|
 Published
August 29th, 2010
It
may well be that Nigerians have a tendency to equate
development only with huge, gas guzzling factories belching
out carbon pollutants into the atmosphere from their smoke
stacks. But I’m to state here and now that development goes
beyond physical factories to intellectual factories in
progressive trajectory. Any nation that’s denuded of
intellectual factories is headed for the abyss—no question
about it. Intellectual factories are re-generators of
nations and nations that heavily invest in them stay and
remain at the cutting edge of technological, artistic and
scientific advancements, while nations that neglect or pay
scant attention to them remain perpetual consumers of the
intellectual products of other nations.—Franklin Otorofani,
Esq.
Thus the
deliberate cultivation of a critical mass of leadership to
get on board the train of development is critical to the
attainment of any national development goal. In other words,
the gospel of development must be preached vigorously,
widely and ceaselessly to every nook and cranny of the
nation in order to win new converts to the religion of
development at all levels of political leadership so as to
form the critical mass of progressive leadership required as
new captains to steer our national ship in the desired
direction.—Franklin Otorofani, Esq
Sometime ago in the not too distant past, a remarkable statement was
credited to one of Nigeria’s foremost intellectuals and
political activists, Nobel Laureate, Professor Wole Soyinka.
In a fit of self-deprecation, he was widely reported to have
dismissed his as a “wasted generation.”
That’s as strong a view as it gets probably bordering on the extreme. Yet
it’s a statement that many of his disaffected compatriots
would readily identify with and many more might dissociate
themselves from as a little overreaching, particularly
members of his generation who had given off their best in
the service of their fatherland and might, therefore,
bristle at the suggestion that their toils could be written
off so cavalierly in one sweep of a verbal salvo from one of
their own.
Now, Wole Soyinka is a progressive Nigerian and patriot of the highest
order who wants the best for his country and has worked hard
to see the nation turn the corner in her developmental
efforts, both politically and economically. His stint at the
Federal Road Safety Commission (FRSC, which he in fact
founded exemplifies how our national institutions should be
run. Many Nigerians would testify to the fact that the FRSC
under him and his successor, Dr. Agunloye, was a model
federal institution in effective interstate highway policing
that made the Nigerian police look awfully bad.
However, like his compatriots with similar spirits, he has witnessed the
progressive degeneration of our values and fortunes; the
deification of corruption and incompetence, and the
plundering of the commonwealth by nitwits in power. He has
seen Nigeria’s steady rise in the Corruption Perception
Index (CPI) inversely proportional to the fall in her GDP
and political fortunes.
And he knows too well that but for the relatively steady price in crude
exports his beloved nation would have collapsed and gone
under a long time ago, and balkanized by imperial predators
looking to acquire territories abroad of which Nigeria’s
pricey real estate would have excited their territorial
appetites as was indeed the case in Berlin, Germany, where
they had gathered to carve out African colonial territories
for themselves more than a century and half ago the effects
of which are still with us till date.
Soyinka has watched helplessly and perhaps hopelessly too as Nigeria is
effortlessly and consistently overtaken by all of her peers
and every newly independent country that just got off the
starting block in the development race. To a patriot of his
stature and caliber these are infinitely depressing and even
provocative developments that could knock off one’s
electrical fuse. There’s no question, therefore, that such
complete generational write-off must have been informed by
an overwhelming feeling of disappointment and exasperation
at the dismal performance of his generation.
However, the word “wasted” must be put in context. The verbiage of the
literary icon must not be interpreted literarily but
metaphorically. “Wasted” must be understood to refer to
wasted opportunities of his generation not wasted
individuals in his generation. Understood as such, I would
venture to state that very few Nigerians, if any, would
disagree with the damning verdict of the literary icon on
his generation. And that verdict stands even if it could be
argued that his generation produced most of Nigeria’s
political, economic and intellectual titans with unmatched
accomplishments comparable to the best anywhere in the world
of which he’s himself one of the greatest advertisements.
But even so, individual accomplishments, important as they may be, do not
necessarily translate into collective or national
accomplishments beyond the glory they bring to the nation.
It is, therefore, the burden duty of every generation to
harvest, harness and channel its individual talents,
energies, as well as its intellectual resources into a broad
stream of collective national endeavors rather than
remaining as individual accomplishments.
