The Nigerian Leadership in 2023

It is true that bad leadership corrupts followership. Leadership without integrity and justice in any nation would give birth to erosion of enviable value systems in the citizenry. 

When the majority in a country falls into that description of a greed and unpatriotic populace, it becomes difficult to reverse the trend.   

This is the sad current state of Nigeria. Before getting here, our projectile had a good trajectory at its initial shot. There was a country led by honest and sefless Nigerians united across the major tribes and regions. 

Obafemi Awolowo from the West was a selfless leader. He left a legacy of prudent management of public resources during his reign. 

The 26-storey high rise building commissioned in August 1965 from proceeds of cocoa-The Cocoa House was an example. That structure still stands prominently in the city of Ibadan till this hour. 

The free education that got our village parents educated was another. My mum was a product of Awolowo's free education for every child at St. Thomas primary school at her village, Longe in the remote part of Oluyole LGA of Oyo state. She had no other formal education since the late 50s till date. Yet she can read an English composition passage fluently without being aided to pronounce a single word.

Bet many Nigerian teachers, youth corp members and WASSCE candidates in the secondary schools of today to do the same. You will bury your head in shame. 

Contemporary politicians from the region still use Awolowo's name to canvas for votes and ride to power. It has all successively turned out as political scam. The man died over 34 years ago. I wonder if they ever care of what their own names will remind the posterity.

Abubakar Tafawa Balewa was a Northerner whom we read took his official annual leave to his village as a Prime Minister. The photo shot by the British photojournalist who traced him to the family home in the village and found him eating sugarcane with kids continues to be an inspiration of the kind of leadership Nigeria had in the old past.

The said sugarcane was a gift (as literally done to poor beggars on the road) from a farmer who just passed by the prime minister! I do not think I can get rid of that thought of modesty and ascetism for many years to come. Show me a single one amongst the crops of politicians from the North at the moment who is comparable to Balewa?

Nnamdi Azikwe and Alex Ekwueme were national leaders of an Igbo descent. They lived as simply, honestly and patriotically till death like other contemporary leaders of their time from other ethnic divides. Nnamdi Azikiwe was a pan Nigeria who belonged to all major regions of Nigeria and could speak in Hausa, Ibo and Yoruba. He was a nation bridger unlike the divisive tribal irridentist politicians from the region today.

The sight of the modest bungalow house of the latter between Ekwulobia and Federal Polytechnic, Oko while serving in Anambra state in 2008 taught me a silent lesson.  

In their days, stealing was corruption. Politics was not a self-serving adventure. Governance was not prebendalism to privatize national assets among the political class and caucus. 

There were rules of law. The offenders were not made to evade justice. Courts were not known to be merchants of conflicting orders or marketers of forum shopping. The jurists and religious leaders were not this corrupt and materialistic. Positions of authority were not used to influence or avert justice. The citizens also followed accordingly. Life was fair and relatively secure. 

In the mid eighties, I sat beside my father to watch the life execution of some armed robbers on our black and white TV. Coupled with added lectures from our father on the consequence of stealing, the memory of that scene lived with us as we grew.  

South Korea and Nigeria should be at competitive stage today. The formal through sucession of military and democratic rule had their greatest development between 1961-1996, 35 years of focussed and sincere leadership.

In our case, the leaders in power were greedy and unpatriotic. Corruption and violations became the order. The return of democracy by rare Grace in 1999 regrettably set the most dangerous template. That bad precedence has sadly over time become the national socio-political values of all Nigerians today. 

With a greed for power following the expiration of the legitimate two terms of eight years, every illegal move was made by the first civilian leader at the time to constitutionize a third term. That opened the gateway for bribery in the law making at both the state and federal level. 

The same government engendered godfatherism in the local and national politics. It equally introduced and  entrenched the culture of false removal of democratically elected leaders by illegal use of non-state actors. 

Such assaults played out in respect of a political rift between a governor and some powerful local non-state political kingpins in Oyo State. That taught some  models of 'morality' to the upcoming leaders and citizens of this nation.

The Nigerian society was exposed to the huge proceeds hiding in nepotism, abuse of power and procedures. We gradually slided into a situation where every single citizen respects no value system, violates every civic rule and runs foul of every sense of moral obligations. 

