Below is a rejoinder by Mr. Teghese Osazemen to my article titled "Mr. Trump’s Claim of Buhari’s Lifelessness: Nigerians need their heads examined."
Thank you Teghese!
Thank you Teghese!
In the heat of the shouting matches
occasioned by the alleged assessment of President Muhammedu Buhari as lifeless
by his American counterpart, I was convinced that cloaked in that assessment
are issues that are front and central to why we are where we are as a nation,
but. Unfortunately, in what is standard Nigerian practice, the non-issues
dominated the exchanges, between those who bristled at Trump’s comments and
those demanding Buhari’s exit on account of it.
So, while browsing for Nigeria-related
news a couple of days ago, I came across your headline in Sahara Reporters.
With the dust seemingly settled on the matter, one felt it had come time for a
gush of fresh air – some focus on what ought to concentrate our collective
minds in all that racket So, I opened it up and read.
You raised the issue of lack of
patriotism by those calling for Buhari’s resignation and drew parallels with
the indifference of the citizens of some other countries whose leaders have
been equally derided by the same President Donald Trump.
Much as I don’t mind your conclusion
that Nigerians need their heads examined, I think your premise – that the calls
for President Buhari to leave following Mr. Trump’s puke verges on lack of
patriotism – isn’t reason enough.
Before coming to what, in my view,
should occasion a mass visit to the psychiatrist, let’s quickly dispense with
some peripherals:
The subject of patriotism, particularly
as it relates to a long-suffering citizenry, should be addressed with some
circumspection. Patriotism no be one-way street. Traffic dey for de oda
direction along with feeder streets, sidewalks, pedestrian crossings and all
the accoutrements that make it a useful thoroughfare. There is so much to
unpack in that pidgin expression.
Let me be clear: I am not a champion of
the so-called common man. In fact, I am a strong critic, I hold the view that
Nigerians deserve their deplorable situation. Just as an example, we are every
so often in adulation of officeholders and their enabling politicians who are
directly culpable for the dire situation and who in decent environments would
have no place in the conduct of public affairs – or, would be serving long jail
terms for fractions of the sort of malfeasances we allow them get away with.
Let’s leave at that because it is a serious matter outwith the scope of this
writeup.
More to the point, when a people wear
their love of country on their sleeves, heartily wave the flag in support of
the fatherland and exhibit all that patriotic zest, it speaks concretely to how
much there is to be proud of as a nation. Such expressions are more enduring
and authentic than the euphoria of being self-governing or running around when
the nation is involved in some sports, which has come to represent a welcome
distraction for most Nigerians from the failures that abound. When a people
exhibit infectious patriotic displays, they can point up collective
achievements and how much – in American lingo – the nation has got their backs.
I don’t think most folks in Nigeria can
really think and feel along those lines. Our socialization environment has
taken care of that by brazenly promoting support for the (sub)tribe or ethnic
group over loyalty to the über-tribe – the nation state. Why is that so? The
answer is protracted and complicated.. However, it suffices to say that in our
environment, tribalism is a formidable accelerant for people’s political,
career or business interest in what is oftentimes a scramble for state largess.
You turn your back on it at your own peril.
That said, in a severely emasculated
setting, so much has to be going for citizens for their sense of patriotism to
be absolute and enduring. Otherwise, demand for it concerning the activities of
under-achieving officeholders comes across as a ploy to rally support for their
failed agenda. A ruling clique cannot continually place themselves above the
citizenry, conduct business as if it’s their fiefdom and when things go out of
kilter expect the populace to march to the music they are generating in the
name of patriotism. That rings hollow!
More specifically, who exactly are we
fingering for unpatriotic conduct: for not unreservedly rebutting Trump’s
comments? Would that be the same people who haven’t been given any real sense
of being invested in the Nigerian experiment by past and present
administrations? Would that include those the president implied he won’t really
care much for because they didn’t vote for him? Would that be the people who
have been denied information on the president’s medical status? Would that
include the people who foot the resultant bills and aren’t told how much it
cost, even after repeated requests? Would that include some of the victims of
herdsmen criminalities towards whom the president has shown little or no
empathy?
Are we talking about a people who the
president has never engaged with in any form? Are we talking of a people who
generality have cause to view this government as nepotistic? Are we talking of
a people who have sought answers to allegation of certificate forgery by a
senior minister but have been literally told (until the officials abrupt
resignation) to ‘get lost’ and the entire thing cavalierly dismissed by a
well-known law teacher and government insider? Are we talking about the same
women, youths and others the president has derided now and again from the
comfort of European and American cities? If the president could be as
ill-advised as to internationalize our domestic issues, should there be any
moral burden on critics who call for his departure rather than condemn any
external aggressor?
