Sonnie Ekwowusi
Failed followership begets failed leadership. Certainly Nigeria’s present socio-economic and political calamities have their root cause in failed followership.
And the evidence of political followership failure in Nigeria is the inability of the people to learn from their political history. Democracy, we are told, is a learning process. But it appears that we are not even interested in learning the lessons of democracy in Nigeria.
Agreed, Nigerian democracy is comparatively a young democracy. Democracy has not really been tested in Nigeria. In any case, it is not rosy anywhere. The so-called advanced democracies are still battling for survival.
But it is expected that by now the people of Nigeria should have been able to differentiate sense from nonsense. Outsiders are unhappy that Nigerians are now accustomed to tolerating all sorts of nonsense from their political leaders.
Last month, a young friend of mine, a First Class Degree holder in Civil Engineering for that matter, attended a job interview in Toronto, Canada.
When he sat down for the interview, the interviewer took a studied look at him, perused through his curriculum vitae and said to him: “with all these qualifications, why can’t you go back and fix Nigeria”.
Thereafter the job interviewer told him that foreigners are scandalized that amid Nigeria’s abundant human resources a few Nigerian political leaders are destroying Nigeria and getting away with it.
Interview over but before my friend could get up and leave, the interviewer asked him; “How is your President?” Is he now fit enough to rule the country, or, is his case like the case of your former President Yar…remind me of his name ? “Umaru Yar’ Adua?”. “Yes, Yar Adua”.’’.
Realizing that the Canadian was conversant with t Nigerian political history, my friend opened up and said to him: “I am tired of Nigeria. For example, you mentioned former President Umaru Yar’ Adua.
Do you know that during his political campaign it was disclosed that he was suffering from a fatal illness?. But the disclosure was dismissed as a non-issue. But just a few months after he was sworn in as President the man’s illness could no longer allow him to perform his duties as President.
Consequently he was flown to Saudi Arabia for medical treatment. Throughout the man’s one month stay in Saudi Arabia some Nigerian politicians and government officials claimed that they went to Saudi Arabia and saw him hale and hearty. Others used his name to tell lies.
On many occasions they lied to Nigerians at home that the man was performing his presidential functions from his sick bed in Saudi Arabia.
They alleged that he signed the Supplementary budget; that he spoke to the BBC and so forth. The rest is history. Similarly President Mohammadu Buhari’s ailment came to light during the last presidential campaign.
But it was dismissed as a non-issue. Now the ailment is not allowing him to perform his duties as President. Presently he is receiving medical treatment in London. Before now, he had been frequenting many hospitals abroad.
In the last three and half weeks or so, his ailment has been the subject matter of public discussion in Nigeria. Some politicians claim that they went to London and saw him hale and hearty. Meanwhile there is high unemployment rate in Nigeria.
There is constant electricity failure. The Nigerian currency keeps taking a plunge and losing value. There is hunger and frustration in Nigeria”
The above conversation between the Nigeria job seeker and the Canadian elicits serious thoughts and serious questions. The Nigerian political tragedy is that the same people with the same outdated thoughts and ideas are being re-cycled in political power in Nigeria.
I gather that a new mega political party that will replace the APC is due for launch in March this year with Abubakar Atiku standing by as its Presidential candidate and Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as its power broker and godfather.
Which means that we are still turning round and round. No progress. Serves us right. A time was when political candidate late Gani Fawehinmi presented himself for an election in Nigeria but the Nigerian people rejected him saying “Gani cannot be a good President”.
Prof Pat Utomi has equally presented himself several times for election but most Nigerian voters said that he did not have the “political platform” to be elected President. You may ask, what is this much-vaunted “political platform”?
Look at President Donald Trump, a first-time comer to American politics. Yet the Americans massively voted for him at the last American Presidential election. He won. He is now the President of America.
When will the Nigerian people learn? You will recall that prior to the last Presidential election, immediate former President of Nigeria Good luck Ebele Jonathan warned Nigerians to refrain from voting for a presidential candidate who would make life unbearable for them. Unfortunately that Jonathan warning died down unheeded.
Today we are paying the price of our lack of discernment. We are suffering. The living condition of the average Nigerian especially his or her health condition has worsened in the last two years.
Nigeria occupies the unenviable position of 187 out of the 190 countries in the World Health Organization (WHO) World Health Ranking Systems. Only Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic and Myanmar are trailing behind Nigeria. We are full of regrets now. We wish we had listened to Jonathan.
But we must be optimistic. All is not lost. We can still win. But before we can win, the people must first and foremost affirm their identity as the sovereigns in our constitutional democracy. Representative democracy simply means government with consent derived from the governed.
This consent flows from the radical equality and equal rights of all men. If we are all equal it means that no power thirsty politician has a right to rule without the consent of the governed. The American founding fathers put it aptly when they stated that “Governments are instituted among men deriving their just Powers from the Consent of the Governed”.
By voluntarily entrusting to a few elected people with the responsibility of governing their affairs, the people have not relinquished their power. Power belongs to God but the people are the repository of that power.
