Is Mr President in bed with sycophants or listening to critics?

Following the conclusion of the last presidential election which culminated in the declaration of President Jonathan Goodluck as the winner by INEC, the level of sycophancy has reached a height never seen in the history of this country. The few critical voices have been thoroughly drowned by the professional praise singers in cohort with a […]

Following the conclusion of the last presidential election which culminated in the declaration of President Jonathan Goodluck as the winner by INEC, the level of sycophancy has reached a height never seen in the history of this country. The few critical voices have been thoroughly drowned by the professional praise singers in cohort with a section of the media. They are harbingers of the doctrine of hear no evil, see no evil and speak no evil of the Commander in Chief. I must state that there are two types of praise singers of the president. The first set is the extremely brainwashed bunch. This tendency is a reminder of the George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” in which all actions were humane and worthy as long as “Comrade Napoleon” decreed same. Is that the way we want our president to go? The second is the professional sycophants exemplified by the story of this king whose courtiers praised to high heavens for adorning the most colourful apparels even as the king stalked stark raving naked with his phallus dangling fore and aft. What about the Biblical injunction of “spare the rod and spoil the child?” The combination of the two tendencies is an anathema to our march to greatness as a country.

What about the critic, one may ask? The critic is far more beneficial to the president than the opposite earlier discussed. I admit that there are perpetual critics who never see anything good in the actions of the president, but how will that hurt the president and to a larger extent the country? A president who is perpetually criticized is being indirectly primed to be on his toes and deliver dividends of democracy to the people. Contrary to prevailing mindsets, downfalls of our previous governments were never caused by the critics. They were in fact brought down by their penchant for pandering to the tantrums of sycophants and praise singers. They simply made them to be whimsical, capricious and bellicose in their approach to governance. That is not the way I want a modern Nigerian president to go, hence my determination to point out what is wrong in our governance structures. The stomach induced posturing of the sycophants is immaterial to me in this regard. Leaders must avoid being pushed into reliance on religious and ethnic sentiments as a means of resolving national problems. Only leaders that are deficient in ideas, knowledge and understanding rely on the two destructive measures as a means of survival.

I implore his Excellency the president, to critically revisit the records of his predecessors and decide whether he will continue to imbibe the sweet words of the self-serving sycophants or the painful but positive admonitions of the critics. The government of President Shehu Shagari was terminally derailed by sycophants and their masters in government. The dual activities of supposed powerful men in government and their praise singers brought down that government. Many of us in old Imo state will attest to the ignoble role played by one Dr. Rufus Olumba on NTA praising Shagari and Umaru Dikko (who was so powerful that he brought his younger brother Yahaya Dikko to be made a Senior Adviser to President Shagari). All these were done not only to retain power at the center, but to also ensure the removal of Chief Sam Mbakwe, the best governor of his generation.  Mr. President, Dr Olumba left town and returned to the United States a few days after the fall of the NPN government. Critics of that era remained in the country to participate in the rebuilding of the country.

The incorruptible Buhari arrived on the scene after the overthrow of President Shagari on December 31st, 1983. Nigerians (especially the ordinary Nigerians) cheered and approved his anti-corruption zeal. He waged the war ferociously and in that process curtailed the human and administrative rights of Nigerians. He was convinced that he was fighting for the people based on the posturing of the sycophants of the time. One of the early praise singers of the Buhari’s government was the late Dele Giwa of blessed memory. Anybody in doubt should visit the archives and read his columns those days. Had he listened more to the few voices of dissent instead of the Alhaji Rafindadis and Dele Giwas of this world, he could have recorded better success than he did especially in stabilizing the economy that the NPN government had bastardized. This was the weapon mobilized by protectors of the status quo to deny Nigerians his effective and sincere leadership since the 4th Republic. Nobody remembers Rafindadi and Dele Giwa today whenever the shortcoming of Buhari is mentioned.

General Babangida provided visionary leadership to Nigerians with the help of the best brains available in the country at the time.  He had what one could possibly refer to as 15 Okonjo-Iwealas in his government. He was lauded by both right and left wing politicians of that era (with the probable exception of the extreme socialists/communists who desired a 100% state controlled economy). He set up almost all the important government agencies that are relevant in propelling the economy and enhancing social justice. His inability to listen to the admonition of the critics appears to be shaping his perception before Nigerians of this generation. The presence of powerful men such as Halilu Akilu and late Sani Abacha inside the government, and sycophants like Abimbola Davies, Arthur Nzeribe, Godwin Daboh, etc outside the government helped in shouting down the critical voices of well-meaning Nigerians. The result was the annulment of June 12 presidential election which the late Moshood Abiola was poised to win. Nobody remembers Davies, Nzeribe, Akilu, Abacha, Daboh, etc whenever June 12 is discussed. IBB bears ultimate responsibility in the eyes of Nigerians because he was the leader at the time.

The same fate was visited on the late General Sani Abacha when he consummated his transmutation agenda based on the prompting of government contractors and a certain Daniel Kanu and his “Youths Earnestly Ask for Abacha (YEAA). They organized a so called million man’s march to persuade the General to transmute himself while the critical opposition maintained condemnation of the act.

Kelechi Eme ([email protected])