Profiting from honest advice

It was an occasion to lavish deserved praise on those Nigerian women who did honest jobs, even when odd, to support their families back home. One was aware that quite a number of them had children at various universities, preparing themselves to be useful citizens of their great nation. It could only have been an […]

It was an occasion to lavish deserved praise on those Nigerian women who did honest jobs, even when odd, to support their families back home. One was aware that quite a number of them had children at various universities, preparing themselves to be useful citizens of their great nation.
It could only have been an idiot who would assume that only those physically present in Nigeria contribute to her development. Every law-abiding citizen of Nigeria contributes positively to the image of their nation, unlike those so-called privileged ones who flood foreign bank accounts with looted money.
I must also say that those who write about our society, without any attempt to be immodest, also seek to contribute to her development. Were ours to be one society where those in positions of authority seek to benefit from the wisdom of others, our societal situation would have been a lot better today. Our nation would have known greater peace and stability if political leaders had not assumed that those who suggest alternative perspectives were political enemies.
Sometime in 1989, General Ibrahim Babangida announced the creation of two political parties- the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and the National Republican Convention (NRC)- in a broadcast to the nation. In concluding his speech, he invoked the name of “Allah”. I wrote to say it was wrong for him to have done that, that it would have been more appropriate for him to mention “God” instead “Allah”, knowing full well that he was addressing an audience that consisted of Christians as well as Muslims. General Babangida appeared to take the advice in good faith.
Also, in the same year, the general made a cabinet reshuffle in which key political appointments skewed in favour of the North to the detriment of the South. I wrote to challenge his wisdom. I actually said he was being dishonest when he attempted to justify his action by claiming that there was no North or South, but only Nigeria. The debate on that reshuffle had hardly died down when a group of young officers and men of the Nigerian military, apparently disenchanted by the imbalance in the federation, struck in an attempted coup on April 22, 1990. The late Mr David Williams, erstwhile Editor of the defunct London-based West Africa magazine, noted that the attempted coup vindicated the objections I had raised about the leadership style of General Ibrahim Babangida.
General Olusegun Obasanjo, in his second coming as political leader of Nigeria, was equally visited with very honest criticisms. One was critical of his approach to the fight against corruption, especially as it appeared that “political enemies” were at the receiving end. One also wrote furiously to challenge his quest for an extra-constitutional third-term agenda. I might have written about five essays on this issue, including one addressed specifically to his Yoruba ethnic affiliates not to support his agenda lest they lost “moral authority” on national issues.
I was one of those who thought that General Obasanjo, having been president of the Nigerian Federation, should not have descended to the low level of transiting to become Chairman of the Board of Trustees of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP). One honestly believed that he diminished himself and the institution he once symbolised by that appointment. He possibly would now be having a second thought on being too involved with pesky politics after he had left office!
When one says the political ambition of incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan should take a second place to the national interest, it is not about Jonathan per se, but about peace and stability in our society. ‘Stomach-infrastructured’ sycophants would only want to tell our president what they think he would want to hear. Those who offer advice, even when honest, must be insulted for daring! I repeat here that a patriotic political reader should be prepared to make personal sacrifice, if it advances the best interests of his or her nation. While it would be unpresidential for a president to be sulking in public, he or she should always reflect the mood of the nation in public – celebrating when the nation is celebrating, and hanging up the dancing shoes when the nation is mourning!

Akinola wrote from Oxford, UK <[email protected]>;