Much Ado About ‘Tribe’, ‘Religion’ and Geography
By Mohammed Adamu
Those who prioritize tribe and religion in their political choices, are not necessarily ‘mad’ or as many allege, ‘haters of country’! They are merely users of the democratic right to freedom of choice. Tribe and religion are necessarily valuable political considerations in virtually all spheres of human endeavor. In no less the same manner that race and ethnicity are! Or that ‘geography’ is!
We have just finished hailing our under 17 female football team. We did not necessarily want the ‘best’ team to win. No; we wanted ‘our’ girls to win! Yes we wanted our team to be the best team. But even if there were better teams, we would still have prayed that ours won! And yes the best team sometimes lose and the not-too-good team may sometimes win. But be that as it may, every citizen wants his national team to win! Call it countrism, like you call it tribalism or racism; yes that’s what it is!
If there is a ballot tomorrow at the United Nations for which of either ‘Nigeria’, ‘Egypt’ or ‘South Africa’ should be Africa’s representative for the proposed permanent seat on the UN Security Council, I bet you, tu love of country (patriotism), and not the search for the best ‘representation’ will be a natural inclination for us all. And so even amidst the comity of nations too, preference for one’s own country over those of others (in spite of quality, integrity and credibility) can be no less racially, tribally, religiously or geographically motivated!
You cannot remove the tendencies of tribe, ethnicity, geography and or religion from politics. Never! Not even in the so called ‘developed’ democracies of the world. Hell not even in the ‘bastion’ of it all, America! People are not tribal, religious, racial or geo-centric because they are mad or because they are haters of the political good! On the contrary the freedom and the right to choose is the best democratic good! People are bound sometimes to be tribal, racial or religious because in reality they are what they are: namely political animals. Besides, who says that you cannot be both religious or tribalistic in choice and still choose good?
The love of tribe, religion, race or geography are emotive tendencies. They cannot be regulated by law or even by morality. You cannot inquisition the right of a person to love his own. But you can question the credibility or integrity of his choice. “Self-love” Shakespeare wrote, “is not so vile a sin as self-neglecting”! We should not have issues with Igbos, Yorubas or Hausas wanting their own to be President. It is their democratic right to do so. We should ONLY have problem with Igbos, Yorubas or Hausas not wanting others but their own to be President!
Nor should we have problem with Muslims or Christians wanting members of their own religion to be President! That too is within their democratic right to do. What we should rather be having problem with, are Muslims or Christians insisting only their own should be President!
Rather the only thing that we all must always unite to fight for is that there’s always room on the ballot for every shade of opinion, no matter how nuanced (whether of tribe, religion, race or geography); and no matter how queer or out of the ordinary. Hell let there be religious political parties, as there are ethically or ideologically based ones too. Or aren’t there even in other so called ‘saner’ climes, racially inclined political parties too! And why not?
Religious political parties abound even in the West. And as a matter of fact in most Scandinavian countries they are even Church-sponsored! As in other climes in Asia. Provided they are not a Hobson’s choice on the ballot, why not? A fundamental attribute of democracy is that it let’s the eagle perch and it lets the kite perch too. Let’s allow the people the freedom to wilfully choose who they want! That in actual fact is the democracy! Anything short, is something else!
Let’s give democracy a breathing space! To me my candidate and to you yours! Let us question only the credibility, the integrity and the ability of each other’s candidates; but we should NOT inquisition the democratic right of people to choose or reject a particular candidate – even if we know that their choices are motivated by tribe, religion or geography!
We must let the people’s personal experiences teach them the democratic lesson that they must learn. We must let them, by themselves, realize the futility or otherwise of voting tribe, religion or geography!
