Address by Ipemndoh dan Iyan to Nigerians on Governance

It is not Democracy, Silly; your Right to choose your “Leaders”, your Ownership of the Voting Card, your casting of the Ballot. All are in one Description and Explanation; Elective Political Representation. Ipemndoh dan Iyan©

Introduction

There are multiple Questions of Governance besetting Nigeria’s Polity. One is the Misapprehension of Democracy as Political Philosophy and as Practice. The other is the Insistence on the Indivisibility of the Country. Another is the Persistence of Nationalist Politics. Yet another is the forlorn Quest for National Unity. My Use of the Term Nationalist here is the Adjective of my Proposition of Nation. It could also be a Noun. My Nation is offered as Belongingness to Group Identity founded on common cultural History, and shared Genealogy. This Definition challenges what Others writing on Nigeria’s Human Geography have described as ethnic, ergo, ethnic Politics. My Definition is severally, and mutual-inclusively philosophical and sociological Explanations of Nation. Ethnic refers to Differentiations in the Composition(s) of Nations. 

Let us also clarify what I mean by Misapprehension of Democracy. The political Practice Nigerians today applaud as Democracy, in concert with most of the rest of the World, is in many ways different to the original Democracy in Ethics, and in Practice. Democracy was not an Ideal in formulation. It was Practice that was recognized as ideal. In Misappropriation, and Misconstruction in Practice, Democracy realized as an Ideal through routine Practices became unattainable by retrogressive Practises.

What is Democracy? 

The United States of America (USA/US) brags itself, and is celebrated, as the “Leader of the free World.” The “free World” is Synonym for “democratic World.” This in turn, identifies Countries in the World where the Polity is the so-called Democracy. However, here is the Catch. The Constitution of the USA reposes the Right to elect the President and Vice President in the Electoral College.1 This Condition, ipso facto, denies Entitlement of the direct Vote of ‘the People’ to elect the two Officials. While the Votes of ‘the People’ determine the Votes at the Electoral College, this College has Free Will not to validate the Will of ‘the People’. This is not equitable. 

Rulings from the Country’s Supreme Court effect these Votes of ‘the People’ as Mandates of ‘the People’ but only lately.2 An otherwise adequate Constitution would not leave the simple Question of direct or indirect Vote to the Courts to determine. This Inadequacy of the US Constitution was evident from/in Ray v. Blair in 19523 yet 19 Years later, the Incompetence was not remedied in/with Amendment XXVI (1971). The Right of ‘the People’ to directly elect the President and Vice President could have been enshrined in Amendment XXVI.

Within enlightened Discussions among Western Thinkers there are those who disagree with describing and/or explaining the electoral political Process and attendant Government as Democracy. John Locke (1690)4 saw it as Commonwealth, Jean Jacques Rousseau (1762)5 recognized no real Democracy, Joseph Schumpeter (1942)6 witnessed competitive leadership for Votes, and Robert Dahl (1956)7 observed Polyarchy. I will not bore you by going into Details of each Theorization here but suffice it to say that what Nigerians ceremoniously enthuse as Democracy is not consensually seen as such among those philosophically familiar with the Concept of Democracy. 

As for myself, I will borrow the well-known Term of ‘Electoral Politics’ for my christening of the Practice in the two different Ways in which it engages the two principal Sets of Actors. One Identification is ‘Elective Political Representation' (EPR)8  as it concerns the Logic of Participation from Electors. The other is the ‘Electoral Politics of Adversarial Oligarchies’ (EPAO) in Portrayal of the Participation from Politicians. You might find me in this Address using electoral Politics, electoral Polity, EPR, EPAO, elected Government and Civilian Governance9 interchangeably. They all represent the same Circumstances by Logic. 

