By Oguwike Nwachuku
Lord Acton, 19th century British historian, postulated that “power tends to corrupt” and “absolute power corrupts absolutely.”
There is a nexus between the thinking of Acton and research by Dacher Keltner, a professor of psychology at University of California, Berkeley on power in our own century.
Keltner in his new book – The Power Paradox: How We Gain and Lose Influence – provides an insight into how people gain power and esteem in the eyes of peers.
“Why once we gain power, we lose the very skills that got us there and take more than our fair share,” Keltner said, in explaining the power paradox.
“Power, new studies in economics have shown, comes from sharing resources and bringing out the welfare of others. Power comes from a kind of humble language.
“There are actually new studies showing if you are humble and respectful, people respect you more. So that’s the rise to power.
“Here’s the problem: When we feel powerful, we have these surges of dopamine going through our brain. We feel like we could accomplish just about anything.
“That’s where the power paradox begins, which is that very sense of ourselves when feeling powerful leads to our demise, leads to the abuse of power.”
The explanation of power by both Acton and Keltner sits well with the case of Governor Willie Obiano of Anambra State who called the President General of Ohanaeze Ndigbo, John Nnia Nwodo, an idiot.
His reason? Nwodo announced the support of the group for the presidential candidate of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), Atiku Abubakar.
Obiano, now obviously corrupted by power, prior to coming into political office was a successful banker with training in accountancy.
In the build up to the 2014 Anambra State governorship election, which Obiano was drafted into, and was assisted to win, he caught the image of a humble, private sector-driven man not easily influenced by what gets people into trouble in the murky waters of politics.
We were wrong.
I was there in 2013, on a Sunday afternoon at Protea Hotel, Ikeja, Lagos, when former Anambra State Governor, Peter Obi, and then National Chairman of the All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), Victor Umeh, brought Obiano before media executives from the South East as Obi’s likely successor.
Many doubted the capacity of Obiano – whom they felt was not urbane enough to be called his excellency soon, despite his many years’ stint in the oil and gas and banking sectors – to pilot the affairs of a state.
Many of the editors gave it to his deputy, Nkem Okeke, who was also introduced, as being more urbane and governor-like.
Unlike Okeke, Obiano not being fluent in communication was also questioned, but he pledged to be a perfect replacement for Obi, both in character and performance.
To say that Obi and Umeh were instrumental to marketing and rebranding Obiano to be governor by enlisting the support of South East media chiefs is to say the least.
Obiano got all the support he craved ahead of the election held on November 16, 17 and 30, 2013 and was declared the winner and sworn in on March 2014.
That was the last the media executives saw of Obiano, despite promises that may not be necessary to recount here, until his quest for a second term in 2017 during which he was fully at dagger’s drawn with Obi, and doing eye-service to Umeh in the name of politics.
The paradox of power and its corruptive tendencies, you would say!
As Obiano became entrenched in the Anambra political power game, having also assumed the leadership of APGA, he grew more powerful and – as Keltner said – those skills that got him into the office had taken a flight.
The dopamine in Obiano has taken over and he is both in government and in power.
He pivoted into the audacity of power when he engaged Nwodo in that needless conversation that resulted in his use of abusive words without consideration for Nwodo’s status and the larger implication.
During the week, Nwodo claimed that Obiano called him and said Anambra State would support President Muhammadu Buhari and that in their conversation, Obiano called him an idiot for endorsing Atiku.
Nwodo recounted that he told him: “Your excellency Gov Obiano, I was surprised to receive a call from you a few minutes ago in which you said the following words: ‘Nnia, I didn’t know that you were so idiotic.’
“I am shocked that you can be so insolent. I am sure that I was neither so idiotic when I addressed your state Assembly asking Ndi Anambra to disregard IPOB’s boycott of your election nor was I idiotic when I pleaded with the commander-in-chief to restore your security detail.
“History will judge who amongst us is idiotic. If standing with the popular wish of Ndigbo makes me idiotic, I am happy to be called an idiot. I will make this communication public so that Igbo will know who is idiotic amongst both of us.”
Power or the feeling of it led Obiano to describe Nwodo as an idiot. Nobody can rationalize that. Five years ago when he was soliciting support from everyone and saying sir to them in order to be governor he would not have uttered such a careless statement.
If some of the South East media executives Obiano met in 2013 play the tape of their interaction with him, he will discover he called a lot of them sir (meaning he was not better suited to be governor than most of them).
Obiano was humble then because the dopamine in him was still in its normal state. Or simply put, then the paraphernalia of power was lacking.
