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THE CRISIS OF LEADERSHIP RECRUITMENT IN NIGERIAN POLITICS:

A RETURN TO AYATULISM AS A PHILOSOPHY OF THE NEW PAST AND


THE OLD FUTURE

BY
ALLOY S IHUAH PHD
DEPT. OF REL & PHILOSOPHY
BENUE STATE UNIVERSITY,
MAKURDI.

BEING A LEAD PAPER READ @ SCHOOL OF ARTS AND SOCIAL SCIENCES WEEK,
COLLEGE OF EDUCATION, KATSINA-ALA
23rd JUNE, 2010.
A ship lost at sea for many days suddenly sighted a friendly vessel. From the mast of the
unfortunate vessel was seen a signal, “Water, water; we die of thirst!” The answer from the
friendly vessel at once came back, “Cast down your bucket where you are.” A second time the
signal, “Water, water; send us water!” ran up from the distressed vessel, and was answered, “Cast
down your bucket where you are.” And a third and fourth signal for water was answered, “Cast
down your bucket where you are.” The captain of the distressed vessel, at last heeding the
injunction, cast down his bucket, and it came up full of fresh, sparkling water from the mouth of
the Amazon River. To those of my race who depend on bettering their condition in a foreign land
or who underestimate the importance of cultivating friendly relations with the Southern white man,
who is their next-door neighbor, I would say: “Cast down your bucket where you are”— cast it
down in making friends in every manly way of the people of all races by whom we are surrounded.
Cast it down in agriculture, mechanics, in commerce, in domestic service, and in the professions.
-Booker T Washington-1995 Atlanta Compromise Speech-

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THE CRISIS OF LEADERSHIP RECRUITMENT IN NIGERIAN POLITICS:
A RETURN TO AYATULISM 1 AS A PHILOSOPHY OF THE NEW PAST AND
THE OLD FUTURE

By
Alloy S Ihuah PhD2
Department of Rel. & Philosophy
Benue State University,
Makurdi

Introduction
The crisis of leadership today is the mediocrity or irresponsibility of so many of the men and
women in power, but leadership rarely rises to the full need for it. The fundamental problem
underlying mediocrity is intellectual… Leadership is one of the most observed and least
understood phenomena on earth3
The quip above is a reflection on the problem of leadership in the American political
turf though, it expresses the true state of affairs in Nigeria as it were that, our polity has
suffered and is still suffering from paucity of good leadership. It is the argued position of
many political analysts that, leadership shapes society and consequently determines
leadership expectations as against the grain of commonsensical wisdom that “a society gets
the leadership it deserves”. In the Nigerian case, democratic consolidation suffers too often
because of the problem of failure of leadership. In the words of the revered Chinua Achebe,
The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely a failure of leadership. There is nothing
basically wrong with the Nigeria character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or
climate or water or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its
leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which is the hallmark
of true leadership…4
He goes on to identify other perennial issues such as tribalism, corruption,
indiscipline, social injustice, preference for mediocrity over excellence though, this paper
argues the thesis that without comprehension, mental magnitude and spiritual depth (good
leadership qualities), none of the other problems stands a chance of being tackled, let alone
solved. That is, Nigerian leaders must not only possess the capacity and ability to appreciate
and grasp the salient details as well as most of the practical and temporal implications of a
given problem or situation, they must be seen to lead and live by example. Here under, I dare
1
Ayatulism is coined from the Tiv word AYATUTU to represent the collective will of the Tiv nation, to live and act
under one God and ruler in the promotion of the common good. As a democratic concept, it elicits collective wisdom from
individual wisdom as the hallmark of true leadership. As the Tiv say wagh za tswen hule.
2
Alloy S Ihuah holds the Doctor of Philosophy in Philosophy (Applied Philosophy of Science), University of Lagos. He is a
Senior Lecturer in Philosophy, Benue State University, Makurdi
3
Burns James McGregor. Leadership. NY: Harper and Row. 1978, p 1-2.
4
Chinua Achebe, The Problem with Nigria, 1966
to rethink the Nigerian social and political organizations and its strategies for survival in the
face of its social and political maladies as it clocks fifty years of statehood.
Nigerian Leadership Crisis in History.
In Politics, Leadership and Development in Nigeria” Dr. Ihechukwu Madubuike,
Nigeria’s former Minister of Education (1979) and Health (1995), says this of the Nigerian
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leadership crisis
“Nigeria is one of the unfinished national projects of the twentieth century. To
consummate the enterprise, much needs to be done and resolved. The leadership question is in
my mind, one of the key issues … Politics, the art of winning and exercising power provides the
platform for the leadership and development challenges in Nigeria”5
Understanding the current crisis in crises in Nigerian polity entails a critical
and diachronic analysis our socio-cultural history. But how does one do such an
analysis where the thematic of the ontology and epistemology of “leadership” are
clouded in negation, where there is a confluence of denial and derogation of
indigenous education, where there is snobbery of traditional religions with their
insistence on high moral standards and retributive concept of punishment and
determination of guilt in absolute terms, where even highly competent local expertise
is scorned in favor of second rate imported technical personnel? One could multiply,
ad nauseam, the debilitating aspects of the crises of Africana politics. It suffices to
insist that the absence of intellectual, philosophical and critical dialogue on this related
issue of “leadership” is more of collusion of Western academia and their surrogates in
African ivory towers and the mental escapism and self-denial of the ‘roast breadfruit’
clones of Western intellectuals that suffuse these African, centers of learning and
corridors of power, than a consequence of the well-being of the polities we are
interested in.
Contemporary Nigerian leadership is a carry-over from British style of rulership
during the colonial period. The colonial ruler-group are ‘foreigners’ and did not mix with the
locals, they had no reason to, and they did not see their destinies as tied up with that of
indigenous Nigerians. At independence the inheritors of power were rulers who descended
from an elite group who were distant from the people they governed, being that as a
consequence of their acquisition of Western classroom based education they felt they were
only nominally part of the masses of the people. They had lost touch with the people as a
consequence, or absence, of their “education”, they fail to see themselves as part of the
people who had invested in their acquisition of Western “education” and being distant they
fail to understand their heritages, values, cultures and histories; and as a consequence, their
aspirations were not those of the people, their newly acquired behavioural patterns were
different and more British or American than indigenous and they exhibited arrant contempt
for, and they disdain, the people they rule over as these forebears and peers and junior ones
were regarded as illiterate, less fortunate, stupid, gullible and poor people.
Owing from this unfortunate experience, the Nigerian leaders disdained the
indigenous culture and alongside western trained scholars celebrated the primitive mentality,
illogicality and unscientific mentality of their forebears. They claim that their own peoples

