Nigeria And The Leadership Conundrum: Militancy Is Not The Solution

It was Winston Churchill who said: “the truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.”

May 29, 2009, Nigeria celebrated democracy day. President Yar’Adua declared to those that cared to listen that the country is making steady progress. While our political leaders celebrated the day with sumptuous dinner in the corridors of power, the country remained in darkness and the masses continue to groan under the burden of poverty and hopelessness. 

But, the question that needed asking is this: is Nigeria really making any progress? On one hand, the country is currently killing innocent women and children in some parts of the country while on the other hand our malevolent leaders are engaged in one corruption scandal after another – the Siemens case, the Halliburton shame, and the most recent sleaze at the rural electrification agency involving the top echelon at both the senate and the house of representative. The list keeps growing longer.

In Nigeria a new government is welcomed with puerile anticipation that it would usher in a new dawn of development and prosperity. However, this expectation, with passage of time, usually transmute into despondency as the people are jolted back into reality by the actions of the new power-brokers.

Somehow, either due to a freaky work of nature or by design, previous regimes in Nigeria that had been vilified as been the most depraved almost always turned out as saints when compared with the current people in power. For example, it is on record that Obasanjo’s government was the most corrupt in the history of Nigeria; even surpassing the records created by Abacha and Babangida. Another exceptional achievement for that regime is that it organized and packaged the most rigged electoral process in world history. Meanwhile, it is this same flawed electoral process that ushered in the present administration of Umaru Musa Yar’Ardua.

That brings me to my second question. Is it God that has bestowed upon Nigeria these ‘special’ breed of leaders? A group of people that would rig and kill to get power, and then use the same power to lie, steal and kill even more. And when their terms expire would employ all sorts of subterfuge to hold on to power.

On the issue of power, the major religions sermonize that it is God that gives and takes power. One can therefore assume, even if hypothetically, that God approves of the current breed of power-wielding lunatics in control of the destiny of Nigeria and Nigerians. This is exactly where I am lost. Why would God permit the suffering of millions of his creations in the hands of a few hundred, or at most thousands? Why wouldn’t God permit god-fearing leaders to emerge from the blues to lead the people to the promise land, which they desired so much?

These are some few suggestions that I came up with: maybe God has reasons for allowing such callous leaders to emerge; or maybe God is a sadist who, with legs spread on foot-rest, enjoys watching millions of people suffer unnecessarily while all he needed to do was just wave the magic wand and give them a worthy leader. Wait! Or, maybe God does not give and take power after all; maybe our destiny lies in our hands.

The most popular proposition from commentators especially the radical ones is that Nigerians must take their destiny in their own hands and reject the bondage of poverty foisted upon the country by the selfish political elites. But how would this be done? In Nigeria the only option appears to be to revolt against constituted powers since the people can hardly have their way to chose or remove their leaders through the electoral process. So, the popular cliché is ‘there must be a revolution’ or ‘we need a Rawlings to wipe them out like they did in Ghana.’

Meanwhile, historically, it is not as if there hasn’t been such revolt against the powers-that-be in the past. But, Nigerians tend to have a short memory or maybe lacking in new ideas, some commentators and latter-day activists prefer to tow the same line of action, even if it appears never to work. Besides I am yet to see where in the world such revolt has led to a lasting peace or where such has empowered the people or led to serious development and prosperity.

Let us even do a bit of analysis and appraise how some events developed over time when Nigerians followed this much talked about ‘revolutionary’ path.

I feel pain to rekindle the bad memory of Biafra. There were injustices to our Ibo brothers from the central government. They raised their voices against these injustices but nobody listened. They felt really hurt and chose the only option left for them – revolt and secede. Those that wielded the instrument of power reacted. The result: millions dead. The objectives of going to war were not achieved, they were set back by years and the development of that region had to start from the beginning all over again.

At the onset of his agitation for the development of the Niger Delta region, Ken Saro Wiwa used the peaceful approach. When there was no response from government, that prompted him to change his tactics and he became confrontational. Well, maybe not an all out revolt. The result – he was hanged by the dictator, Abacha. Meanwhile the underdevelopment in that region persisted. Had he kept up with the peaceful struggle, maybe, just maybe he would still be around to fight on.

Then there was June 12. A day that should ordinarily have been a watershed in the history of Nigeria. An election held, there was a clear winner, all ethnic barriers was broken. The powers-that-be had other plans. The election was annulled and final results were not released. This was clear injustice, the people revolted. Well, not an outright revolution. People were killed in their hundreds.