My Definition of EPAO is most notable in that once Politicians get into Power, both in Minority and in Majority, they become (1) elitist and exclusionary to ‘the People’ and (2) continue with their Antagonism of One Another's Policies instead of working at Compromises. They are no longer Representatives of 'the People', the Understanding upon which 'the People' lent them their Votes. Politicians henceforth become self-appointed Leaders10 to 'the People’, unreachable and/or approachable and political Antagonists – between  themselves – competing for Hegemony. 

As for you,’ ‘the People’ your ruling Politicians device Laws to oppress you with. They then contrive Diktats camouflaged as Laws – after all, these “Laws” are now debated and voted upon and enacted in the Legislatures – to protect themselves from your Challenge of their Oppression. So, I ask ‘the People’ this; are you sure you are getting a good Deal from the electoral Politics you deceive yourselves to be Democracy? 

I have heard Nigerians refer to Democracy as 'Government of the People by the People for the People', so easily. This is Description and/or Explanation quite apt for Democracy. However, it is the commonplace Misappreciation of present-day electoral Politics – my EPR/EPAO. The Quote is a Passage from the Speech Abraham Lincoln, the 16th President of the United States (POTUS), delivered at Gettysburg on 19 November 1863, under one and half Years to the End of the American Civil War. Democracy is French then English Transliteration of the Grecian Demokratia; the Compound of People (Demos) and Rule (Kratia). Lincoln was not a Political Philosopher or even a Political Theorist, and I doubt whether he was thinking of expatiating on Democracy when making his Speech. He was concerned about emphasizing the 'Common Good'11 Essence of Political Leadership and Socio-Political Atmosphere. 

The Practice of Governance named by the Greeks, as Demokratia, did not originate with them but was appropriated by them from Africa. The Philosophy, agreeably, is Government of the People by the People for the People, as I noted earlier. Despite taking with them from Africa an established Tradition of direct Democracy in many Forms, the Greeks failed to imitate exactly many of these Forms in Athens. It was with Athenian Democracy that direct Democracy lost the Accolades of Government by the People for the People. It was also not Government of the People but rather the Subjugation of the People. 

It is not actually certain who introduced the so-called Demokratia into Athens. Was it Solon who was made Archon (Chief Judge or Chief Magistrate) in 594 BCE and whose Reconstruction of Athenian Public was not interfered with for 10 Years running and have remained largely untouched since? Iterated History tells us that he went away from Athens to Kmt (Egypt) for the 10 Years' Break. Herodotus12 and Plutarch13 confirm this Sojourn in Kmt. What has not been easy for the regorged History to include, i.e., is that it was Pharaoh Amasis of Kmt “who established the law that every Egyptian should appear once a year before the governor of his canton, and show his means of living; or, failing to do so, and to prove that he got an honest livelihood, should be put to death [that] Solon the Athenian borrowed … and imposed … on his countrymen, [Athenians] who have observed it ever since.”14 We know from Plutarch that Solon “applied himself to merchandise in his youth; though others assure us that he travelled rather to get learning and experience, than to make money.”15 Solon visited many Societies before he became Archon "and empowered to be an arbitrator, and lawgiver"16 but Kmt was the favourite/favorite Destination in ancient Times. It is, a priori, that Solon would have stayed in Kmt during his Travels before he was made Archon. 

I have come across Mention of Cleisthenes as responsible for evolving Demokratia in Athens. Yet, he did no more than "changed the names of the tribes and made them more in number than they had been; ... ten rulers of tribes instead of four, and by tens also he distributed the demes in the tribes; [embracing] the common people to his party [to make himself] much superior to his opponents."17 At least, here in what Cleisthenes did, the Greeks were a little close to the Government of the People they learnt in Africa. The Cleisthenes Attribution of Demokratia in Athens is tenuous. I believe its only Usefulness is two-fold both for the Purpose of Repression of Reality. One; it fudges the Fact that Solon's remoulding of Athenian Society, which was much more extensive than Cleisthenes', was interrupted by Tyrant Pisistratus who seized Power after Solon and was Ruler at different Times for circa 21 Years before Cleisthenes.18 Two; Solon is the only Athenian social-Reformer associated with Africa. It must not be easily acknowledged by wide Circulation that Africa,  through Kmt, founded the Logic of Athenian Demokratia. 