When individual accomplishments in a generation fail to translate into
collective national achievements, the nation concerned is
left to grope its way around as it were in a dark firmament
illuminated by individual stars that make little or no
difference overall to the climate of darkness eclipsing the
nation.
What exactly do I mean by that?
Let’s take Soyinka’s prodigious literary accomplishments for example. One
would have thought that Soyinka and, I might add, Chinua
Achebe’s literary achievements and recognition would have
beamed an intense searchlight on Nigerian literature in all
its varieties and genres and given a huge boost. But the
reverse is the case. The literary achievements of these
icons have not positively impacted on Nigeria’s reading
culture which is one of the poorest in the world to the
extent that the “Book Industry” which is a money spinner
elsewhere across the Atlantic is almost non-existent in
Nigeria. The literary accomplishments of Nigerian writers
ought to be reflected in Nigerian streets with Nigerians
clutching books in street corners, on buses, trains,
airplanes and, of course, on college campuses across the
nation. That in turn would have catalyzed the production of
a wave of literary artistes and a solid book industry that
would have been next to oil without the mess, environmental
degradation and the huge investment outlays, not to speak of
the crisis and political instability it has helped to
foster.
But all these talents and infinite potentials have remained untapped by
his and succeeding generations for the overall development
of the nation. What does that tell you? It shows that the
literary talents of Nigeria’s most accomplished writers have
not been translated into a vehicle for our economic
transportation to the Promised Land. And what’s true of Wole
Soyinka and Chinua Achebe and the rest of the literati, is
equally true of our engineering and medical geniuses.
It may well be that Nigerians have a tendency to equate development only
with huge, gas guzzling factories belching out carbon
pollutants into the atmosphere from their smoke stacks. But
I’m to state here and now that development goes beyond
physical factories to intellectual factories in progressive
trajectory. Any nation that’s denuded of intellectual
factories is headed for the abyss—no question about it.
Intellectual factories are re-generators of nations and
nations that heavily invest in them stay and remain at the
cutting edge of technological, artistic and scientific
advancements, while nations that neglect or pay scant
attention to them remain perpetual consumers of the
intellectual products of other nations. A nation denied
intellectual nourishment is like a baby deprived of its
mother’s milk.
Such has been the case with Nigeria where the accomplishments of its
distinguished citizens who have excelled in different fields
of human endeavors and duly recognized and celebrated at
home and abroad, have yet to find a channel for collective
national expressions. And many of whom have studiously shied
away from partisan politics thus leaving the field open for
the worst elements of the nation’s citizenry to plunder. And
those who ventured into politics have wound up getting
sucked into the vortex of corruption and rapacious
exploitation of the system to their benefits just like the
rest of the bunch that have lost every sense of public
service.
And this is without prejudice to the very few who have set out to make a
difference in the lives of their people by offering
productive and purposeful leadership to their constituents
across the nation. Such individuals who are laboring quietly
and uncelebrated have not gone unnoticed by the nation
because their good works speak for them even as they shun
the limelight.
I’m as mad as hell just like Soyinka and other compatriots about the
anemic performance, at best, of the Nigerian leadership at
all levels heretofore.But I’m not as mad as to dismiss the
entire generation of the present leadership as totally
wasted. That would be a stretch, uncharitable and
fundamental disservice to those who are making a difference
in their states at significant levels.
While it’s undoubtedly the case that the last crop of governors was a
disgrace to democracy, the present crop appears, in my
estimation and in the estimation of other objective,
apolitical observers to have demonstrated some level of
seriousness and commitment to development in their
respective states. It’s perhaps fair to say that for every
ten underperforming governors there are at least two super
performing ones. Lagos state, Akwa-Ibom, Cross Rivers and
Rivers states, just to name but a few, appear to stand out
as beacons of the emerging new order of progressive
leadership.
And at the federal level which is the critical barometer to measure our
national performance, we have seen a type of newfound
dynamism and razor shape focus that had all been too absent
in the defunct Yar’Adua years both in domestic and foreign
policy formulations and execution. On the domestic front,
the noticeable and commendable improvements in power supply
and the launch of the comprehensive power sector reform in
Lagos by the president, which had been lacking all along
under Yar’Adua, and the highest ratings accorded Nigeria in
air transportation security by the US government on the
global front, bear eloquent testimonies to the emerging
committed and progressive leadership of the present era of
which the presidency must be the main driver by acting as
the role model for the states.
