By OBIOTIKA WILFRED TOOCHUKWU

Nelson Mandela is regarded all over the world as a great leader. There is moral and ethical leadership. ?I believe that people are to be dominant in our society, that they not government are to have control of their own affairs to the greatest extent possible within an orderly society.? (Ronald Reagan on leadership).

The first thing every selfless leader does is to invest in the lives of the citizenry in order to lift the greater majority out of poverty. Surely, it?s a different ball game in the most populous and richly endowed African nation. Amongst the ten oil-producing African countries (Chad, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Gabon, DR Congo, Egypt, Algeria, Angola, Libya) Nigeria is the highest with 1.3million barrels per day. Ironically, the large natural gas and crude oil reserve have never impacted the economy. It?s plagued by theft and sabotage by the government and her officials.

One of the saddest things that can happen to a country is for her leaders to be interested in jiving instead of leadership. One of the greatest things a country can have is for her leaders to be pulled by burdens ? burdens to lift the poor from the doldrums of despair and fill them with hope. The greatest deception is coming to power without any interest in leadership, being bashful to subordinates, giving out half and adulterated truths, without any milk of human compassion and kindness. Unfortunately, the Nigerian president has been summoned severally to hearken to the voice of the voiceless yet he paid no heed. A summons requires an altogether different response. It does not come with options and cannot be silenced; it demands 100% compliance. The problem is that one can be summoned and not know it. Poverty and lack are proof that someone somewhere quenched the flow. He blocked the divine command and supply. Stalin who mocked children when they prayed the Lord?s prayer and no daily bread was given to them knew within him that God supplies daily bread to his subjects. When majority of the citizenry are poor, it indicates that someone somewhere is playing God or challenging Him. Good health, abundance and happiness comes when there?s someone acting as a leader. We could remember Hitler and his Nazi regime. Millions of people were executed in his German Concentration camp. They could be lessons or rhetoric. Bonhoeffer said: ?Silence in the face of evil is itself evil; God will not hold us guiltless. Not to speak is to speak. Not to act is to act.? We must speak to break the chains of injustice, to eliminate exploitation, to free the oppressed, and to cancel debts. As light travels 186,000 miles per second, so does our voice, policies, decisions and deeds in impacting and influencing the fortunes of others. Everyone in the country is hampered by the tragedy of uncashed checks. Regrets and sorrow have savoured the pelting of the masses.

If you may answer; where?s the opposition coming from and who?s the enemy of Nigeria? Bola Ahmed Tinubu eerily and cheerfully welcomed Muhammad Buhari for fulfilling the promise of handing over power to him. The Almajiris are the worst for it. If Tinubu plays politics in the mould of Jeremiah Awolowo, the legacies are stark puking. Awolowo engineered the first coup in Nigeria. He was imprisoned for treasonable felony at Calabar prisons. Zik of Africa rescued Awolowo from the hand of Sardauna of Sokoto in the regime of Abubakar Tafawa Balewa.

The world Is changing but Nigeria is retrogressive. Life in the country is unsafe and unrewarding. Many Nigerians would want to do more and more things but there?s a blockade.

If the head or the paramount leader is unable to empathize with the subjects then it is a complete doomsday. In the realm of disproportionate corruption of absolute power, leadership doesn?t change personality but it defines it. Naughty fellows who found themselves in leadership engage in an emerging battle with their personality intact. The fact is that the political leaders in Nigeria are not interested in leadership. The president dilly-dallying all the time whenever the interest of the people is at stake. It?s a major infraction on the general leadership modules.

Finally, there?s an unreserved ennui in the country amongst the citizenry. Though the common masses may not be prescient about their present economic hardship, the leaders planned it ahead of time. The government is such that no approbation is required from the general populace to execute or implement draconian and oppressive policies. Such heinous method of governance mocks the docility of the masses. Nigerians remain completely innocuous to avoid losing their lives.

?Obiotika Wilfred Toochukwu writes from St. Patrick?s Catholic Church Awgbu, Anambra State.

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