nature of the thoughts we hold in our minds and influences us in natural ways to transmute our thoughts into their physical equivalent. And the universal power make no attempts to discriminate between destructive and constructive thoughts.
Let me conclude by saying that our brains become magnetized with the dominating thoughts we held in our minds. By means with which no one is familiar, these ‘magnets’ attract to us the focus the people, the circumstances of life which harmonize with the nature of our dominating thoughts. Though life is filled with some uncontrollable challenges but we CAN control our reaction to those events. But regardless of what life gives us, we must remember that “I am the master of my fate, I am the captain of my soul because I can control my thoughts”.
See you at the top but think constructively!
Aremu, Joshua .A.
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