5
Madubuike, I. Politics, Leadership and Development in Nigeria, 2008,P3
were uneducated, poor illiterates and common masses. In their self imposed ignorance, they
became aliens in their own countries.
Writing in 1960 the Smythes showed a good understanding of this factor in the psyche of the
new Nigerian elite group. They stated:
Already there is discernible among the new elite a sense of separation from the less privileged
Page | 4 classes, which the betray unconsciously through references to “these people” or “the
uneducated classes” which are indicative of a distinction between those who “belong” and
those who are outside the fold, as well as a growing sense of being “better” than some of their
fellow Nigerians… This lack of identity with the masses follows the example of the British,
who evolved a self-contained colonial way of life characterized by frequent home leaves and
few, if any, social or cultural contacts with the indigenous population. As Nigerians have
acquired education, and a higher standard of living, they have found little common interest to
share with the average person who lives in mud house without modern amenitie6
To exhibit their lack of interest in their compatriots and their misplaced identity
orientation, these new elite group rarely associate with the masses except during political
rallies during which they make campaign speeches at which the masses form a crowd of
onlookers. On such occasions, they are heavily guarded and or sheltered from the crowd by
the police, stern looking bouncers, official escort, or some rail or raised platform. Even the
political thugs who assist in forming a government by default through rigging, killing and
maiming are barely reduced to the now infamous Right Honourable/Most Distinguished
Honourable which has found appropriate expression in local parlance as Aôndo-asee
Governor, Aondoaseer Chairman, Aondoaseer anwen a hingir wo, Mna civir, and many
other “honourable” titles intent at attracting reward. This is just one example of leadership
dislocation that has buffered the leaders from the led and so collectively distressed our nation.
This is not the only problem with the Nigerian leadership at independence. There is also the
wrong relationship with nature, people and God which has in turn promoted the culture of
exaggerated materialism among the ruling class. Thus argued, the Nigerian leadership lacks
the virtues of honesty, transparency, mental magnitude and spiritual depth that count as
politically important indices for authentic leadership culture. Madubuike captures this idea
more succinctly and draws our national attention to the right attitude to national political
behaviour. In his words,
… And instead of cultivating values and attitudes relevant to the entire country perceived as
one political unit, values and attitudes are cultivated to respond to the specific ethnic, sectional
and parochial interests. And because of the deep rooted nature of these attitudes, nurtured and
sustained by political biases and indoctrinations of the past, not even the legislations against
the formation of ethnically based political parties may provide the long overdue panacea to
national political ills or effect radical changes in our national political behaviour 7.
The question of importance here is why we have found ourselves at this junction of
life. The quick answer here is that we have not only jettisoned all our cherished old
methodologies of instilling moral beliefs and discipline in the youth, but we have also failed
to provide workable replacement for what we are eagerly jettisoning.
A peep into history will reveal this much. All civilized traditional societies have clear-
cut methodologies (formal, non-formal and informal) of instructing youth in the ethos and
mores of the culture. These are passed down from generation to generation, through formal,
non-formal and informal methods of instruction and reinforcement. Also, determining
6
Smythe H. H. and Smythe,M. M. The New Nigerian Elite. California: Stanford University Press. 1960.p100
7
Madubuike, I. Politics, Leadership and Development in Nigeria, 2008, p25
whether the product – the adult – has become a well-formed member of society is not
difficult to discern. But that is not all; civilized cultures also devise careful mechanisms for
nurturing leaders. They are carefully selected, groomed and instructed in the ways, values and
cultures of their societies and imbued in the sensitivity to right and wrong. Thus, Leadership
training as it were was a collective social responsibility.
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The example of the failure of the first Jewish experiment with kingship is not difficult
to understand in this regard (Old Testament: 1 Samuel 8). The only qualifications we are told
is that, the person selected (in the person of Saul) to rule over the Jews was being very tall
and handsome. There was no indication about what type of family he came from, what type
of upbringing he had, and how cultured in the ways of the Jews he was. The incapacity of
such a person to carry the burden of leadership (Saul’s inability to function) is not difficult to
understand, under the circumstances.
It would be interesting to see if any of the tall, handsome persons around today can
just be picked on account of those superficial attributes to occupy Aso Rock or any of the
State Government Houses in Nigeria. At best we would have them engineered into Basketball
programmes from youth. And hardly do many of them have much of a life at the end of their
playing careers if they do not go back to school or if they have not been fortunate to have
been properly brought up in good homes. It is thus not therefore difficult to know why power
rotation at the highest level in Nigeria amongst Nigeria’s three dominant ethnic nationalities
can be said to be responsible for our political crisis in the recent past. Leadership as it were in
Nigeria tend to have as a qualification physiological and extrinsic rather than mental
magnitude, spiritual depth and or intrinsic attributes
We may rightly argue here that, current leadership practice in African nations have no
avenue for continuity or connection with its historical past. One can safely contend that
African traditional leadership that gave birth to the civilizations which tamed the Nile,
created the Great Desert Art and engineered their economies through ground nut pyramids in
Kano, developed the cocoa industry in the west and energised the nation with coal in Eastern
Nigeria, developed Great Zimbabwe, performed surgical feats and studied the outer
extremities of space etc., died with the colonization and enslavement of Africa, creating a
leadership vacuum which all forms of charlatans now fill by default. Why is this so? In many
African societies, but Nigeria in particular, the first crop of youth sent to “the white man’s
schools”, when Western education came to hinterland Africa, were not the cream of the
breed. Why? There was a high level of suspicion of the white man’s ways – his education that
is confined to some space and time span, his justice system that often compensates the
criminal rather that the aggrieved (presumption of innocence of the accused till proven guilty
without safety valve for the aggrieved in any primary sense and the possibility of plea
bargaining as was misused by the then Ribadu led Anti graft agency (EFCC) are examples of
the white mans strange judicial system) and which facilitates sophistry, by contrast with truth
and fairness, his disrespect for the traditions and cultures of the indigenous societies
emanating from ignorance of life, society, nature, the environment and the super-sensible
realm, and his belief that the Supreme Being can and must be worshipped on only one day of
the week and in an enclosed space outside of which all shenanigans are possible, among
others.
In our motherland, leadership was not without long periods of tutelage. For years and
years, leaders identified are schooled in the traditions of the people, the culture that they must
uphold, the religions and moral ethos that are implicated by social existence, and affirmations
of life inextricably weaved into existence. Because of this, African traditional societies took
great care to nurture leadership. Even where leaders were determined by heredity and lineage,
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care is taken to ensure that the final product that inherits the mantel at the transition of the
incumbent is well prepared for the challenge of leadership and commitment to society and the
proper representation of the ancestors.
This must not be interpreted to suggest that there were no misfits or that all was
always perfect, but the important point being made is that effort is clearly made to identify
and develop leadership in all civilized societies. To take care of the errors that may be
humanly unavoidable in leadership identification process, clear checks and balances are
carefully developed to ensure that leadership was imbued with humanity. Second, most
traditional African parents could not see how life could be meaningfully influenced by the
less than six hours of work that takes place in the white man’s educational space, over five
days of the week, compared with the lifelong nature of education and leadership training that
takes place under the traditional system of education in the African society. Third, since the
children sent to the white man’s schools were never expected to amount to much anyway, it
was not regarded as a disaster that the products turned out to be servants to the white man and
menaces to the indigenous cultures and institutions. Finally, the products of Western
education were expected to be persons able to speak with forked tongues, thereby capable of
the chicaneries associated with curious oddities that white ways of life constituted to
indigenous Africa.
As expected, some of the products of the system were even more dangerous to the
African societies and the cultures and civilizations of African peoples than the alien white
folks that they replaced and whose ignorance can be pardoned. A reading of the first crop of
African theologians would clearly make this point, as their denial of African religious
experience and understanding of the Supreme Being were more indicting than that of their
Western counterparts. We may merely mention here the works of Mbiti, Idowu, Awolalu and
recently our own Tiv sons like Frs. Moti and Wegh8 and Pastor Tersur Aben9 as examples to
make the point. In polygamous families those who initially went to the white man’s school
were, first, the children of wives that were not very liked by the husbands; second, children
who were regarded as lazy and who showed a proclivity toward indolence; third, children
who showed evidence of being cantankerous, disrespectful, disobedient and dishonest. The
products of these educational experiences, and how they exerted their pound of flesh from the
society that disrespect them, is told in many of the novels by Cyprian Ekwensi, Chinua
Achebe10, Ola Rotimi, Wole Soyinka and others.
It came to pass then that at independence, there was a spectacular enthronement of a
government of ignoramuses who as it were did not possess the mental magnitude to
comprehend and manage the complexities of the Nigerian statehood. The point is more
cogently made by Biwaji that the inheritors of leadership at independence were in his words,
8