For 'the People' to be governed by 'the People', the Governors must take direct Instructions from the People and execute those Instructions as directed, or 'the People' must themselves be the Executors of their Instructions. Rousseau (1762) thrashed out this Proposition. Electoral Politics – the Reality of so-called democratic Politics – is certainly not Government by the People but Subjugation of the People by oligarchic-Elites (from my Electoral Politics of Adversarial Oligarchies) for Self-Interest. Where it might be mistaken for Government for the People it would most likely be due to Coincidence of Interests. Importantly, Government of the People by the People for the People, i.e., Democracy does not presuppose Elections.

That Africa is the initiating Source of the System of Government the Greeks would come to name Demokratia has been posited by some Writers. Tiky (2011) argued that “the works of historians suggest that it is from Africa that the fire of the Athenian democracy was stolen.”19  I have been writing on Africa as the original Locus of Democracy since the 1990s on my various Websites, Decades before Tiky’s Paper. I had written outside the Academic Infrastructure but Tiky wrote within it. Even then, he did not go as far in identifying the Practices of Democracy in Africa as I am doing in a Book I am working on for Sale Publication. Tiky did not see Direct Democracy as a Feature of African Democracy contrary to my Exposition in the Book. 

Tiky’s Understanding of Direct Democracy was restricted by the Athenian Fact of being a small City State, and the Process of effecting Athenian Direct Democracy through Elections. Quite unfortunate. His Difficulty arose from relying on European/Western Thinking on the Question of Direct Democracy in large Populations. I got the Impression from his Paper that Tiky did not consult any primary Source or near-primary Source. He appeared content with marshalling Information from secondary Sources, and further-removed secondary Sources, to make his Point. He certainly was not defining African Democracy pre-European Consciousness of the Concept and Practice of Democracy. For Instance, when he was discussing Solon whom he credited with setting the Scene for Democracy in Athens, and Cleisthenes he has been made to believe strengthened Solon's Reformations, it was evident that he read neither the Herodotus Account nor the Plutarch Account of those two. 

The Africans trying pointlessly hard to define themselves within Definitions of Africans mapped out by Europeans in general, and the West in particular should stop. They might call what they are doing “redefining” or “redefinition” but it is not. There are enough Pieces of primary Evidence to substantiate the African Claim to being Mother to Civilization and as Practitioner of large-scale Direct Democracy. That Europeans, and the West did not beget Civilisation, and have been incapable of replicating Direct Democracy or that Africans were enslaved and colonized by Europeans negates not the Reality that Africans did evolve Civilization, created and practiced/practised Direct Democracy, Empires wide.20  Here, in Africa's Direct Democracy, the 'Right to choose our Way of Life' was manifest. 

Let us take the Pyramids, for instance, as an Example of the European Denigration of the African, and the African’s Complicity in it. Europeans never built Pyramids,21 and they are only just glimpsing the Science behind them in Africa. You could imagine if the Pyramids had been movable, they would Today not be in situ in Africa. Nevertheless, unable to dislodge the Pyramids, Europeans/Westerners began to situate Egypt – Grecian Transliteration of the original ‘Kmt’ – in the Middle East. When that Revision of physical Geography that only kindergarten egocentrism could conjure up failed to hold – after all, it is clear Egypt is on the Continent of Africa – they changed to asserting that the Structures did not emerge from the African Mind but from Foreigners who ruled Egypt. You now must wonder why those Foreigners did not build Pyramids on own Lands. Greece and Rome did, in fact, cart away some physical Structures from Africa. Infantile, really. Ashley Montagu (1942), himself a 'White' Person, dismantled the ‘White’ Person's Boast of intellectual Superiority to Africans.22 I recommend also reading Herodotus on the Identity of early Egyptians and on African Civilizations, and Plutarch on Grecian (Ancient Greek) contact with Kmt (Ancient Egypt).23 

