The debate about whether Nigeria’s problem is one of the leadership or followership recurs every now and then. I have heard many in and out of government comment on the amount of pressure Nigerians are subjected to once they assume a public position, and even immediately they hint at an interest in contesting for public office. The implication of this point of view is that Nigeria’s problem is at least partly one of followership. And this point is not without some basis. I have often marvelled at the way Nigerians react to the appointment or election of people into so-called “juicy” positions. Congratulatory adverts appear in the newspapers-from friends, colleagues, old classmates, business partners, banks and other “stakeholders”. The fellow is immediately offered a chieftaincy title by his traditional ruler, elevated to a front row seat in his church and becomes a “Chief Launcher” at every fund raiser.
His closest friends no longer call him by his name. He is now “Honourable Minister”, “Honourable Commissioner”, “My DG”, “My ED” etc. In short we give the poor guy little chance of retaining a proper perspective founded on service and sacrifice. Protocol officers begin to restrain the fellow’s very humanity and before long the man is virtually compelled to act like a colonial district officer in the midst of some illiterate or hostile natives! Don’t mistake all the fawning and respect for genuine love, loyalty or admiration! It is all self-serving sycophancy designed to manipulate the office holder into sending a share of the “national cake” in their direction. And then people begin to offer the guy earnest advice-“this is your chance”, “once you are out of office, no one will remember you oh!”, “take care of tomorrow” etc until the fellow is completely compromised.
Our people are also implicated in some of the worst aspects of the Nigerian electoral system. Those who collect bribes from office seekers and say “na manifesto we go chop?”; those who dismiss progressive candidates as unelectable and vote instead for corrupt generals and party “chieftains” in a self-fulfilling prophesy that good people can never win elections in Nigeria. And indeed didn’t Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Alhaji Aminu Kano offer themselves to Nigerians as leaders over and over again? Didn’t Gani Fawehinmi’s National Conscience Party contest elections in Nigeria? How many Nigerians voted for that party? Wasn’t Femi Falana a candidate when Ekiti people elected Ayo Fayose? Didn’t Osun people vote out Bisi Akande after a corruption-free first term?
But in spite of these arguments, I have always preferred the alternative viewpoint. Leaders are people who are able to lift the people above their present level-in terms of civic citizenship, social consciousness, ethical, political and moral values and otherwise. All South Africans do not have the spirit of forgiveness and statesmanship that Nelson Mandela exhibited. All Americans do not have the intellect and organisational skills that Barack Obama displayed in his march to the White House. Mahatma Ghandi’s message of peaceful resistance was not the behaviour exhibited on the streets of India. Lee Kwuan Yew had to force those principles that eventually lifted Singapore “from third world to first” down the throats of some of his countrymen and women.
The point is leaders, real leaders that is, rise above their environment and lift up their people. They create a vision that is higher and bigger than the present, they communicate the vision, they influence people and secure support, they elevate motives (including their own), and they lead people towards realisation and execution of the vision. Often they change first themselves, and then their societies. They do not descend to the level of their streets! Not Abraham Lincoln, Obafemi Awolowo, Murtala Muhammed, Margaret Thatcher, Martin Luther King, Deng Xiaoping or any great leader for that matter. Any political leader who blames followers or even advisers for his failings concedes implicitly that leadership is not his or her calling!
If I had any doubt that Nigerians are ready and willing to be led in a positive direction, those doubts were dispelled on Friday night (January 30) at the Silverbird Man of the Year event at Eko Hotel where Comrade Adams Oshiomole was honoured. Two incidents-both similar in their significance defined this conviction. Governor Babatunde Raji Fashola of Lagos was the Special Guest of Honour. When Fashola was introduced, the hall erupted in spontaneous applause and then a standing ovation which persisted for several minutes. It was unplanned, the MC did not have to remind anyone to “give his Excellency a round of applause” as we are always urged to do; it was completely spontaneous and completely unanimous! And this for a Governor who has ruled for less than two years.
It was the same with Adams Oshiomole after his acceptance speech. As he articulated why he has always fought against social injustice and oppression, recounted his experiences as a factory hand who was sacked merely because he didn’t look physically strong, explained his occasional reflections on all the companies and governments who have been on the receiving end of his labour activism and agitation due to his compulsive inability to ignore oppressive use of power, pledged to demystify governance and remain on the side of the common people, the hall erupted in another standing ovation. These two gentlemen reinforced my conviction that when Nigerians see good leadership, they will follow. Their hopes may have been dashed over and over again, but Nigerians are still willing when the right leader emerges to rise and build the nation of their dreams.
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