Why Are Nigerian Leaders So Mean? 26 Nov 2011 DeleMomodu@thisdaylive.com Fellow Nigerians, I often wonder why our leaders always copy bad manners, and fail to learn from the pitfalls of their predecessors. Every Nigerian leader, at the beginning, often looks meeker than a priest until you give him political power. As soon as he begins to settle into office, he starts to exhibit the symptoms of schizophrenia, and we are forced to ask if this was the same taciturn fellow we used to know before attaining high office. Within a twinkle of an eye, the transfiguration is absolute and irreversible. I will illustrate my thesis with a few straight-forward examples. Once upon a time, the then Governor of Bayelsa State, Chief Diepreye Solomon Peter Alamieyeseigha, was the Governor of Governors. His influence was so awesome that he was awarded the special appellation of the Governor-General. His tentacles, as varied as that of an octopus, stretched beyond Bayelsa. And everyone courted his friendship. His most visible mentor was the then President Olusegun Obasanjo. The rambunctious President never shied away from praising the Governor-General to high-heavens at every opportunity. It was as if Alams, as his admirers liked to shorten his name, could do no wrong. Everything appeared rosy-rosy between them in their first term in office (from 1999 to 2003). But the chicken would come home to roost as soon as a once mutual friend, the then Vice President, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, who incidentally celebrated his 65th birthday yesterday, began to show more than a cursory interest in the presidential office. Abubakar had failed to check the political radar. If he did, he would have realised that his boss was not yet ready to quit the powerful office ensconced within the rocks of Abuja. The implacable man was already afflicted with what would popularly be known as the third term agenda. And if Abubakar knew this reality, he pretended not to know, or just decided to do things his own way. That was a fatal error that would haunt him for the rest of his political career, in a country where an incumbent President is next to God. Alhaji Atiku Abubakar instantly became a marked man. And so was anyone remotely connected to him. Everyone who was suspected to be closely linked would, sooner than later, suffer some collateral damages! This would include genuine, and innocent, entrepreneurs who tended their business and had nothing to do with politics. The ruthless fangs of the law would soon be unleashed on them through the well-oiled machinery of a government agency that was apparently assembled to punish any recalcitrant rebel. Alams did not realise his name was already in the black book. Or if he knew, he must have considered himself untouchable. That was going to be a very expensive mistake. Unknown to him, all was fair in war, a truism he should have memorised when he was in the Nigerian Air force. His vindictive enemies knew it was impossible for a sitting Governor to be arrested under the laws of Nigeria except on a foreign soil where he could easily be disowned and turned into an orphan. And that was exactly what happened. Since the vulture is always a patient bird, the birds waited quietly for him. They knew his propensity for frequent foreign travels, and perched without hurry. Alams would soon walk into their trap as he flew out to Europe to keep a cosmetic surgery appointment. The fresh blood from the delicate operation had not dried up when he returned to London, and he was apprehended, the way monkeys are captured in Brazil. It must have been a bad dream for Alams who before then was a powerful generalissimo. Every novice knew the British authorities were acting on a tip-off from an impeccable source in Nigeria. Curiously, the powers-that-be promptly stripped him of his immunity despite flying abroad on a diplomatic passport. Our laws could always be manipulated to suit any weather and atmospheric condition. Some of us cried foul that we should not set fire to a whole village in order to catch a few rats, but we were in the minority. Our fellow citizens, most of who had endured untold hardship in the hands of these politicians, were willing and ready accomplices in the kangaroo justice being deployed, as long as the government of the day could pretend, grandstand, and dramatize its pretentious resolve to fight corruption. In a country with a population of over 150 million people, minimum of 36 Governors at any given time, equal number of Deputy Governors, Secretaries to Federal and State governments, Permanent Secretaries at Federal and State levels, Heads of Service, dozens of ministers, countless legislators at Federal and State levels, thousands of super civil servants, several service chiefs, heads and members of juicy parastatals, Ambassadors and diplomatic staff, Vice Chancellors, Pro-Chancellors, Chancellors, Judges and Magistrates, Captains of Industries, and so on, ad infinitum, it was most unlikely that jailing Alams, Joshua Dariye, James Ibori, Peter Fayose, and Saminu Turaki, Olabode George, and a few bad guys, would drive the fear of God into a rabidly corrupt society. To cut a long story short, the Governor-General had fallen from grace to disgrace. He was touted as a corrupt man who had bled his state dry. All manner of salacious tales began to fly, spreading marathonly like bush fire in harmattan.  The Governor-General was now a general Governor who was being kicked in the dust, not because of what he did but because of what he did not do. Such is the way of our people. They spin all manner all tales against you on your bad day.  