Whenever we announce Democracy emerged from Africa, Africans themselves are the first to ridicule us. Their Racial-Slavery and Racial-Colonisation have so conditioned their Minds that they will not see themselves other than inferior to the 'White'. To them, the 'White' Person is literally 'God'. Have you seen the Image of Jesus the Christ they prostrate before and kneel to and beseech for Favor and/or Mercy? They call it 'praying'. Have you listened to how their Pastors and Preachers portray Egypt as God's Rejection, their degradation of Egyptians as God's condemned in their uneducated understanding of the Bible? Yet, the Jews of the Bible were Africans. Being a Jew has always been Description and Explanation of a Follower of the Religion of Judaism. 

The Geographies in the 'Holy Bible' make clear the Jews were Africans, from Kush/Cush and Nubia, Southern Neighbours/Neigbors to Kmt. The Jews came from Areas which are in Today's Egypt itself, Ethiopia, Libya, and Sudan. Extant Evidence locate the Jews around the same locations in Upper Egypt (Today’s southern Egypt) in the Vicinity of the First Cataract; Aswani/Aswan ca 5th/4th Century BCE and Elephantine ca 1st Century BCE. Further, the Description of Jesus the Christ affirms the Africanness of the Jews in Revelation 1:12-20 (Geneva Bible). See the same Passages in the Catholic Bible as also in the King James Version (KJV). The Bible never said Jesus Christ was not a Jew. He was a Jew who brought a different Understanding into knowing 'God'. He was the new Covenant promised in Jeremiah 31: 31-34. Jesus the Christ at no Time referred to himself as 'Christian'. It is a Description attached to his Followers after his Death. See Acts 11:26, 26:28 and I Peter 4:16. 

Importantly, how could it be that the Continent from which Civilization emerged could also not have educed the Concept and Practice of democratic Governance? The African Psyche is a Thing of Worry post Racial-Slavery and Racial-Colonization. Despite the widely available confirmatory Sources that Africa introduced Civilization to the World, most Africans are determined in Self-Denigration that European Slavery of their Peoples and the Colonization of their Lands brought the Light into their World. Just as they enabled and facilitated 'White' Folks enslaving them and colonising their Lands, they continue to do the same in elevating 'White' Folks above them in 'White' Folks' propagandized Hierarchy of Human Species.

Nigeria’s Imagined Indivisibility 

The True-Nigerians (TNs) or Natural Born Nigerians (NBNs) who frown against Nigeria's Divisibility, and urge 'National Unity' are being misled by Retrospective-Nigerians (RNs) who initiated both Sentiments. By TNs/NBNs, I intend 'Nigerians' born on or after 1 October 1960, the Date of Nigeria’s Independence from British Colonial Rule. My RNs are those born in the British Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria, and the Federation of Nigeria before this Date, who are backdated Nigerians by Section 7 of the Constitution of the Federation of Nigeria, 1960. Sections 8 and 9 apply to other Circumstances of Birth to be an RN. 

The Belief of TNs that Nigeria as Geography24 existed before Colonization is instilled by the consensual Strategy of the RNs – some of whom might not actually have been born in what was to become the Territorial-State of Nigeria – to deliberately distort the Origin of Nigeria to sustain their Vice Grip on the Country. Look around you, how many of your 'Leaders' are not older than independent Nigeria? The Truth is simply that British Colonialism and Colonisation created Nigeria in Geography and in Name. Ergo, the Assertion by Nigerians of Indivisibility and the search for National Unity are to seek to hold the Golden Grail. 

