Date Published: 02/06/10

Non-participation in active politics of Nigeria by honest, good Nigerians, the bane of our nation By   Alphonsus U. Nwadike

It is an undeniable fact that when a nation's responsibilities of empire are entrusted or abandoned to the care of political plunders, social marauders, opportunists, unwise, corrupt individuals/persons, meruwas, okada riders, or truck-pushers, the country's ship of state must be wrecked in the sea of incompetence and corruption. However, when wise people, honest men and women, God-fearing and able leaders occupy a country's drivers' seats, rapid and sustained development and greatness come the nation's way as a matter of course. The pen may be mightier than the sword, but action, they say, speaks louder than mere words, whether verbal or written. Wise, intelligent, visionary, incorruptible, capable, God-fearing, and honest Nigerians who obsessively refuse to participate in the active politics of Nigeria, by not personally seeking elective or appointive offices or not sponsoring other good Nigerians to do so, are part and parcel of Nigeria's problems, and they are the cause of the continued prevalence and rampancy of leadership incompetence in Nigeria.
 
In 1795, a legendary Anglo-Irish political philosopher and theorist, Edmund Burke, who was also the father of modern liberal conservatism and representative democracy, taught the whole world a remarkable socio-political lesson to this effect, "THE ONLY THING NECESSARY FOR THE TRIUMPH OF EVIL IS FOR GOOD MEN TO DO NOTHING." In this statement and by necessary implication, Edmund Burke counseled all modern human societies that the prevalence or luxuriant growth of evil in any nation is an indication of the dormancy and inaction of good men and women in that country. That teaching equally means that if good people in a country do something, any socio-political evil that crops up in that nation will abate but if they do nothing, it will increase and continue to multiply in enormity. It further implies that it takes the failure of good, honest, God-fearing citizens to take positive and purposeful actions for political corruption and leadership incompetence to thrive in any country. It also means that anything done by good men and women in a society to eradicate a particular evil which fails to curb or uproot that evil is futile and as good as nothing. This eloquent and world-widely accepted wisdom of Edmund Burke was given an added stamp of authority and endorsement by Albert Einstein, a Jewish great scientist and a superlative mind in intellectual philosophy who won the 1921 nobel laurel in physics, when he taught humanity in 1919, saying, "THE WORLD IS A DANGEROUS PLACE TO LIVE, NOT BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE WHO ARE EVIL, BUT BECAUSE OF THE PEOPLE WHO DON'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT." In simple analysis, these two great men of history wanted the world to know that it does not take thieves, public property looters, or fraudsters to mitigate the rampancy of stealing, electoral fraud, and corruption in a society; it rather takes the practical interventions, passionate actions, and conscious vigilance of honest, good people to keep such evils at bay.
 
Since her independence in 1960, Nigeria has passed through over twelve military/civilian leadership regimes, manned and run by different heads of state, numerous state governors, many cabinet members, lawmakers, and a lot of local government chairmen/overseers, but unfortunately all these successive administrations have been marred by political corruption and incompetence. As a result, many Nigerians, including Nigerian various  criminals themselves, have identified poor, corrupt political leadership as the worst evil that has plagued Nigeria, as the hardest cog in her wheel of socio-economic development since the start of her independent nationhood. As a result of this evil, many Nigerians have lost all hope in their country, and some of them have even graded Nigeria as the least and lowest on the ladder of comity of world nations. However, the vital question that has remained unresolved and unanswered by Nigerians in their over forty-nine years of national self-governance is: does Nigeria really have good, honest men? If yes, one must further ask: have they (the good Nigerians) taken any practical action towards curbing this seeming intractable evil, this public leadership failure, this political ineptitude, responsible for Nigeria's socio-economic under-development?
 
In my view, every human society has its own evil and good people. The problem with Nigeria is that her good citizens have seriously done NOTHING since 1960 to fight off or abate poor, corrupt political leadership as a societal evil in the country. Because of the egregious inaction of good Nigerians, this malady has continued to triumph luxuriantly on all shores of Nigeria. Regrettably, the main measure taken by all 'good men' in Nigeria for the past forty-nine years of their country's independent nationhood to combat widespread inept, political leadership, to all intents and purposes, is mere article/book-writing by which they just decry, criticize, or condemn Nigerian political evil-doers. Another step taken by Nigerian 'good men' to this end is incessant organization or hosting of national and state good governance conferences, symposia, debates, leadership colloquia, and workshops here and there in Nigeria or overseas. Neither of these measures has yielded any effective results, and poor, corrupt leadership has continued to snowball in severity and rampancy in Nigeria, affecting every facet of her public life, instead of abating. It is necessary for good, honest Nigerians to recall that, according to Sage Edmund Burke, anything done by good people in a society which fails to curb a particular evil is the same thing as having done nothing by them (the good people) in respect thereto. Again, Nigerian good men and women, who believe that it is by mere verbal and written criticisms that Nigerians should drive away political incompetence and corruption from Nigerian public life, should learn another lesson from Albert Einstein, who advised them in this manner, "DOING THE SAME THING OVER AND OVER AGAIN AND EXPECTING DIFFERENT RESULTS IS INSANITY."
 
