By Mohammed Dahiru Lawal
It is all now common knowledge that, after three bumpy years, Donald J. Trump, the 45th President of the United States, was impeached by a 230 to 197 vote on Wednesday, December 15th, 2019 in the US House of Representative for obstructing Congress and abusing power in relation to his dealings with Ukraine. This establishes Mr. Trump as the third President in the over 200 years of American history to have ever been impeached.
Trump may likely not be impeached eventually, mainly because of Republican majority. But, whether Trump is eventually removed or not, the 45th President of the United States has been effectively discredited and his record will remain dented. At least, this is what happens in societies where public record is a matter of sacred significance. So much relies on integrity as Robert Green will readily agree.
Whether Trump deserves to be impeached or not is not my drift but that the proceedings reaffirmed true democracy in terms intolerance of impunity and unruly dispositions that are not amenable to discipline or control. The question is what lessons lie for both Nigerian politicians and citizens alike from the comportment of the legislature and the reaction of the US citizens on social media?
For instance, instead of using the FBI to unleash state terror on the House of Representatives or bundle up opponents overnight, President Trump sent a conscience pricking letter to Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi, part of which reads, “you are turning a policy disagreement between two branches of government into an impeachable offence”. He went on to say he had no doubt that the American people would hold the Speaker and the Democrats fully responsible in the 2020 election. Note Trump’s use of “the American people” NOT “my office!”
On the side of the legislature, the Republicans did not engage their Democrat counterpart in fisticuffs on the floor of the House, neither were symbols of legislative significance destroyed in a bid to outwit themselves. You could feel patriotism and love for country in the way they move and talk. One even said he does not know what history would be told tomorrow, but today it should be told that justice took a stance, even though he doesn’t feel good voting for the motion. It could be seen clearly that arguments and positions taken were determined by ideals.
While the impeachment proceeding was going on, millions of views, comments and reactions were raining on the internet. One of the streams on Fox News Facebook page recorded 1,707,248 views at a point, BBC, 1.7m views and over 24 thousand comments, CNN; 2,017,000 views and over 700 thousand reactions but, at least, an appreciable percentage of those reactions were not fraught with disdain, bile or hatred for contradictory beliefs or takes. Interestingly, Nigerians in some fora were busy abusing themselves on the same topic that concerns the same Americans that were so civil in their own takes.
In the entire impeachment saga lies tons of lesson for Nigerians to learn from, but are we even learning?
M.D. Lawal is of the Department of Information and Media Studies, Bayero University, Kano and an intern with the PRNigeria Center, Kano and can be reached on: mdlawal001@gmail.com