9
Aben, T. A, African Christian Theology: Illusion and Reality, Jos, African Christian TextbookS(ACTS, 2008
10
Achebe, C, Man of the People
a) unable to understand the concept of public life and public property, as they were not
disposed to use public property, especially public funds, with diligence and propriety, for only
official business but were busy wasting funds and engaging in all kinds of fraudulence; b)
unable to separate their private income from public funds, seeing opportunities to serve as
opportunities to embezzle public funds with impunity; c) unable to recognize a difference
between the tactics and stratagems that gained their societies independence and strategies for
Page | 7 developing new states from colonies, hence the same tactics of sabotage, subterfuge and
antagonism used to fight for independence, from the foreign overlords are they were called,
are now employed against the new enemy, that is, indigenous critics of their uncouth and
scandalous behaviour in office; d) unable to see that leadership is a call to service , hence,
operating with the same mentality of alienation and separatism of the “educated elite”, so that
having attained public positions means being even more special and alien, and e) unable to
understand that their countries are part of a big world in which it is survival of the fittest.
Consequently, they were not prepared for the task of nation-building11. (Bewaji. 2003, 24).
It is no wonder then to locate why the contemporary Nigerian state is decadent,
cerebrally diminutive, innately corrupt, corruptive, corrupting and morally bankrupt and
spiritually retrograde and culturally retrogressive. Here again the suggestion by Bewaji makes
reference to the historical antecedents of contemporary African societies as a basis for
understanding the question of leadership poverty in Nigeria. Dialectically, he opines,
Leadership” is a function of historical transitions over time and space. One cannot talk of
“leadership” in cultural, educational and historical vacuum. Nor can one get any clear vision
on the notion of “leadership” culture and education without examining the underpinnings and
presuppositions of the social metaphysic and the epistemic attitudes and attributes prevalent in
the societies under examination12.
At independence in Nigeria, the political elites were a pack of visionless simpletons
who thought that the world would wait for them. This visionlessness was the most important
factor that, to my analysis here, led to the unwarranted civil war in 1967. Similarly, the
visionless leaders who also lack the capacity for second order thought wasted the opportunity
to blossom the Nigerian state to higher heights when it found oil in commercial quantities.
Unarguably, this vissionlessness of the Nigerian political class has differentiated us on
grounds of ethnic identities and state of origin, religious affiliations and political party lines.
Today too, the clannish system is tribally polarized and erupts into warfare periodically –
more frequent as the resources for pillaging becomes more scarce and limited. This
leadership crisis has within the last fifty years of Nigeria’s statehood successfully cloned two
monstrous couple into its political and social life namely, contradiction and absurdity, who in
turn gave birth to two sets of twins; indiscipline and lawlessness as well as greed and
corruption. These twins, Hemen man Dondo with its step children; graft, embezzlement,
bribery, lack of accountability, inflation of contracts, gangstarism, political tuggery, advanced
free fraud (419), armed robbery, ritual killing, political immaturity, religious bigotry,
economic slavery and intellectual parochialism have completely taken over and governed the
Nigerian State.
This much was evidenced in the first republic with tribally conditioned values that
permeated every fabric of the Nigerian life culminating in the 1967 military take-over.
Following the same parochial line, the Second Republic emerged with ethnically based
political parties. The NPN had its base in the north; the UPN and NPP could be said to be
Yoruba and Igbo parties respectively. When Dr. Nnana Ukegbu and Alhaji Waziri, left NPP
11
Bewaji J. A. I. “Leadership–A Philosophical Exploration of Perspectives in African, Caribbean and
Diaspora Polities,” Journal on African Philosophy: Issue 2, 2003.p24
12
ibid
to form the GNPP, with Alhaji Waziri, a northern as President in resentment at the takeover
of the party by Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, an Igbo. We may not be wrong in concluding that this
poor leadership attitude tethered the Nigerian match to authentic self determination and
created a disastrous leadership that betrayed the promise of greatness and encouraged the
military step in to cremate the carcass of the nation.
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It may be argued here that, the past fifty (50) years of self-determination has
experienced tear and wear in its leadership journey. While still on this historico-philosophical
analysis of leadership crisis in Nigeria, one may mention in passing the three leaders Nigeria
never had. The first ( Obafemi Awolowo) was a product of the colonial legacy who left a
great record of management and development in the old Western Region for the emulation of
other regions in Nigeria in the 1960s. The second ( Mallam Aminu Kano) was an
accomplished revolutionary and charismatic leader, while the third ( Rev Fr. Dr. Moses
Orshio Adasu), the second Executive Governor of Benue State, who resorted to metaphysical
anthropomorphism as a political philosophy to reengineer state apparatus for the greater
common good of the people. These gentlemen were not only schooled in the traditions of
their people, they excelled in Western education and combined these educational experiences
with very humble family backgrounds where memories of early deprivation instilled in them
the understanding that leadership is a privilege to serve and to improve the lives of the
people. They were community leaders and educationists who know what makes for success in
developing human capital, not armchair analysts and critics like most others. They were not
afraid to work with their hands to put into practice what they conceived in their minds, hence
they were in the forefront of the effort to create wealth rather than simply manipulate the
common will and/or spend tax payers money or what others have created.
What is indicated from the above is the fact that it takes an intellectual leap of faith for
the oppressed to correctly diagnose the origin of their oppression. This accounts for why
aggression and anger of the larger segments of the populations are wrongly targeted. This is
because the rulers have contrived to keep the populations under a “veil of ignorance” (to
borrow a Rawlsian terminology), both educationally and psychologically. While persons who
steal a goat would be jailed for three years, other more “privileged” persons who steal
hundreds of millions of public money or who cause the collapse of state institutions are given
state honours at elaborate functions. Thus it requires the persevering intellectual exercise of
the will to accurately prescribe corrective measures to African, rulership maladies. This is not
only happening in parts of Nigeria where misguided politicians hold people to ransom under
so-called Sharia law, cutting off fingers of thieves and ordering the stoning of fornicators
while they themselves are stealing billions of dollars from public coffers without having to
account to anyone. Consider public officials negotiating the cancellation of national debt with
the Paris Club whose executive members have less than a million dollars each in their
accounts with beggars who each have billions of dollars their countries owe in their private
accounts. The argued conclusion on this score is that, Nigeria is experiencing leadership
poverty and so in need of redefinition, to rethink its ways and polities in the direction of
advancing the general common good in a globalized world. As Nkruma himself argues,
With true independence regained, however, a new harmony needs to be forged, a harmony that
will allow the combined presence of traditional Africa, Islamic Africa and the Euro-Christian
Africa, so that this presence is in tune with the original humanist principles underlying African
society. Our society is not the old society, but a new society enlarged by Islamic and Euro-
Christian influences. A new emergent ideology is therefore required, an ideology, which can
solidify in a philosophical statement, but at the same time an ideology, which will not abandon
the original humanist principles of Africa. (Nkrumah, 70.)
The question then is, where do we go from here and have the best chance of success in
leadership? Does the answer lie in changing the Nigerian system; changing the Nigerian
Page | 9 leadership style, or in changing the hearts of one hundred and forty million Nigerians.
Towards an adequate Leadership philosophy
Thinking of Leadership in Africa brings to mind the shepherd analogy which here
serves as a crucial requirement of a leadership philosophy that has aided other contemporary
peoples of the world and past epochs of Africans to become great. The shepherd is a leader
who does not put self-interest above sheep interest, does not rest until the sheep is provided
for – not just for the immediate needs, but ensuring the needs of the future are guaranteed
also – consequently the shepherd envision the unknown tomorrow and plans for it. The
shepherd is the protector of the sheep and exemplified the virtues of righteousness requisite
of followership. In this regard, the shepherd as leader leads by example and does not have to
ask for respect before getting it.