I have heard some fellows, including former Governor Orji Uzor Kalu of Abia State, say Ohanaeze as a socio-cultural organisation should not be partisan, and that in adopting Atiku, Nwodo portrayed the body as partisan. Who says?
That argument is lame because similar bodies of other ethnic nationalities have proven to be even more partisan than Ohanaeze.
There is nothing Nwodo did on behalf of Ohanaeze that Afenifere, Arewa, Middle Belt Forum, among others, have not done or even over-done.
Constitutionally, the heads of traditional institutions are supposed to be apolitical, but what do we see today?
During the All Progressive Congress (APC) presidential campaign in Osun State at the weekend, Buhari was led by APC national leader, Bola Tinubu, and former Osun State Governor, Rauf Aregbesola, to meet all the traditional rulers in Osogbo who endorsed Buhari for a second term.
The endorsement was aired on national television.
In Owerri and Aba on Tuesday, and Abakiliki in Ebonyi state on Wednesday, monarchs also openly canvassed votes for Buhari.
Chairman of Aba Traditional Council, Isaac Ikonne, called on all indigenes of Abia State to vote for him. The same thing Hilary Ohiri, Chairman of Imo State Council of Traditional Rulers, did in Owerri.
Charles Mkpuma, Chairman, Traditional Rulers Council of Ebonyi State said they were endorsing Buhari because he loves their son, Governor Dave Umahi.
On Monday, January 28, the Emir of Kano, Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, visited the Villa in Abuja to confer with Buhari. An APC chieftain described the visit on his Facebook wall as a done deal.
Only God knows what the deal was about now that electioneering is in full throttle.
Do Obiano and Kalu and the rest stooge Igbo leaders think they are wiser than those who call a spade by its name?
Obiano and his kind may not know that the support the majority of the Yoruba of the South West are giving to Buhari is not because they love him more than the president’s kinsmen.
The love is pretentious. It is because one of their own, Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, is on the ticket with Buhari.
Osinbajo may not be the best from the zone, but for now the Yoruba in their numbers see him as the best, hence they bank on him to realise some of their expectations as one of Nigeria’s ethnic nationalities in Project Nigeria.
Should Obiano also be reminded that Afenifere (forget whether it is factionalised or not) said it has adopted Buhari? It is because of Osinbajo, their worthy son.
That is power game when it matters most in the interest of the people, not the reckless misapplication of power Obiano and some excitable characters in his government pursue with selfishness and cannot be sustained.
I am yet to know of any other body in Igboland that protects the general interest of Ndigbo than Ohanaeze, whether in politics, business, religion, culture or whatever.
Who says his mother’s soup is tasteless?
It beats the imagination how Obiano divorces himself from the only body that tries to protect the socio-political interest of Ndigbo in Nigeria.
Granted that he is entitled to freedom of expression and association, including his desire to have Buhari win in Anambra, the least Obiano would have done was to go against the decision of Ime Obi Ohanaeze on the collective interest of Ndigbo for the sake of posterity.
But because the lure of power could not allow Obiano bridle his tongue when it matters most, he has given himself away as a saboteur among his people. He is now seen as a dancer whose dancing steps are different from what he is wearing.
Obiano must be called to order by those who have his ears. They must call him to order because power is never permanent. It is transient.
In less than three years from now, Obiano will complete his tenure and those factors that currently make him feel very powerful may not be available to him again.
That can also cause problem for a man who was once power-drunk.
If he does not know, the general feeling is that he acts puerile in most cases and what transpired between him and Nwodo underscores that.
The Igbo say if one man cooks food for the community, the community will eat everything but if the community cooks food for one man the man may not be able to finish it.
Obiano should be wary of whatever and whoever is beating the drum he dances to in public.
Obi, who is Igbo, is the PDP running mate to Atiku. Obi ought to get his first block support from his kit and kin, regardless of their political leaning.
In the spirit of nke a bu nke anyi (this is their own), it is expected that Benue State people will throw their weight behind APGA presidential candidate, John Gbor, who is from the state.
It will be hypocrisy for Obiano to have Benue voters lend such support for Gbor and Ndigbo will leave Obi in the cold.
The endorsement Ohanaeze gave to Atiku is because Ndigbo, like Afenifere, the Middle Belt Forum and others, want this country restructured so that the Igbo can have equal stake.
It is not about Peter Obi per se. And what if it is about him?
Obiano should find a way to end his nightmare over Obi and use his God-given position to eschew the Igbo enwe eze (Igbo have no king) syndrome that is affecting Ndigbo negatively, both politically and otherwise.
He cannot be more Catholic than the pope. Never.
