By Mark Mbam Jnr.
In his sermon, in Abbey, London in March 20, 1925, Fredrick Lewis Donaldson
outlined what he termed “the six social sins which are wealth without work,
pleasure without conscience, commerce without
morality, science without humanity, worship without sacrifice and politics
without principle”.
The ladywood, Birmingham born clergy was emphasizing in that sermon on the
basic virtues that should be upheld by leaders and followers
alike. An insight into his outlined ‘sins’ would reveal that Fredrick Lewis
was looking into the future as if he was aware of the prevalent leadership
decay ravaging the African society today. In his sixth ‘sin’, Fredrick
Lewis impliedly decreed that politics without
principle may not only be a ‘sin’ against an individual but is capable of
destroying many generations.
A politician without principle is like a blind man whose movement is
dependent on the navigation and direction of another; thus, where his
navigator directs him (the blind man) to a deep hole, he falls into it
where also he decides to navigate him with honesty, he (the blind man)
anchors safety. That is to say that an unprincipled politician is at the
mercy of his navigators. But a principled politician is firm, decisive,
unshakable and believes in a noble ideology not even, the sounds of the
bullet nor the roaring of the lion would deter him from toeing the path of
the will of the masses. He sleeps only in few hours and keeps wake at the
rest of the times, brainstorming, reflecting on how best to secure a better
future for his people.
This is the position of the Abia State Governor, Dr. Okezie Ikpeazu. For
him nothing is more important than re-writing the poor economic history of
the people of Abia. And one of the ways to achieve this is to provide the
basic infrastructure for the development of the commercial nerve centre of
the state, Aba.
The date was May 5, 2017 and the weather was friendly that noon, when a
long convey of the Abia State Governor and that of his Ebonyi State
counterpart, Engr. Dave Nwaeze Umahi, who is also Chairman South East
Governors Forum arrived Alaoji along Aba-Port Harcourt Expressway
amidst thunderous crowd who were there to give a rousing welcome to their
own.
The event was the flagging off of the reconstruction of the Aba- Port
Harcourt federal road which has been in a deplorable state for over sixteen
years. The contract will be handled by Setraco/Heartland
construction companies and is expected to be completed within eighteen
months.
It would be recalled that Governor Ikpeazu recently visited the dilapidated
Port-Harcourt road which is a federal road and promised to fix it.
“Port-Harcourt road is a federal road but unfortunately there no
federal citizens. So, we are touched. Initially, you are aware that we have
been waiting for the Africa Development Bank (ADB) to give us facility to
go into that road and give it the kind of touch we are
giving to Faulks road and other areas. But the thing is delaying; we are
almost marking our second year anniversary. We think that because of the
strategic nature of the Port-Harcourt road where they manufacture machine
tools and fabrications, to bring them to support our battle for the growth
of SMEs in our Government, we look into Port-Harcourt road at this time”
Governor Ikpeazu said.
The event which signaled the ushering in of a new hope in the lives of the
Aba residents will not only benefit the people of Abia but also enhance
movement and commercial activities in and out of Port-Harcourt, the Rivers
State Capital. Ordinarily, one would have exonerated Ikpeazu administration
from non-performance owing to the high level of distractions facing his
administration since its inception since May, 29, 2015.
On the contrary, Ikpeazu has joined other world scholars to differentiate
between a politician and a leader. Specifically Ikpeazu dogged efforts to
develop Abia in spite of these litany of legal distractions has aligned
him with the words of a retired English Banker, and finance consultant,
Gauri Sankar, who noted that while politicians work for the party, leaders
work for their followers. Sankar, further noted that while a politician
wants to keep his party alive, a leader who is also a politician would in
keeping his party alive puts the welfare of the generality of his people in
the priority list.
The reconstruction of the Aba-Port-Harcourt road is indeed a proactive step
to recover the dying Enyimba City. Proactiveness is one of the most
popularly attributes of a leader. Today, Ikpeazu is respected not on the
altar of his office as a governor but by virtue of his character. It was as
if Dave Hins an English Scholar knew him before he said “A leader earns
respect by virtue of his character but a politician demands respect by
virtue of his office. A leader delineates a clear cause of action and
takes responsibility if errors are made but a politician seeks to avoid
responsibility for errors, and thus tends to obfuscate, saying very little
with a large number of words”.
To a leader, getting a thing done is of prime importance. One might take as
an example the legendary Cincinnatus to who George Washington was often
been compared. To a politician the goal is of less importance than
maintaining power and position. In fact to a politician if a thing gets
done, his continuing relevance may come into question, since he has built
an image around that particular issue,” he said.
An in-depth diagnosis of Hins idea would raise so many questions on real
objective of those who set out on a legal battle against Okezie Ikpeazu’s
election as Governor of Abia State. What is their objective and why do they
want to achieve it? If the ambition of those who want Ikpeazu out of office
is to develop Abia State, is Ikpeazu not already doing that? If their
objective is to become a Governor of Abia State and to be respected by the
virtue of the office, then they belong to those class of politicians whose
collective goal, according to Hins’, is of less importance than
maintaining power and position. If they feel that the respect they earn in
the society today is not yet enough again, they are, according to Hins,
“politicians who demand respect by virtue of office.”
Although, there is no legal wrong in one seeking redress where one felt he
was wronged in the court of law, there is a moral wrong, where one in
seeking such redress do not consider the effect of his action on the entire
people.
The question is apart from the resilience on the part of Ikpeazu to deliver
his campaign promises to the people of Abia State amidst all odds, what
would have been the fate of Abia today? Out of constitutional four years
tenure of Ikpeazu administration, the Governor has spent two years fighting
legal war. What do the dramatis personae intend to achieve by these titanic
‘war’?
Is it in the interest of Abia people, is it healthy for the economy of Abia
State, is it favourable for the corporate image of Abia State and indeed is
it noble for the nobles?
The reason for raising the above though provoking question is not in the
altar of favouritism but are premeditated from a contrite spirit. It is
the wailing of a broken heart, it is the cry of a widow, it is the song of
the Abia generation and this is indeed not the wishes of the Abia founding
fathers.
As the Supreme Court delivers the May 12 judgment on the Abia Governorship
election, our prayer is that democracy in the state will not be truncated.
Mbam writes from Lagos