What then is leadership? Robbins defines leadership as “the ability to influence a group
toward the achievement of goals. The source of this influence may be formal, such as that
provided by the possession of managerial rank in an organization”13. Clearly this is a
utilitarian, profit and loss definition of “leadership”, but we still can glean aspects of the ideas
we have highlighted earlier from it. In human society writ large contrasted with the simple
business environment, the leader needs more than just a capacity to make people achieve
goals. From the biblical shepherd example, it is clear that a leader needs to be a visionary.
Clearly the purely utilitarian perspective is weak, as it does not take cognisance of collective
purpose and the requirement of the evolutionary dynamics of social and cultural needs of the
led which must inform leadership focus. The indication here is that, the leader is both a
part of the group and embodies the will of the group. For example, Rost (1991) believes that
leadership is an influence relationship among leaders and their collaborators who intend real
change that reflects their mutual purposes.

While we will come to this, let us consider what Robbins’ review of literature reveals.
He examines trait theories – charisma, enthusiasm, courage as necessary attributes of leaders.
This is true, especially when group goals have been clearly defined, even though there are
times those of lesser ilk may think that leaders with these traits are fools – as they seem to
have no sense of danger to self, no understanding of basic requirements of self-survival and
welfare in the undue dangers they search for and bring to themselves and those close to them.
Other attributes were found in behavioural theories espousing toughness, intensity and
autocracy, while contingency theory (and its variant, situational theory), indicates variations
contingent on the context and group or society that is to be led. Clearly, as usual, social
scientists have failed to provide clues that could be followed in the solution of societal