To blame the British for the Continuation of Nigeria is not truthful. Reading deeply into Remarks attributed by @alaafin_oyo #LamidiOlayiwolaAdeyemiIII,25 the Sardauna of Sokoto #AhmaduBello and his #Hausa/Fulani26 North did not want to be Part of a Country called Nigeria. It was #NnamdiAzikiwe of #Igbo who wanted it and was quite able in articulating that Vision. #Yoruba #ObafemiAwolowo sought a Union but was clueless on how to make such a Union function. He was diversionary with his Yoruba Nationalism.27 Ahmadu Bello too was a Nationalist but unlike Obafemi Awolowo, his Nationalism was constrained to an independent State for the Hausa/Fulani released from the Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria/Federation of Nigeria. 

When eventually #IgboNigeria realised that the Union was not working they decided to take Military Control of the Country. Perhaps, if they had not planned and executed the Coup D’état of January 1966 that reeked evidently of Hate for the Hausa/Fulani, the Igbo could have gotten their Biafra.28 After waiting for circa 7 Months for the Igbo General Aguiyi-Ironsi Regime to make Amends but which appeared not forthcoming, Hausa/Fulani Military Officers retaliated. The Hausa/Fulani North also rose in vengeful Resentment.29 The Igbo could not take the Dish they had served30 so they opted for Secession and the Biafran - Nigerian War, from 1967 to 1970, ensued.31  #YorubaNigeria joined with #Hausa/FulaniNigeria to quell the #IgboNigeria Uprising. Perhaps, #YorubaNigeria was alarmed by the #IgboNigeria January 1966 Coup, and subsequent Consolidation of Power and fearful of the kind of Neighbour the Igbo would be as an independent Country. It was unfortunate that the Igbo and the Yoruba should have to confront themselves as they did, being genetic Relatives. Read the Fact of Igbo and Yoruba genealogical Link in Adeyemo, A. A. et al (2005).32 

Except for the Igbo/Yoruba genetic Link, the Nigerian Union, as configured currently, cannot work. The Hausa/Fulani are the oddballs.33 Ordinarily, you hear, as a Matter of Course, #IgboNigeria, and #YorubaNigeria, severally, vilifying and demonizing #Hausa/FulaniNigeria. Now, you know it is the same Blood/Kin with Hate for the different Blood. Well, they are welcome. Let them keep their Nigeria. The Hausa/Fulani should get out. However, any Divisibility should be negotiated at the Table not by Confrontation of Weapons. It is irresponsible of Nigeria’s “Leaders” to continue to tape the Union flimsily in unrealistic Assurances to their different Peoples it would hold. It will not because it simply cannot. 

Enough said here. Look forward to the Book I am writing on the Nigerian Conundrum. In the meantime, take a Look at dan Iyan (2013)34 where I argued, inter alia, the restructuring of Nigeria as Confederation along Boundary Lines like in the USA or on Congruent-Nationalities or simply returning to the regionalization of the Country pre-Civil War. On revised Thoughts, while I might still espouse a Confederation of Sorts, I would not recommend a singular Head above the Heads of States of the Confederation, as is the Case presently in Nigeria and in the US. 

The Elusive National Unity: Nigeria the Geo-Social Aberration 

Most Countries, perhaps all, are molded/moulded.  In other Words, most or all Countries are artificial but ‘Nigeria’ was an Aberration in Construction. The Truth is that what later came to be called Nigeria was Collation – not Collection – of trading Posts for the administrative Convenience of the Colonial Owners. These trading Posts and their Human Populations were initially in the private Ownership of the Royal Niger Company before Transfer to the Crown (British Government). In Effect, ‘Nigeria’, as Human Geography, historically on Reflection was Merchandise. Most Historians have revisited this History to misrepresent it in Argument as though the original Idea of the British Colonizer was to forge these trading Posts into harmonised Communities projected to become a unified Country. With this Misrepresentation, the Revisionists have simply been regurgitating One Another. 

