By Zik Gbemre
It is very apparent, and a sad and unfortunate reality that, Nigeria has been having very insincere, dishonest, deceitful and untrustworthy political leaders across all levels of its Governments’ space, since 1999 till date. This is the very reason why we have remained a nation that is so blessed beyond measures, yet its citizens are amongst the top most poorest people in the world, who are daily made to face the most dehumanizing living conditions one cannot even imagine. From perennial unsteady and unreliable electricity supply, to the continue skyrocketing of inflation of basic life-sustaining necessities. Not to mention the lack and complete absence of basic good medical healthcare, housing, education, reliable transport system and network of roads, rails, seaports, airports, etc. Practically every sector is disarray and bedeviled with all types of issues begging for attention.
In the midst of all this, all we have seen, and have continued to witness in the country, are political leaders across all levels of Government and public officials who are living large in affluence, splendor and stupendous wealth they enjoy as supposed custodians of our collective public funds. They usually come in during every election year/period, to make all kinds of campaign promises to Nigerians, which they eventually never able to fulfill. And because of the ‘ATTRACTIVENESS OF GOVERNMENT’, all of them are ready to do the unthinkable just to remain in power. Like we saw in the recent elections in Kogi State, where the Kaduna State Governor went to the extent of kneeling down on behalf of his counterpart, Yahaya Bello, to beg for votes, and plead to Nigerians to forgive the latter’s misbehaviors, which we all know would continue in the next four years. That is the shameless level of ‘desperation’ these people are ready to go just to remain in power. It is only in Nigeria that we would see The Office Of A Former Governor in bold letters – the case of Zamfara, where a former governor, Abdulaziz Yari Abubakar, will have the audacity and heartlessness to use the state legislature to amend a law just two months to leaving office, which would allow him enjoy a N10million monthly pension allowance and other benefits from the State’s purse. And even had the effrontery to write letters to his successor to demand for such payments. That is to show how these Nigerian political leaders are never really interested or passionate about living good legacies that would outlive them and improve the living standards of the common masses. Their ‘primary motive’ of being in Government is wrong in the first place. All they really want is to gloat with malignant pleasure, as they answer political names of “His Excellency”, “Honourable,” and what have you. And enjoy unrestricted access to public wealth, including the fringe benefits and privileges provided by their Offices and positions occupied in the public space.
What we even find more annoying is the fact that, rather than own up to their responsibilities, or take responsibility for everything wrong in their various domain of governance, Nigerian political leaders have always adopted the ‘blame game’ to exonerate themselves from every wrong. That is why the usual excuse by those speaking for, and in favour of these political leaders, is that “the cabal” (be it at the Federal or State levels), are the ones ‘in charge’ and ruling/running the Government – often not in the direction of pleasing the masses but pleasing the few. Hence, these political leaders cannot perform as they would want to. What rubbish? The question they should ask and answer is this: Is it the so-called “cabal of aides” that were elected to govern, or the political leaders that were elected?
At the Presidency level, they say ‘the cabal’ are the ones calling the shots for the Federal Government, hence President Muhammadu Buhari cannot perform as he would have wanted to. At the State, for example in Delta State, they say it is former Governor and ex-convict James Ibori, is the head of ‘the cabal’ practically running the State, hence Governor Ifeanyi Okowa has not been able to perform as he should. But regardless of whatever the case may be, the crux of the matter here is that the gross insincerity and deceitfulness of Nigeria’s political leaders across all levels of Government, has nothing to do with the so-called cabal. This is evident with the fact that the said cabals, were created/formed and sustained by those elected to be in Government in the first place. They create and sustain this structure, to stand as the basis for derailing/failing on their statutory functions. Political leaders are those who aspire to lead in the public space, hence they sought to be elected. But the problem here is that they do not have the sincere hearts to actually lead the people. Their only thirst is to grab political power, gain access to tremendous public wealth, strategize and appoint those (including the so-called “cabal of aides”) that would help them to remain in politics till death. These Nigerian political leaders are nothing but pretenders.
This is not an APC or PDP matter, as the major political parties. The ordinary members of these two major political parties should ask themselves: whose interests are these political leaders protecting and projecting? If really these political leaders are sincere and are with conscience, how come we have not seen the needed development as a nation and people in all these years? But as we already know, both the leaders and followers in these parties pretend that all is well. Hence, we only see those in the APC always quick to defend their own, while those in the PDP do same. There is too much pretence and deceit. Can the President today, beat his chest and say that he has governed Nigeria very well in the last four years? Especially when majority of the populace are living in hunger, deprivation, with no reliable power supply, and all the Federal Roads are in terrible state, etc. In my State, Okowa cannot say that all is well.
It saddens me more to note that these Nigerian political leaders travel across the globe to developed societies where their systems work, and enjoy the same things they have not been able to provide and do back home in Nigeria. A video of a Nigerian journalist, Tunde Olawuwo, interviewing a Dubai indigene recently went viral on social media platforms. He asked the Dubai man that: “A lot of people wonder how Dubai became a famous and rich city known globally”. And the man replied: “If you are comparing Dubai with Nigeria, listen to this, Nigeria has oil before Dubai, it’s a history. They are rich than us. They have Agriculture, they have mining, they have everything – you name it – they have it. Am I right or wrong? But when you have a True Leadership, which is what we have in Dubai, we have nothing. But we have everything because we have The RIGHT LEADERSHIP. That is the only thing you need; a right leader as a country, not corruption. That is what brings your country at the top. You don’t need any other thing. We don’t have water, we don’t have Agriculture, we don’t have mining. But we have a good leader. And that is Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum. Number one, he doesn’t know number two. He says I don’t know number two in my book, only number one…He doesn’t ride in a convoy because everybody loves him…” That is something we are yet to witness in Nigeria with our crop of political leaders.
These Nigerian politicians fail to realize that history will always judge them by their actions that brings thing to ‘reality’, and not by what they have promised on paper. They should be reminded that when a man/woman says one thing and does another, that man/woman can never be trusted with anything. And that also means that such a man/woman, and those rallying around him/her, should never be taken seriously!
Zik Gbemre.
November 29, 2019
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