Eventually the authority used propaganda to turn the event into an ethnic issue. The Yorubas were aggrieved, rightly so. The North abandoned the struggle, a few Ibos left, some remained. There was a cry for war or is it revolution or secession; but the Yoruba leaders would have none of that. Maybe it is good to be a coward at times, especially when you wouldn’t want to be slaughtered by those that control the instrument t of coercion. They chose a ‘quasi-revolt’ with other progressives from the East and North to face a common enemy- the military.

NADECO was formed and the rest is history. It is however noteworthy that it was this ‘quasi-revolt’ that later usher in the current ‘quasi-democracy’ that Nigeria is ‘enjoying.’ And some of the people that control power in the current democracy actually partook in the struggle against the military dictatorship of the past. But when they tasted power, they simply forgot where they were coming from. They are now indifferent to the plight of the common man and abandoned their self-professed ‘aluta’ and disregarded the call to use their position for common good. The masses continue to suffer.

Now, how about the rekindled revolt or is it militancy going on in the Niger Delta? Actually, I must confess that for the first time in the history of Nigeria, a revolt is actually yielding some results. But the plight of that region had now become such a terrible embarrassment that it would be demonic for government to look away; besides a ‘quasi-democracy’ that we have is more humane than the most civil of all military government. Then suddenly, out of the blues, the revolt was hijacked by unscrupulous elements and you have criminals, murderers calling themselves activists. Some were settled and they quickly moved to Abuja and dropped their militant toga.  

I have never held power, but they said it intoxicates. And the actions of our leaders are enough evidence that the statement is not false. People kill to have access to power, and would wipe out thousands even sometimes millions to keep it. It was reported in the papers that an elected member of the national assembly from the North suggested that 20 million people are worth killing if it would bring peace to the Niger Delta region and the country at large. (He actually meant if it would bring oil to the people in power) That is what power does to the mind of some people. And believe me that man would do exactly what he said if he could have his hands on power. Let people from the Southern part of Nigeria watch out so that that man NEVER gets near the presidency of Nigeria. He is a lunatic in waiting.

Hence it is therefore of utmost imperative that it must not get into the wrong hands or else…Currently in Nigeria, power is not in the wrong hands! It is only in the hands of people that didn’t deserve it. Power would be in the wrong hands if it gets to people like those calling themselves militants in the Niger Delta or the man calling for the extermination of over 20 million people. 

These same militants have been killing, abducting people for money, raping and stealing. For heaven’s sake do people realise you only know someone by his antecedents. Sorry, I would rather have an Obasanjo that I know his antecedents than someone whose only record is kidnapping for money.

I don’t think such a militant would be interested in building roads, hospitals or providing jobs for the people. He only seeks power for his gratification. The people that will develop the Niger Delta are the same people who are either currently in government or doing well in their private capacity – Goodluck Jonathan, Pat Utomi, Ajumogobia, Timi Alaibe etc. It is not Asari Dokubo and his likes who are busy engaged in illegal bunkering. 

In concluding my discourse I will quote from Niccolo Machiavelli:

“if the Israelites had to be enslaved in Egypt for Moses to emerge as their forceful leader; if the Persians had to be oppressed by the Medes so that the greatness of Cyrus could be recognized; if the Athenians had to be scattered to demonstrate the excellence of Theseus: then, at the present time, in order to discover the worth of an Italian spirit, Italy had to be brought to her present extremity. She had to be more enslaved than the Hebrews, more oppressed than the Persians, more widely scattered than the Athenians, leaderless, lawless, crushed, despoiled, overrun, she had to have endured every kind of desolation.”

Just like Machiavelli observed in Italy during his time, history is replete with stories of nations that had to endure all sorts of humiliations and deprivations from wicked leaders; but the spirit of the people is always stronger than the might of tyrants and visionless leaders like the type of leaders we currently have in Nigeria. The Nigerian spirit is strong and it will outlast the Babangidas, the Abachas, the Obasanjos and the Yar’Aduas. The true leader of the people will eventually emerge, either by default or design. And believe me it is already happening as evidenced by the strides been taken by some current governors. 

Dr. Olusola Osineye

Robot  # 1 | 08.06.2009 00:40

Nigeria And The Leadership Conundrum: Militancy Is Not The Solution It was Winston Churchill who said: “the truth is incontrovertible, malice may attack it, ignorance may deride it, but in the end; there it is.” May 29, 2009, Nigeria celebrated democracy day. President Yar’Adua declared to those that cared to listen that the country is making steady progress. While our political leaders celebrated the day with sumptuous dinner in the corridors of power, the country remained in darkness and the masses continue to groan under the burden of poverty and hopelessness. But, the question that needed asking is this: is Nigeria really making any progress? On one hand, the country is currently killing innocent women and children in some parts of the country while on the other hand our malevolent leaders are engaged in one corruption scandal after another – the Siemens case, the Halliburton shame, and the most recent sleaze at the rural elect...Read the full article.