Paul Ojenagbon
Often you hear Nigerians blaming the woes of their country on the doorstep of bad leadership while others are wont to argue for hours without end to blame it on gullible followership. Sometimes, the debate is taken to the ridiculous level of the chicken and the eggs: which comes first?
Even as this writer concedes that both parties are to blame in different proportions, he is ready to accept full responsibility in asserting that leadership is the bane of Nigeria’s woes. Leadership is indeed responsible for 90 percent of Nigeria’s problems. Leadership gives a nation a sense of direction and guidance. Every great empire in history was associated with greater leaders. You could identify Alexander the Great with the Roman Empire, Mao Zedong with China, Mohammed Ali with 18th Century Egypt, Rawlings with Ghana, Othman Dan Fodio with the Fulani Caliphate, Ewuare the Great with Benin Empire, Mansa Musa with Mali, Emperor Menelik with
Ethiopia and King Chaka with Zululand to mention just a few. The interesting thing is that Nigerians are very good followers- of good and evil causes. They are generally people that are easily beaten into line. This is why military intervention lasted so long. The citizens are potential law breakers but when a leader (or ruler) shows that he means business, they are forced to obey. Nigerians are looking for a leader of transparent honesty who walks the talk. For too long, our leaders only tell people to do what they themselves do not do or not do what they are doing behind close door every day.
Perhaps, the best example is expressed in the hypocrisy of Sharia Law. For example, you cut off the hands of a poor man who steals chicken while the governor and his aides are stealing billions of naira of the people’s money. It is so unjust, God will certainly judge everyman at His own time, which is often the poor man’s prayer. The mention of the examples of the military is not to endorse military dictatorship. It is just that we needs an authoritarian but just leadership to set up the stage for a true democratic culture.
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Let us ponder some case studies briefly. Why was Muritala Mohammed, the country’s most successful leader to date, able to succeed? Some would argue that he only governed for eight months that he could have derailed if he had more time. Morning shows the day so we must give Muhammed benefit of doubt that he would not have derailed. His transparent example shows that he meant business and meant well for the country. He is the only Head of State we know who returned his ill gotten wealth to the State. That is transparent honesty that we expect from our leaders. Corruption in the civil service came to a grinding halt during this dispensation. Muritala was dynamic and being truthful, he had a magnetic force of followership. If Muritala had not been cut down short, Nigeria would have been a much better country.
The next opportunity we had at a disciplined, transparent leadership was the no-nonsense duo of Buhari-Idiagbon regime. The citizens learnt to obey laws and order overnight. Bribery and corruption became a taboo that most ran away from. Suddenly, Nigerians learnt how to queue up at public places for any services they wanted to obtain. People saw that the government meant business of punishing disobedience and no one would dare a moving train! If there was any stealing of public funds during this period, it must have been very little compared with what came after and is now the order of the day. A lot of people are likely to blame that regime for indiscriminate arrest and jailing of the innocent along with the guilty. Some are also likely to point at the “53 Suit Cases” among others.
It only showed that they too were human and could not be expected not to make mistakes. Even Fidel Castro, representing the bastion of communism in Cuba recently acknowledged that communism in Cuba had done more harm than good. Communism in Union of Soviet Republic (USSR) earlier gave way to Glasnost and Perestroika. It shows that nothing is permanent and mistakes could be made. But the mistakes that were made in these systems and during the regime of Buhari/Idiagbon were not those of official corruption. As an avid reader, this writer is yet to see any scandal associated with that regime as far as official corruption is concerned.
The gains of that regime were beginning to manifest in better disciplined Nigerians with good and patriotic orientation when the gap-toothed general came into the scene with the carrot in one hand while hiding a stick in the other. All the gains of that regime were wasted overnight. A new order came into being. It was the reign of the Maechevilian Prince who had and showed no scruples except the rule of the game that “the end justifies the means”. Nigeria has never been the same again. Corruption assumed a monstrous proportion. Anyone who did not know how to steal is deemed a “fool”. The values of hard work which the immediate past regime had managed to cultivate among Nigerians gave way quickly to gross materialism through the vehicle of endemic corruption. Things have never been the same again because the subsequent leaders (sorry rulers) have all been students of the school of the “Maradona”.
Even in the present uninspiring dispensation, Nigerians still appreciate exemplary leadership. For example, Governor Babatunde Fashola does not need any paid- advertorials to persuade anyone that he is doing well. The projects which liter the state speak for him. Many people in the state are now paying their taxes on account of the fact that they can see what the governor is doing with their money. This is what leadership entails.
Therefore, as Nigeria marks its 50th Anniversary we are looking forward to a leader who will bring transparent and pragmatic leadership and cultivate the right values among our people. We need a leader who is intrinsically a “Nigerian” and not of that tribe or this tribe nor of any religious persuasion. We need a leader who will serve the people and take away the tears of the poor. Poverty has no tribe and it is the biggest problem of our people. Our leader must shun corruption in every ramification so that the people will learn to follow suit. The main reason why crimes such s armed robbery, kidnapping, bribe and corruption among others are rampant is because the young unemployed youths are angry as they see the way public funds are being siphoned and they are helpless about it.
Nigeria’s problem is neither with religion nor with tribalism. These embers are often politically motivated to further evil motives. The real problems are poverty, ignorance, diseases, unemployment, corruption, social vices such as armed robbery, kidnapping. Every Nigeria irrespective of religion, tribe or tongue suffers these vices.
