Right leadership, right society

TODAY when political aspirants signify to run for political position in Nigeria, cynicism is the first public reaction. There is a growing realisation that our politicians are corrupted by greed. There is a passionate belief that Nigerian politicians are selfish and dishonest and there are no exceptions. There is a great deal of evidence that the masses of people had gotten frightened experience and now nothing could change their negative feelings about the political class. There is a suspicion that an average politician is a fake. There is a circumstantial account of event, which proved that most of these political jobbers are conning their way into the political job. Most times, the voters suspect that they’re being conned, but these politicians have calculated belief that promising the heaven and earth to gain the support of some benighted political group is a way of redoubling the reverence of political groupie for their personal gain. There is a cogent argument that their public persona is that of strong, determined leaders, but in private life they’re very insecure. This is probably the case why these politicians have failed to provide the needed security for the common man on the street.

There is a concern that the insecurity might worsen. The security architecture of this country is in such a sorry state that it’s hardly considered fixing. No one can think of politicians, who have dedicated time to reducing the number of deaths from infamous bandits who attack, rape, maim and steal from innocent citizens across the country. In short, they are not urging a war on banditry. Still they don’t have the will to abnegate their powers for incompetency. Above all else, these politicians give patronage to leadership by hook or by crook. So, one should not be carried away by their promises because they swallow more than what they can chew. The citizens of this country must have learnt a lesson that they should moderate their expectations about what these greedy politicians can deliver based on the fact that they are mere mortals. These politicians have deliberately impoverished the unsuspecting peoples of this country making them working ghosts that are feeding on the formulae of 1-0-1 or 0-1-0 while they and their cronies are living in affluence that they do not deserve. Then, the issues of fuel scarcity and epileptic power supply are a recurrent theme in the nation’s stories. On this they gave us some ridiculous explanation, and we fell for it hook, line and sinker.   Haba! Nigerians are taken for granted for too long. They have a belief that an average Nigerian is a proven coward who becomes jittery about strong political statements made by the government after setting stiff punishments for possible offenders.

Nigerians have been refining their techniques for protest culture; this is why a politician ignorantly spoke with some vehemence about an erroneous theory that “Nigerians are too poor to revolt.” He used some very odd expressions that “Nigerians are already in hell. They have no capacity to unite because they are burdened by poverty. People in leadership position have taken their dignity, so they cannot even organize.” The above-quoted sentences are submissions that it is the political class that has made the common persons on the streets squalid and wretched despite the huge resources in the country. The argument of the aforesaid politician is based on prejudice and presupposition. His expression has convinced the country’s opposition group that Nigeria needs right leadership, to have a right society. To achieve the feats of strength, there should be a right leader that can eliminate poverty and increase access to quality education and proper health care. But if these desires are to get nowhere and there are no stories of overcoming adversities of those in power who are convinced there are no needs to make a difference in the lives of the masses, then the country will continue to experience an increase in violent crime. Suffice it to say, the poor of this country can’t just rely on the usual poverty eradication liberal policies of these political jobbers. Many families in the cities are living below the poverty line. Simply put, there is poverty trap. As people get jobs and work harder they still remain poor because the amount of money they receive from the jobs will be reduced via a continual increase in the price of goods and services.

The people of this country have learned to realise the fact that our political leaders are holy terrors that use violent acts to frighten them as a way of trying to achieve their political goals. In fact, state terrorism has contributed greatly to the advancement of silencing the masses. Workers are terrorized into accepting abysmal working conditions. This act of work related terrorism is killing Nigerian workers with malice aforethought. It is a truism that the war against this act of terrorism needs to be accomplished by the pursuit of a less dangerous milieu for Nigerians, one where Nigeria is once again a great nation with progressive ideologies and inclusiveness. Will these ideologies and inclusive assurance policies work? Yes it might, if the attitudinal judgment of the peoples around the country will serve as a guide. The imperceptible performances and inept planning of our political gladiators have changed the way Nigerian populace think about the state of affairs. Far from the parliaments of Nigeria, issues of insecurity, banditry and poverty are now being debated through text messages and at public fora with a new urgency. The days when political jobbers were considered to have a monopoly on political debates are ending, thank God. A passionate advocacy is a significant wink of that change. The ordinary man on the street needs to understand that the battle for change is going to be won at the backyard barbecue, not at the plenary sessions of the legislature. We must fire up the grill.

• Elebute is Associate Professor, Journalism, Media and Cultural studies, Bowen University, Iwo, Osun State.