A group of heavily armed robbers invaded a rich society. When they had subdued it, they ordered the people to submit their bags of treasure at a spot. Then the invaders carved out different cells to hold the people and prevent them from taking back their bags. In order to get obedience from the captives, the invaders appointed few individuals from among the captives to control the others and guard their bags. These newly appointed and indigenous prison controllers became the brotherly jailers who get food-rations from the invaders. After a period of external condemnation, the invaders saw that it was easier to use the indigenes as jailers to control the others and their bags of treasure. So, the brotherly jailers’ positions were used to replace those of the invaders, who still take the people’s treasures. Since then, whoever took over the position continues to hold the people from their treasures. In order to rebrand their jailer-roles to appear like saviour-roles, the local jailers adopted the label of leaders, and a system of rotating the jailers’ positions, so that the people can choose their jailers without getting back their bags of treasure.
“I’m in chains, you’re in chains too;
I wear uniforms and you wear uniforms too;
I’m a prisoner, you’re a prisoner too Mr Jailer;
I have fears you have fears too
I will die, you sef go die too… I am talking to you jailer, stop calling me a prisoner.”[1]
A leader is one who knows the way, moves through the way and motivates others to follow the way.[2] In other words, a leader has a vision about a good end, takes the actions that will result in that good end, organizes and motivates others towards the good end. Because he has demonstrated the ability to motivate and lead others to their desirable end, the others trust him.
The confidence in a person’s or institutions’ ability to lead others to a desired destination makes the people submit to the person or institution. This free acceptance and submission to an institution’s or person’s lead is known as legitimacy.[3] And legitimacy is the foundation of true leadership, signifying the trust between the leader and the led.[4]
The goal of the society is self-actualization of the members and sustenance of the society in peace and progress.[5] This goal is obtained by the free collaboration of members of the society in owning or using their resources to produce what they need. So, a good leader is one who is able to influence members of the society to collaborate in finding and using their resources to produce what they need.
When people are held together against their consent and without common purpose of collaborative productivity, what you have is a jail. Hence, Nigeria exemplifies the invaded society that was turned to a jail, where people were forced to submit their treasures.[6][7][8] The invasion of the colonialists left a serious mark on the African psyche, and has been expanded in Nigeria. The colonial masters seized the different communities’ rights to their resources and vested it in a central government to be controlled by few local assistants to sustain the colonial exploitation.[9]
Now, the prisoners – citizens – are allowed to choose their jailers in the name of democracy. And the new jailers hold the people for the invaders to extract their treasures in exchange for finished goods. But despite the material advantages, they are all prisoners, as long as they sustain the system imposed by the invaders. Having been intoxicated by the benefits coming from jailer positions, the brotherly jailers continue to fight to retain the position.
Presently, Nigerian government lacks legitimacy. They give orders that will never be observed by the citizens except by force. They suppress the people beyond basic human limits, such that the people lose their minds. Then, they control the starved citizens, sorry prisoners, with little gifts for votes and recognition.
- A possible way for Nigerian regimes to get legitimacy is to seek the free agreement of the ethnic communities. This is because the ethnic communities are the true and natural custodians of the people’s wellbeing, cultures and traditions.
- The second step is to return the resource ownership to their original owners, who are the ethnic communities. That is how power gets back to the people, and from there, different ethnic communities will merge based on trust and affinity for higher collaboration and productivity.
Presently, the different ethnic communities in Nigeria seem willing to collaborate for productivity and common good. Many of them are tired of watching their young people waste and die in poverty, illiteracy, hunger and unemployment. However, the Nigerian government, which represents the brotherly jailers, are unwilling to cede the jailers role of selling peoples’ resources.[10] Until they seek the free agreement between ethnic communities, and return the peoples’ right to their resources, the Nigerian government officers may never become leaders. They only remain brotherly jailers who resort to military force for extorting the people’s resources and compliance.
[1] Asa, Jailer. https://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/asa/jailer.html
[2] Professor Otito Agulanna, Bioethics lecture, department of Surgery, University college Hospital, University of Ibadan
[3] Cf. Ayn Rand, The Nature of Government, https://campus.aynrand.org/works/1963/12/01/the-nature-of-government/page2
[4] Cf. Ayn Rand, The Nature of Government, https://campus.aynrand.org/works/1963/12/01/the-nature-of-government/page2
[5] Cf. Aristotle, Politics, Book 1, part 1
[6] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 1, paragraph 2
[7] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 2, paragraph 1
[8] Nigerian minerals and mining act 2007 act no. 20, chapter 1, Part 1, Section 1, paragraph 3
[9] Ogban Ogban-Iyan, Re-inventing Nigeria through Pre-colonial traditions, in Issues in contemporary political economy of Nigeria, (ed.) Hassan A. Saliu. (Ilorin, Sally & Associates, 1999). P77
[10] Vanguard, Constitutional amendment: The four critical clauses that failed in the senate, Read more at: https://www.vanguardngr.com/2017/07/constitutional-amendment-four-critical-clauses-failed-senate/