Leadership as Integrity: A Back to Sender to Andy Ubah 
By Emmanuel Franklyne Ogbunwezeh 

The sense of outrage of all Nigerians of goodwill was rudely jolted by a convoluted piece of moral nonsense posted in the NVS and theopinion column of Guardian online of 30^th January 2007; with the title “Leadership as service to our people”, bearing the name of Andy Ubah as the supposed author. (See:Leadership as service to our people ). This piece of work which was designed as homiletics on leadership was authored by a man, whose integrity has been multi-dimensionally compromised.  But this guy ignored shame, and mounted a public pulpit to deliver an assault on decency. He is not only ethically disqualified to preach to Nigerians on service, his personality summarizes all that is wrong with Nigerian leadership at all levels. Leadership in this purview is an essential arena for hawking and consolidating unearned privilege, at the expense of service to the people. And Ubah ironically essayed unsuccessful to tow a line quite contradictory to the ethical bankruptcy he holds dear to his heart, as made manifest in his modus operandi in Nigerian power corridors.  

Two things inform Ubah’s inadvertent desire to shoot himself in the foot. One, his cheerleaders may have so much seduced him with the fatal juice of their manufactured falsehoods, that Ubah, who is living in a fool’s paradise, has now being infected with a god-complex-to the extent that he sees himself as the promised saviour of an Anambra State he essayed to destroy with his cohorts. Or that he is morally compromised to the extent that he sees public cynicism directed at him, as admiration. Either way, foolishness is at play here. Ubah’s leprous sense of integrity has been proved to be beyond question. Decency would have commanded that this guy hides his head in shame for the rest of his pitiable days. But the gravitational pull of avaricious lucre was too much for his feeble sense of values to resist.  Avarice for power is powering him unto self-destruction. He is now in the public domain. And anyone in the public domain has made himself a sitting duck for snipers.  

But what response can decency offer? We have elected not to keep silent, because Plato warned humanity of all climes, that all it takes for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing. This reaction is a rebellion against silence, which cowardice recommends.

Before we go on to dissect the said article, we wish to underline the fact that many Nigerians seem not to realise that when villainy seeks power, nothing is too sacred for its depraved ambition. It is ready to assault decency, embezzle memory, revise history, corrode moralities, rip values asunder, peddle syndicated falsehoods; all in its bid to acquire a pedestal in the courts of reckoning, from where he hopes to launch his total corruption of the body politic. Villainy respects no sanctities. He is allergic to virtue. Values are meaningless before him. He lies as a matter of nature; and shame is alien to his conceptual scheme. Corrupting the body politic is his mission because it conduces to his avaricious schemes. He can only thrive in a corrupt milieu. In the obverse milieu, he would be gnashing his teeth in some maximum security prison facility, on account of all the crimes he committed, and all the perverse injuries he inflicted on his society. Villainy never seeks power to redeem himself. He seeks power to extend his privilege and to fund his debauchery.  

Another character of villainy is pretence. Fraudulence marries hypocrisy, when it actively seeks to embezzle memory. To this end, every successful villain is a monumental hypocrite. But since no amount of cosmetics would ever convert a Shrew into a cynosure of olfactory opulence; a Judas will always be recognized for the thief that he is.  Judas pretended to have this deep love for the poor that he questioned the Magdalene’s anointing of the Master’s feet, with some opulent ointment that was prized in the neighbourhood of 300 Roman Denarius. He exhorted and pontificated on false sympathy when he rebuked the act, and instead found a smokescreen for his over brimming avarice in the poor. “We could have sold this ointment and the money given to the poor”, echoes across the ages as a benediction that villainy pays to its cryptic avarice. Andy’s Ubah’s article has meritoriously earned a place in this league of hypocrisy. How could a man, who sat upon the destruction of the commonweal of the people of Anambra State come and lecture the people whose weal he embezzled, that leadership is about service? Is this not the worst dimension of hypocrisy? And Guardian Newspapers lent its editorial weight to the hawking of this impious cant. Guardian should tell us how many pieces of silver this Judas received to let that piece of arrant nonsense desecrate its hallowed pages. 

Furthermore, villainy effects the despoliation of all that is true, good and beautiful. It co-opts every apparatus of pretence to whitewash its sepulchral rottenness. But since the habit can never make a monk; no amount of advertorial detergent can salvage Andy Ubah’s malodorous integrity. A shrew stinks pursuant to its genetic disadvantage. All the waters of the Niger; and all detergent of Otu-nkwo Onitsha, can never suffice to ameliorate this fundamental shortcoming. Likewise, Andy Ubah’s consolidated odour of infamy can never be washed away. He is a moral stain and a political liability. He is dead on arrival He can hire all the mercenary scriptwriters that abound our public space to attempt to revise history. He has enough loot to rent choirs of cheerleaders to sing his unmerited praise. All the wandering minstrels of Anambra can sing at his instance. All the media spots, and advertorial spaces, in all Nigerian newspapers could be reserved for his planned assault on decency. But one thing is certain, justice would be crucified the day Andy Ubah will become Governor of Anambra State.  

This guy will not win any free and fair election in Anambra State. He is too compromised to achieve that feat. He has a brother who confessed to having rigged the elections in Anambra State in 2003. And he is poised to achieve that feat again. But surprise awaits him. Andy Ubah can only smell the State House in Awka, when Obasanjo’s crude magic works again. But this time, he would be stepping over the dead body of Ndi Ananbra to get into that State house.  Men of goodwill would not only want, but would live to see this guy elected a governor of a maximum security prison facility alongside his co-arsonists who presided over Anambra State’s public property going up in flames.  

