It is becoming increasingly clear that political leaders in post independent African States, especially in Nigeria, are becoming intolerance of any form of opposition. As a matter of fact, one of the greatest threats to the so-called leaders is considered to be opposition.
That is to say that those who genuinely criticize some bad policies of government are usually intimidated, harassed, victimized, assassinated or arrested and clamped in detention without trials. Generally, the rights of the individual citizens are flagrantly abused.
It is obvious from the behaviour of our political leaders that they do not respect the rules of the game, much less, respect for one another, especially from across different political platforms.
This might account for why they do not weigh the gravity or the pernicious effects of the foul languages they often use against one another: from the opposition to the leaders and vice versa.
For instance, a serving governor in the Northern part of the country was recently quoted as telling his supporters to crush and kill the opposition wherever they are, describing such opposition as cockroaches.
Such kind of statement usually over-heat the polity and threaten the stability of the country.
This is even as the quest for power at all costs has thrown up what one would like to call touts and thugs (Area Boys) in the corridors of power. They hijacked political processe and weild enormous political power. They do things with impunity, disregarding constitutional provisions, and by implication, they become dictatorial or autocratic.
For them, politics is a do-or-die affair. Little wonder, we are faced with leadership problem of bad governance and corruption because they are totally disoriented and dislocated.
Indeed, most of our leaders are interested in the protection of their interests and those of their sycophants who flatter them most of the time, even when they are obviously disconnected from the masses that elected them to positions of authority and responsibility.
It therefore, does not matter whether a military dictator or autocratic civilian succeeds itself in a kangaroo election organized by itself or electoral umpire under its authority as long as power is captured and used to control the affairs of the country. This as well explains the chorusing of their praises by the sycophants even in the face of evidently bad governance. They have thus turned some of us to praise singers and a mimic people due to the parochial nature of the society.
And because they lack confidence, political ideology and self respect, they cannot develop any sense of direction, efficacy and so even with the best of intention, they are forever confused and perfunctory. Our leaders, it bare repeating, have virtually reduced the rest of us to political tools with empowerment programmes that have little or no meaningful impacts on our collective aspirations and societal well-being.
And this is very dangerous for the development of the State since small men (tiny minority) cannot bring great things to the entire soceity. As a matter of urgency and for the avoidance of impending revolution or the “time-bomb” that is about to explodes on a full scale, leaders at all levels of government must heed the advice of John Stuart Mill when he opined that: “the worth of a State in the long run is the worth of individuals composing it…a state which dwarfs its men in order that they may be more docile in its hands, even for beneficial purpose, will find that with small men no great thing can be accomplished.”
For the youths who are most vulnerable in the political madness especially in campaign period, the way for them to be liberated from exploitation, oppression, domination and political manipu- lation, if actually they want to attain greater heights as leaders of today and tomorrow, is to demand for scholarship from their leaders in order to acquire education. Indeed, they need to acquire quality education, because, for sure, education is the best legacy a leader should bequeath to the younger ones. With education, the youths can conquer and rule the world.
As for political gladiators who never want to relinquish power but to perpetuate and dominate forever, they should know that all facets of human endeavor and the world in which they live are watching. They should know for sure that nothing is constant in life except change itself.
They should apply some brakes in the practice of Politics of a winner-takes-all or political vendetta and political victimization in the interest of peace and development of the country.
Winner(s) in any contest should be magnanimous in victory while loser(s) should equally learn to accept defeat.
Having said that, it is important to sound a note that all hands should be on deck to ensure a violence-free election in 2015 that is just aroung the corner, as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) alone cannot accomplish the task.
Yusuf Gowon is a graduate of Political Science. He contributed this piece from Ajaokuta, Kogi State.
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