And let’s not be mistaken, nearly enough
Nigerians feel that between Trump and the Carnegie Endowment report on
corruption of the major political parties, truth has been spoken to the
leadership exactly how they would have liked to personally do it. .
There are those who would argue that
these are extraneous to the issue of patriotism. I will argue that how such
queries or angles have been handled go to tell the populace that indeed we are
all in it together in all circumstances – or, that the ruling group is consumed
by their own parochial agenda that is distinct from the national interest.
That leads me to another issue that
regularly pops up in Nigerian conversations; our proclivity to advert to other
(developed) nations to buttress a point. While it may serve for inspiration,
many a time we are simply doing worthless chalk-and-cheese comparison. We draw
parallels with people who set up and run their stall differently. We draw
parallels with people who don’t need foreign validations for what they do
internally. We are the ones who gallivant towards them, seeking their
endorsement and validations. Those nations do not, for example, unabashedly
promote mediocrity in filling policy positions and turn around to sugarcoat it.
They are meticulous and methodical in their recruitment regime; knowing it is
the fountainhead for so much else in the nation. They don’t promote governance
by personal edict, which is the established code of conducting state affairs in
our environment. We see how horror-struck most Americans are as President Trump
attempts to goad the U.S Attorney General and the Department of Justice into
attack dogs to go after his political enemies. Back home, the eager-to-please
people in the Nigeria Police and other state security agencies don’t need any
invitation to ‘obey orders from above’ in hounding the Oga’s political
opponents
Many of those countries, particularly in
the West, fall into the bracket of the so-called post-democratic societies
wherein the process of governance increasingly slips into the hands of
unelected officials who keep the Ship of State humming along, regardless of how
well elected individuals are doing. Government departments and economic
institutions such as the stock market just keep doing their thing, only showing
minimal signs of what is transpiring in the political space.
Furthermore, leaders in some of those
countries aren’t imperious. They know they are hired hands who do their bit and
move on after their tenure. When they fail, the consequences are clear. In the
West, they lose their job. In a place like China, they lose everything which
could include their freedom. In some other oriental climes, disgraced
officeholders committing suicide isn’t unheard off. Those are societies
that have learned to hold themselves to high ethical standards, which the
people value and are prepared to defend.
What happens in Nigeria? Failed
officeholders lose nothing. If you get on their nerves with your ceaseless
queries, they will either simply ignore agitators until another unsavoury
development dominates the news cycle or get stronger with the help of the
professional tribe, ethnic tribesmen, sycophants and rented crowds that are
never in short supply
Taken together, it becomes a little bit
of a stretch to imply that Canadians, for example, are more patriotic since
they didn’t march demanding the departure of their Prime Minister after Trump’s
derided him. In Europe, many know that all the American president is angling
for with his broadside to the German and British leadership is some moral
equivalence. He probably thinks energizing far-right populism moored in
anti-immigration and religious bigotry across the West to show that what he has
championed in the US is no aberration in western democratic societies.
Put all this together, it is obvious
that we don’t belong in the same parish with those nations, given the way we
run our affairs. It is disheartening but let’s call a spade by its proper
name.
On the issue of people creating a racket
by asking for Buhari’s departure or his sympathizers rebuking those critics as
being unpatriotic, it is all histrionics. Here, I keep thinking of a Bini
adage, which needs no translation: The witch is making noise because an ant bit
her child; she conveniently forgets other people’s children she has been
devouring.
Many of those castigating Buhari’s
critics and carrying water for him (or is it the Presidency?) were buoyant and
barreled into his predecessor not so long ago when whistle-blowing website,
Wikileaks, exposed what it said was the US Intelligence assessment of President
Goodluck Jonathan as an underwhelming personality. They had a good laugh when
some stalwart of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria described the same
Jonathan as a kindergarten president. Current Information Minister Lai Mohammed
was particularly scathing of that presidency on and offshore (perhaps
accumulating his stripes for his present position.) Now that the shoe is
on the other foot, some are whinging and decrying those who seek to milk
Trump’s comments. So much for theatrics.
Now, here is why I think we need our
heads examined:
First up, let’s appreciate the nature of
the beast we are dealing with. Social science and scholars on leadership are
vastly agreed that the hallmark of good leadership is the capacity to motivate,
energize, inspire and see around the bend (i.e. being able to perceive tomorrow
and move the people accordingly, even if they are kicking and screaming in
protest.) That, you and I will agree, is way more than can be said for any
number of our helmsmen since 1960.
Contrary to what Buhari’s handlers and
surrogates would have the man do or make the world think, make him run several
kilometres daily or package him for photo ops from Berlin to Beijing, whatever
Trump allegedly said had nothing to do with his physical status. Rather, iIt
had everything to do with the man’s mental capacity – the capacity for cerebral
engagement.