13
Stephen P. Robbins, Organizational Behavior. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall. 1996. P413
problems. The failure is not unexpected because the effort at stereotyping humanity is
doomed ab initio.
What do we learn from this that can be of philosophical moment? In the first place,
when we wonder why the countries of the Pacific rim – at the head of which you find a Japan
that was badly battered in the Second World War – were able to rise from oblivion within a
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spate of four decades to dominate the world technologically and financially, or why USA has
been able to blend hetero-ethnicities into a vibrant polity – even with the usual unresolved
issues of racism, racial profiling, and implications of the American Presidential Elections
under president George W. Bush in the state of Florida, among others, are still festering; why
Russians are a proud people, in spite of the collapse of the Soviet Union, etc., many scholars
would easily indicate in concession (concurring with the views here proffered) that it was not
the colour of the skin, nor the intellectual superiority of the population, nor the climatic
generosity of the environment that made the difference. Many will easily indicate and
concede that the difference is “leadership”!
What the psychologists and social psychologists were searching for would not be
found in any textbook, as the moral component and force of leadership are not written in bold
letters in society’s statutes for efficacy, even there are those high sounding codes of ethics for
ministers and officials of government. Hence, any discussion of the concept of leadership that
stops only at the manifest components must be short-sighted. Before we go on to sketch the
criteria that “leadership” by contrast with mere exercise of power would entail, we need to
briefly discuss what a philosophy of leadership will look like.
On the logical side, we would like to see a critical interrogation of the meaning,
content, manifestations and consequences of “leadership”. The social scientists have fastened
on only one side of this logical equation. They have been more concerned with the
descriptive, inductive and de facto aspect of the concept to the utter neglect of the analytical,
deductive and conceptual aspects. This has vitiated a proper understanding of the concept and
problematic of leadership. As a consequence, even when Burns(1978) craved for a synthesis
of the various conceptual aspects of leadership, this would not be forth-coming because only
the empirical aspect was being addressed. In other words, we look logically at leadership
from inductive and deductive angles, but we are also mindful of other possibilities in
interpretation of leadership, such as intuitive and reductive logical expositions.
Coming on the heels of our logical prescription must be the epistemological
requirement. Here it may simply be indicated that many factors are called for here. These
include the cognitive, intuitive, emotive and dynamic, introspective components. In this
regard, we may indicate that there are two sides to this: a) the epistemological base of
leadership and b) the epistemological base of followership. Let us dilate a bit on the first.
Leadership must originate from the vantage position of “knowledge”. We can see that all the
great thinkers are agreed on this, from Confucius, the Buddha, Plato, to Jesus, to our own
Obafemi Awolowo14 and Rev. Fr.(Dr) Moses Orshio Adasu15. In a sense, the reason why
Plato prescribed the philosopher king as the person fit to rule is because such a person would
have attained a level of understanding of the universe, people and him/herself to be fair to all
and just in the dispensation of justice. In another sense, we may simply encapsulate this
14
Obafemi Awolowo, The People’s Republic. Ibadan, Nigeria: OUP. 1968.
15
Wuam, T, Moses Orshio ADASU: Religion, Politics, and Development, Ibadan, Aboki Publishers, 2007
epistemological requirement by indicating that the leader must be wise, not simply
knowledgeable. This is because there is danger in mere acquisition of knowledge, as many
persons are specialists in various areas but regrettably poor in most others and unfit for
leadership. So competence in some profession or acquisition of skills or “techne” or expertise
is no indication of capacity to lead. Hence, the better we conceive of leadership holistically as
Page | 11
requiring wisdom — wisdom being taken to be the capacity to realize what is of value in life, for
oneself and others, and thus including knowledgeand understanding. Such is what is argued here as
a development paradigm for Africa of today.
The leader would have attained this through proper upbringing, attendance at the
school of life, knowledge of history and culture of her/his society, an awareness of
international relations and forces of history, familiarity with the psychology and pathology of
suffering or being downtrodden in an inclement international environment, capable of an
analysis of the sociology of poverty, the metaphysic, economics and politics of dependency
and the historical interaction of races and ethnicities in the global village. More than these,
the leaders would have to acquire a great perseverance in the mastery of the knowledge of
self. For the blind cannot lead the blind without both of them being endangered.
We are not making an unreasonable demand of leadership here. What is being
suggested is that the leader should be intellectually rounded and epistemologically astute.
Reference can here be made of Booker T. Washington who in “The Atlanta Compromise
Address” 199516, exhibited so much mastery of leadership attributes in this regard. Hence,
they often thought he was a sell-out when he preached industry, frugality and education. They
thought that he meant in his lamentation of the poverty of his contemporary African
American’s poverty, ignorance, immorality, that he was talking of an innate and hereditary
attributes. But being aware of the forces arrayed against his black contemporaries who were
just emerging from slavery, he knew that the challenges were not for the fickle and there
would be no accolades won without serious effort, and that while a white person will get
recognition with excellence, it would require a super excellence effort and accomplishment
for the black person to attain the same recognition.
This is what brings us to the second prong of our epistemological requirement.
Knowledge is critical in the followership also. For if the blind were to be leading the sighted
into a ditch, the sighted would cry foul and resist the perdition that awaits them. This is the
reason some philosophers advocate that the citizen must have a right to civil disobedience or
even violent revolt against oppression and tyranny. Now, it is important to understand how
the coalescence of unhappy circumstance can conspire to facilitate the greatness of a people.
One may use the analogy of the Jews in this regard. Washington was aware that the
successful person of colour was an endangered species, hence he preached lying low and
creative use of little latitudes gained from oppression through constructive and diligent effort.
This requires, therefore, that Africa, nay Nigeria should not forget her history in the last five
centuries, how she got to where she is and strive to endure that her leadership be not ensnared
into complacency which could either perpetuate forever her and her descendants eternal
dependency on other peoples of the world as consumers of the trash coming from other races.
16
Louis R. Harlan,( ed.), The Booker T. Washington Papers, Vol. 3, (Urbana: University of Illinois Press,
1974), 583–587.
One must never forget the wisdom in the Yoruba proverb that, “if you have not attained the
power necessary to confront the opponent you do not ask why or how he/she killed your
father”. Tiv wisdom literature similarly states that ka we lue per ihongo ga utuhan ambe iwa
ga, “that is, you dare not insult the crocodile before crossing the river”. The reasoning behind
these philosophical assumptions is that, doing that is asking to be killed yourself, and the only
Page | 12
way you can have the strength and resources to do that is by acquiring knowledge and
resources to stand on your own, before demanding freedom as the case may be. Here
understood, the African tendency to emphasize sensitivity, the fact of living “in symbiosis” with the
world is of great epistemological significance in its leadership requirement. In Africa and for
Africans, sympathetic or intuitive knowledge associates, incorporates, and so provides a unified,
integrated vision of reality.
Another reinforcement of the epistemological requirement of leadership is that,
leaders must undertake to search for and continually obtain information. This means that
leaders must read, they must listen, and they must think. To speak without the exercise of
these epistemological foundations as basic backgrounds is to condemn themselves and their
society to ignominy and serious social and political dangers. It is no wonder that Eusi
Kwayana emphasizes this epistemological factor when asserting that,
To understand the collective psyche of a people, we have to learn to listen not only to speech,
but to non-speech and to a whole complex of responses… We have also to have periods when
we fade and allow ourselves to absorb universal wisdom, listening with eyes, ears, skin, and
the secret tuition we all have to some extent, known as in-tuition… When leaders throw aside
reason, it seems that non-reason takes over, with or without their help17.
Even if we are not too sure about the source of the universal wisdom, we would agree
that a lot of intuition and consciousness is necessary for successful leadership, and the fact
that a lot of the negativities in Nigerian politics are consequences of ignorance and
insensitivity to the destinies of the Nigerian peoples by selfish and self-seeking rulers
suffering from intellectual myopia and moral bankruptcy. Generally speaking however, Africans
possess the mental magnitude and spiritual depth to capacitate them well enough for leadership
functions. Bergson’s conclusion in this regard is revealing. He says,
…there is nothing illogical, consequently nothing ‘prelogical’” about the thinking of
primitives… human beings, be they primitive or civilized, revert to supernatural explanations
when they face vital events directly affecting them as persons. If primitive peoples seem
overflowed with mystical beliefs, the explanation lies in the little control they have over their
environment. Owing to this major limitation, supernatural references are indeed more frequent
and more extensive than is the case with the civilized. This demonstrates that mystical
explanations appear whenever human thinking pays attention to the “human significance” of
phenomena over and above their mere physical nature.18
With regard to the metaphysics of leadership, we confront the most difficult aspect of
theorizing or philosophizing about leadership. Starting with the ontology of leadership, two
questions will have to be asked: Is there “leadership”, and if there is leadership, “How do we
