I've been trying to get someone to publish this book review for one year, the damn local papers won't do it, even though it is about a very courageous SRU graduate who started a reform political party in Nigeria. The Butler Eagle, Pittsburgh Post Gazette, even the ROCK Pride magazine all declined. I have now sent it to the Rock student newspaper and to Allied News out of Grove City. This guy really accomplished alot - and SRU cant seem to give him credit. WTF??? Olisa is the guy in the middle holding the big book.
Book Review, by Mark Daniels, Professor of Political Science at Slippery Rock University.
The Sad Event: The Struggle for the Abuja Municipal Area Council, Federal Capital Territory of Nigeria…a positive learning experience, by Olisa A. Ozoewulu, Gold Press Limited, Ibadan Nigeria 2009 (978-978-088-277-8). (“Finalist: Current Events Political/Social, International Book Awards” competition, sponsored by JPX Media, Los Angeles, California, USA.)
Olisa A. Uzoewulu is an alumnus of Slippery Rock University, a citizen of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and author of a book discussing his experiences founding and organizing a political party in his country’s struggling democracy. Despite observing graft, corruption and fraud in Nigerian politics, Olisa has continued to see politics as a higher calling to public service that can provide for the common good and also lead to inner satisfaction and spiritual fulfillment. His experiences and observations of democracy in a third world developing nation reflect many characteristics of mature democracies, like the United States, and provide lessons for idealistic participants in emerging democratic governments.
Nigeria is a federal constitutional republic composed of 36 states and the federal capital territory of Abuja. In 1997 Olisa decided to run for an elected position as Chairman of the Municipal Area Council of Abuja as a member of the Democratic Party of Nigeria. Nigeria’s three main ethnic groups are Hausa, Igbo, Yoruba. As a native Igbo, Olisa organized to secure the support of his fellow Ibgo voters, but also reached out to other ethnic groups for support. Winning the election would not mean just getting the most votes, but also receiving at least one third of the votes in two thirds of the wards in the council district which would show widespread support for the winning candidate among different ethnic groups throughout the district. The results of the election were inconclusive: The candidate with the most votes failed to meet all the requirements for an electoral victory. Olisa received the second highest number of votes, and under the rules of the National Electoral Commission of Nigeria a run-off election was required.
Olisa and his supporters petitioned for a run-off election, but the party of the leading candidate proposed a negotiated settlement. The idea of an extra-constitutional settlement of an election is not unusual with emerging democratic governments, or with mature democratic governments either. Recent elections in Afghanistan and Iraq have been followed by negotiations among leading parties for governments that are more representative of the diverse populations of their nations. Even the United States has had negotiated settlements of contested elections, for example, the 1876 Presidential election. In this case, however, Olisa’s party insisted on a run-off election. Despite the rules of the Electoral Commission, the Minister of Abuja refused to conduct a run-off election and instead installed Olisa’s opponent into office. Olisa took his case to the local tribunal court, and the court judged that the office should be vacated pending a run-off election: the government ignored the court decision, there was no run-off election, and Olisa’s opponent continued to hold the position of Chairman in defiance of the local tribunal court’s decision. Olisa’s response was to start a new political party that would compete for power on a national basis: the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) also referred to as the “Wulus” party.
Eventually a run-off election was conducted, and the new Wulus party participated along with other, well established parties. The Wulus party resulted in a realignment of many factions in the electoral district. Olisa recounts the intrigue of secret meetings, divided loyalties, attacks and betrayal that led Olisa to withdraw his candidacy for the position of Chairman, and in his place he recruited a new slate of party candidates and continued to direct his political party in the run-off election. One amusing anecdote is the offering of St. Remy Brandy liquor as an inducement or bribe by leaders of factions seeking alignment with the PDP, something Olisa always declined. Nonetheless, it is amusing to note that in a picture of an Abuja Municipal Area Council campaign session, a bottle of brandy is clearly visible in the background!
