All over the world except Nigeria, former heads of government are made to pay for their transgressions while in office. Former Brazilian President Da Silva has been ordered to serve a 12-year sentence for corruption. Other former Presidents such as, Ollanta Humala and Alberto Fujimori of Peru, and Otto Perez and Alfonso Portillo of Guatemala were jailed for corruption. Former President Jacob Zuma of South Africa is currently standing trail. As for Prime Ministers, Ivo Sander of Croatia, Jose Socrates of Portugal, Adrian Nastase of Romania, Vlad Filat of Moldovia, and Ehud Olmert of Israel all served prison time for corruption.
In South Korea former President Park Geun-hye has been sentenced to 24 years in prison for corruption. The Judge said that “she abused the power given to her by the citizens” and that “a tough sentence was needed in order to send a firm message to the country’s future leaders”. The jailing of these corrupt leaders contrasts sharply with the manner in which former Nigerian Heads of State are feted as “Elder Statesmen” in spite of all the incompetence, treasury looting, and human rights abuses of past. The reason why shame and conscience are in short supply amongst Nigerian leaders is because they have never served long term jail sentences for their misdeeds.
As a nation Nigeria has continuously consented to bad leadership through the sycophancy of political appointees who live in a different world from the rest of the population. In complete disregard of the fact that the poorest of the poor receive no succour from government and the majority of the population live below the international poverty line, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on media recently said Nigerians should “count their blessings” simply because the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) are no longer in power.
Disappointingly, spokespersons for the All Progressives Congress (APC) keep harping on about how bad the PDP were in governance instead of outlining how they intend to get us out of this mess, which after all is what they were elected to do. They fail to appreciate that true leaders are those who see the future, not those who always talk about the past. Truth be told the past was better for so many Nigerians because the current excruciating level of poverty, general suffering and insecurity is unprecedented in the history of the nation.
Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality and current leadership appears increasingly visionless. It’s no longer news that their campaign promises have not been kept. They alleged that fuel subsidy under the PDP was simply a fraud, but they have kept on paying ever since assuming office even though the Minister of Finance tried to hoodwink Nigerians with some half-baked explanation about the payment being “a cost to NNPC” rather than a cost to the nation! New refineries were promised, but not one is being built. Foreign medical tourism was ridiculed but President Muhammadu Buhari (PMB) now holds the record as the leader who has spent the most time and money being treated overseas.
Unfortunately for PMB the APC contains so many uninspiring and unimaginative, individuals who have allowed his aura to diminish to the point where the massive popularity with which he came to office has virtually eroded other than in his core base area. He has been reduced from an admired nationalist to a ridiculed ethnic leader. The biggest problem for Nigerians isn’t the inconsistencies between PMB’s words and actions, but rather the fact that APC bigwigs have consistently lowered their standards to the point where they not only deny their own campaign manifesto, but even go further to try and justify their failure to initiate any new project despite massive borrowing.
With all its internal problems, it appears as if the APC is relying on the aura of PMB to see them through their troubles and the upcoming elections, but this may not be as easy as the last time. The reality is that they can no longer hide under the myth of moral or intellectual superiority, they have been put to the test and found wanting. Kano State Governor Umar Abdullahi Ganduje believes this administration deserves a second chance and has incredulously warned that he may sue PMB if he refuses to re-contest for President. This unintelligent fawning shows little regard for one of the cardinal tenets of democracy which is freedom of choice. PMB is free to choose whether or not to contest.
The question Nigerians are asking themselves these days isn’t whether or not he means well for the nation, and the results of his efforts will be seen at some indeterminate time in the future, but rather whether or not their personal situation is better now than compared to before APC came into office? The answer for the majority of citizens is a definite no! Rather than effect the promised change, abnormalities continue to be the norm.
Under the APC it’s “normal” for the budget not to be passed half way into the year; “normal” for men of our poorly armed, poorly trained and undermanned police force to be regularly slaughtered by armed robbers; “normal” for farmers to be killed by marauding herdsmen; “normal” for government workers and pensioners not to be paid their salaries and entitlements as at when due; “normal” for government to disobey Court orders; “normal” for Governors to avail themselves of an unconstitutional “security vote” for which they render no account; “normal” for security agencies to ignore extant laws which give rights to citizens; and “normal” for electricity bills to be given to people who have not had light for months on end! Those who ridicule Ganduje’s sycophancy based upon their unalleviated suffering under APC believe that giving them a second chance is like giving them an extra bullet for their gun because they missed you the first time! There are interesting times ahead, with no viable opposition to the APC the nation is stuck on the path of to greatness, because the abnormal continues to be the norm.