No doubt in the poisoned climate of partisan politics individuals may
have different takes on these salutary developments in the
polity. But anyone who sees some rays of light at the end of
a dark tunnel and dismisses them as unremarkable is either a
partisan hack or willfully blind. And there are many
partisans who are willfully blind to progress not only in
Nigeria but in other nations.
For instance, Republican racists in the United States see a US economy
emerging from recession with an average GDP growth rate of
2.9% in the last four quarters as no progress at all and
they are characterizing that growth as harbinger of double
digit recession with which they’re predicting doomsday for
the US economy under President Obama, which is wholly at
odds with what economic experts (not Republican Tea Party
voodoo economists), are predicting.
Now, anyone who sees some growth in four consecutive quarters in negative
terms no matter how tepid it might be in an economy emerging
from deep recession caused under their watch and in the face
of other nations in Europe other than Germany still
struggling to dig themselves out of the pit of recession,
has got to be willfully blind, a partisan hack or plain dumb
ass. And there are tons of dumbasses out there in the
Republican Party conclave.
Are there folks like that in Nigeria who look around their immediate and
extended environments wearing partisan blinkers and see no
progress at all but only doom and gloom? Are there
individual partisans running around seemingly with fire on
their hairs preaching the gospel of a failed state in
Nigeria rather than of development? You bet there are! It
would appear that the deliberate promotion and propagation
of cynicism and pessimism and even fear sometimes, is an
embedded and therefore inherent characteristic of politics
of opposition in all climes and Nigeria is certainly no
exception. Opposition has been reduced to fear mongering and
doomsday proselytizing.
Critical Mass
At the same time, it’s equally the case that the nation is yet to gross
up the critical mass of leadership required to turn things
around for the better, not in retail miniscule, but in
wholesale quantum of deliveries, which appear to be
exceptions rather than the norm. And that’s another reason
why the labors of Nigeria’s finest have yet to register on
the radar screen of national development—absence of a
critical mass. However much those individuals may have
accomplished, it falls short of the critical mass required
to make a difference.
For example, a nation cannot make a difference in technology with the
efforts of a single engineer however talented he might be
but with the efforts of thousands of committed engineers. It
would not register on the radar screen of scientific
discoveries and inventions on the efforts of a single
scientist but on the efforts of thousands of committed
scientists. It would not turn the corner on the exertions of
just a single political leader but on the exertions of
thousands of committed political leaders. Critical mass is
required to turn the nation around like a huge ocean liner
marooned with a broken compass in order to pull her in a
different direction.
The absence of that critical mass has ensured that the good intentions
and programs of progressive political, economic and academic
leaderships have failed to fly in the face of non-commitment
by a critical mass, resistance and outright sabotage on the
part of many. And this is the case whether we’re dealing
with quality of leadership, anti-corruption, commitment to
public welfare, infrastructural development, and every other
thing in between.
Thus the deliberate cultivation of a critical mass of leadership to get
on board the train of development is critical to the
attainment of any national development goal. In other words,
the gospel of development must be preached vigorously,
widely and ceaselessly to every nook and cranny of the
nation in order to win new converts to the religion of
development at all levels of political leadership so as to
form the critical mass of progressive leadership required as
new captains to steer our national ship in the desired
direction.
For instance, if only the president and a few of the political leaders
truly believe in the anti-graft war with the rest being
non-committal, resistant or outright saboteurs, the
anti-graft war will not fly no matter the efforts of the
government. The nation could spend all her resources chasing
after treasury robbers all over the place who would be
playing “catch me if you can” game with EFCC and ICPC with
little or nothing left for real development. It’s doubtful
if what has been recovered from the national rouges so far
is anything close to what has been expended in pursuing and
prosecuting them. The anti-graft war simply cannot be won by
fire power alone (i.e., arrests and prosecutions), but by
soft power—winning the hearts and minds of men who would
otherwise not sign on.
Again, if there is no critical mass in the nation’s leadership cadre that
truly believe in public welfare no enduring public
infrastructures with be built both in terms of quality and
quantity. At best only a token effort will be made in that
direction no matter the level of budgetary allocations.
The entire nation must be carried along in her development agenda not
just a few, and the people made to buy in and indeed own the
agenda as their own. When a handful of leaders and citizens
are involved the rest will see it as an external imposition
belonging to and coming from someone else without their
involvement and inputs and will in consequence be resistant
to it. Thus when a generation is deficit in critical mass of
leadership committed to public good in various fields of
human endeavors, it invariably winds up being, well, a
“wasted generation” at worst or at best a lumbering nation.
