In This Era Of Crisis, Where Have All The Leaders Gone? Abba Mahmood — Nov 27, 2014 | Leave a comment In every society, there are those considered as leaders. They may not necessarily be the governors or presidents of countries. They may not even be in any government service. But they are sufficiently influential and have enormous clout. They command the respect of the public, such that when they speak they are not only listened to, but obeyed. They do not control any instrument of power such as the military or security services but they have strong moral authority that is far greater in force than all coercive instruments can confer or anyone else. When society is drifting they intervene to establish order. Nigeria is in disorder, but where is the establishment? In every village there are elders. In every society there are leaders. But the greatest disaster that can happen to any individual is to not to have anyone who can look at the person in the face and tell him or her the truth, however bitter. Such is also the role of the establishment in any decent community. Recall that when George W. Bush rigged out Al Gore in Florida during the 2000 US presidential election, America was heading towards constitutional crisis. The American establishment quickly intervened to avert the imminent danger. Nigeria is already in crisis, but where is the establishment? Ordinary local hunters have become heroes because they fight terrorists in the northeast more than the military. The Nigerian military now run away at the slightest opportunity. The only thing they do is to barricade roads and establish check points, a strategy that has clearly failed as it only causes untold hardship to ordinary citizens while insurgents avoid those places. The Nigerian police has become glorified ruling party thugs. They teargas the hallowed National Assembly chamber with impunity, and harass elected legislators. This is equivalent to an assault on the country’s democracy because the legislators are representatives of the people. Again, where is the establishment? But the legislators who are supposed to check the excesses of the executive arm are not alive to their responsibilities, and that may be the reason why the police could assault them so brazenly. They are either busy travelling all over the world or in most cases embarking on “oversight functions” and endless probes that achieve nothing. To give an instance, they passed a resolution two years ago which sought the sacking of Ms Orunma Oteh, the Director-General (DG) of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). Since then they have been giving zero budgetary allocation to SEC but Ms Oteh is still SEC DG. All the endless probes they did have resulted in nothing. It is only now that they are waking up to the fact that the President has been committing impeachable offences. Again, where is the establishment? The judiciary is supposed to be the last hope of the common man. It is supposed to protect the weak from the excesses of the strong. If the rule of law is the bedrock of any decent society, the role of an impartial judiciary cannot be over emphasized in this regard and, if the judiciary abdicates that responsibility then the societydescends to the rule of the jungle. Until recently when Justice Mariam Mukhtar started some reforms in the judiciary, many judges sell themselves to the highest bidder like the worst whore on the street. Again, where is the establishment? If the three arms of government at the federal level have problems in carrying out their constitutional responsibilities and helping to entrench good governance, how about the states? The states are not faring better either. Most state governors are controlling two tiers of government: state and local governments, and are behaving like emperors in their states. Consequently, most local governments have become mere centres of sharing monthly allocations as even road repairs in the local government headquarters are not done like before. As soon as a governor comes into office he is thinking of second term and soon after that he is thinking of being a senator, which is like the retirement house of governors. Again, where is the establishment? The cumulative effect of all these is that, everything has now been “privatised” since the citizens do not have confidence in the governments and do not trust any government official’s pronouncements any more. Since the public schools, hospitals and even water supply system are mere jokes, people have turned to the private ones for those who can afford. Even security has been privatised as the super rich engage private security outfits to protect them. Who then will protect the poor? Again, where is the establishment? The ruling party has “endorsed” and “adopted” incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan for the party’s presidential “ticket” to contest the 2015 presidential election, if at all it holds. Meanwhile, the president himself knows fully well that he has constitutional constraints to contest the next election as it will amount to a third term which is alien to the constitution. It is not even about eligibility, but to compound matters, the government he heads has shown clear indifference to the killings, kidnappings and wanton destruction going on in parts of the country. He has not shown much concern that terrorists have taken over a large chunk of the county’s territory and are even hoisting their flags there. Again, where is the establishment? The people will soon wake up to the fact that religion and ethnicity that are used by the elite to divide them are not the problems. The problem is bad leadership. And no matter how many moralistic jingles or cheap propaganda the leaders inundate the people with, this fact will not change and the people will continue to aspire to those things they see in the leaders. Already, the confrontation and violence is gradually assuming class dimension. Again, where is the establishment? The nation is stuck with greedy .and cowardly elite who are afraid to call even their children to order as long as these children are in charge of dispensing patronage. However, history and life experiences have taught us that moral revolution with economic subservience cannot go together; that spiritual regeneration and poverty do not go hand in hand; that moral rectitude and elite corruption are incompatible; and that it is most improbable and indeed impossible, to realise the objective of moral life in this utterly decadent system. Meanwhile, generations to come will continue to ask: when there was hopelessness where was the establishment?
Posted on: Thu, 27 Nov 2014 06:38:53 +0000