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Ideological Battle in the Nigerian State: an Interplay of Democracy and Plutocracy by Chris C

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Global Journal of HUMAN SOCIAL SCIENCE Volume 12 Issue 6 Version 1.0 March 2012 Type: Double Blind Peer Reviewed International Research Journal Publisher: Global Journals Inc. (USA) Online ISSN: 2249-460x & Print ISSN: 0975-587X Ideological Battle in the Nigerian State: An Interplay of Democracy and Plutocracy By Chris C. Ojukwu & O. G. F. Nwaorgu Ph.D Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. Abstract - It has been widely argued that democracy is an imperative for development in the 21st Century Nigeria. Perhaps, it is because the concept has been tested in some societies, particularly in western societies and it worked. The paper argues that one of the reasons democratic institution has not yet been properly rooted in Nigeria is that it has been choked off and smothered by plutocracy. The attendant consequences include, impoverishment of the citizenry, gradual deterioration of established democratic institutions and agencies and high level of criminality, militancy and terrorist-oriented activities. Keywords : Ideology, Democracy, Plutocracy, Elitism, Development. GJHSS-C Classification : FOR Code: 160699 Ideological Battle in the Nigerian StateAn Interplay of Democracy and Plutocracy Strictly as per the compliance and regulations of: © 2012. Chris C. Ojukwu & O. G. F. Nwaorgu Ph.D. This is a research/review paper, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 3.0 Unported License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/), permitting all non- commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited. Ideological Battle in the Nigerian State: An Interplay of Democracy and Plutocracy Į ı Chris C. Ojukwu & O. G. F. Nwaorgu Ph.D Abstract - It has been widely argued that democracy is an power to the civilian were basically characterized by imperative for development in the 21st Century Nigeria. arbitrary power, intimidation, subversion of the rule of Perhaps, it is because the concept has been tested in some law, suspension of the constitution and the abolition of societies, particularly in western societies and it worked. The virtually all institutions of democratic governance paper argues that one of the reasons democratic institution (popular participation, the fusion of executive and has not yet been properly rooted in Nigeria is that it has been choked off and smothered by plutocracy. The attendant legislative powers, the mutilation and emasculation of arch 2012 consequences include, impoverishment of the citizenry, the judiciary). The military’s repressive nature has also been interpreted through the ethnic prism that accuses gradual deterioration of established democratic institutions 29 and agencies and high level of criminality, militancy and the military elite who monopolized power as terrorist-oriented activities. representing sectional interests. The abortion of the Keywords : Ideology, Democracy, Plutocracy, Elitism, transition to a third Nigerian Republic through the Development. annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election was a classical case in point. I. INTRODUCTION Beyond this popular view, some students of he democratic forces must be careful about political theory have also begun to argue that the rallying around crooks because of short-term, country’s lose of grip on democracy can be tied to rein T calculations. Crooks are unreliable. They will sell of plutocrats in the corridors of power and circles of democracy down the river if and when it becomes governance. necessary in pursuit of their personal ambitions for them The paper, therefore, examines the interplay of to reach accommodation with anti-democratic oligarchy. democracy and plutocracy in the context of the Nigerian What democracy needs is a principled and dedicated State. leadership and more effective institutions for combating Volume XII Issue VI Version I II. CONCEPTUALISING IDEOLOGY, any oligarchy (Toyo, 1994:62). Nigeria, after five decades of political DEMOCRACY, PLUTOCRACY AND independence, still finds itself in the throes and GOVERNANCE trajectory of deep political quagmire. Frantic efforts to From a social-scientific viewpoint, an ideology is al Science ensure that there exists smooth and sustainable ci more or less a coherent set of ideas that provides a o democratic governance have failed several times. The S basis for organized political action (whether or not it is cause of this is not far fetched. It is basically because an intended to preserve, modify or overthrow the existing the Nation State has been hijacked by a stratum of m u plutocrats and timocrats. Given the degree and high system of power relationships.) All ideologies, usually in rate of their ill-accumulated wealth in the Nigerian the form of a ‘world view’, provide a model of a desired f H future, a vision of the good society, and outline of how society, the ideological interest of the Cabal appears to al o political change can and should be brought