One may, at this juncture, ask: what should Nigerian good people do to effectively combat and curb poor, corrupt political leadership in Nigeria, as mere verbal and written excoriations and all governance colloquies have fallen on deaf ears? Shall we continue to use the same measure and expect different results? In my considered view, the ultimate and most effective answer to Nigeria's perennial leadership incompetence lies in massive, active, assertive, practical political participation by good, honest Nigerians. Simply speaking, honest, educated, God-fearing, visionary, wise, intelligent, result/service-orientated Nigerians who really love Nigeria and believe that she has retarded or delayed in development should come enmasse into Nigerian political arena. Specifically, they should actively contest and fight to win elections or political appointments themselves or passionately sponsor other good Nigerians known to them, including their own sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, to do so. It is by so doing that good Nigerians, including the so-called Nigerian great intellectuals, self-acclaimed Nigerian wise men, social crusaders, and leadership icons, can show other Nigerians and the world at large, in practical terms, the way of honest and competent governance in Nigeria. To permanently sit or stand on Nigerian political sidelines or indefinitely stay away in foreign lands and point accusing fingers to how Nigeria should best be run or governed by thieves, fraudsters, meruwas, and okada riders who are known to have dominated her active politics since 1960 is nothing but sheer arm-chair criticism and insanity. What Nigeria needs most now in her public life is GOOD POLITICAL LEADERS at all levels her administration, NOT GOOD SIT-DOWN OR ARM-CHAIR CRITICS.
 
The importance or necessity of numerous honest Nigerians trooping into Nigerian active political scene cannot be overemphasized. If a gubernatorial election, for instance, is to be held in Nigeria today, and the only people who come out for it as aspirants or candidates are thieves, incompetent men, and fraudsters, that election must be won by a thief, an incompetent person, or a fraudster, however fair, free, or sacrosanct its conduct might be. Again, if the same election is to be vied for by three thieves and one good person, the probability of it being won by the one good person in the race is very low and minimal, considering the high level of poverty and ignorance among Nigerian electorate. However, if the same election is to be contested for by three Nigerian honest, good men/ women and one thief/fraudster, it is most likely that a good human being will carry the day in the race and govern the people in a competent manner eventually. Nigerian good people ought to know that what any nation needs to succeed in rapid socio-infrastructural and economic development is honest, purposeful leaders at all its levels of government, not essentially the sacrosanctity of its electoral processes, and that good leaders don't fall from heaven but come from among the people who are willing and ready to run for elective or appointive political offices.
 
Political electoral fraud is a societal evil and according to Edmund Burke and Albert Einstein, it takes only the good people in a society to checkmate or get rid of it. Good Nigerians cannot effectively fight this evil in Nigeria from political sidelines, by mere accusatorial article-writing,  or leadership didactic conferences which have failed to yield any appreciable and practical results in Nigerian body-politic since 1960. The trooping of many honest, God-fearing Nigerians into Nigeria's active political life will afford a brighter opportunity for good Nigerians to combat electoral evils head-on and for Nigeria to have service-oriented and pubic-spirited commissioners, ministers, directors of government agencies (including election-conducting bodies), ambassadors, high-commissioners etc and wise law-makers, without whom no most honest and best Chief executive of Nigeria or any of her component states can deliver the required good governance dividends to the people. Moreover, practical political activism does not only mean standing for elections or political appointments in civilized societies; it also includes active participation in purposeful political contract bidding, geared towards societal infrastructural development. Capable, God-fearing, good Nigerians can actively involve themselves in the politics of Nigeria by passionately and effectively seeking government contracts to be awarded to them. A society where thieves and fraudsters are the only people who seek or present themselves for socio-political contracts never witnesses rapid socio-economic development, as it is the case in Nigeria. A good political Chief executive in a country or state, for instance, cannot award government contracts to himself or herself; as a result, he/she needs honest and result-oriented citizens of the nation to present themselves for such contracts, so that developmental projects will be well executed as agreed, as expected and to the satisfaction of the people's needs. 
 