It’s a matter for regret, however, that while Americans would describe
Wole Soyinka’’s contemporaries in the United States as the
“greatest generation” Nigerians see theirs as wasted
generation. Although such characterization would seem unfair
because others before and after his have not fared any
better than his generation, it has been left to carry the
can of worms because it has set the unenviable records that
the younger generations have copied from to perpetuate and
propagate corruption, ethnicity, mediocrity and incompetence
in the land. It’s the same generation that has planted the
odious practice of “zoning” in the nation’s political
lexicology in order to frustrate the emergence of true
democracy and the best candidates in our political
leadership recruitment drives through the ballot.
But why would Americans describe theirs as the greatest generation while
Nigerians see theirs as wasted generation? The answers are
not at all farfetched and would seem obvious to the
discerning mind. Wole Soyinka’s contemporaries in America
took the United States from being just the backwaters of
Europe to the pre-eminent status of a super-power,
militarily and economically that has ruled the free world
unchallenged and before whom all national knees bowed. Now,
that’s a generation that has earned and, therefore, deserves
the appellation of the “greatest generation.”
But how did its Nigerian contemporaries stack up in comparison? Soyinka
summoned it all up in that damning description: a wasted
generation! While, as noted above, there are outstanding
individual achievers, the collective inputs of his
generation to the Nigerian project is shamefully and
scandalously low and therefore unremarkable in comparison to
its contemporaries elsewhere. And that explains the huge
development gap between the United States and Nigeria even
when we take into account the age difference between the two
nations.
While per capita income in the US is $4600, it is less than $300 in
Nigeria, paradoxically making it one of the poorest nations
on earth notwithstanding its abundant oil and other natural
resources. And that explains also the huge gap between
Nigeria and her contemporaries like China, South Korea,
India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, et al. While these
countries are fast bridging the gaps between them and the
developed nations, Nigeria is widening the gap between her
and both developing and developed nations. And a generation
with such a shameful record cannot but be dubbed wasted in
relative terms.
Now, don’t get me wrong. I’m not here comparing Nigeria with her peers in
Africa which might or might not be in worse shapes than
Nigeria herself. Any comparison of Nigeria with an African
nation is like comparing one examination failure with
another failure and wind up with only degrees of failure.
No, I’m not about to compare Nigeria with African nations. I
would rather compare her with Asian nations of her peers who
have gotten up to speed while Nigeria limps along like a
paraplegic on a wheel chair. Only a failed generation could
have produced a failed nation and Nigeria has been forced to
play the game of catch up.
Playing Catch-Up
Now, if we’re going to play this game of catch up, are we going to draw
our players from the pool of the same failed generation or
we are going to draw our players from the pool of a new
generation? Analogically, I’m asking if a wise coach would
continue to field the same players who had failed him in
previous tournaments or refresh his team with new players.
I’m not a coach but commonsense dictates that the question should be
answered in the negative. I don’t know about you, but I’m
pretty certain that a wise coach would at least think twice
before fielding a failed player the second time around,
because fielding a failed player is an investment in
failure, not in success. Politics apart, Nigeria cannot
afford to play catch up by drawing from the same pool of
failed leaders of a wasted generation.
Although politics is murky and people might not see things in clear
perspectives as neatly presented here due to several
considerations, including ethnicity and self interests, it
is the duty of the political analyst to strip politics of
such inherent obfuscations and cut to the bone.
Yes, we all come from somewhere and we have our ethnic interests to
protect and defend. But this is not about the interests of
AREWA, Ohaneze, Afenifere or SSPA but the interest of
Nigeria as a whole. Save for the SSPA every one of the above
political entities masquerading as “cultural organizations”
is an ethnic organization that is preoccupied with its
ethnic interests. But while everyone is standing up for
his/her ethnic organization, somebody has got to stand up
for Nigeria and say it like it is. Nigeria cannot expect a
different results if she continues to field the same old
players that have failed us in the past and that means she’s
doomed to repeating the failures in perpetuity in the catch
up game.
As then candidate Obama puts it during the campaigns, in paraphrase, it
would be foolhardy to rehire an incompetent driver who drove
the bus into a ditch the last time and expect a different
result the next time around. And Americans got the message
which is simple commonsense not rocket science.