I differ with the Alteration of History. It was Agitation of a certain kind from select Nations35  – even to the Minutiae of Ethnicities – for Liberation from Colonization that borrowed the unformulated Conception of ‘Nigeria’ as rallying Cry. I have preferred the Expression ‘select’ above because I am not that educated on the Role ‘the Peoples’ of the Northern Part of the British Colony and Protectorate of Nigeria played in the Advocacy for ‘Nigeria’ to become post-Colonial unified independent Territorial-State. I have no Literature or any other Source on which to rely except for the @alaafin_oyo #LamidiOlayiwolaAdeyemiIII Speech referred to already. I have read Arguments by Prince Bandele Omoniyi but I do not believe he was talking as a Yoruba Man. His Stance was that of a Pan-Africanist. 

Although the Hausa/Fulani North were not keen on the post-Colonial Settlement of ‘Nigeria’ the #AhmaduBello Northern People’s Congress (NPC), nevertheless, collaborated with the Igbo #NnamdiAzikiwe National Council of Nigeria and the Cameroons (NCNC) on the Formula for the Republic of Nigeria. The North repeated this Behaviour in joining Forces with the Yoruba to repel Igbo Secession in the Nigerian Civil War of 1967 to 1970. I have read the Article for The Times of London written on 8 January 1897 by Flora Shaw in which she “coin[ed] a shorter title for the agglomeration of pagan [which later became Southern Nigeria] and Mohammedan [subsequently Northern Nigeria] states [to] 'Nigeria’, applying to no other portion of Africa, may, without offence to any neighbours, be accepted ... and may serve to differentiate them ... from the British colonies of Lagos and the Niger Protectorate on the coast and from the French territory of the Upper Niger.”36 The British Colonial Administration accepted this administrative Proposal, and was formalised in 1914 by Governor-General Lord Frederick Lugard who became Husband to Ms Shaw in 1902. 

So, you see, ‘Nigeria’ from its Originality did not include those Areas which later became largely ‘The Middle Belt’, as it also did not accommodate the Lagos Province. Prince Bandele Omoniyi, who appropriated the name 'Nigeria' from Flora Shaw, saw it as an integrative Tool for the Purposes of Independence from Colonization. It was for him too, an administrative Referent with which to identify the collective Objective of Freedom from Colonization notwithstanding the national Differentiations in the Populations of the Colonial trading Posts. I read the Bandele Pamphlet - among his other Pamphlets - in the early 1990s and I took Notes. I am unable to locate them presently but I remember his arguing that ‘Nigeria’, the Name, was useful common Identity for the Territories Shaw had designated with that Name. I cannot recollect correctly if Omoniyi embraced a post-colonial Human Settlement of Nigeria made up as we have had it since British Colonisation and British Journalist Shaw manufactured it. It has been so long ago and I cannot rightly recollect in which Year the Pamphlet was published between 1904 and 1908.

Nigerian Politics are more Nationalist than Religional    

Religion plays a significant Role in the ordinary Consciousness of the Nigerian such that it could be mistaken to underpin everyday Interactions. Religion, in Reality, is simply another Platform of nationalist and socio-political Expressions for the Nigerian. I am more familiar with the Judaeo-Christian Religion, so-called Christianity,37 than the other Religions. So, I will restrain myself to my Understanding of Judaeo-Christianity as a Tool of Expression, i.e., Contact-building, Friendship, Governance, Hate, Love, Resentment, War, et cetera. This is not to say that other Religions are not also Vehicles for Expression. I am simply admitting that I know only of Judaeo-Christianity's Use as Vessel of Expressions. It is the Deployment of this Religion as Conduit for nationalist Resentment that I am concerned with. I must note at this Point, though, that except for my Mother and her Children born Judaeo-Christians, I come from Generations of Muslims. I am, personally, non-religious. I have been for about 50 Years of my 63 Years. I stopped being religious from about Age 9 at a Stretch to about Age 31, then drifted in and out. 

