Proportionately, as time progresses, there has been a heightening in the level of dissatisfaction perceived about the Leadership and governance state in our polity; putting Nigeria in perspective. You prolly have an endless list of the plagues deteriorating the wellness of our nation. Some have actually become so embarrassing and unheard of that we rather not tell. So I will not be reiterating and proclaiming them in this piece. But I will rather bring some doses of deep-thought-tried clarifications and candid submissions on the concepts [revolution and evolution] in the Nigerian context.
For the very obvious reason of being gang banged by legions of anomalies, making our governance and leadership narrative often describable by disdaining and aberrating adjectives; very many persons and groups have risen in their seemingly thoughtful, patriotic and proactive approach to come up with initiatives, mantras and movements in attempts to salvage the backlog in leadership and governance delivery in offices across all classes and levels. Asides the industrial strike actions, peaceful/slightly violent protests, compelling and objective advocacies, public awareness and corrective constitutional power engagement; a strategy which is believed to bring an abrupt end to these age-long menaces is defined by a term [revolution] that was made public in the latter part of 2018. It was convened and spearheaded by one Omoyele Sowore. A movement that was further christened “Revolution Now”. While this might present us with thoughts that we can all embark on a couple of compelling protests offline and online, waking up days after to see that the whole state of affairs have changed as suddenly as the name suggests.
I must however state with logical provisions that it is seemingly impossible to suddenly get rid of a reality that has over time not only been institutionalized but has been integrated into our very organic makeup; becoming now part of our default mode and spontaneously advancing with us in the progression of time. Little wonder why we now have news headlines of highly revered clerics compromising and heads of corrupt practice commissions indicted with misdeeds as even they lack the credibility of holding such offices.This presents us with enough reasons to submit that our remediation process cannot be on a short term basis but of an intentional long term prospect.
Our problem is foundational and we will never be accurate and strategic in our resolution if we keep criticizing or trying to affect things from the very zenith of power stratification. I will above all things counsel that we begin by becoming the change we desire to see; as asserted by Mahatma Gandhi, individuals have got to be intentional about evolving into this new species of people that will preserve and consolidate the low-light we are left with from going extinct. Bear in mind that those who get on with leadership commitments on state and federal government levels all stem from the grassroots, the defined corrective measures have got to be injected progressively in the largest possible dose into all of our system beginning from the ones in the very grassroot structures until we begin to achieve notable clearance of the infiltrations on a national scale.
Another candid counsel is that society must begin to redefine its highly subscribed definition of success. It should be pictured more as an impact and people oriented pursuit than a material accumulation and affluence commanding state. I will reaffirm the objective counsel of Martin Luther King Jr. where he opined that “we need leaders not in love with money but in love with justice. Not in love with publicity but in love with humanity”.
I was an active student unionist during my undergraduate days, and it is disappointing yet factual to admit that the next generation of leaders in the nursery especially those currently in/from our tertiary institutions will most assuredly beat the records of what we wail about in our current leaders. While the past and current leaders are still crude about their corrupt enterprises, making their faults easy to detect, the generation coming right behind will be so sophisticated in their misdeeds that they will excel in corrupt practices and go unnoticed and unprobed.
Our voracious and often irrational feasting on the leadership texts, strategies and principles of Niccolo Machiavelli, Napoleon Bonaparte and Robert Greene have only made us time bombs waiting for detonation by the ignition of an effective dose of power. The hygiene level of what incubating leaders are feeding their minds with must be checked. Else even when we seem to make headway with the revolution movement and have seized power from the current “corrupt leaders”, we might have just created room for a breed of fiercer beasts to be unleashed on our political and socio-economic space. New breeds of leaders have got to be on the sub-way, only with this can a new civilization be initiated.
A lot more can be achieved with grassroot enlightening outreaches than staging protests in major cities without the knowledge and participation of rural dwellers.
We must however be mindful that as we resolve to set on the evolution journey, not everyone will evolve having the desired traits but the will and mutation of the majority will be our leverage. We already know before now that there is no state as a perfect society. If only we can ensure to achieve dominance, the expression of the few recessives amongst us will be greatly suppressed. We then continue on this until we collectively as a people attain herd immunity to these age-long infective and defective agents of our leadership and governance system. Evolution as we have learnt is a gradual, sequential and seamless process. This is the strategy needed now.
JOSEPH CALEB ADINOYI writes from Kogi State.
Phone: 08162162216
Email: josephcalebadinoyi1@gmail.com