In Nigeria, few are leaders, many are dealers. A very clear account in the Bible captures the story of the children of Israel who desired a king to lead them like other nations. God, without any ambiguity, explained to the people through His prophet the intensity of the havoc the leader would unleash on them. “The king will draft your sons and assign them to his chariots and his charioteers, making them run before his chariots. Some will be forced to plow in his fields and harvest his crops…The king will take your daughters from you and force them to cook and bake and make perfumes for him. He will take away the best of your fields and vineyards and olive groves and give them to his own officials. He will take a tenth of your grain and your grape harvest and distribute it among his officers and attendants… He will demand a tenth of your flocks, and you will be his slaves…”1 Samuel 8. The prolonged battering and clobbering by the military on Nigeria and Nigerians got a lot of voices from all over the world clamouring for a democratically- elected government. In 1999, the “khaki boys” stepped aside for civilians to seize the reins of power. Democracy, if operated right, is the best form of government by the people and for the people. Dishearteningly, however, democracy in Nigeria has become a charade. Our leaders across all political parties and in all arms of government have become dealers and reckless and feckless businessmen and women whose modus operandi are to make money off the government and subject the people who elected them into untold hurt. In Nigeria today, very few who hold the levers of power are true LEADERS, many of them are daring DEALERS. Speaking last Thursday before the US House Foreign Affairs Sub-committee on Africa’s hearing entitled, ‘Human Rights Vetting: Nigeria and Beyond’, the Specialist at African Affairs Congressional Research Service, Lauren Blanchard, submitted that despite the N1tn($5.8bn) budgeted for Nigeria’s security forces, Nigerian troops are not adequately resourced or equipped to counter Boko Haram insurgency. Blanchard described Nigeria as “an extremely challenging partner to work with.” It is confusing to patriotic minds why much money set aside for such an endeavour does not yield much result. The funds may have been frittered away on frivolities and clutched in the hands of a few ogres, whoever they are. What Blanchard now understands is that in Nigeria, few are leaders, many are dealers. A former US president, Bill Clinton, earned $35,000 a year as governor of Arkansas. His wife, Hillary Clinton, as a lawyer, earned $92,000 salary. Clinton became president in 1993 and presided over a total of $1.41tn budget in 1993. When he left office, the United States had a budget surplus of $230bn, and according to Hillary, the family when it left office, was not only dead broke, but in debt. It is a ‘curse’ in Nigeria for High School graduate local government councillors elected into office as paupers, and not to leave as owners of sprawling housing estates. Government in Nigeria is a very chubby cash-cow that spews out quick cash in all currencies, an ever-flowing fountain of free money, a treasure-trench, a money-trough, and a money-churning chute. Do you wonder why many kill to become governors, senators, or even as personal assistants to a local government chairman? Do you wonder why brothers butcher brothers to be in power? Working with any sector of government at any level is almost a guarantee that your money-well will not run dry. The dealership scourge and plague that have been etched in the spine of Nigeria have become the acceptable norm. These dealers called leaders are prepped up in ignominious perfidy killing this nation. They are duplicitous characters and audacious Cruella De Vil whose minds have travelled far away from saneness. They slither through the cracks and crevices of government after government, wheeling, dealing and digging gaping holes for Nigeria. Many Nigerians never heard of the notorious pension scheme until Governor Godswill Akpabio’s cover was blown in Akwa Ibom State. A bill passed into law in the state would provide the governor after he leaves office a pension for life at a rate and structure that are inexplicably despicable. Akpabio is not alone. Kwara State’s mega-senator and former governor, Bukola Saraki, Rivers State’s Rotimi Amaechi, and Lagos State’s Bola Tinubu and Babatunde Fashola, to mention a few, are reportedly in the same league. There may be no Nigerian governor who has not adopted this scheme because they all compare notes in spite of party affiliations. I didn’t bother to research the President’s pension so I could beat the possible tension headache that will surely follow. I am sure the presidential pension largesse will be grossly portly, porky and plump. Few are leaders in Nigeria, many are just plain dealers. In the mired minds of these dealers called leaders, anyone striving to do right and live by the rules belongs in the genre of the dunderheads and harebrained. But, they are wrong. We will soon break away from the cage of serfdom built by these dealers. America’s 33rd president, Harry Truman, said: “In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still. Progress occurs when courageous, skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better”. Nigeria is not standing still; we are sliding backwards off a perilous precipice into the Hades. This house is on fire and our leaders act as if all is well and peachy. Natural disasters we don’t experience here, uncanny leaders have conjured human disasters upon us. Thugs as senators, touts as ministers, and reprobate minds are representing a people who have become helpless onlookers while dealers tagged leaders ravage their homes and cart away their treasures right before their eyes. Power is responsibility, and anyone with power is expected to act responsibly. A leader ought to be a steward not a scavenging slave-master; a leader endeavours to challenge the present and enrich the future by working for the public good and helping the helpless. Leadership is service to humanity; it’s a selfless exercise that helps release the people out of the cocoon of despair and destitution. Positive Leadership helps build a nation where the dreams of all dreamers come true. There is the dearth of uplifting leadership in this nation without any doubt. When will the end come to the scourge ravaging us? When will the end come to the pain and suffering of the people? Who among those who are poaching to lead us can be the captain of a victorious chariot leading us into the land of our dreams? Who among our leaders can stand for Nigeria as Mahatma Gandhi stood up for India, as Martin Luther King Jr. stood up for Black Americans, and as Nelson ‘Madiba’ Mandela stood up for Black South Africans? The Nigerian people are not expecting too much, they just want leaders who will lead and not bleed them through daring dealership expeditions.
Posted on: Fri, 18 Jul 2014 09:31:02 +0000
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