Nigeria, after independence from Britain in October, 1960 has with the passage of time, experimented with democracy and military dictatorship. Although the military oligarchs recorded a small success with a special emphasis on infrastructural development, the popular opinion was that their emergence, was an encumbrance to the healthy evolution, of Nigeria’s political landscape. In 1999, another experiment in democracy began. This continues up to now, in an atmosphere devoid of refinement in all its ramifications. In other words, there has been a consistent, monumental failure of leadership and to a limited extent, followership. Despite the humongous amount of natural resources in the country, living standards of most citizens continue to go from bad to worse. Indeed, more and more people in every nook and cranny of this country, are becoming increasingly despondent due to poor governance. Nigeria is only practising “monkey” democracy. This unpleasant situation, is the root cause of the widespread agitation for socio-political, economic, and demographic transformation in recent times. A lot of Nigerians of the Igbo extraction, are even asking for secession, due to what they refer to as marginalization including other related reactionary complexes. The Yoruba are more interested in regionalism or restructuring of the country. The main philosophy of this, is that every geo-political zone, should control its destiny within the weak central system. These agitations are the corollaries of poor, insensitive political leadership. For peace on a sustainable scale to reign supreme, the leadership has to work for justice, fairness, and equity. The electorate must be allowed to choose their leaders without intimidation. But unfortunately, electoral discipline remains alien to the Nigerian political class, which has graduated from the use of cutlasses and stones to heavy weapons like AK-47 rifles and bombs sometimes, with the aid of a helicopter during electioneering campaigns and voting.
It is against this backdrop, that the idea of visa restrictions by the United Kingdom and America, for some glorified thugs masquerading as politicians gains its importance.

The entirety of the global community must come to our rescue. The Nigerian political culture embedded in a savagery of violence and blatant disregard for human lives, is a severe embarrassment to persons, even with the faintest idea of common decency. In this country, the law of the jungle is of the essence. Thus, for example, several civil society groups in Nigeria claimed that at least 50 people were killed during the general elections in February, 2019. This was confirmed by the European Observers’ Mission in the country between January and April, 2019. The findings of the Nigeria International Election Observers’ Mission-an arm of the National Democratic Institute (NDI) and the International Republican Institute (IRI) corroborated this ugliness that characterises the Nigerian brand of democratic process. NDI and IRI are US-based NGOs. Nigeria is a segment of the networked global village. Therefore, its political leadership cannot mischievously equate the interventionist policies of Britain and the US with interference. The two concepts are not the same. Every modern country has to surrender facets of its sovereignty to the larger world system in order to experience peace and progress. The fear of UK and the US with regard to travel restrictions, is the beginning of political stability in our unprecedentedly troubled Nigeria. Many top Nigerian politicians including state governors and members of their nuclear families have been barred from visiting the above countries due to a wide range of economic/financial and electoral infractions. In addition, some senior officials of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) as well as State Security Service (SSS) are already gnashing their teeth because they have been stopped from going to these two countries. The US government has assured ordinary Nigerians, that even the children and spouses of such reckless politicians would face deportation. After polluting the Nigerian space, these politicians are eager to go to Europe and America among other developed nations to enjoy their ill-gotten gains. What a crying shame! A very warm salute to the UK for not just stopping at the level of imposing travel restrictions on the political class members, but seizing their assets after prosecuting them within the confines of international laws that bind humanity together. It is a misapplication to reduce this development to the level of an assault on Nigeria’s sovereignty. It is a fact, that institutions or legal frameworks are hardly respected by the powers that be in this country. In Nigeria, electoral process is about warfare. The political actors are unrepentant Machiavellians due to their immoral methods of winning elections. Therefore, the efforts of UK and the US to impose visa ban among other restrictions on these “leaders”, are not an exercise in anti-Nigerianisation but seeking solutions. The governorship election of September 19, in Edo State marked a new dawn in Nigeria’s political history and culture. Contrary to what happened in Kogi and Bayelsa States in 2019, the Edo election was free, fair, and peaceful. Only a minimum amount of skirmishes was recorded. No elections are completely perfect in all climes and cultures. Policemen, soldiers, and other categories of security operatives exercised their duties within the context of fine-grained professionalism. The Nigerian political actors were forced willy-nilly to conduct themselves in a civilized manner. The central government also did not interfere in any way. The Independent National Electoral Commission was absolutely terrific. It is impossible for me to de-couple this fine electoral behaviour in Edo State, from the fear of UK and America. In fact, other developed countries should also impose travel restrictions on those reckless, stone age politicians. This would enable them to begin to step back from the edge of an abyss. The ECOWAS leadership needs a lot of things to learn from UK and America with respect to travel restrictions including other sanctions. The leaders of this sub-regional organization should not just be interested in imposing sanctions against those who stage a coup in their country. There must be sanctions against the leadership that is merely practising jaundiced democracy through the lens of an electoral fraud-the root cause of political unrest in Africa. It is the ethical responsibility of the ECOWAS leaders, to hold heads of national governments that have no respect for democratic principles accountable. It is immoral for the president of a West African country who makes a mockery of democratic process, to run to ECOWAS leaders for protection when the military burst his bubble, often to the admiration of the suffering masses. It is very worrying, that the Conflict-Prevention Framework adopted in 2008 by ECOWAS, is yet to be used. There is a gulf between democracy and civilian rule. In the case of the former, votes of the electorate count. Consequently, a bad leader can be removed from office after his first term, as eligible voters are allowed to cast their ballots without intimidation. Where is Nigeria on the socio-political ladder? Therefore, it is thumbs up for the US and UK for their invaluable interventionist policies, very critical to the emergence of a sophisticated democratic culture in Nigeria. Prof Ogundele is of Dept. of Archaeology and Anthropology, University of Ibadan.