In a State or society where ignorance and prejudice have become cult figures; where tribalism and religion have become the dominant weapons for social reform; and where the good men have sworn loyalty to indifference, the leaders at the top will likely be reflection of the majority who are mostly disorganized and singing discordant tunes... Isqil Najim
I remember some years back, it was my friend Charles, who first drew my attention
to certain anomaly among our people. There was no Goodluck Jonathan at the time
as he was an obscured vice president at the time. Nigerians were raining curses on late president Umar Yaradua and
saw him as their biggest problem. Charles confronted me in a debate along the
line and declared "our leaders are the best of us!"
He went further to offer his reasons some of which I was in
agreement with and others, I politely rejected because it would means
descending into error of generalizing which I was reluctant to commit.
Nonetheless, I conceded that his observation was right. Despite being seen as
corrupt leaders, who mismanaged our economy, sponsored tribalism and terrorism,
something was so clear...our leaders don't see one another as enemies in the
same way our people see one another as enemies and are even ready kill and
destroy to prove it.
In those years and months after that debate, I had quietly been observing
this trend and always feel so sad to see that, while Charles wanted the best
for this country like many others out there, he was absolutely right. Today,
things have gone from bad to worse. Thought I am not pessimistic.
Case one:
It was an open secret that ex-president Obasanjo and his deputy
parted as a result of political differences. People were divided, thugs
recruited on both sides. Many were injured some died in the run in to the
election which the later eventually lost to UMYA.
Some months later, the two were seen dining and winning in
Obasanjo home. They even called press conference and told the world there was
no enmity between them. Today, the two may be in different political parties,
they are friends. Alas, there were some fools among us in graveyards today who
were driven to fight for these two men as thugs/supporters and lost their lives
in the process.
Case two:
As recently as we can remember, between the end of last year and
early this year; It was reported that the then central bank governor, Sanusi
Lamido Sanusi had fallen out with the president after exposing lack of
accountability in petroleum sector of the economy. Nigerians, from south and
North were divided, while queuing up behind either party. It was so contentious
that the call for breakup of the country was fiercely echoed with many “seasonal”
historians digging into the past to evoke memory of civil war. Friends openly
breaking bond of friendship over two people who they feel they have to support.
Tribalism and religion jingoism were freely deployed. Hate and bitterness
became someone people's second skin as they openly displayed their disdain
against one another.
Sanusi left his post, and fate changed the course of history as he
later became an Emir in Kano City. Still many were so bitter and angry despite
not being natives of kano and despite that Sanusi's emirate didn't affect them.
As usual, they started digging up history and create tension including fanning
ember of war. Outsiders could easily assume Kano Emirate has constitutional superiority
over the office of the President. The appointment of Sanusi Lamido as Emir of
Kano generated so much heat and unnecessary controversies that again, many
people broke chords of friendship over it while some went further and painted
the emir as dog, a parasite and all those derogatory words you can think of.
It was even circulated that President Jonathan has been working
with Sultan of Sokoto to install a parallel emir. Protest was sponsored but
Kano people handled it well just as the late Emir’s sons was matured enough to recognize
that his dissent could lead to conflagration in the city. He was matured enough
not to play into the hands of people urging him to take up the battle. Had he
done this, there would be thousands of people both from Kano and from other
states that will fight for him and even cut off their brothers to prove they
are "patriotic". Not because they love Kano but because they wanted
to punish Sanusi.
Eventually, the dust settled and Sanusi was duly sworn in as the
new Emir while king makers and other royal houses put their differences aside to work for the progress of emirates. Meanwhile, the same President Jonathan
who was variously reported to be enemy to Sanusi and who was reported to be
planning to unseat Sanusi and jail him invited Sanusi to Ramadan breakfast in
Aso Rock where the two leaders meet and warmly received one another.
