In one of my write-ups on corruption in
Nigeria, I recalled the late Malam
Aminu Kano’s advice on
how to rid Nigeria of corruption and
sanitize the country of its
multi-faceted ills. This week, I have
looked at Chief Emeka Anyaoku’s excuse
for not getting involved in active
(partisan) politics. The write up begins
with an anecdote by Chief Anyaoku to an
audience in London when he was
Secretary-General of the Commonwealth:
“Once upon a time, people from other
countries of the world got together and
deliberated on the resources each
country was endowed with. After
exhaustive brainstorming and much
cogitation, they concluded that God had
been more favourable to Nigeria in the
allocation of natural and other
resources. Nigeria had all the resources
a country needed to be great, they
noted. They therefore resolved
unanimously to petition God on the
apparent lopsidedness in favour of
Nigeria in His allocation of wealth to
countries.
“At the presentation of their petition,
they asked God why He was more generous
to Nigeria, having bestowed on the
country enormous resources and other
numerous bounties. But in His response,
God asked the petitioners just one
question: “Can’t you see the type of
people I have put in that country?” After
reflecting on God’s answer to their
petition, the petitioners, who were
obviously blinded by jealousy, then
realised the type of people that inhabit
Nigeria and the prevailing situation in
the country.
“They further noted that Nigeria was
indeed richly endowed with huge
resources but its people have
consistently failed to put the resources
for the good of all. Instead, its
leaders and those who have access to the
wealth steal it selfishly for themselves
and their families. And what they loot,
they take abroad to build the economies
of other countries while the masses at
home wallow in squalor and abject
poverty.
They reasoned that they needed not to be
jealous or sad about Nigeria’s enormous
resources or wealth.”
The above tale, perhaps, explains why
“(people from) other countries” have
overlooked Nigeria even on issues and/or
events that the country should be in the
forefront. The country’s omission in the
G-20 meeting in London in April and
President Obama’s undisguised contempt
for the country by his decision to make
Ghana his first port of call in
sub-Saharan Africa are just two of the
numerous cases in which Nigeria was
relegated to the backseat. Because of
the people that inhabit it and the
leadership that makes the country stand
out on the negative scale, “other
countries of the world” find it
convenient to shun or even ostracise
Nigeria. And even those countries that
should be looking up to Nigeria are not
only turning their backs but also making
jest of her. No one seems to be “sad” or
“jealous” of Nigeria’s “enormous
resources or wealth” any more.
When a country is faced with such a
crisis of identity and purpose, the
logical thing to do is to recognise the
problems, evolve the best strategies to
tackle them and plan how to move the
country forward. To do this, everyone
must play their part: the leadership and
the followership, the elite and the
masses, the rich and the not so rich,
the elected and electors, the elders and
the youth, those with unblemished
integrity and those with tainted
integrity, the clergy and the laity, men
and women, all must put hands on deck to
achieve the desired goals.
But when a section of the population,
and a crucial section for that matter,
decides to stand aloof and watch things
degenerate, such a country, society or
population must be heading towards
chaos, catastrophe and hopelessness. By
choosing not to participate proactively
in the (political) affairs of the
country, those elements of the society
may have provided unfettered grounds for
second rate citizens to unleash their
mediocrity and all the negatives
associated with such types of
leadership.
A
few months ago, Chief Emeka Anyaoku,
former Commonwealth Secretary-General
said he would not get involved in the
nation’s politics because Nigerian
politics was neither issue-based nor
policy-oriented. At a book launch in
Lagos in March this year, Chief Anyaoku
lamented that the ‘do-or-die’ politics
in Nigeria have remained “politics of no
issue”. "The
nature of politics as it is played in
this country is such that I could not be
happily involved”, he said, adding: “I
am concerned about issue-oriented
politics; politics of service to the
community and the electorate, and not
seeking power for power sake.”
In the same breath, the former
Commonwealth scribe, who said he had
been approached several times
to run for the Presidency, called for a
change in our orientation and the way
politics is practiced in Nigeria. “I
think it is time for us to change our
orientation and practice politics with
its abiding principles of providing real
service to the people."
This palpable contradictory stance by
the incorruptible Anyaoku begs for a lot
of questions. If every man and woman of
integrity makes the same decision to
keep out of politics, who will bring
about the change(s) the chief is calling
for? Who will stop the current politics
of self-service and bring about the
politics of issues and service to the
people? Does the chief expect the
current crop of ‘do-or-die’ politicians
to bring about changes that would deny
them the huge spoils therein that spur
them into politics in the first place?
If one is really concerned and ready to
offer his services to improve the lot of
the people, would he have to wait until
everything is right before he offers
himself for the service? Would such
service be needed when things are going
about the right way? Former Sokoto state
governor, Attahiru Bafarawa once
remarked: |