Over twenty years down the lane, we had matured into a lawless and reckless populace in every sector and institution. 

Every new leader now comes to power to enrich himself and his cronies. Appointees use the budget in their ministries and departments to buy jewelries, seal cash in storage tanks and stockpile assets abroad where they quickly run to live after their exit from power.

Political leaders together with their lawyers, godfathers and the religious leaders who the system they have created have accidentally made billionaires are the proprietors of the private universities. 

The public ones are left as caricature of their value while motions were being moved from the national assemblies for their total closure! 

The youths are rendered jobless except if available for hire as political thugs. As the position of security advisers to the executive officers are meant for the most notorious of the area boys, cultism and violent behaviours thrive. Nigerian space becomes a competitive field for Killings, banditry and kidnapping. An average person is a potential recruit for terrorism or successionist agenda. 

Drug abuse is at its peak and the battle for its legality is currently under debate!! The sponsors of these crimes against humanity are high profile Nigerians. It makes one think there may less true Nigerians in this nation than we currently estimate. Otherwise, why this much conspiracy against one's own country?

The security architecture is unimaginably compromised. The circumstance of attacks and kidnaps on schools and government facilities as being reported clearly leaves no doubt as to the sabotage and connivance of some security personnel with the enemies of state. 

There is profileration of arms beyond the tolerable border. The name AK47 is as familiar as a pencil to every child in the Nigerian space. We are no longer secure even with the security agents. Extortion and violations everywhere. Nigerians are either in the captivity of abductors or in the IDPs or living as frustrated free man.

In terms of morality, we have become a populace of shameless parents with no worthy examples to show the children. The elites in the academia have also descended into an abysmal level of immorality. The once known integrity and incorruptible moral principle in the highly educated is gone. They are guilty of sexual and financial crimes against their students. Many of them are guilty of corruption charges in various offices they have been appointed to superintend like the politicians. 

Everyone seems to have a price. No one appears to have a pride. Degree is now on sale in our country more than ever before while the actual education is destroyed. The so called PhD holders also spread fake news like a common man on the street without verifying. 

Professors rig election to favour politicians who would  eventually fund their wallet or sponsor their nominations for a position as a compensation. 

Merit is long a lost value. Political connections does it all. How many federal institutions domiciled in the state have not turned into state secretariats? Over 90 percent of workforce recruited are indigenes. The few from other zones were being discriminated against and even victimized as if they are not Nigerians. That is how our federal character now operates.

We heard that 65 percent of Nigerian roads belong to the local government, how many governors have not crippled this important tier of government in their state? Many of these governors guilty and accused of corruption are not only loved and elected again by their people, hell would lose against their trials. They loot and still lead to Senate. Many of them still dictate what Nigerians should believe and not believe about their country. 

Religious leaders have fully become partisan. One wonders if any distinction even exists between religion and politics again in our clime. An endorsement of a popular Bishop or Sheikh is enough as a campaign poster for a candidate seeking to lead our country even if such a candidate has no leadership credibility.

Religious bodies are in press war for or against on political matters because of their selfish interest. They have become so rich and powerful that even when they negotiate with bandits or use their private jets to convey cash in a shady transaction, they remain the untouchables. Touch the annointed who make mischievous prophesies in divisive languages in Nigeria and get burnt by their fanatical followership.

Nigerians are still dying on the streets because their leader who constitute nuisance was arrested. None is right for arrest and trial in Nigeria except and only if such does not have a region or religion. Every crime and criminal has its sympathisers whether as a separatist, religious fanatics, bandits or kidnappers. Every agitation or protest is genuine and legitimate. There would always be lawyers, human rights activists and elders from the regions who would believe in that ideology and personality.

Justices can be bought or sold. Laws can be ridiculed. Today, the trials of national thieves are scenes of drama. The culprit would tie neck or arm bondage, lean and limp on crutches or even faint. All of these is about feigning health challenges backed with medical certificates and court orders. The rehearsal leading to this pretence involves doctors, lawyers and many other collaborators who are citizens of our country.