recognize it”? On the first, there can be no denying the existence of leadership, but what we
find in that identifying it, because of the so many families of attributes that constitute
leadership has been a problem. This is where the social scientists have tried and failed
because, unifying all leadership qualities makes it difficult to understand, and thinking that by
17
Bewaji J. A. I. “Leadership–A Philosophical Exploration of Perspectives in African, Caribbean and
Diaspora Polities,” Journal on African Philosophy: Issue 2, 2003, p.45
18
See Kebede Messay. “Negritude and Bergsonism,” Journal on African Philosophy: Issue 3, 2003, p105
listing these and teaching its success in some fields will translate into success in other fields
makes a mockery of the whole philosophy of leadership. This is what leads us to the
suggestion that given the diversity of the families of attributes which make up leadership, the
ontology of leadership will have to deal with relativities of time, space, context, cultures,
groups, goals, etc. These are critical to the attribution of leadership, and in human affairs we
Page | 13
do find that perception is a critical component.
Clearly it may have been expected that by talking of the metaphysic of leadership I
intended some eternalistic, super naturalistic or even metaphysical understanding of
leadership. While one would have wished there was a failsafe method of divining leadership,
this expectation on the part of those who have harboured them have proven of little value.
This is where we find the problems with various forms of theocracies in human history, and
this is where the expectations of people who look for divine intervention in the solution of
human and social problems have been disappointed time and time in history. Human beings
have always had to be proactive, knowing where they want to go before they can start getting
anywhere near there. In many instances those who turn out to be instrumental in the
achievement of progress and development in various historical epochs in human history have
been regarded as divine intervention. Dubious as this seems logically, we may permit persons
with proclivities toward religions exuberance to feel comfortable in this zone. For the purpose
of this dialogue however, it is clear that in history leadership has never been Manna from
heaven, it has been human, and full of sacrifices and opportunities for satisfaction of group
and personal goals.
Taking the axiological turn, we now must emphasize the normative nature and the
norm generating nature of leadership in any society. It is clear that leadership should
constitute the embodiment of the very hopes, aspirations, identity, dreams and realities of a
society. Baring this, it is clear that there will ensue a drift in society that will be disastrous. It
is important in this regard that there should be clear standards and channels for the
enforcement of these standards on both the leaders and the led, especially on the leaders. This
is because, when leadership disregards the least of the norms, ethos and statutes of a society
with impunity, the signals sent reverberates through the entire fabric of the society, having
consequences not easily redressed.
While certain modes of behaviour will be tolerable for citizens, such allowance
cannot be made for leaders, because giving small room for indiscipline and disobedience of
the laws would lead to further and further infractions of the statutes. Societies with great
civilizations have endeavoured to ensure that leadership transcends the regiment of the
ordinary folk. While ordinary folk can operate at the level of normal reaction, leaders require
more. Now, normal reaction implicates a complex matrix that is predicated on group
behaviour and/or consciousness that has as its elements a) intellect, b) memory and c)
association, all of which implicate a complex neural system differentiated on socio-cultural
predications of rationality. In personal affairs, this complex plays out in relation to perceived
latitude of behaviour, while in social settings, the latitudes are even more complex!
Consequently, humans not only manifest a plethora of relationships but they seek out sources
that help them to discriminate these relationships.
In the Nigerian example, the exigencies of life and the existential situation has not
only become so privating, it has created a siege consciousness with the attendant situation of
a Hobbesian state of nature, characterized by bellum omnium contra omnes – a war of all
against all, and especially of the leadership against the led, with enthronement of mutual
suspicion and antagonism as the order of the day. So we see that in leadership matters, when
we are concerned about norms, values, rules and regulations in public life, the leadership
orientation and development must combine intellectual with a high level of sophisticated
Page | 14
discipline that enables leadership to transcend normal reaction level, as conditions of
leadership imposes on the leader..
Imagine for a moment a situation in which leadership exhibits a generalized survival,
self-preservation, ego-protection and individualistic orientation. At such a level everything
must conduce to self-preservation and entrenchment. Imagine a situation where political
leadership is construed as an instrument of determining who gets what, where and when.
Where politics is a game for determining between “tribes whose members are perpetually at
war with each other” and where the winner takes all and the loser ceases to exist literally.
Imagine for a second a politics that is divisive, rather than uniting, where those who play by
the rules get shafted and where leadership does not believe that the laws must shackle them
from committing destructive blunders at the expense of the citizens. Imagine a situation
where leaders are above the law, and where they can set their agents to kill and maim
opposition with arrogant impunity. These will definitely lead to anarchy and mayhem.
Thus, when we are examining the ethical foundations of leadership we find that
leaders are required to allow their consciousness to shift gear into the supernormal mode of
cognition, behaviour and relationship with the people under acute stress situations. They must
not just be normal persons or even ab/sub-normal that we mentioned above, society expects
them to put society interest above self-interest. It is at this stage that the true test of leadership
can be determined. This third stage is where the leader becomes only an instrument for the
realization of society’s consciousness, where the leadership becomes the tool for the
propagation of organic existence of the society. This is where leadership education,
orientation and preparation kicks in automatically in advanced or civilized societies. Some
may call this the spiritual level of leadership, but it is simply the level where that popular
saying becomes significant – I am, because we are, and since we are therefore I am.
Unfortunately though, the Nigerian political turf lacks every indices of this leadership quality
of mental magnitude which according to Awolowo entails self knowledge which necessary
demand is that “in order to be master of others one must be master himself” and be self
disciplined. Quoting from Aristotle, Awolowo illumines that, “let him that would move the
world , first move himself”19. It is no wonder then that the decadent leadership in Nigeria in
one fell swoop shot down the tall dream and giant hopes of most Nigerians on june 16, 1993
as the collation of the june 12 election results were not only abruptly suspended and a week
later annulled, the most freest and fairest election has remained an unforgettable political
murder of the Nigerian history.
As we retrospect and introspect the nation’s political soul at fifty, we must make sure
that the power to influence political, social, economic, religious, educational and other events
that affect the livelihood and future of the Nigerian population is not concentrated in the
hands of a few individuals, simply because they are wealthy. We must insist that transparent
honesty, hard work, tolerance, talent and accomplishments be the guide post for recruitment
19
Awolowo, O The People’s Republic. Ibadan, Nigeria: OUP. 1968, p158.
into the ruling class. This is the hope we have for a peaceful, prosperous and stable
government in Nigeria. For, a true leader as it is said has confidence to stand alone. the
courage to make tough decisions, and the compassion to listen to the needs of the led. He
does not set out to be a leader, but he becomes one by the quality of his actions and the
integrity of his intent. For our purpose, it will be useful to indicate the following attributes as
Page | 15 important and critical in the analysis of the concept and moral content of leadership:
a) Mental Magnitude
When reason is dethroned from the affairs of the being of man, emotions, mediocrity
and unimportant desires reign. This inevitably breeds corruption of the mind which in turn
leads to all sorts of evils like greed, bribery abuse and misuse of power among other social
vices. Thus argued, those who aspire to leadership in any society must be those who are ruled
by reason rather than appetite. They should in the words of Awolowo, “possess
comprehension and mental magnitude.20 This mental magnitude frees the leader from the
tyranny of the flesh and the unexamined life and so from negative emotions of anger, hate,
fear, envy, selfishness and greed, and from indulgence in wrong types of food and drink and
in ostentatious consumption as well as excessive or immoral craving for sex. This condition
achieves for the leader tranquillity of the mind and enlarges his conception of what is
possible, enriches his intellectual imagination and diminishes the dogmatic assurance which
closes his mind against speculation. It is then that the leader has the capacity to envision a
better society that he and the ruled collaborate to render great for the general common good.
This vision must be informed by the realities of the historical antecedents of one’s society,
contemporary realities of the world in which the society exists, and the potentialities and
possibilities that the endowments of nature and human resources can transform for posterity.
We have mentioned the importance of education in leadership development, but we must
reiterate that factor of historical education, which will create in the leaders an awareness of
how other peoples have related to his/her peoples and the consequences of such interaction.
In which case the leader would be better prepared to use such knowledge for the
advancement of the interest of his/her peoples.
Why it is important for a leader to have a vision and a dream of a better society arises
from the need to plan for future generations and ensure that the plans are realistic, it is
necessary that leaders be able to lead from the front and be good examples for followers if
there is to be effectiveness in leadership. In this wise, it is important that leaders be well
educated in the traditions of their society as well as the associated histories of societies that
have impacted on the traditions and that will continue to so impact as we mentioned just now.