And move on effortlessly to worship at the altar of the new gods. In our clime, the man who’s caught is the only thief. The free-roaming robbers have nothing to fear, as long as they remain in the good books of he who must be obeyed. In a Mafia country, the godfathers can never be in short demand. And the godsons understand the game better than Mario Puzo. The tales of how Alams left London and found his way back into Nigeria would remain in the realm of fables, or even magic, for a long time to come. Reality was the man landed in Yenogoa, perhaps on the wings of a rarefied African spacecraft, and attempted to force his way back to power. His jittery deputy then was a man called Dr Goodluck Jonathan who seemed not to be interested in his boss’ job. Not many Nigerians knew his name at that time. His spin doctors would later smuggle Ebele and Azikiwe into his names for political gains, especially, in a country where the citizens love to hug primordial sentiments. That would be another story for another day. At first Dr Jonathan portrayed a man who was not power hungry. It is a strategy that is as old as mankind. That, in fact, made him a perfect candidate for the godfathers. They love those who can keep butter in the mouth without melting. That was how Dr Jonathan secured his first plum job on a platter of gold. The luckiest man in Nigeria completed his assignment and, before you could say Don Jazzy again, a bigger job was waiting for him, from those who wanted a weak President and a weaker Vice President. The over-all interests of ordinary Nigerians were never considered. What was important was their own hold on power by proxy. The duo of Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua and Dr Goodluck Jonathan was thus fostered on us. It is unfortunate that ill-health did not allow us witness full-time the drama of the Yar’Adua Presidency. In his last days on earth, his government was hijacked by a few people known then as the cabal. Again, Dr Jonathan kept mute while some of us risked our lives on the streets of Abuja to ask that he be allowed to take over power in the permanent absence of his boss. I’m re-emphasising this fact to make a valid point; that those who come to power by divine intervention often end up as demi-gods. Our dear President has done two things in the past week to shock Nigerians out of their wits. The first was the invasion of his home state of Bayelsa with an army of occupation ostensibly to get rid of his supposed enemy in the Bayelsa State House and to forcibly enthrone his anointed crony. This has brought Bayelsa into big news again. Decency should have dictated that every interested candidate should have been allowed to run the race. A country where a Ben Bruce, for example, cannot be allowed to contest for political office, on account of holding dual nationalities, is a doomed nation. A country where an incumbent Governor can be flagrantly terrorised and restricted by the use of brutal force, by some agents of the Federal Government, is very prone to disaster. An educated man like Jonathan should have known the tragic implications of this executive recklessness. History would record that he climbed down from the Olympian heights where God has placed him to cause mayhem in his home state. He should have allowed the people of Bayelsa to voluntarily sack their Governor if that indeed is their wish. He could even have borrowed a leaf from the Obasanjo era when a few legislators were forced to impeach Governors in hotel rooms. What haven’t we seen before in this land? I will encourage the Governor and the other disqualified aspirants to fight all the way for their rights. I have been to Bayelsa State a couple of times, and I’m yet to see what Jonathan has done for that State since he has held all the important offices in the past 12 years. Forcing a candidate on that under-developed State would never improve the living conditions of the people. The second surprise is the manner President Jonathan sacked Mrs Farida Waziri ignominiously from the Chairmanship of the EFCC without due process. If the woman had betrayed the trust of her office, she should have been made to face the music without walking away freely as if nothing serious ever happened. And if the President found no evidence of wrong-doing against her, he should have allowed her to go into retirement without this subtle and indecent blackmail that is building around her. I pray that Mrs Farida Waziri would fight to clear her name, or she should be ready to rot in jail. There are speculations that she had stepped on powerful toes that never really cared about fighting corruption. She has the chance to speak up today and damn it all. Those who are telling her to go away quietly are the enemies of Nigeria. None of us expected her to be a Saint but the era where some people are sacked to shore up the image of an incompetent government should be over. Nigerians really want to know what happened. In case she doesn’t know, her enemies are very busy spreading ugly tales of her shady deals across the newsrooms. And the regular haters are lapping it all up. She owes it to posterity to respond in kind against the cheap blackmailers that litter our political terrain. If she behaves like chicken, she would only end up in a pot of pepper-soup. The choice is hers. They did it to Nuhu Ribadu. He had to run away like a common criminal. Now, it is Mrs Waziri’s turn. Who’s next?