What happens at the corridor of powers, either within the political parties, at the state or federal government circles is a plane mirror reflection of what holdsway in public and private sectors down to local markets, homes and every nooks and crannies of the society involving two or more Nigerians. Every Nigerian is an aggressor against another and therefore by contrast, a victim of another.

The artificial scarcity and heaven-high costs of regular commodities and daily consummables is occasioned by hoarding and arbitrary inflation of prices.The same attitude had also impacted seriously on the mobility and rents. 

The stone-faced tricyclers, okada riders and other transporters who arbitrarily double the fares within the metropolis without hike in fuel price are Nigerians. The shyllock lanlords who ask the tenants to find a new house at month end or pay 50% increment in the rent are not from Mars. They are Nigerians. This is how we keep the brotherhood of fellow of Nigerians. We are daily maturing into a nation of cannibals where one consumes the other food.

The leagues of fraudulent elites embolden the avarice of the youths to immorality and ill-gotten wealth. Yahoo yahoo is daily getting more sophisticated and advanced as a career. Parents and family relations now celebrate wealth with their young millionnaires in the Hushpuppi cliques without reservation or questioning. No! Never!! Such could not have happened yesterday. There was a discipline and names to protect.

 The next phase of our fate is even more worrisome that even good leaders may hardly ever be able to lift this heavy box out of its quagmire. 

In fact, it would take a special and miraculous twist for an amiable leadership to ever possibly emerge again in our a situation. A good fellow hardly emerges to lead a nation of lowly men of damaged esteem and values like ours.  We want good leadership and yet cash or material inducement for voter registration let alone voting.

Even when good leadership accidentally does, he would be overpowered or completely handheld from active performance by unpatriotic and greedy civilizians dominating every sphere of the public and private sectors.

 

The capital purnishment that the so called human right activists called for its removal are still very much in effect in many countries that Nigerians admire and migrate to for education, business and now to practice as Doctors, teachers and lecturers. Examples are plenty in the Asian continent. 

We are people who do not want the law like the serious-minded countries. However, we lament indiscipline and quest for development like theirs. A joke of a million laughter! 

God Himself imposed law on Adam and his wife  and sactioned them for the violation with heavy consequences.

We have heard the narratives that foreign powers have predatory conspiracy against us as the most giant african nation. That is not new in the world's capitalist economic agenda. Japan did same to South Korea.

The major point is that foreigners are not those who conspire to steal our monies, destroy public Infrastrustures and sabotage border closure to encourage local productions. Our situation is that of bad citizen circumventing the progress of the country. Bad citizens prefiteering from corruption would not bless a sincere leadership working for the future of the nation.

No foreign mission successfully work against the interest of nation without any nexus with the unpatriotic nationals. 

When Government policies and initiatives are frustrated, not all is due to lack of trust in the leadership by common citizens. Many are simply the mischief of opposition politics. 

In our current phase of bad politics and rotten society, the messiah cannot win an election without bowing to the gold diggers and dinning with the devil. 

The cleanest or the smartest cannot deliver Nigeria of the moment. It has shown that integrity is not an enough quality for the president and all the governors to be elected in the states in 2023. 

Plus integrity, it is a man of faith in God, of brute force and brave resolve to deal ruthlessly with us who can wash off our mess. A man who would name and put to shame all those who had endangered our lives and prosperity for this long, no matter how highly placed they are religiously or politically without any fear of propaganda or name calling is the man for the job. 

An ordinary man cannot untie the shackles and fetters holding this giant country still and static. If no civilian can do so due to the current political structure and constitution, let a military man with a clear vision take over. Such a patriotic soldier in uniform was Park Chung Hee who delivered South Korea in 1961. 

He led the republic out of its economic mess through three times semi-open presidential elections of civilian rule in 1963, 1967 and 1971. He ruled till 1979 when he was assasinated. That was eighteen years of repositioning and restructuring before another military man, Chun Doo Hwan took over in 1980 consolidating on the policies and program of his predecessor for another eight years.

These were the two major conductors responsible for the good condition of Korea today. When they had two leaders of focus, Nigeria has nine (Tafawa Balewa to Ibrahim Babandiga) with divided motive for governance and diverse commitment to their father land.

2023 is almost here, we should not miss it again!

peace_lifeseries@yahoo.com 

1/11/2021