In the
days of yore, when schools were still schools, this would have made an
interesting topic for a debate or impromptu speech competition of any school’s
annual literary and debating day. But then, just like many good things that
have depreciated in our land, schools are no longer what they used to be, and
it is “debatable” if there are still days set aside for literary and debating
events / competitions.
The literary
giant, Chinualumogu Achebe asserted as far back as 1983 as follows, “The
trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is
nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong
with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The
Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to
the responsibility; to the challenge of personal example which are the
hallmarks of true leadership.”
Some, however, argue that followership is rather the problem, that the past and
present leaders definitely emerged from the crop of bad followers and
therefore, the leaders were products of a dysfunctional followership. Only a
terrible followership could have consistently produced disappointing leaders
that Nigeria has been bedeviled with. Something is, therefore, fundamentally
wrong, one may conclude, with this system which continually produces bad
leaders.
The
year 2015 is just around the corner and the war drums have started to be
beaten. The gladiators are the ruling party and the newly registered leading
opposition party. We have started hearing the electoral jargons – capture,
defect, decamp etc. According to Mr. Fix-It, while on a visit to a former
president, the ruling party will continue to win, using its time-tested
formula. Is your guess as good as mine?
Before the euphoria of the APC’s recent registration dies down, it is
imperative to warn fellow Nigerians that “it is not yet Uhuru (freedom)”, even
though the son of the late Kenyan President, Jomo Kenyatta, who coined the
expression, is the current Kenyan president – Uhuru Kenyatta. Without much ado,
the difference between APC and PDP is like between six and half a dozen. It is
like the proverbial choice between the devil and the deep blue sea.
Let’s face it, there are very good people in APC, and so are there some very
controversial people. So much just like PDP. There is no vice that you will
find in PDP that is not inherent in APC. You will find in APC people who are
spartan, and waged war against indiscipline and corruption, just as there are
those whose source of stupendous wealth is shrouded in mystery. Some of
their leading lights have not discharged themselves equitably in their business
and personal dealings but want to be trusted with the national treasury. One of
their prominent leaders even used religion to justify his marriage to an
under-aged girl of exotic species.
Another was even an accidental public
servant while yet another was the famed anti-corruption czar.
Talking of the ruling PDP, most rational people have long given up on the
party. A party that could make barking, raving dogs out of a PhD holder and a
medical doctor, both from an area that first got in contact with the
missionaries / Western education in the country, is probably beyond redemption.
So what choice is there then between the devil and the deep blue sea? Some
would readily assert that the “the devil you know is better than the angel you
do not know”. My own take is that from all their antecedents, perhaps the
lesser evil should be experimented with for now. It could be likened to two
students, one with a score of 39 per cent and another of 25 per cent, which are
both failures in undergraduate courses but clearly the former had outperformed
the other by one-and-a-half times. Change is said to be the only permanent
thing, so it is imperative we use our voting powers to change our leaders from
the worst set to the worse, so as to send the right signals to our current lame
duck leaders that they can be dispensed with, and further encourage good
materials to come out and eventually change our situation to the bad, then the
good, then the better, then eventually the best.
I
wonder if any of our living past and present leaders would attract so much
goodwill, prayers and best wishes like the Madiba Nelson Mandela has done in
his current fight against lung infection. I dare say most, if not all would
rather attract curses or at best indifference while on sick beds. And I am
certain that they would not be admitted to hospitals in Nigeria. That is food
for thought.
I really have neither admiration nor respect for leaders who cannot say “Amen”
to anti-corruption prayers, or who do not give a damn about being open about
their self-worth (they must have something to hide if same was publicly declared
four years earlier – what has changed?), It is such disdain for ordinary
citizens that have made average performances of the likes of Governor Babatunde
Fashola and Speaker Aminu Tambuwal the talk-of-the-town, rather than one-eyed
kings in the land of the blind which they truly are.
When
elections become truly free and fair, most of the charlatans in the corridors
of power will not get there in the first place. Nigerian voters showed their
sophistication on June 12, 1993, where the ‘son-of-the soil’ lost in his
polling booth in Kano. This was also repeated in 1999, where the
‘son-of-the soil’ similarly lost in his polling booth in Abeokuta. When we get
the electoral process right, where true winners are declared, that will be the
very first step towards Nigeria’s re-discovery. This puts a lie to the zoning
mentality. To choose a leader based on accident of birth is the greatest error
any society could make. No one has ever had a choice as to where he would be
born or to whom he was born. I have not seen anyone in need of the attention of
a surgeon or a medical specialist insisting that only the ones from his tribal
enclave must be the best. Similarly, I have not seen any air passenger who
chooses flights based on the ethnic origin of the pilot. A leader Nigeria needs
now can be likened to a pilot or a surgeon.
An error in choice could be fatal.
Competence, rather than ethnic background, should be the selection yardstick. I
believe the average Nigerian voter would vote for competence over tribal
affinity. Perhaps if the USA and France had adopted zoning, Obama, Sarkozy and
Rawlings, whose fathers were of different nationalities, would never have had
presidency zoned to them.
The
next steps for the next administration will be creation of an enabling environment
for job-creation, starting with fixing of electricity, which has defied all
solutions up till now. There must also be reforms in the educational system,
police, law enforcement/judicial administration and transparency in governance.
There must also be emphasis on enhancing the productive base of the economy,
especially agriculture. The quick wins will be the drastic reduction in, and
curtailment of the very high recurrent expenditure, which arose via the
ridiculous and embarrassing legislative and executive jumbo salaries and
allowances, as well as abolition of security votes.
As we
march towards 2015, the opposition should be reminded that those who have held
the nation captive will not let go easily and willingly. Just as Mugabe has
defied all machinations to leave the scene long after the ovation was loudest,
the Nigerian Pharaohs have deeply entrenched themselves for the past 14 years,
so no one should be deceived that they will leave on their own terms. The
leading opposition group must therefore come up with a fool-proof strategy to
win voters’ endorsement and also counter rigging. The other fringe opposition
groups like the Labour Party and ideology-based parties like Gani
Fawehinmi-founded National Conscience Party need to make deliberate efforts to
start wooing the youths and the disillusioned in order to become the new future
opposition and perhaps another government-in-waiting in years to come.
I wish to remind our present crop of leaders of the quotable quote by Dele
Giwa, the celebrated journalist, editor and founder of Newswatch magazine, who
was killed by a mail bomb in his home on October 19, 1986 - “No evil deed can
go unpunished.
Any
evil done by man to man will be redressed. If not now then certainly later. If
not by man, then by God, for the victory of evil over good can only be
temporary.”
Written By
Dipo Dosumu
•
Dosumu wrote from Lagos
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