Turkey`s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan recently embarked on a tour of Africa where he too k in visits to Angola, Togo and Nigeria. It was no coincidence that Mr. Erdogan chose to travel to Angola, Togo and Nigeria, for as the saying goes, birds of the same feather flock together. In leaders of all three African countries, Mr. Erdogan very much finds leaders cut from the same cloth as he is.
Nigeria is Africa`s most populous country and biggest economy. It is also Africa`s biggest oil producer. However, years of maladministration marked by corrosive corruption and rudderless leadership has left the country and its long-suffering citizens on the brink.
Angola is Africa`s second biggest oil producer after Nigeria. The country is blessed with vast oil reserves. However, the country`s troubled past includes the horrors of a protracted civil war which stretched from 1975 – 2002 and the utterly corrupt and cluelessly dictatorial government of Mr. Jose Eduardo dos Santos who was in power from 1975 to 2017.The devastating combination of the Angolan Civil War and the ruinous corruption of the government of Mr. Jose Eduardo dos Santos who turned Angola`s commonwealth into his family`s personal fund, has ensured that millions of long-suffering Angolans remain firmly in the grasp of gripping poverty.
Unlike Nigeria and Angola, Togo is not an oil-producing country. The country is poor without a lot of natural resources. But to compound the country`s miserly lot has been the iron dictatorship wielded like a cudgel by the Gnassingbe family. Eyadema Gnassingbe was in power from 1967 until he died in 2005.He was immediately succeeded by his son Faure Gnassingbe in 2005 who has been in power ever since with embarrassingly little to show for it.
Turkey`s Recep Tayyip Erdogan has been a constant in his country`s political scene since 1994. He has been the President of Turkey since 2014 and under him, one of the world`s most liberal Muslim-dominated country has come under the bootheels of autocracy especially since a failed coup attempt in 2016.
What immediately binds Turkey, Angola, Togo and Nigeria is the fact that the quartet of countries are governed by leaders who prefer the toxicity of intolerance and autocracy to the refreshing freedom that democracy conjures on a daily basis.
If the world is to break free of the cloud of poverty that suffocates children and their families in many countries of the world, power must truly and fully belong to the people, and the people alone. In every country of the world, people must be able to choose how and by whom to freely express their power.
Under Mr. Erdogan, Turkey which was previously a secular state marked by tolerance and prosperity has witnessed a severe erosion of democratic rights and freedom. Citing the failed coup attempt of 2016, Erdogan has fully and freely indulged his autocratic appetites in putting journalist, artistes, artists, political opponents behind bars or on trial by a compromised judiciary. The international community has largely turned a blind eye to what is happening in the country because Turkey is serving as a holding pen for millions of refugees who would otherwise pour into the European Union and other countries.
The questions are obvious: are economic prosperity and democratic freedoms mutually exclusive? Is there any sort of rivalry between economic prosperity and democratic freedoms? Is there ever a conflict between economic prosperity and democratic freedoms? If there is, which among both desirables should take the upper hand?
Because Africa as a continent has failed in spite of its vast natural and human resources to keep up with the pace of development in other continents, thereby ensuring prosperity for its diverse populations, it has always been a playground for foreign leaders who seek to score cheap political points or cover up their failures at home or abroad.
Most of the countries who engage in this kind of diplomatic white-washing are countries with questionable human rights records. China is a prime example. Because these countries pay little regards to the rights of their own citizens, they are not shy to export their ruthlessness to the countries where they sprout roots in the name of bilateral and trade relations. Africa is a favourite destination. To change this narrative, African countries must look at themselves and resolve to no longer serve as playgrounds for foreign autocrats.
Nigeria as Africa`s most populous country and biggest economy must again take the lead in efforts that are invariably in defense of democracy which is the best guarantee that African children will experience a future better than the present. Nigeria must demand that every country that seeks to engage with it on any level must attain certain democratic and human rights credentials. This demand must run deep because as countries slip into dictatorship, their leaders perfect the devilish act of disguising nauseating dictatorships as variables of democracy. Admittedly, this is not easy. It would take a lot of courage and soul-searching.
Under Mr. Buhari, Nigeria is admittedly not ready for this exercise in introspection and circumspection. Would it not be a pot-calling-kettle-black foolhardiness for a country where there has been a deliberate attempt by the government to whittle down democratic freedoms since 2015 to admonish another country about democracy or make demands that another country proves its democratic credentials?
Also, for a country to be able to do this standing on firm grounds, it must ensure that it has viable economic options and alternatives to keep the heads of its citizens above increasingly stormy economic waters. Unfortunately, Nigeria, Angola and Togo do not have those options right now. Worse still, the leaders in place in the three countries share stark and startling similarities with Mr. Erdogan.
As Mr. Erdogan waves handful of Greek gifts, Nigeria must be wary of the poisoned chalice he represents and presents. To put people and their well-being above expertly disguised but nonetheless ruthless dictatorial inclinations is more important in the long-run that illusory gifts. Besides, respect for democratic rights and freedoms trumps dictatorship as a better guarantee for economic prosperity and growth.
Source – ThisDay
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