The Theory of the Empty Chair and Nigeria Situationship -By Tony Osakpamwan Agbons

Last week, a close pal sent me a message via WhatsApp. “Hey! Tony, what is happening? I haven`t seen your article in the tabloids for some weeks. What`s going on man!!!”. My response was instantaneous and apt. “Thanks buddy. I am undergoing a deeper soul searching exercise on some critical national issues”. As I was about to hit the send button on my mobile phone, two things flashed across my mind. First, I wondered if my thought processing powers were waning? Second, I reasoned it could be that my writing hiatus could be due to the avalanche of events happening in Nigeria becoming too much to handle and difficult to keep pace. It surely has to be the latter. My final word in the reply to my pal was, “one is cooking on the burner”. 

In the early part of the twentieth century, people suffering from psychological and other emotional malaise were given therapeutic support by psychologists using either behaviourism or classical psychoanalysis. In the early 1940s, three scholars – Fritz Perls, Laura Perls and Paul Goodman developed a new experiential and humanistic form of therapy for patients. It is called the `Gestalt Therapy`. The scholars felt that the methods hitherto in use did not go far enough. The new and better Gestalt therapy was introduced as an alternative to the conventional psychoanalysis of those days. The therapy involves the use of creative and experiential techniques to enhance awareness, freedom, and self-direction on patients.

In their book, Skills in Gestalt Counselling & Psychotherapy, published in 2009, Joyce and Sills, affirm that “…the Gestalt therapy system is truly integrative and includes affective, sensory, cognitive, interpersonal, and behavioural components”. The underlying principle of this therapy is that people are intricately linked to and influenced by their environments. This scenario aptly describes the situation of our beloved country, Nigeria. It is a land blessed with abundant human and natural resources but tragically ebbing towards an apocalypse by the passing of each new day. 

How has the Mighty fallen? Our terraqueous has become a laughingstock amongst the comity of nations$. Our citizens are hounded and viewed with scorn and suspicion in foreign lands. Our dynamic, energetic young men and women are searching for solace and greener pastures at embassies of different countries. Many have sadly met their ‘waterloo’ in the deep Mediterranean seas. Others are rotting away in prisons around the world for pent up charges, immigration infractions or criminalities. How did we get here and who did this to us? In the late 1970s and early 1980s, Indians, Ghanaians and other nationalities were flocking to our shores to work and make a living in our industries, farms, and educational establishments. Many of our secondary schools had Indian and Ghanian teachers. Nigerian universities were loaded with foreign students.

The decadence in all spheres of our national life has been gradual, consistent, and spontaneous be it in Education, Health, Aviation, Agriculture, Power, Housing, Security, the list is endless. The advent of democratic rule in 1999 provided a ray of hope for the citizenry but after twenty-one years of uninterrupted civilian rule, the rays of light are dimming and dulling. There is palpable anger, frustration, and disenchantment in the land. The ugly situation is further compounded by the total disconnect between the government and the governed. Those meant to serve the people (government) are the ones being served. The few political elites and their lackeys in power (about 0.0001% of the population) are living the life, enjoying, flexing, and swimming in the pool of our commonwealth.

The above scenario is made even worse by the seeming lack of coordinated resistance by the oppressed majority. The people of Nigeria have been reduced to agitators in their own land, pushed to stupor and many are now accomplices cum supporters of their oppressors. The dynamics of `Stockholm syndrome` is clearly manifest in our current situation. Renowned South African freedom fighter, Steve Bantu Biko (of blessed memory) once said during the hey days of the obnoxious apartheid regime that, “the most potent weapon in the hands of the oppressor is the mind of the oppressed”. The premise of that great speech by Steve Biko is a reminder that injustice, inequality, and subjugation can only be defeated if and when the oppressed people in a society are able to see and understand that the myths and lies being peddled at them can be overturned by the power which they (the people) possess. The present reality in Nigeria is a mass of people wallowing in abject despondency due to years of neglect and bullying by an acidic and demonic ruling political elite. The citizens have been cornered, beaten blue, smashed, and hammered. They now resort to the common phrases of; “God dey” and “It is well” even when it is crystal clear that all certainly is not well. The country is sick. All is not well, no ifs, no buts. 

The Nigeria of the moment definitely needs a prescription in the mould of the `Gestalt therapy`. Our current experiences are intricately linked to our past and aggravated by the present leadership. The penchant for instant wealth and gratification by a minority elitist political class is mortgaging future possibilities. In the Gestalt therapy session, the therapist and client avoid dwelling on the past or anxiously anticipating the future. The deluge of complaints, verbal rantings on print, electronic and social media by Nigerians can only achieve so little. The focus should be on attacking the underlying factors responsible for the malaise bedevilling the nation and eradicating them. A measured, calculated, and galvanised people-led movement is sacrosanct. We the Nigerian people cannot give up. We must unite and design a new creative and dynamic approach that is in sync with our peculiarities. Herein lies our redemption from the clutches of our current `political elites luciferhood` and their hangers-on.

A new design and creative zest by the long suffering Nigerian people to champion a new model of empathetic leadership is imperative. In the Gestalt therapy, a wholistic evaluation is done by both the therapist and the client (patient). The aim is to better understand what is happening at the moment (now) and what is needed to be done at the moment (now) to obtain a desired result. The core framework is to understand different aspects of the cause of painful experience using an empty chair. In a study published in the Journal of Psychotherapy: Theory, Research & Practice, Greenberg (1979) showed the ‘empty chair’ technique as a type of role playing activity in which the clinician (therapist) asks the client (patient) to pretend that another person or some aspects of the client’s self are sitting on an empty chair opposite. The clinician then instructs the client to talk to the empty chair. Emphasis is placed on what the client is noticing within themselves while doing this. The client is then asked to switch seats and reverse roles, thus continuing the dialogue with the empty chair from an opposing perspective. Again, the client continues to observe what is happening around and how they are feeling. The therapist encourages dialogue (conversation) between the empty chair and person in therapy in order to engage the person’s thoughts, emotions, and behaviours. The empty chair technique helps the client (patient) to become mindful of the whole situation and to forget or disengage pieces of their own self. The Nigerian people is on my mind right now, my humble self, inclusive! Each of us could well do with an empty chair put opposite us. We all need a moment of introspection. Surely!

As the cyclical 2023 election year beckons, the `old vinyl chicks` are coming home to roost again. They are pouring to lay yet again their filthy, rotten eggs, incubating, and setting up to hatch. They are getting together in droves, realigning forces, cementing alliances and their wicked orgies of friendship, porting and ready to unleash their venomous beaks on the poor, hapless, defenceless Nigerian people. The same old recycled brigades that caused the mess we are in are once again, strategizing and ganging up, ‘changing ships and captains’ to continue their avarice and mayhem sails. We the people need to rise up, free our minds, drop our primordial sentiments and differences and give the old brigades a run for their money. It is that time when the `captives` have to face up to the `captors` and demand what truly belongs to them in the commonwealth. If the Nigerian people can unite across the valleys and hills, tribe and creed, this battle for freedom and equality can be won. It is not a battle fought with swords, spears, armours, or guns. It is a battle of the mind. Yes! a battle of the liberation of the mind, subtle emotional awareness, tact, and togetherness.

Dr Agbons writes from the United Kingdom