The general excuse often given by good Nigerians for their non-participation in the active politics of their country is that Nigerian political arena is full of roughness, toughness, insincerity, ethnicity or cabals who allegedly have hijacked Nigerian reins of government. To all intents and purposes, this excuse, this argument is escapist, indolent, fatuous, and cowardly. Such Nigerians should learn these more lessons from Albert Einstein who counseled them in the following words, "ONLY A LIFE LIVED FOR OTHERS IS A LIFE WORTHWHILE" and "IN THE MIDDLE OF DIFFICULTY LIES OPPORTUNITY." Nigerian good men and women who baulk at active Nigerian politics because of its attendant difficulties should also borrow a leaf of political determination, courage, and audacity from Mr. Barrack Obama, a black man who won the most impressive presidential election in the US history in 2008, in spite of all the daunting divides and mountains of entrenched white racism and superiority complexes that envelop American political scene. If Mr. Obama could achieve this feat in a predominantly racist white men's country, breaking the barriers of white cabals in the USA, it is untenable and infantile in logic and reason for any good Nigerian to argue that he/she cannot win a political election in Nigeria or any of her component states or local goverment Areas to serve his/her people because of the activities of imagined or real political cabals in Nigeria. 
 
Furthermore, honest Nigerians should learn from the good people of Czechoslavakia, who in 1989 overthrew their erstwhile corrupt communist regime in a velvet revolution, through peaceful civil disobedience, sit-ins, and general strikes and who later won elections for different political offices for the purposeful governance of their country in instituted liberal democracy.  Again, in 1987, the good people of South Korea, through peaceful mass protests and demonstrations, ignited by the Concerned Catholic Priests Association and Gwangju Democratization Movement in that country, dethroned the despotic military regime of General Chun Doo-hwan and instituted direct democracy in South Korea, a civilian regime personally manned and run by good South Koreans. Neither of these political feats in Czechoslavakia and South Korea was won on a platter of gold; they were not achieved without a serious fight, a terrible resistance from the erstwhile political establishments in those countries, and neither of them was achieved by sheer noise-making, mere shouting, lame finger-pointing; by playing to the gallery, mere accusatorial written or verbal words or leadership colloquia as it is always the case in Nigeria but through passionate, assertive, practical, and structured political activism and massive honest participation on the part of good people in those two countries.
 
Another gain in  increased active, practical political involvement by the good people of a nation lies in the accumulation of substantial socio-political experience and synthesis of maturity, integrity, and constructiveness in leadership criticisms or comments, which are lacking in most Nigerian polity-critics or  commentators. For instance, before Mr. Obama became the President of the USA, he had criticized the Bush administration for failing to catch and bring Usman Bin Laden to book, mishandling the war in Afghanistan, failing to negotiate with American enemy countries, such as Cuba, North Korea, and Iran, and mishandling the Israeli/Palestinian peace settlement. Now that he is the President, I believe Obama must have practically started realizing that political leadership is not a piece of cake, and that there are daunting administrative obstacles to surmount, mountains of entrenched opposition/contradictions to climb, many unavoidable bridges to build or cross, and numerous variables to combine before Usman Bin Laden could be caught, peace could be made between Israel and Palestine, the war in Afghanistan could be won or in making friends with the enemies of the USA. Likewise, when many honest, good Nigerians become part of Nigerian active political administration, they will learn first-hand how easy or difficult it is to fight off widespread public corruption, crimes, insecurity, economic sabotage, ethnicity, favoritism, and incompetence in Nigeria in order to deliver dividends of national development to all the nooks and crannies of the country. This experience will eventually give rise to informed decisions and objective reviews of governmental actions in Nigerian tribunal of public opinions. 
 
As has been stated hereinabove, good Nigerians should know that what Nigeria needs most now to succeed as a country and join the comity of industrialized nations is honest, intelligent political leaders at all her levels of government, not good arm-chair critics or ideologues. They ought to know that good leaders must come from among them, not from among the political thieves they usually criticize or lampoon, and that good leaders must continue to elude Nigeria unless they (the honest, good Nigerians) are ready to troop into Nigerian active political arena, as the good citizens of advanced nations do. They should know that mere condemnation of an evil is not a practical step to eradicate it, and that the continued rampancy of incompetence and corruption in Nigerian public life is being caused by their fatuous inaction. They ought to know that 2011 is another election year in Nigeria. Good Nigerians, who are sincerely worried about corrupt Nigerian government activities, should prepare themselves or other wise, honest Nigerians for 2011 elections in Nigeria. They ought to know that Nigeria needs achievers, pragmatists, native intellectual icons, and men and women of examples among them as leaders. Nigerian good men and women must see 2011 as their year in Nigerian political chess-board. No more lame excuses; they must embrace political action, which has been adjudged to speak louder than mere written or verbal words. 'GO AND SHOW THE EXAMPLE YOURSELF' is the good men's slogan or watchword in all developed and progressive human societies. Away with mere sit-down opposition as a way to combat political corruption and leadership incompetence in Nigeria! That tactic has not been effective to that end since day one of Nigeria's independence. Away with standing perpetually on Nigerian political sidelines as watchers and finger-pointers! Welcome massive, active, assertive, practical political participation by good Nigerians! And now is the time.