b) Spiritual Depth
Spiritual depth is a necessary qualification of being human. It is the theory of the meaning
and value of human existence. Here used, it serves to underscore the metaphysics of politics.
It is the copula conjoining the leader to the led. Used in association with mental magnitude,
this leadership quality commands love and the pursuit of the good. In his The people’s
Republic, Awolowo states these principles as love of God and love of one’s neighbour
presumably alluding to the Biblical injunction in Matthew, 19:16-24 and 22: 36-40. In itself,

20
Awolowo, O. Thoughts on Nigerian Constitution. Ibadan: Oxford University Press, p158
spiritual depth involves the notion of God from whom love ultimately emanates. This
religious love in conjunction with metal magnitude acts as a spark that insures the leader
against that wich perpetually undermine good governance and rather promote greed and
naked selfishness or sickness that makes people loot the national treasury including the
monies they do not need on earth. But like President George Washington of America said on
Page | 16
the day of his inauguration, “It is impossible to rightly govern our country or the world
without God and the Bible” This leadership quality promotes honesty in government
business. Honesty necessitates transparency and fairness. The infectiousness of honesty
cannot be underestimated as the character of the leader shapes the demeanour of the
followership in many instances. Nigeria, under the Muritala Muhammad regime (albeit a
military dictatorship) at the initial stages of the administration is viewed by many as an
example of a leadership regime threads the path of honesty and trust in the people.
c) Knowledge and wisdom.
Socrates is quoted to have said that, he who knows not, and knows that he knows not is
a fool. On the other hand, he who knows not , and knows that he knows not , is a wise man.
Leadership qualities demands of the leader as much as the led a character of self examination
for the purposes of bridging leadership gaps and so arrogate to the leadership or the led
omniscience. In Yoruba society, it is said, that, “the young is wise, and the old is wise, is the
pillar on which the ancient town of Ile-Ife was built.” In an essay, “Olodumare – God in
Yoruba belief and the problem of evil”, Ayotunde Bewaji discusses the importance of the
weakness of Western theistic theology, theocracy and divine rulership espoused in Judaeo-
Christian tradition which arrogates to the Supreme Being infallibility, even in the face of
counterfactuals as in the Genesis. In Yoruba theology he says,
…it is not regarded as strange for Olodumare, the Supreme Being, to consult His diviners to
ensure that things move properly in the affairs of the universe. This would serve as a humbling
lesson to humans that they cannot and should claim what they have not, indicating that they
need to encourage consultation and respect for the wishes of the people21.
The argued point here is that, leadership is serious business and thus requires more
than mere passivity. It requires critical thinking, rationally compelling, convincing and
persuasive positions, policies and actions in governance. This means that the leader must
have conceptual and concrete thinking skills, be able to focus on issues of importance,
curious and inquisitive and Possess confidence and open to all issues and opinions. Socrates
sees this as a necessary quality of human existence and calls for self-knowledge which for
him is a liberating tool for both the rulers and the ruled. As a sacred trust, leadership is like
the priesthood in civilized, humane religions which no one gets into it lightly or unadvisedly.
It demands qualities of mind and discipline of body.
What we see here is the need, therefore, for dialogue between leaders and followers,
because it is in such feedback mechanism that right can be right and wrong righted. Tiv
wisdom literature teaches us a lot here that wagh za twen hule, Wanye kaa er I bur Yar tiough
which together expresses the power of second opinion. The consequence is loyalty and
willingness to endure difficulties together as one, rather than having leadership preaching
belt-tightening while their own rank is bulging at the waistline and a swelling parasitic
21
Bewaji J. A. I. “Leadership–A Philosophical Exploration of Perspectives in African, Caribbean and
Diaspora Polities,” Journal on African Philosophy: Issue 2, 2003, p16.
membership procuring larger and larger cloth and shoe sizes, cars and homes and other
expensive luxury consumables, even including buying homes in Europe and having fat
accounts in various offshore banks. How would one square a situation where at the
negotiation table for the rescheduling of loans that the representative of the poor begging
country wears the most expensive designer outfit of all at the meeting?
Page | 17
(d) Incorruptibility and Selflessness.
Democracy signposts human development and the good life that promotes political
good, economic independent and virtuous life far removed from the gargantuan paradise of
charlantry that characterise the Nigerian political and social life. Consequently, it is
immediately urgent to understand that leadership needs transparent dedication to the cause of
society. This is why in civilized societies one cannot indicate that there are no distinctions
between private and public lives of leaders. The “official secrets act” in many third world
countries are outdated, counterproductive and antithetical to the interest of the people whose
interest is being protected. Leaders must not only be dedicated to the cause of human
development, they must transparently act in such manners that will release the fibres of
human existence; truth, justice, concern for others and reset them to form the pillars of a New
Nigeria in contemporary world. They must look at the face of Nigerians and not their friends,
business associates, family members and politicians and ensure quick and transparent service
delivery. For equity and justice are important in all sectors of human endeavors. It is criminal
to allow some 80% of our youths between the ages of 16-25 to idle away their time and talent
by denying them access to higher education. This is one example of under utilization of
resources and capacities whose consequences can only be disastrous for the corporate
existence and stability of our country. It is only a dedicated and transparent leadership that
endures in this regard.
Towards an Indigenous Democracy
It is difficult to dismiss the suggestion that in the present circumstances, traditional
leaders in Nigeria remain the true custodians of African culture and tradition. They are
therefore best placed to engage, even in negative dialogue, by resisting what they perceive to
be the destruction of valuable and working indigenous African conceptions of democracy.
This kind of dialogue is essential to challenge the idea that there is only one correct
understanding of democracy. It is also important because it forms the battleground for the
construction of a home-grown and genuinely representative theory and practice of a
democracy which can be called a Nigerian democracy. So it is not only futile but also naive
to suppose that traditional African leaders are no more than irritant appendages to a largely
misunderstood and misapplied Western democracy.
In our endeavor to decolonize our cultural heritage, and authentically live side by side
with the cultural imperialists, several strategies are desirable, and some are already in place.
The most urgent and popular strategy is that of local appropriation, having to do with the
restoration of indigenous knowledges, languages and culture. The strategy of counter-
penetration, on the other hand, has to do with the influence of the South on the North, the
restoration of cultural trade, the saving of the world from excessive Eurocentrism and
Americanism. This influence has gotten to the marrow of Nigeria, and to eradicate will
certainly pose a mammoth task, given the history of colonialism, and the extent of self-
alienation blacks are suffering from. Nigerians need to come back to themselves as a people.
It is only they themselves who know how best to describe, negotiate, and manipulate their
circumstances and environment. If they want to change the world, they must start with
themselves. For as the saying goes, charity begins at home. The words of Marcus Garvey are
in this circumstance a challenge to Nigerians. He says, “We must strike out for ourselves in
the course of material achievement and by our own effort and energy present to the world
Page | 18
those forces by which the progress of man is judged”.
It is noted that contemporary political philosophy adjudges non-elected political
leaders such as indigenous traditional leaders as not legitimate in comparison with elected
ones though, we acknowledge the necessity for the continuation of having non-elected
leaders such as chiefs and kings as important indices of African political and social
organizations. The existing oral and written literature attests to the fact that people were in
the past not ruled against their will, and for that matter, they were ruled on occasion by
foreigners. Elders in the community, experts in traditional judicial systems such as
primogeniture, heredity, succession, and other customary practices that typified any society,
would meet and elect a leader. This council of elders had the competence to elect and even to
remove from office any leader whose conduct was offensive to the interest of the community.
A peep into African indigenous political set-up alludes to the fact that the political authority
in the traditional set-up was based on democracy and free discussion among the elders. They
talked till consensus was reached. It could therefore be inferred that their government was by
consent and consensus. It is therefore within reasonable limits to call for the indigenization
of democracy.
Further evidence of democratic practices in Africa still obtaining in some African
communities is evident usually in the tribal court; Ijir-Tamen among the Tiv and kgoro
among the Zulu deliberations. A suspect appearing before Ijir-Tamen or a kgoro does not
require legal representation since everybody present has an equal say in the deliberations, and
no adversarial feeling is displayed towards the suspect. Any person could speak in favour of
or against the suspect. There is no need for legal representation with attendant legal costs, and
everybody is equal before the law. Justice was therefore accessible to all. The chief or the
king known by whatever title does not decide the case; he merely pronounces the judgement.
The practice is more like the jury system. Women and children regrettably were not allowed
to participate in such proceedings. Though this is a fly in the ointment the system could be
improved. After all in our era such is history. This traditional system allows women as co-
leaders in the leadership system.
The upshot of this contention is that in traditional societies there are norms and
values, practices and institutions that must be adopted and adapted to new conditions in our
search for a peculiar Nigerian democracy. Evidently traditional systems did involve people in
the decision-making processes, especially in those decisions that affected their lives, and
opinions were freely aired by equals among equals without any fear of prejudice or
retribution. They did not necessarily have to refer to such virtue as freedom of speech. The
unelected councils of the elders served as representatives of the larger society. That they were
not elected is consonant with kingship and chieftaincy all over the world. In Botswana, for
example, multiparty politics, which is the hallmark of democracy, flourished since before
independence. The basic traditional underpinnings have undoubtedly played a role. There is
the very important traditional system which encourages the free and open interaction so
important to a truly democratic system. To date Botswana is regarded as the most stable and
democratic state in Africa. Our argued conclusion is that Nigeria could fashion a democracy
peculiar to herself, informed by her history or tribal composition, and strongly prevalent
views towards federalism.
Conclusion
Page | 19
Garvey once said,
There comes a time in the life of everyone, as well as of races when we settle down to look
ahead and see what is before us. The Negro, making up his mind to look ahead, has before him
a very dark and gloomy future, brought about by his own neglect at a time when the
opportunity presented itself for him to engage himself in the undertakings of world re-
organization22.
While the re-organization that Garvey intended was at the United Nations level in the
aftermath of World War II, our interest is even more modest now. Our interest is in the re-
organization of our Nigerian politics in line with the demands of fairness, justice, equity,
love, dedication, and values that we can be proud to be remembered for by posterity. In our
distressed political environment, the dispossessed and the economic and social outcasts are
outside of the system and constitute a big challenge to leadership. Democracy as bequeathed
to the Nigerian state has not been very successful. There are two interpretations of democracy
that we may bear in mind here. First, we understand democracy (not “dem-all-crazy”, as Fela
Anikulapo Kuti said) as meaning that all who are affected by a decision should have a chance
to participate in making that decision, either directly or through their representatives, or two,
simply allowing the will of the majority to prevail. While in a homogenous society the latter
may recommend itself, in a multi-ethnic society it would seem that the first would be more
likely to be just to the interest of all concerned, while at the same time allaying the fears of
domination that some segments of the society may have.
Our understanding of leadership would indicate that we endorse, as the fountainhead,
as historical responsibility and as a temporary stopping place for this discussion, the views
expressed by Garvey. We would be able to defend this in philosophical and sociological (and
indeed historical) terms, as the soundness of the reasoning originating it would be borne out
by the good consequences or results of such commitment. He said:
Yet the thing that lives in history, the thing that goes to the credit of man, is not how much
wealth he has piled up for himself; is not how comfortable he has lived, but how good he has
done for the rest of humanity. The present world generally worships power, influence and
wealth. It is very easy to find sycophants who will fawn before such, and who will pay
unreasonable compliments; but those who encourage and help the poor are few, and when they
do engage themselves in such labour there is nothing else transient for them but
condemnation23.
Clearly, those who aspire to leadership should be those who are ruled by reason as
opposed to mere appetite or desire or bodily pleasure. As argued elsewhere above, they must
be masters of their own mind (inculcate in themselves a sense of self discipline) in order to be
masters of others. This is the point at which the followership is not only said to be reasonably
guided to a rational end, but that the leader is also wisely guided in the in the promotion of
the general common good. At this point, the thoughts of Chinua Achebe, comes to mind that,
no known human enterprise has flourished on the basis of sheepishly following the leaders.