about. n influence and determine the contour of the Nigerian r u political system and structure that is largely build upon Ideologies are not, however, hermetically sealed o systems of thought, rather, they are fluid sets of ideas democratic principles. al J which overlap with one another at a number of points. b Many scholars are of the opinion that the woes lo Ideologies are also always subject to political or of democratic institutions have been largely attributed to G the military incursion into politics. For instance, the intellectual renewal, because they interact with and transition programmes during these periods which were influence the development of other ideologies and ostensibly arranged for the purpose of handing over because they change over time as they are applied to changing historical circumstances (Heywood, 2003). Throughout the ages, the great political Author Į : Institute of Human Resources Development, theorists have dealt with the question: what is a good Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. government and what kind of society will provide the Email: [email protected] Author ı : Institute of Human Resources Development, Federal base for it? Their theories were influenced substantially University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Nigeria. by the type of society they lived in or ideology they Email: [email protected] subscribed to as no theory or ideology develops in a © 2012 Global Journals Inc. (US) Ideological Battle in the Nigerian State: An Interplay of Democracy and Plutocracy vacuum. In other words, every society is shaped by a Communism has led many to believe that democracy set of belief systems, values, norms, and principles has finally arrived and would serve as a reprieve to which to a large extent determine the nature and ameliorate the pains and sufferings of Africa (Kukah, character of such a society, its policies and 2000:XIV). Ake holds that Africans are seeking programmes. democracy as a matter of survival, they believe that While ideologies are capable of being means of there are no alternatives to this quest, they have nothing progress and liberation for people, they can also be to loose and a great deal to gain (Kukah, 2000:XIV). vindictive and oppressive if used as a means of Modern democracy, as Samuel Huntington manipulation. They can express racial superiority and observes, is not democracy of the village, the tribe, or ethnic segregation as well as racial solidarity. Ideologies the city-state; it is democracy of the nation-state and its can easily topple noble goals, twist a common goal to emergence is associated with the development of the favour group interest and domination (Feyisetan, nation-state (Huntington, 1991:13). Nwankwo 2008:88-89). (1992:290) opines that democratisation is a process of For instance, ideology was the major issue political renewal and the affirmative acceptance of the behind the cold war between the West led by the United supremacy of popular will and consensual obligation arch 2012 States and the Eastern bloc led by the then Soviet over the logic of elitism and parochialism. It emphasises Union. Unwilling to move into hot war which would have the shift from individual and class dispositions to polity 302 meant self-destruction in an eventual nuclear holocaust, and the institutionalisation of genuine representative the two power blocs resorted to a war of words, in which political structures and organs of mass mobilization. The Africa and the other less-developed nations remained phenomenon stresses the ability of the ruling power- neutral in spite of the efforts made by the two giants to structure to revolutionize the economy to ensure a persuade them to join their respective sides (Ekpebu collective control of productive forces, the common 1999:66). The West opted for Capitalism and access by all to the means of production, distribution Democracy while the East subscribed to Communism. and exchange. The implication is that democracy is The first half of the 1990s marked the end of the meant to fight poverty, economic backwardness and cold war after 45 years of its existence. Thus, the under-development and to promote by all means rule of aggressive vacuity of the cold war was replaced with the law, security of life and property and various basic mission of democratisation, a mission that consolidated freedoms such as freedom from want, expression, the hegemony of Western values. As President Bush put association and religion (Osuntokun, 2010:19). To it at that time: realise this, requires the product of political leaders who Volume XII Issue VI Version I A new world order (is) struggling to be born… have the will and skill to bring it about. where the rule of law supplants the rule of the jungle. A Laakso and Olukoshi (1996:9) have argued that world in which nations recognize the shared the problems of nation-states are compounded by the responsibility for freedom and justice. A world where the absence of enduring structures of democratic strong respect the rights of the weak (Rourke, 1996:1-2).
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