It, therefore, goes without saying that a generational change is urgently
needed to give the nation a fresh start. Chieftains of the
old order will come out to talk about “experience” the same
way Senator John McCain did in the United States against
candidate Obama. Already, I’ve heard one of them, Ibrahim
Babangida, talking about his “experience” in handling the
nation at this “critical” time.
Like Americans Nigerians owe it to themselves and their children to ask
IBB and his failed generation what experience are we talking
about, sir? Is it experience of annulling the freest and
fairest election in the history of Nigeria or the experience
of disappearing $12.4bn dollars oil Gulf War Oil Windfall
under your watch? Is it experience of endless political
dribbling that earned you the sobriquet of a “Maradona” or
the experience of plane load of military officers
disappearing in mid-air?
We should have the guts to ask such an aspirant whether he wants to
relive his experience of critical newspaper editors getting
smoked out in letter bombs as was Dele Giwa in his time or
of sit-tight dictatorship. What experience? Is it the one of
placing blanket ban on politicians 60 years and above or
which one are we talking about? Somebody in the press should
be able to pose a simple question to IBB that if he
considered it fair and proper to disqualify the so-called
old breed politicians 60 years and above, on what basis does
he Babangida, who is about to celebrate his 70th
year anniversary qualified to contest as new breed
politician? Aren’t we entitled to some answers? I think we
are and someone out there in the press owes it to himself
and his profession to demand answers. The man should be held
to the same standards he set for others—no more no less. He
cannot ban politicians 60 years and above from elective
office while he was in his 50s and come out at 70 and ask us
to to elect him into office. No one is allowed to eat his
cake and have it back at the same time. IBB should wait for
another lifetime to present himself for election into office
as president, not this lifetime. He has had his time and he
blew it. Let another have his turn and learn his lessons
from the disastrous failures of the IBB’s failed generation.
And by the way, did I hear Abubakar Atiku pontificating that the
“Nigerian constitution is superior” to the PDP constitution
that requires a defector who is readmitted to the party to
wait for two years before he/she is allowed to contest for
any party or elective post under the party’s platform? Did I
hear that Atiku wants to challenge the PDP in court on the
ground of the superiority of the nation’s constitution over
the PDP constitution? When did that occur to him and his
hirelings? Wonders shall never end in Nigeria!
All those who were in support of Atiku and IBB over the PDP zoning should
bury their heads in the sand like the Ostrich. They were
supporting the wrong men and the wrong principle. True to
type the man has made 180% turn. Overnight, Atiku has
trashed his zoning argument that sought to place party rule
over the nation’s constitution! He’s suddenly become a
believer in the supremacy of the constitution. But guess
what, only when it suits his interests! Politicians like
Atiku have no enduring conviction or personal principles of
any kind whatsoever. Whatever arguments they mouth at any
given time is deliberately designed to promote their selfish
interests rather than their personal conviction or
principle. It’s a shame!
The same is so true also of IBB who decreed new breed politics in 1993
when he banned old breed politicians from running for office
in order to give the new breed a fresh start. All I am
saying here is, yes, that’s a good idea, military president.
It’s a nice piece of political engineering! It makes sense
to give the new breed a chance to lead given our bitter
experience with the old breed who have not and will not
change their way short of banning them. But I’m a
constitutionalist who believes in the right of every
Nigerian to vie for any elective position in the land in
accordance with extant laws of the land.
Although IBB denied others their constitutional rights to vie for
elective offices back in 1993 and true to type, (leopards do
not change their dark spots), he almost succeeded in doing
the same thing again to President Goodluck Jonathan 17years
later in 2010 using the PDP, he is free to contest the
presidential election either through the PDP or another
party of his choice.
But the Nigerian electorate is also free to hold him accountable for his
past misdeeds and reject him outright. While candidates have
the right to present themselves for elections, the
electorates have their rights to either accept or reject
them at the ballot. It’s payback time for those who had
inflicted pain and anguish on them in the past or otherwise
disappointed them in the past.
IBB, Buhari and Atiku cannot escape this day of judgment. In fact,
presenting themselves to the electorate is tantamount to
putting themselves in the accused box to be judged by their
countrymen and women about their past stewardships and their
verdict is all but predictable.