22
Garvey Amy Jacques and E. U. Essien-Udom (eds.) More philosophy and opinions of Marcus Garvey.
London: Frank Cass: 1977, p115.
23
ibid, p118.
According to him, “the cliché that people get the leader they deserve is a useful exaggeration
though, it reminds the general populace of the need for vigilance in selecting their leaders
(where they have a chance to do so), and for keeping them under constant surveillance.”24.
Coming barely nine days after the anniversary of June 12, it behoves on us to end this
lecture with thoughts on the unfortunate event but in particular on the presumed winner of the
Page | 20
election Chief MKO Abiola. Without fear of contradiction, it may be said that Nigeria was
deprived of the opportunity of experiencing for once quality leadership from this true
Philosopher-King whose well package and straight-forward manifesto- Farewell to Poverty
would have given humanity reason for existence. In this regard, the Nigerian nation was
robbed of the rarefied service of an enlightened leadership. At 50 (fifty years of nationhood)
the Nigerian leadership necessarily needs a clean break away from the wasted and inglorious
past and the wasting present; a shameless and unambitious leadership that does not care if
there is no road leading to anywhere (not excluding their own villages), if the airports are the
filthiest in the world, if electricity remains in a perpetual state of coma, if there are no
hospitals to cater for the sick (not excluding their families that troop out daily to India for
treatment of mere cough), if food is not available on the table of the general populace, if
there are no jobs for school leavers, if the teaming population they rule over are educationally
backward/disadvantaged, if the nations they rule or govern are lagging in the comity of
nations, if their citizens have little or no respect and recognition in other countries, if card
carrying members of a ruling political party are members of Independent National Electoral
Commission(INEC) or State Independent Electoral Commission (SIEC)etc.
So the real problem posed by leadership is that of recruitment. It borders on the
question of how we secure the services of a good leader. Does it mean then that, like the
iroko tree, the great leader will grow where he will, and that the rest of us should just sit, put
our hand under our chin, stand with hand akimbo and wait? No! If we cannot compel
greatness in our leaders, we can at least demand basic competence. We can insist on good,
educated, leaders while we pray for great ones. It should border us that only four individuals
(one ceremonially) who have ruled Nigeria since independence fifty years ago has been a
university graduate. Even divine leaders have needed precursors to make straight their way!
In traditional monarchical systems such as we would today dismiss as anachronistic, there
were elite groups called king makers whose business was to keep an eye on all the eligible
princes, and choose the best when the time came. These king makers were specially qualified
by tradition and by knowledge of the history of the kingdom, and no less by being themselves
ineligible for selection so that they could be seen to be reasonably disinterested. Those of us
who often doubt that we could learn anything from our traditional systems and usages should
compare the scrupulousness of the king maker arrangement with the lack of it in our
elections!
The hope is expressed that, in the light of inter-textual relations between Nigeria’s
population groups, all Nigerians will perceive and accept as their own the historical situation
in which they find themselves together. It is then that a Nigeria free from the fear of the
domination of one social or tribal group by another will become possible. This process of
human integration is here referred to for convenience as Ayatutulization ( you may call it
Africanization). This philosophy of human integration is here suggested as a way out of our
24
Chinua Achebe,A. The Problem with Nigeria, 1966,p 106
leadership crisis. This is a process of injecting African value systems, concepts and ethics
into all our human ways and activities to liberate the Nigerian from mental passivity in which
he has been imprisoned by colonialism. To this end we invite universities, and indeed all
tertiary institutions to stand up and be counted as intellectual clinics for the de-entrapment of
the mind, the transmission of African culture and values, to effect the African cultural
Page | 21
renaissance and revolution.
This is the philosophy of AYATULISM; a philosophy of the new past and the old
future which aims to reconcile innovation with African knowledge system and to generate
ideas needed to take our transitional society to a new level of development awareness. It is a
political philosophy intent at inspiring the African mind and reforming the political and
educational institutions, economic systems, social, moral and spiritual values to suit the
religio-cultural milieu of the African peoples. This is the true search for an African identity
and the recognition of the environment in which that identity is sought so as to recreate an
informed relationship that enables us, Tiv, Yoruba Hausa Igbo, to conceptualize and
articulate Africa as one motherland. This ought to be done in our endeavor to affirm our
being, personhood and nationhood. This is the sure road to economic or political
development in Nigeria; a Cultural Revolution, or cultural renaissance. For any quantum
change requires new ideas to generate new perceptions of reality.
Fifty years of statehood in physical terms represents maturity in mass, thoughts and
words. Unfortunately though, our nation is still full of contradictions and absurdities and its
people are still notorious for indiscipline, lawlessness, greed, corruption, and many other
vices known to humanity. I am tempted to say on the last line that Nigeria as a mother has
reached the stage of menopause (intellectually, economically, politically and spiritually) from
whom nothing productive is/should be expected. I am also tempted to say here again that all
that I have said in this paper is nothing but “blowing big grammar”. I am not too sure any
government official who shares in the organised conspiracy against the masses will ever find
my thoughts reasonably compelling for reform in attitude than to commit it to the flames as
sophistry. True, Nigerian Universities and other centers with deep knowledge of national and
world issues cannot acquit themselves brilliantly of the sacred duty of acting as king makers
and or Gadflies in the past and the present, not selecting the king themselves, but spreading,
in advance, general enlightenment and a desire for excellence to those who will aspire to
leadership. Even the men and women from the ivory tower who have sallied into national
politics have had a rather dismal record and it is difficult, not impossible though, to recognize
the peculiar contribution of these men and women of ideas to national development. Many of
them have sadly cheapened themselves and eroded their prestige by trotting up and down
between the campus and the waiting rooms of the powerful, shamelessly vying for attention
and running down their colleagues for the entertainment of the politicians. We may conclude
finally that, at the old age of FIFTY, the maison Academia, citadels of knowledge and
wisdom have shamelessly but deservedly lost their luster, their mystique; and the squandered
the credibility which they had in such abundance at the time of independence up till the late
eighties. The challenge of leadership recruitment today therefore is no longer the big
grammar of the men and women of ideas but pragmatic action of the mass Nigerian
population for positive change. I dare say here therefore that, we know what we should do,
yet we refuse to do it. Instead we are constantly blowing big grammar all over the country
as if our problem stems from insufficient argument.
May I end this paper by likening leadership to mountain climbing;
As mountain climbing, leaders should learn how to turn problems into projects, difficulties into
dividends, obstacles into opportunities, tragedies into triumphs, adversaries into adventure,
Page | 22 and stumbling blocks into starting blocks or stepping stones.
In this jubilee year, we as a people must take a hard look at ourselves and ask
why good leadership which the Nigerian nation deserves to get from its leaders has
eluded us for fifty years running in order to produce that salt which the nation relies on
to drop into the boiling pot of Nigerian leadership meal. Like Booker T. Washington
in the Atlanta Compromise Speech of 1995, I dare to pass this injunction to my
compatriots who sorrow over bad leadership: “Cast down your bucket where you are.”
I would say for the second, third and fourth time: “Cast down your bucket where you
are”—Cast it down in the wise choice of your leaders, in exposing corruption, in
counting every vote and in making every votes count, in strengthening trade unions,
professional bodies, students’ movement and other civil society organizations and
empowering them to transform the face of politics. A similar position has been
canvassed by Comrade Adams Oshiomole that, “the people need to get better
organised now and in the future, to mobilize politically, defend their votes, confront
unpopular policies and organize to defend their rights and welfare….to develop viable
strategies to engage the abundant civic energy in our people and translate it into
political gains for their benefit”25 While doing this, you can be sure in the future, as in
the past which you and your families and your nation will not, as it were substitute for
the vain and dangerous search for more power. It is in the enlightened self interest of
the elites, our class, to recognise the interests and rights of the poor. For a government
that cannot protect the poor cannot also protect the rich.

May God Bless Nigeria.

25
Comrade Adams Aliyu Oshiomhole, The Challenge of Consolidating Democracy in Nigeeria: The Role of
Labour, Lecture Delivered at the Convocation Ceremony of the Benue State University, Makurdi, April23,2010

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