In civilized climes of Igbo republicanism, anyone who aspires to leadership must be a man of integrity. He like Caesar’s wife must be beyond reproach. Chinua Achebe painted this ancient value of eternal import on the character of Okonkwo in his celebrated “Things Fall Apart”. Okonkwo as character embodies Igbo enterprise and industry. He had the prowess and is possessed of unalloyed loyalty to his heritage. His heart pulsated with love for his community. Whenever Umuofia called, Okonkwo was ready for service; be it in the dead of the night or at the dawn of the day. Umuofia was his inspiration. It was his life. It was his love. He was their warrior, who placed his life on the line on so many occasions for the felicity of his heritage. This is the marble from which leaders are sculpted.  

Andy Ubah most unfortunately possesses the opposite in abundance. This guy was the commander-in-chief of that inglorious clique of renegades, openly boasting its connections in high places seem determined to turn Anambra State into a bankrupt and lawless fiefdom. This clique is trying assiduously to whitewash their robes. Their tactics may have changed. But their aspiration remains the same. The tragedy of Nigeria is that this is the only country where such accidents would muster not only enough effrontery to run for public office, but enough crookedness to win, and lord a compromised mind over the rest of the sane.  

That this guy mustered enough effrontery to pen down that piece of garbage is seriously in doubt. The only conclusion that recommends itself to our consideration is that a new scriptwriter has been hired by this camp to offload dozens of scurrilous insults on our collective intelligence. But their luck has run out. The pain of the gangsters ruling Nigeria has begun. Their exposure will never run out of steam. All the certificates the forged and all the wealth they stole, will soon stand and repudiate their leprous holds. They have swallowed a pestle. And they will contend with sleeping upright. Nigerians are now awake. 

Robot  # 1 | 31.01.2007 07:41

Leadership as Integrity: A Back to Sender to Andy Ubah ...Read the full article.

Willy  # 2 | 31.01.2007 09:01

You are assuming Emmanuel 'Andy' Uba has read the article, cos he certainly did not write it? The boys he quartered at a hotel in Awka have to justify their pay, some are completing their houses at Lagos & Enugu, the rest that came in from the U.S. are re-financing with the windfall. Boys (actually men), take the money, write thrash for him, it is about 4 months to go, or maybe 3, cos he will not be needing your services beyond April.

chikejam  # 3 | 31.01.2007 10:01

@ Willy, Sir, I continue to read your comments with gusto and miss them when you are silent on certain issues. May God bless you.

Eche Chidume  # 4 | 31.01.2007 11:39

The much depleted ranks of Igbo men and women of integrity is increasing by the day. Ndi Igbo should have the courage to call a spade by its name. Mr. Uba and his fellow travellers spell bad news for Anambra State and the entire Igbo states at large and the sooner they are made to realise that, the better for us all. Decent Igbo men and women all over the world cringe in fearful anticipation of doom whenever the name of Mr. Uba is mentioned in connection with his Anambra gubernatorial ambition. Any thinking Anambrarian with a memory would remember the havoc wreaked on the State by the Uba siblings in the very recent past. Is that what we want to bring back? If so, then we are up s..t creek without a paddle. Good job Mr. Ogbunwezeh

Amy  # 5 | 31.01.2007 13:04

If this falsifier of credentials(Alan poser/impostor), who had the temerity to convert the presidential jet into a money laundering courier knew anything at all about integrity, he will spare us the empty rhetoric and disappear from Anambra state altogether. No right thinking citizen of Anambra State ought to vote for the man. But then, who says these desperadoes are counting on the people's mandate when it is far 'easier' and less 'risky' to manipulate the outcome of elections in Nigeria? I still believe the route to any appreciable level of political reform is the complete eradication of electoral fraud in the nation. The present administration is certainly not prepared to enforce that, it will be the solemn duty of the ordinary citizens and civil rights advocates to forcefully insist on 2007 elections being free and fair. Imagine Uba, a man who has little appreciation for integrity and all the word connotes going by his antics, attempting to lecture others on the merits of the given virtue? I have heard it all this time. Please Mr Uba, spare us the boring details... who cares to give a listening ear to the hallucinations of any of the Uba brothers anywaz?

Kabikala  # 6 | 01.02.2007 11:12

Frank: Before we go on to dissect the said article, we wish to underline the fact that many Nigerians seem not to realise that when villainy seeks power, nothing is too sacred for its depraved ambition. Me: Well Mr. Frank, it turned out you did not eventually dissect the article like you promised to till you got to the end. Perharps, there would be a sequel where you would do that. My own impression of the whole piece (Uba's) was that it sounded too hollow and uninspiring. To describe it in one word: HOGWASH. Frank: Is this not the worst dimension of hypocrisy? And Guardian Newspapers lent its editorial weight to the hawking of this impious cant. Guardian should tell us how many pieces of silver this Judas received to let that piece of arrant nonsense desecrate its hallowed pages. Me: I disagree with you on your criticism of Guardian newspapers for publishing that piece. The media should allow all sides give their own perspective and it is the robustness of debates that enriches the intellect. The Guardian over time had always stood on the side of justice, fairness, objectivity and nationalism in its various editorials though some readers think they need to apply more bite. The newspaper had also commented severally on the Anambra issue through its editorials which is a better representation of its position. Me again: Finally, I enjoyed the Andy Uba article as it had helped to demystify the intellectual facade surrounding this fake Dr. This had helped me in a significant way as it confirmed to me that Andy Uba is actually not as intelligent as I assumed. And if, like some have suggested, someone or some people helped him to put up that piece, it is even worse. If that write-up was what the whole think-tank crew could come up with, I am afraid dim-wit Chris may even have more IQ than his been-to brother.