Nigeria’s self-inflicted wounds: A reflection on Kemi Badenoch’s critique

Nigeria is a mere geographical expression. There are no ‘Nigerians’ in the same sense as there are ‘English’ or ‘Welsh’ or ‘French.’ The word ‘Nigeria’ is merely a distinctive appellation to distinguish those who live within the boundaries of Nigeria from those who do not. —Obafemi Awolowo, Path to Nigerian Freedom, 1947.
First things first, Kemi is clearly shitting on her parents’ country of origin in order to make political gain. A silly strategy because there is no way she can out-Farage Nigel Farage himself. The iron law of right-wing politics is that the further right a mainstream politician goes, he would always find that the nutters who occupied the erstwhile far right have gone even further. Ergo, there is nothing Kemi can do or say; she will never win over Farage’s disciples.
Having said that, I prefer to look at the broad things she is talking about. Sadly, the reaction of Nigeria’s elite to it shows the routine lack of self-awareness that has possessed us as a people.
Is Nigeria a “united” country? Not by any stretch of the imagination, and the same divisiveness we are accusing Kemi of, Nigerian politicians routinely deploy it. I am of Igbo ethnicity, and in the last decade, I remember off the top of my head people promising that my people would be drowned in the Lagos Lagoon if they did not vote in a particular manner; I remember a public official being attacked by security guards from his part of the country and turning around to blame ‘Biafra boys’ for the attack; I remember Yoruba people being attacked on election day, just for ‘looking Igbo.’ So, it is interesting that we draw the line when a foreign politician (with roots in our country) plays divisive politics. She learnt it from somewhere.
On the police. Can anyone reading this say with a straight face that the Nigerian police is a paragon of decency? Please say so and be shamed as an inveterate liar.
Like Kemi’s brother, I have been robbed by the Nigerian police. Unlike Kemi’s brother, more than once. I was once told, just before they emptied my wallets, that “If you don’t bring that wallet, I will shoot you, and nothing will happen.” That statement was delivered in the calm and measured tones of someone who had actually done it before. Given where I grew up and the kind of work I ended up doing as an adult, I have more than enough stories regarding the Nigerian police, so let’s not pretend about that criminal organisation.
On national unity, Kemi is simply echoing one of our ‘founding fathers’ in letting us know (again) that Nigeria is not a nation. We have spent the 77 years since he made that statement doing everything but building a cohesive national identity. It is true that the British brought various, sometimes warring groups together, and not for altruistic purposes, but what have we done with it since they nominally left our shores 64 years ago?
Kemi said that Nigeria is a poor country where those in power steal from the country. The VP, whose feathers were ruffled by that statement, is spending billions of naira to build a new official residence. To what purpose? Inflation figures released just yesterday place inflation at more than 30 percent. This has been the case for more than a year, yet it is an official residence that is most important to him.
Last week, our national grid collapsed for the 12th time this year. Yesterday, there was a major accident on Kubwa Road. Cars ran into a stationary trailer because there were no functioning street lights. In 2024, we cannot guarantee electricity for our people, electricity that people still have in Damascus and Beirut despite both cities being under heavy bombardment. Please, we should take multiple back seats.
Anyway, there isn’t much else to do but to wait for the inevitable OpEd in either the FT or the Economist, ghostwritten in the name of the President or VP, lambasting her. It’s the kind of lack of self-awareness that defines Nigeria’s elite.