The ubiquitous Observation that Religion flares the Fires of Conflict between Groups in Nigerian is Description not Explanation of such Events. The Primacy of the Nigerian ordinary Consciousness is Nationality.38 It is in this Arena of Nationality versus Nationality that Nigerian Politics are played out. On Occasion, the Emphasis of nationalist Intervention in the Nigerian political Atmosphere is moderated by Partisan Politics. Even then such Crosslines are for personal Gain rather than Quest for Advantage of ‘the People’ supposedly represented. 

This linked Video https://youtu.be/l_idLS90v3A in superficie presents the Veneer of Judaeo-Christianity. It is, however, Camouflage for nationalist Hate of the Fulani. Notice that all the Sermons in the Video have nothing to do with “preaching the Word of God” but on how to respond to Oppression – perceived or real – by the Fulani. The Fulani are a national Group never a religious Group yet in the Outbursts in this Video we observe the Façade of Judeo-Christianity to cover up nationalist Antagonism. The Fulani preferred Islamic Religion is tangential to their Identity as a Nation. Some might disagree with me that the Religion is more than incidental. 

These are so-called Christians preaching Hate in its Guises of Justification (‘Just Cause’) including but not limited to Retaliation, and Revenge on the Basis of Nationality Differences within the State of Nigeria. This Type of Nationalist Antagonism is replicated on other Platforms such as Print Media, Television, live Church Sermons, Public Speeches, et cetera. We know that Nigeria was contrived, not even along Ethnic-contiguous Associations, but on the Need to amalgamate certain trading Areas to “differentiate them” from other trading Posts, and that the Determination of the Name 'Nigeria’ was arbitrary in fact. There is no Explanation of it (not 'for it').  

Let us face it; no Country in such Manner created as Nigeria and/or thus named can survive in its Human Geography Concoction. One of the inherent Difficulties of the Geo-Social Aberration called ‘Nigeria’ ensures that while other African Ex-Colonies given Names by their Colonizers have changed those Names to reflect their Heritage, 'Nigeria' cannot because there is no common cultural Heritage between the different block Groups of that Country.

Endnotes

1See Article II, section 1 and Amendment XII.

2Supreme Court of the United States – Chiafalo et al. v. Washington, 591 U. S. ___ (2020) and Colorado Department of State, Petitioner v. Michael Baca, et al, 591 U. S. ___ (2020). These Judgements do not agree with me that the Electoral College has ‘Free Will’. The Court’s Disagreement, however, flies in the Face of the Logic of what the US itself and the Rest of the World hail as ‘Representative Democracy’. 

3Supreme Court of the United States – Ray, Chairman of the State Democratic Party Executive Committee of Alabama v. Blair, 343 U.S. 214 (1952).

4Locke, J., An Essay Concerning the True Original Extent and End of Civil Government, 1690. 

5Rousseau, J. J., The Social Contract, 1762.

6Schumpeter, J. A., Capitalism, Socialism & Democracy, 1942. 

7Dahl, R. A., A Preface to Democratic Theory, 1956. 

8This is Description of the Process not Definition. The Definition will come later in the Discussion. 

9I have taken Guidance from the Nigerian Expression of Civilian Government.

10With subliminal Suggestion they make ‘the People’ believe that it was the Idea of ‘the People’ to make them “Leaders.“  

11This is self-explanatory but see Rousseau, op.cit.

12Herodotus., The Histories of Herodotus, Book 2, written ca 460 BCE.

13Plutarch., Plutarch’s Lives, Year written uncertain but Plutarch is said to have lived between 49 AD and 119 AD. Some 400 Years after Herodotus.

14Herodotus, op.cit., Book 2. 

15Plutarch, op.cit.

16Ibid. 

17Herodotus, op.cit., Book 5.

18Herodotus, op.cit., Book 5 and Plutarch, op.cit.

