Some years ago I was reading a book by Sam Adeyemi, and he began speaking on an issue in the book. The issue in summary was that the citizenry determined the leadership of any country. My first spontaneous reaction was that this man has missed it. But as I read on, I realized I had missed it.
If you remember in 2011 part of Jonathan's election adverts was a mini documentary where he said he was a fisher boy with no shoes ( eventually people unsatisfied by his government went on to add 'now that he has shoes we will not have shoes'). My point here is that Jonathan who has exceedingly fallen short of the expectations of Nigerians (no matter how loyal you are except you are a complete idiot and oblivious to reality you must admit it) was once a Nigerian with no influence, power or security. He has seen the hard life, so why some of the unforgivable short comings of his government?
Before you assume that I am on our presidents case which I am not, if you check around you, some of the governors senators and even LG Chairman, have similar backgrounds. So why therefore is there a disconnect between them and the people who are where they once were?
The average Nigerian whether in leadership has selfish interest first! personal interest second, family and friends interest third, then ethnic group before anyone else. The thing is by the time you are true with personal intertes the little left goes to family and friends nothing else.
I have discovered the same calibre of people in government houses are the same calibre of people on the streets. Take for example a man dies in his local home and before the family is notified, the village relatives and neighbors loot the mans possessions and after sit down with the grieving widow who is too grieved to immediately realize her future might be in jeopard and offer comfort. Obviously in some cases the widow and her kids are thrown out by so called family. Or how do you explain the millionaire that cannot even spend money on fixing the road in front of his house! Or the neighbors that cannot contribute to fix their spout septic tanks or pay their estate security? How do you explain the market man or woman that fixes prices for her customers based on their appearance and not the actuall product. What of the job seeker that keeps forging credentials and lying on applications when they are truly incompetent.
The excuse is they are trying to survive? I ask you are you not sure the politician who embezzles state money is trying to survive? The political office appointee, misusing public funds for personal gains may be trying to survive now? The politician who is carelessly defecting from one political party to another is also trying to survive! Everyone is trying to survive and only the fittest are surviving!
It is not that we have bad leadership, it is that the excesses in our citizenry are not corrected before some of them become leaders! (To be continued)
No comments:
Post a Comment