Such a poor assessment of a Nigerian
leader by someone who himself looks destined to be a 10 percentile among the 45
individuals who have been in the Oval Office is quite an indictment. It is an
indictment of Buhari himself for lacking the vibrancy to operate on the world
stage. It is an indictment of our political system, the party bosses and tribal
chieftains who manipulate the ecosystem to constantly foist the not-so-capable
on the nation.
It is an indictment of Nigerians who
whine in the closets of their homes but remain members of the Amen Chorus to
those tribal lords masquerading as politicians and who actively abet a
consistently failed recruitment regime that vaults intellectually deficient,
half-baked and ill-prepared individuals into our leadership and policy positions.
Any people who consistently behave in like manner need their heads examined.
The adage about the baby and the bath
water would be very germane here. No crisis is totally useless. Each presents
an opportunity, if only people are ready to be discerning. In a game of
football, a well-drilled team that has just conceded a goal or had a scare from
a set piece quickly holds an inquest: What happened to our game plan? How did
the opponent breach our defences? Who was supposed to pick out whom amongst the
opposing team? Immediately, they bolt down the safety latches.
Unfortunately, you aren’t going to get
Nigerians thinking let alone react along such lines. We aren’t going to pursue
lines of inquiries that will put us on the spot. We aren’t going to ask how in
the 21st century the gravitas of the Nigerian leader is a perpetual
object of ridicule on the international stage. We would rather bicker over the
cosmetics, draw false equivalences, tint the shouting matches in tribal
colours, and seek the moral high-ground while the proverbial horse, in the
shape of the opportunity to redirect our efforts, bolts again.
When you strip away the atmospherics,
can anyone truly argue with Trump’s characterization of Buhari as lifeless? The
answer is a no, period. Is it a one off, an isolated instance? It is another
no. It follows a pattern – a very disturbing pattern that often transcends
politics. It should be concerning that for as long as anyone can remember, in
almost all that is supposedly a competitive bid, the weak and less-than-capable
almost invariably prevails.
A president doesn’t have to be an orator
or a debate master but let’s confront the inconvenient query: Can our man have
robust off-the-cuff chats with any one of Paul Kagame (Rwanda), Cyril Ramaphosa
(South Africa) or Uhuru Kenyatta (Kenya)? The answer is NO!
As I said, there is a very disconcerting
pattern in all this. The lifeless tag would sit squarely on all our elected
leaders since 1960, save for Olusegun Obasanjo (One doesn’t have to agree with
his politics to give him that much.) Small wonder he is the only one who keeps
writing and sharing, albeit controversial thoughts. If you throw in the Khaki
boys, the picture doesn’t get any better.
Beyond his elocution that came from his
teaching pedigree, Tafawa Balewa didn’t have much else in his locker. Hence it
was easy for the likes of Kwame Nkrumah and his brother in-law Abdel Nasser,
Leopold Senghor, Sekou Tuore, Julius Nyerere, Jomo Kenyatta and a few others to
eclipse our man on the African stage. Along comes Shehu Shagari.
His chain smoking in General Yakubu Gowon’s cabinet was all Obafemi Awolowo
said he remembered about him in the run up to the 1979 vote. I was no fan of
Awolowo but I recall him saying he had thought the National Party of Nigeria
(NPN) would pick a more radiant presidential flag bearer like Maitama Sule. It
is now history that the drab, chain smoker bested Awolowo in two election
cycles (Look beyond the allegations of election fraud.) Presidents Musa
Yar Adua and Goodluck Jonathan with their chains of university degrees were
hardly any more vivacious
In the race to the 2019 vote we are
already primed to commit the same blunder all over, drawing from the same
contaminated well. Granted that it will take more than a few cycles of popular
plebiscite called elections to fix our leadership malady, the fresher and
discerning individuals who are more reflective of the demographics and can
match any leader from any corner of the globe are hardly being afforded the
space and consideration to pitch their ideas about the sea change that we so
dearly need.
Nigerians admire the dynamism of Barrack
Obama, Justin Trudeau, Emmanuel Macron, Uhuru Kenyatta, and other vibrant
leaders across the world, but are unaware of or unprepared for what is required
for the pushback against the old order to begin. In a schizophrenic fashion, we
remain welded to the values and tendencies that will ensure inspiring and
energizing leaders never surface in Nigeria. It is a very troubling situation
which time and space will not permit me to delve into. With an individual
that’s the sort of behavior that will trigger the intervention of a
psychiatrist or psychologist.
So
the query is: Why are we like the dog that goes back to its vomit to feast ?
(excuse my idiom) How did we get mired in this and still carry on like it’s
fait accomplice? That is what ought to give Nigerians some pause and cause for
concern. That we commit the exact same mistake over and over again is the
reason we should have our heads examined; not because some exuberant fellows
tried milking Trump’s indiscretion.