The Wulus party was successful and won the Chairmanship in the run-off election, and Olisa continued to develop the PDP to win races in other electoral districts. Similar to party organizations in other settings, like Chicago, Olisa used the ward unit as the beginning level for party organization. Olisa decided to conduct an issue oriented campaign with as much interaction with voters as possible in order to expose voters to the public policy plans of the party and to expose candidates to the unique socio-cultural and economic conditions of the voters. The opposing parties had greater financial resources to wage highly visible campaign tactics such as campaign trains of motorcycles, buses and cars that often drove past Olisa’s house in an effort of intimidation. In response, the PDP engaged in charity works and donations to the poor in children’s homes, orphanages and hospitals, as well as an environmental campaign to clean up garbage in villages, markets and towns, in order to generate good coverage in the print media of their candidates. They invited the press to cover the symbolic planting of a tree of “truth and justice.” And similar to Democrat Rahm Emmanuel in the 2006 US House Congressional Elections, the PDP distributed funds to many candidates to achieve the maximum number of seats in area councils. The PDP was successful in many races, but Olisa soon found that victory is often followed by disillusionment.
As with many third world nations, and some developed nations also, politics is often the most attractive profession for those seeking money, power and fame. Olisa observed corruption, tribalism, nepotism and the looting of public treasuries during his years in Nigerian politics, as well as many coup de tats. He wonders if the money spent on the Nigerian military on training and weapons actually encourages the military leaders to seek political power by establishing military dictatorships. Nigerian military leaders usually steal national resources to deposit in foreign financial institutions, and see politics as a form of patronage and employment for their family, tribe and loyal supporters. These leaders, Olisa explains, are “idealess” leaders who see politics as a source of personal enrichment, and who only offer prayers to the common people for improvements in living conditions instead of sound planning and public policies.
He concludes his book with suggestions for “sanitizing” and improving the quality of life for Nigerians through the reform of political parties. He recommends that the government stop funding political parties, for this results in citizens viewing political parties as sources of employment or welfare. He thinks political parties should search for or create funding to sustain their operational activities. He may have overlooked the problem of self funded parties in the US that involves contributions from vested interests and the “buying” of influence from donors. Perhaps Olisa should consider having the Nigerian government fund candidates, similar to our funding of Presidential elections, or the funding of state wide candidates for office in some selected states, such as New Hampshire. Olisa also calls for political parties to become organs that will articulate new ideas and develop concepts that could develop the nation. In addition, he thinks political parties should be involved in the intellectual training of members as a process of grooming future leaders.
Olisa concludes that his PDP “Wulus” party eventually succumbed to the entropy of the Nigerian political atmosphere and became an appendage of the government in power. Supporters became more interested in what he describes as the “dramatis musicology” of the party slogan and motto, heard at rallies as: “PDP! PDP! PDP! Power! Power! Power!” then “ Power to the People! PDP, power to the elders, PDP, power to the women, PDP, power to the youth PDP!” He thinks this may only be PDP’s brand of Obama “yes I can or we can” but he seems to think these enthusiastic chants suggest a shallow message of the party that results in the attractiveness of the party for reasons other than relevant issues. But most importantly he is disillusioned by the emerging leaders who became the most corrupt. Many of his observations are very representative of the dynamics of politics in other third world nations, but at times his experiences reflect the corruption and disaffection of politics in developed nations such as the US.
Olisa’s faith in an eventual Nigerian government as good as its people is a reflection of his own personal religious faith. As a Roman Catholic Christian, Olisa discusses the role that faith has played in his life, providing him with strength and vision and courage in the political arena. One of the pictures in the book shows Olisa participating in a Muslim prayer session, and this also provides hope that there are political leaders in Nigeria that recognize the importance of religious tolerance in a country as religiously diverse as Nigeria. Olisa concludes by expressing the hope that a nation so blessed by material and human resources as Nigeria will attain economic growth through democratic processes. The book itself is challenging to read because of its sophistication, and also because the vocabulary Olisa uses are his translations of adjectives, adverbs or noun phrases in his native language that sound awkward in English.
Slippery Rock University should be proud that it had a role, however small, in creating a Nigerian political leader who is dedicated to democratic principles and a set of high moral ethics. Olisa A. Uzoewulu is one of SRU’s noblest alumnae.
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