When it was reported that the Northern Senators Forum rejected the duo
of IBB and Atiku at its meeting with them, it is a signal to
both men of what awaits them at the election. When the AREWA
Youths members openly rejected the trio of IBB, Buhari and
Atiku in numerous statements, it is clear signal that these
geriatric aspirants are persona non grata not wanted again
to mess up their lives even in the ordinarily conservative
North. When presidential aspirants are receiving an
avalanche of negative reactions to their candidacies as IBB
and Atiku have suffered, including. but not limited to IBB’s
botched presidential launch in Ibadan, it is clear signal
that they’re flesh for the vultures and bones for the dogs.
Generational Shift
But what is the value proposition in the advocacy for generational shift
in political leadership? Put another way, what difference in
value would a generational shift bring to bear on our
leadership and national aspirations? To answer the above
question, it must be stated from the get go that it’s not
enough to merely shuffle the age of our leaders and call it
a generational shift. Age alone is not the issue because age
is as much a function of the mind as it is of the body. And
there are incompetent, unproductive, corrupt, conservative,
visionless and unprogressive individuals in all generations.
What then do I mean by generational shift?
Contrary to its ordinary connotation it has nothing to do with
genealogical age per se, which, though relevant, is not as
important as the character make up and progressive bearing
of the individual leader.
A “generational shift” is thus used here as omnibus term or metaphorical
expression to denote a shift away from a generation of
leaders who embody and exhibit these deleterious character
and attitudinal traits and predilections. It’s thus a shift
away from a generation of character traits and attitudes
that have confined the nation to the bottom of the pit since
her independence while others of her peers are racing to the
summit of the mountain of development. These so called
leaders, who rearing their heads again have been severally
and collectively implicated in ditching the nation in the
past with their unsavory character traits and attitudinal
orientation.
As indicated earlier, most Nigerians are in agreement that the older
generation is a failure and it’s a failure because it
harbors these character traits in abundance which they have
been distributing and implanting in the younger generations
in retail and wholesale forms. Their corrupt ways have been
bequeathed to the younger generations because, as my
people’s adage puts it succinctly, when the mother goat is
chewing the cud the baby goat is watching her closely and
taking appropriate lessons from her choice of leaves and how
the cud is chewed. Cud chewing is thus a learned behavior
and so is corruption and lack of public accountability in
leadership.
The old breed’s attitude of total indifference, corruption, nonchalance,
and resistance to selfless service to the Nigerian public
has been passed on to the younger generation both in retail
and wholesale forms. And what’s more, their do-or-die,
warlike attitude to politics has equally been passed on to
the younger generations both in retail and wholesale forms.
In sum, the entire contents of the baggage of negativities
of the older generation have been dumped on the younger
generations as a bequest to propagate in perpetuity.
It’s a poisoned chalice and cocktail of negativities. It’s these legacies
of negativities that have to be systematically uprooted from
the body politic if Nigeria is to make any headway at all.
Giving anyone of them associated with these vices another
chance is tantamount to rehiring the driver who ditched the
bus the last time. Only an employer on a suicide mission
would contemplate doing that.
This being so I would venture to state without equivocation that the
cases of IBB, Atiku and Buhari are pretty much settled by
the average Nigerian who had borne the brunt of their
atrocities over the decades and are now determined to
liberate themselves from the shackles of mal-administration.
These aspirants may nevertheless run to fulfill all
righteousness, but it is pretty certain they will not go the
distance. Powered by their huge egos and running against the
tides, their fate had been determined and sealed even before
the whistle is sounded. This is a prediction that is
destined to come to pass and the reader can count on it as a
fait accompli.
The question therefore is not whether they will go away but who will be
their replacements? If we do away with these rotten tomatoes
that have infested and contaminated the good ones, what do
we replace them with? The answer that pops right out is, the
good ones, of course! Fine, but who are the good ones? Where
do we find the good ones that have not been contaminated by
the rotten tomatoes in our political vineyard? Many of the
good ones have been infested by the bad and that has made
our work all the more difficult. It’s a tall order and it’s
like looking for a needle in haystacks.
However, the search for the good ones is made a little easier by
narrowing the search field to the confines of the registered
political parties. That should be the locus of our search
for selfless leadership materials with no taint of
corruption, self-centeredness, incompetence, religious and
ethnic bigotry and lack of vision. Finding such individual
within the confines of the existing party platforms may be a
tall order still in the present set up, but it is possible
to zero in on an individual who exhibits the least of the
above evil traits.
