Mr. President, you made your bones fighting for a free society. Therefore, let your band of sycophants not make you see dissents as evil that must be silenced because the price of primitive acquiescence to governance deficits could be huge and far reaching.
By Sonny Ogulewe
“So, on a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat on his throne and gave an oration to them. And the people kept shouting, “the voice of a god and not of a man” and immediately an angel of the lord struck him” Acts 12: 21- 23 (KJV).
In one of the South Eastern states in Nigeria, one state governor relished, craved for and indeed got so sucked in by sycophants during his time that on his re-election day, even as the results showed how poorly he was performing, he was still being sedated by a cacophony and deafening chorus of his band of palace jesters “obu ka osi meee; onyeishi igbakala net; onyeishi idi too much” which could loosely be interpreted as – “leader has spoken; leader you have won; leader you are too much”. He lost the re-election bid because his strength was built on the quick sands of sycophancy and his contrived claim to invincibility.
Former President Olusegun Obasanjo would have probably been the greatest living former Nigerian leader today going by his unprecedented accomplishments in eight years as a democratically elected president of Nigeria, had he not indulged his retinue of sycophants who crowned him the “Father of a new Nigeria”. These characters sold him the dummy that without him Nigeria was doomed and cajoled him into the ill-fated third term project. Where are those sycophants today? Have they not all moved on with their lives and to date the old man has been unable to erase the dirt of that unholy adventure. I chose the three historical facts to illustrate the dangers of indulging sycophants around the corridors of power. One of those sycophants also branded President Goodluck Jonathan the Jesus of the time and the same unrepentant court jester recently told Nigerians President Ahmed Tinubu is Jesus that had just resurrected to save the country.
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“Oh, let the king live forever” belongs to the medieval times. Statecraft today is a serious business that has no place for palace jesters. Your Excellency, President Bola Tinubu, you are simply human; you are not a god neither are you Jesus; you are not without blemish neither are you infallible, only the Almighty God could be ascribed these virtues. Therefore, gladly accept the weaknesses of your humanity and always seek guidance away from the motley of sycophants around you who would make you equate yourself to a god and glamourize its fantasy. Do not be taken in by the sophistry of their flowery and uncensored arguments which could be very deceptive and damaging to governance perception. They should give you the space to accept the pride of your humanity.
Mr. President, you are the leader of over 200 million Nigerians and leader of a potentially great nation whose greatness has been emasculated and indeed fettered by bad governance, unbridled arrogance of leadership promoted by palace sycophants who indulge leaders with illusive sense of infallibility for patronage. These characters do not wish you or Nigerians well but are motivated by greed at the cost of good governance, your reputation and place in history.
Mr. President, so far you have shown boldness in your governance and such boldness must come with a price. There is no doubt that people could interpret the reverse of some of your policies as policy summersault in your efforts to stop the trend of the nation’s economic decline that is deep rooted. This economic decline presupposes that certain policy models could be experimented and this is what you have done and I do not hold you guilty for their failure to achieve immediate results. The policy of floating the naira was ostensibly done to cut off the corrupted black market while the removal of fuel subsidy was equally to address the corruption ridden subsidy regime. You wanted a quick fix and experimented with these policies and having realized that they were counterproductive, you can tactically reverse yourself somehow and save the masses of this country the present agony.
On this new Tax Bill, biko onyeishi jiee brake. Look at it once again. Nigerians are already bleeding profusely and wriggling tremendous pains. This is not a policy summersault as certain persons may presuppose. I do not belong to that school of thought. Instead, I see it as a pragmatic demonstration of the dynamism which is expected of a leader. So, do not allow sycophants to tell you that you can’t reverse yourself or try to explain away any bad policy choice for fear of being wrongly perceived as weak. No please, do not mind them. Great leaders make mistakes and correct themselves rather than struggle to rationalize them.
Our President, you do not need oh yes men or attack dogs. You need men of character who can boldly tell you “Mr. President you have messed up big time” not those who would chorus “the king is wearing a beautiful apparel” whereas the king is actually naked. Mr. President do not be scared of taking calculated policy risks and make a U-turn if they are not working, after all nations are not built on stereotypes but on strengths of dynamism. You can’t be on a wrong route and hope to get to your desired destination. Your predecessor failed because his band of sycophants alienated him from his mistakes and made them appear divine because their “philosopher king “was infallible and that aptly explains why we are in a mess today. For instance, when it was obvious that the former President goofed in his reaction to the Benue massacre, his lead sycophant arrogantly rationalized it and admonished the bewildered Agatu indigenous peoples that “giving land for ranching is better than dead land owner” Such rationalization of primitive bigotry gave him the impetus to pursue a policy thrust that attempted to forcefully alienate people’s ancestral lands to strangers. The consequence is the unimaginable banditry that has not ceased till date.
Mr. President at this point of our national rebirth, we must look at all issues no matter how insignificant they may appear. The primary challenge in this our circumstance therefore “is to find the moral clarity to see evil as well as the moral strength to confront it “because having the “moral clarity provides us a place to stand to create a better world”
Mr. President, you made your bones fighting for a free society. Therefore, let your band of sycophants not make you see dissents as evil that must be silenced because the price of primitive acquiescence to governance deficits could be huge and far reaching. A free society is that “society where people have the right to express their views without fear of arrest, imprisonment or physical harm” the opposite of a free society is a fear society, which is a society where dissent is intolerable and “public statements of those who live in a fear society are motivated by fear” and therefore unreliable, which deprives a leader the opportunity to mirror his own actions. Great leaders learn more from valid criticisms as they provide that invaluable mirror by which they assess the significance of their leadership, without which the leader would be a prisoner to his own illusions of greatness as painted by his band of sycophants who Nathan Sharansky described as “double thinkers”. Allowing dissent does not make a leader weak instead it demonstrates strength of personal convictions and firm belief in democratic values. Mr. President may Almighty God imbue with that courage to “fight that temptation”.
My President, Nigeria is diverse and complex country, if I had an opportunity to speak with Her Excellency, the First Lady before your inauguration, I would have asked her to make you recite 2 Chronicles 1 Vs 10 (KJV), “Oh Lord, now give me wisdom and knowledge that I may go out and come in before this people; for who can judge this great people of yours” thirty- seven times after you took the oath of office. Mr. President, it is still not late to recite it once every morning. You really need prayers. You have so far demonstrated personal strength and native wisdom by your actions, but beware of your motley of sycophants who would attempt to cast you in an image of a god which you are obviously not. One of them told us recently that you are Jesus Christ. Please distance yourself from him and his co-travelers. Be proud of your humanity and Almighty God will give you the grace to reverse the slide of the last eight years. Meanwhile, let the book of the Acts of the Apostles Chapter 12 Vs 21- 23 not depart from your sight. Mediate over it day and night and it shall be well with you. Thank you, Mr. President.
Sonny Ogulewe Ph.D, wrote from Abuja