Sixty-two years after independence from the colonial rule, can it be said that Nigeria has mastered its colonial experience, and ready to take leadership space in the world order? The nation’s current political landscape and political culture provide interesting insights about certain colonial character traits that are retained by the Nigerian people and often taken advantage of by elitist politicians in the country.
At this period of electoral campaigns, it is expected that political parties and their supporters will begin to intensify efforts to significantly improve their chances of gaining power in the forthcoming general elections in February 2023. As political parties begin to communicate their manifestos and woo the the electorates, the use of catchphrases or ‘buzz words’ targeted at selling party’s cadidates and ideology or discrediting opposition’s ideology and standard bearers will naturally gain momentum.
The use of catchphrases or buzz words in electoral campaigns has become a common practice in the digital-media age. On the social media, there is limited barrier to the flow of information to the people. While this has ameliorated the problem of information asymmetry that often causes uninformed decisions or indecision among the electorates, there has been increasing incidence of misinformation and disinformation that sway the electorates to the biddings of desperate politicians. Therefore, not so many politicians may have a strong motivation to belie the influence of the social media sentiments on their chances of electoral success.
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Although some still strongly believe electoral success goes beyond social media sentiments, it is widely acknowledged that having a strong social media presence during electoral campaigns is not a trivial matter. Moreover, considering the level of bullying and disparaging contents that are being transacted on a daily basis in the cyberspace, the significance of establishing a strong and formidable defence-structure in the same space cannot be overemphasized.
Among the the three leading contenders for the presidential race, the standard bearer of the All progressives Congress (APC) Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu aka BAT is definitely not the least trending if not favoured on the social media. From the emilokan coinage to the agbado-cassava catchphrase, it is not so unclear the wide controversies and attacks the candidacy of BAT has attracted on the social media.
Recently, a group of supporters of the Tinubu-Shettima ticket reportedly went on a corn-eating rally to demonstrate their allegiance to their candidates. This can be interpreted in several ways; one is a symbolic, group effort to counterbalance or trivialise the viral agbado-cassava catchphrase that has been making round on the social media to discredit BAT and the progressives.
The catchphrase, agbado(corn)-cassava government emanated from one of BAT’s several moments of addressing national issues that was obviously taken out of context. The progressives’ flag bearer had highlighted unemployment and food crisis as the major challenges of the nation and suggested mass recruitment of the Nigerian youth into the agriculture sector which still has the highest capacity for employment in the country. According to him, more efforts should be channelled into production of food crops such as, cassava, maize, yam etc. locally. This logically should not engender contempt, especially considering the impact of the Russian-Ukraine war on the global supply chain of grains and its attendant effect on the food security of many countries of the world including Nigeria.
However, the fact that such matter of critical national importance is being abused or manipulated to advance political bickering does not only send wrong signals about our readiness or preparedness for national development but also exposes our pathological fixation to our colonial history; It is reminiscent of the black or natives’ alienation demystified by Franz Fanon in his Wretched of the Earth. The colonial bourgeoisie established in the colonies structures that were so poised and powerful that even after the end of the colonial epoch the exploitation of former colonies and alienation of the natives still persisted. This is neocolonialism, and according to Fanon, the struggle for decolonization is at the heart of Africa’s development.
It is not a point to contest that Agriculture is native to Nigeria’s economy. With more than 60 percent of arable land and over 200 million people, Nigeria has all it takes to feed its people, sustain itself and be the paragon of peace. The Flag is green and white not by accident. Unfortunately, the several years of clamour for diversification of the nation’s economy through agricultural initiative has remained abortive due to certain colonial virtues and ethos that have continued to characterize our democracy as we have it today, albeit unconsciously.
