The Search For A New Nigeria (12): Lust For Power And Visionless Leadership -By Richard Odusanya

Attributes of leaders with influence: they give when they don’t have to; they care about other people in time of grief; they grow continually. They live authentically; they empower others; manage hardship and serve with humility. This is the quality of leadership that Nigeria deserves to have, not the other way round.

At a time like this, Nigeria is in dire need of selfless leadership, not the variant of recycled brains. Nigeria’s predicament and circumstances, over a very long period, have been that of incompetence, abuse of privileges, cronyism, nepotism and corruption – those are so endemic in our system.

How do you begin to rationalize and explain the events of the recent past days? A nation in total grief, completely in disarray, disorganized and groping in the dark, yet nobody is there to offer leadership. Not even at the moment of solemity where our armed forces and fellow citizens are in deep pain and anguish.

This is certainly a time for deep reflection. There is no better time for the search for a new Nigeria and rebuilding our nation, given the fact that what we lack in leadership, is made up for in abundant resources through the benevolence of the Almighty God.

The Nobel Peace winner and the Chinese’s spiritual and political leader of note, Dala Lama summed it up this way:

“We need a sense of the oneness of humanity. It’s because I cultivate this that wherever I go and whoever I meet I regard as just another human being; brother or sister.

“We 7 billion human beings are essentially the same. We have differences of nationality, colour, faith and social status, but to focus only on them is to create problems forgot ourselves.”

Therefore, if leaders exercise authority over others with sensitivity, it is very important to avoid dominating or threatening them. It is better to deploy good sense of humor and engagement. Far from the disconnected and rhetorical threats even among the various levels of the system. It is completely a sign of lack of vision, heartlessness and cluelessness for a democracy to be militarized.

On the contrary, while the search for the moral compass and a new nation continues in earnest, we like to appreciate and salute the courage of the Vice-president Prof Oluyemi Osibajo for buying into the of “The Search For A New Nigeria” drive.

Conclusively, it has become imperative for us as a nation destined for greatness to avoid the pitfalls of the past and choose our leaders wisely. The era of recycling public office holders must be stopped by all means possible, particularly the rejuvenated retired zombies.

Why should we be surprised about the unavailability of an absentee President at nearly all the critical occasions? Why would anyone be unsettled by the disgraceful and embarrassing speech of the Minister of Defense, ‘Maj Gen Magashe’ at the funeral ceremony of our fallen heroes?

Are we really surprised by the recklessness of the Inspector General of Police while he was at Enugu recently, threatening a repeat of the “Lekkimassacre”? Or the Attorney General of the Federation making divisive statements, and turning the law upside down to justify the fulanisation agenda?

Let’s also not forget having a certified terrorists sympathizer as a cabinet minister in charge of communication, and the recklessness of many others. The ship of the nation is sinking in the full glare of the whole world.

The real tragedy for this nation of over 200 million people is the arrogance of power and cow-first-mindset of the present political interlopers that reduce the entire national discuss to issues of “Cow”.

While the nation is mourning and should be in a sober mood, the kind of statements emanating from the “presidency” does not suggest a mindsets of repentance. It is more like the mindset of Pharaoh.

Meanwhile, the bloodletting continued; and over the night more than 126 of our compatriots were mercilessly and brutally murdered in cold blood across the nation.

Richard Odusanya is a Social Reform Crusader and the convener of AFRICA COVENANT RESCUE INITIATIVE ACRI.