But the party platform matters. The right candidate may not necessary win
due to a weak and ineffective platform. This was
demonstrated by the present Governor of Edo state, Adams
Oshiomhole, who was compelled to dump his Labor Party
platform which he considered weak in Edo state and pitched
his tent with AC to clinch the gubernatorial office.
Thus party platform is the key to electoral success and so are other
supporting factors. The right candidate may lose because
he/she is unable to articulate his vision and mission. The
right candidate may lose due to lack of proper package by
this party and his handlers. The right candidate may lose
because he’s a political neophyte who could not handle the
barrage of mud hauled at him by political opponents and
character assassins. The right candidate may indeed lose
because of misrepresentation and complete distortion of what
he stands for by his opponents and political enemies.
Right now in the United States, President Barack Obama is being viciously
and relentless misrepresented and his policies distorted as
a “socialist” and a “Moslem” by Republican nuts and racists
without a shred of hard evidence to back up their delirious
claims. But facts and “hard evidence” mean nothing to
political demagogues and desperadoes. Their wild claims
exist in their demented minds and they proceed to press
their delirium on an economically distracted nation.
Those who hate the victim of these vile attacks readily lap up all the
vitriol which fires them on till the next election. It’s
bone for the dogs and blood for the sharks to feast on. And
if a right candidate does not have the financial and
organizational muscle to counter and discredit such base
distortions and misrepresentations, his ambition is doomed
from the start. “Pull Him Down” (PHD). is the name of the
game.
The morale of this is that it takes a whole lot more than being a right
candidate to win elections. A whole bunch of factors are at
play that could tilt the results one way or another. And
sometimes a nation winds up with the worst candidate in
power. That was how President GW Bush got elected in the
place of Al Gore and John Kerry, respectively in 2000 and
2004 presidential elections. It’s one of the several
weaknesses of democracy that have continued to undermine its
effectiveness and virility as a system of government.
Crunch Time
The search continues in earnest but decision time is drawing nigh. At
crunch time Nigerians will be presented with a set of
candidates many of whom will be what I would term “legacy
candidates” that have refused to quit the stage for the
younger generation. As indicated above, they’re the very
embodiment of corruption, financial profligacy, ethnic and
religious bigotry, despotism and general mal administration.
They’re the proud representatives of the old order with all
that it connotes.
Another set of candidates will emerge from the party primaries imbued
with clear vision and messianic disposition to take the
nation to the next level, untainted or minimally tainted
with the ills and evils of the old order. They will be the
proud representatives of the new order. It’s the burden duty
of the Nigerian electorate to send a clear message that
there will be no more business as usual.
But here is the bottom line. Nigeria’s new leader must move in tandem
with the rest of the world and bring to our shores the
benefits of modern technologies and good governance. Like
Obama, he must be a digital and not an analog president
otherwise the benefits of modern technologies will mean
nothing to him because he will be living in the past and
therefore apt to reintroduce the old ways of doing things in
the 21st century. No one who has been left behind
by the forward march of technology should show his hand
during the roll call and if he does should be ignored
outright by the people. Those who are not attuned to the
digital age not apply.
Soon and very soon the dye will be cast and the determination as to
whether Nigeria will remain a backward or progressive nation
will be etched in millions of pieces of papers—the currency
of democracy known as the “ballots!” That currency will be
used to purchase for the nation a bad or a good leader as
the case may be. And that singular purchase will make all
the difference between failing schools, hospitals, roads and
highways, water, electricity, public accountability,
openness and transparency and the good life for the greatest
majority of our people. All these are loaded in those little
ballots but remain invisible to the average voter not
schooled in the alchemy of democracy.
Our destiny is in our own ballots! We can use them to purchase rotten
tomatoes that will give us sour soup and suffer constipation
or fresh tomatoes that will give us sumptuous dinner at the
table that will nourish our bodies and souls. The choice is
yours to make. Just remember this as you head out to the
polls in January, 2011 to elect the new set of leaders:
Whatever choice you make today you will have to live with
tomorrow, because as you make your bed so you must lie on
it. No one will make your bed for you. It’s all in your
power. Be a smart political investor the next time around.
Do not use your ballot to purchase damaged goods and bring them home to
decorate your political shelves, for a ballot is a terrible
thing to waste.
It’s your ballot---your currency—your future!
Use it wisely and prudently else you’ll be singing the blues down the
road of perdition…
Franklin Otorofani, Esq. contact:
mudiagaone@yahoo.com
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