19Tiky, N., The African Origins of the Athenian Democracy, Annual Meeting Paper NCOBPS, Department of Political Science: University of Connecticut, 2012. Originally written in 2011. Italics in the original.

20My upcoming Book discusses Democracy in Practice in Africa, pre-colonial Era. 

21A Bosnian Joker claimed in the early 21st Century that he discovered 12,000 Years-old Pyramids in Bosnia. He attracted Worship in Bosnia but his obscene Claim met with Derision in Academia as deserved. 

22Montagu, M.F.A., Man's Most Dangerous Myth: The Fallacy of Race, 1942.

23Kmt was called by other Names at various Times by its Peoples. We had Ta-mari/Ta-mrry/Ta-mery (Beloved Land) and Tawi (Two Lands), i.e. Kmt/Kemet/Kamit itself meant 'Black Land' named after the black Soil Deposits left by the Nile after receding. Kmt is convenient for some of us to mention, perhaps, because we do not know it had other Names. I might be the only One who believes 'Egypt' is the direct Grecian Transliteration of 'Kmt'.

24Geography includes both Human and physical Geographies.

25https://youtu.be/ST2MAH4JzWk

26The oblique in Hausa/Fulani – rather than the hyphenated Hausa-Fulani – recognizes two distinct Nationalities which have become sociologically merged by History, and Intermixture. It is possible that there are Hausa and Fulani who are still quite distinct within their individual Nationalities. 

27See again my Definition of Nation preceding.

28The Coup was conceived, incubated and given Birth to by Igbo Military Officers. The Targets were primarily Hausa/Fulani Military Officers, and Politicians. There were other Nationalities killed too but they were simply Collaterals. 

29#IgboNigeria subsequently distorted the Chronology of Events to justify its Victim Narrative. 

30I find it most bizarre that the Igbo would complain about their Numbers massacred in the North while remaining silent on the reciprocal brutal killings of Hausa/Fulani in the East. Besides, the Issue was not really about Numbers. It was about Harm, and which Group initiated it. The Igbo did, with their January 1966 Coup. You cannot cut off my Arm, and then decide for me the Extent of my Revenge. 

31The January 1966 Coup, and the Igbo subsequent Consolidation of Power had shown the Hausa/Fulani how unsavoury the Igbo would be as Independent Neighbors. 

32Adeyemo, A. A. et al; 'Genetic structure in four West African population groups', BMC Genetics 2005, 6:38 – http://www.biomedcentral.com/1471-2156/6/38  

33Do not misunderstand me. I am of Fulani Stock and I would welcome a Fulani Territorial-State. 

34dan Iyan, I,P., Dulling the Imaginative – Nigeria as an Example of the Acculturation of the Colonised: The Subservience of Non-Western Minds, Amazon, 2013. This Book has a less comprehensive Formulation of 'Nation' than I have presented in this current Address/Paper. 

35I have deployed 'Nations' here instead of 'Tribes'. 'Tribe' has certain pejorative Suggestion to it, especially that its common Currency is to use it to describe non-European – more accurately, non-Western – Communities. As an Academic Philosopher in the Social Sciences not only do I know of the practical Difference between 'Nation' and 'Tribe' I am also aware of the ideological Implications of selecting either to describe a Group. 

36Copyright© 2008 Hogarth Blake Ltd.

37There is really no such Religion as ‘Christianity’ insofar that the Teachings of the Old and New Testaments are followed by those who profess to be of that Religion. One can only be a Christian if One is strictly a Follower of Jesus the Christ in Accordance with Acts 11:26, echoed in 1 Peter 4:16 in Recognition of the Promise of ‘God’ in Jeremiah 31:31-34. Even 'The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints' Congregation follows also the Old Testament. 

38‘Nationality’ derives from my Definition of ‘Nation’ already stated in the Introduction to this Essay.

Ipemndoh dan Iyan PhM©

AsimauGlobalMedia© 

All Rights 2020©

13 December