UNMASKING THE ENEMIES OF NIGERIA
"Our enemies are the political profiteers, the swindlers, the men in high and low places that seek bribes and demand ten percent, those that seek to keep the country divided permanently so that they can remain in office, the tribalists, the nepotists, those that make the country look big for nothing before international circles, those that have corrupted our society."
This was Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu speaking after he and his colleagues got rid off the first crop of Nigerian leaders in what they thought was a revolutionary act.
In my own thinking during my days of activism, when I was yet to fully understand the workings of human societies and the reality of our existence, I had shared the same view with Major Nzeogwu, believing that our enemies are the political profiteers. Like Nzeogwu, I had advocated for revolution, though not his own type that had to do with only government and army officials. I had advocated for a TOTAL REVOLUTION, the type that can be likened to the French revolution, using Karl Marx's model. Little did I know that there were no proletariat in Nigeria; a country without the working class.
It took me a two year direct involvement in micro and macro politics to understand that both myself and the young Major Kaduna Nzeogwu were not just wrong but out of touch with reality. While Major Nzeogwu must have been mislead by his military life and Sandhurst training, seeing a functional society, I must have been mislead by my readings on what good leadership should be.
It was in the course of those elections that I got to meet that entity called "masses". The ones I thought I was fighting and risking my life for. That term, "masses" which defines no one in particular but shields everyone and absolve them of their responsibilities, blames and wrongdoings, proved to be a lot more than I thought.
I discovered that whatever it was that Nzeogwu, myself and others like me had accused politicians of, the masses were twice as guilty. Of all the things that surprised that made me lose hope during those two years, two things were unbelievable to me. Of course I already knew the masses too were corrupt and would support only those who bribed them. I also knew that they were tribalistic, nepotistic, selfish and careless more than the politicians they loved to criticize. I knew all these and I had solutions for them in my many theories. I was a little bit surprised that the masses wouldn't want an extremely competent leader who would be carrying his shoulders for being too good. I understood that though because by nature, humans tend to be jealous and don't like to be intimidated.
What brushed me off my feet was people looking to me straight in the eyes and telling me that they will not support someone who will not loot when he enters the seat. Though I thought it was a joke and perhaps, a one person's opinion the first time I heard it, until it became a singsong everywhere I went. Till today and as I got more and more involved in politics and more interactions with the masses and realized that this is almost everybody's view, it still baffles me. Especially when I hear that cliché, "You have to loot nah, but not too much".
Apart from that, another thing that surprised me was people telling me that a candidate that does not want to rig is not a serious candidate. As a matter of fact, the "capacity to rig" became a "must have quality" before the masses will consider you a top contender that is worth their support.
Little wonder why both Joseph De Maistre and Thomas Jefferson agrees that any government activity people have is exactly what they deserve.
The Bible also agrees with them in Hebrews 5:1 where it says that a priest is taken amongst the people. Therefore, he is no different from the people and thus, atones for his own sins too.
This implies that a people with bad leaders are bad too and a people with good leaders are good too. The litmus test for this is, when you remove a bad leader and replace him with one of the members of the masses, does such a person become a better leader or a worse leader?
Major Kaduna Nzeogwu confirmed that few months after the Coup that the leaders that came in were more or less the same with those that they killed. Over the years, those that replaced them have become increasingly worst than those before them. Go to Nigerian universities and polytechnics and see for yourself what happens in students Unionism and just see how worse the next generation will be.
Bring an Okada man today, make him leader of Okada men in the State and see how he becomes twice as worst as the LGA chairman he was complaining of making life unbearable for him.
So, when Chinua Achebe said that the problem with Nigeria is leadership, it would be important to add that this kind of leadership is what the overwhelming majority of Nigerians prefer. Sometimes, when they complain, it's not like they truly want a change, they simply want something to talk about and politicians do not hesitate in giving it to them. It's why I agreed with Dike Chukwumerije when he said that the change we need as a nation is not to change the man running the government but to change the way the government is being run.
The true enemies of Nigeria are all of us, who in our little or big ways, destroy Nigeria because of our individual interests. It is the tiny drops of our daily misdeeds that form the ocean called Nigeria's problems. So if you are looking for the enemy of Nigeria, look at the man in the mirror.