I remember telling a friend some months back during the heated
Sanusi-Jonathan debate that at the end of the day, Sanusi and Jonathan will hug
one another and will tell the world they were never enemies: That they merely disagreed
on issues. That friend of mine was cutting me off for holding opinion that FG
should probe the missing 20 billion dollar and should enact law to protect whistle-blowers. I opined that whistle-blowers are good in the system as they
would serve the system better than rumour mongers. If someone has a
fact on a case of corruption and is allowed to leak it, it will be good
for everyone. A proper legislation will be most effective way of handling such
thing. And if the person is deemed to have lied, or willfully attempted to
tarnish image of someone else, he should be punished. This will prevent people
from peddling lies just as it will encourage honest disclosure of hidden
corruption.
My friend threw caution into the wind and attacked my personality
and branded me unpatriotic. I was called Jonathan hater, a Boko Haram sympathizer
blah blah blah. He went further by telling me that if Jonathan has been a
Northerner, I would have defended him. He completely forgot that I am not
a Northerner. And to make thing complete, he stopped relating
with me. I was so happy that he took that last step as I couldn’t understand
why any sane human would defend someone he never know, who never know he exist,
and cut off his own friend because the later had different opinion in Politics. In my view,
such people should be quarantined and sent to lunatic asylum as I am of strong
view that something is wrong with them mentally.
Then came the issue of party defection: A once upon a time Minister of
Aviation who had variously lambasted President Jonathan and PDP for years and had the
reputation of being a careless talker ever since he left power after the
failure of Obasanjo third term agenda, went to
Aso Rock and emerged with praise-singing of the president. It was like anyone who enters
the villa always exits with their brain either removed or reconfigured negatively
or positive. He started making some controversial pronouncements which generated heated debates.. Friends raining abuse on friends in their bid to show where their loyalty
lies.
The same people who once called him unprintable names after his infamous rant
against wife of a late Eastern leader; and his statement that "Lagos is not a no-man-land," are now see him as a hero of sort. And of course, he danced through the whole drama and enjoyed
it. I did not fail to notice the negative behaviors of our people. I saw some friends, competing with one another
in superiority battle. I saw some who claimed to be independent
minded joining PDP overnight(directly or indirectly) just because their idol has joined PDP.
Few Days ago, I woke up to the sad news that a former Minister of
Federal Capital Territory lost his son in a ghastly accident in Abuja. And a section of our people were celebrating the death of the 21 year old boy. Some even cursed the
minister saying “he is reaping the fruit of his many criticism of Jonathan!”
Few hours later, President Jonathan commiserated with
him on the lost of his son. I can see that President Jonathan was sincere in his words and action to the Former
FCT minister. But what I cannot understand is why our people often overreact to
issues which only benefit those who are playing them like ping pong.
A lot of things were running through my mind over these
observations and many more. I became more convinced that Charles' theory has
been justified beyond measure, though as with every theory, they came with
exceptions. But one cannot fault the fact that in today’s Nigeria, our leaders
may not be perfect, nor the best in the world, they are, however reflection of
the majority of us whose voice are lauded. They are the best among the crops
available for us to select within the political class. Every society produce
leaders it deserves and Nigeria is no expectation.
While our leaders are united by self-interest and have the maxim “There are not enemies in politics, only common interest(s).” Our
people are foolishly divided along ethno-religious barrier, cutting one another into pieces while our leaders are united in their vision and ambitions to political laboratory, where all manners of experiments and theories are conjured to keep us in perpetual servitude.
In a State or society
where ignorance and prejudice have become cult figures; where tribalism and
religion have become the dominant weapons for social reform; and where the good
men have sworn loyalty to indifference, the leaders at the top will likely be
reflection of the majority who are mostly disorganized and singing discordant
tunes. The leaders would be confused, disorganized and prone to “Apollo Syndrome' (a phenomenon where
teams of highly capable individuals can, collectively, perform badly.)
I
love the words of Alexis de Tocqueville: “Society will develop a new kind of
servitude which covers the surface of society with a network of complicated
rules, through which the most original minds and the most energetic characters
cannot penetrate. It does not tyrannise
but it compresses, enervates, extinguishes, and stupefies a people, till each
nation is reduced to nothing better than a flock of timid and industrious
animals, of which the government is the shepherd.” Simply put: “In democracy we
get the government we deserve”
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