Nigeria’s Leaders Must Go
They are financial leeches, and they are killing us with their failures.
Let us all be honest, Northern politicians weeping for the South are shedding crocodile tears. Yet, although they are not saints, they are right.
Recent comments from men like Ahmad Sani Yarima, the former governor of Zamfara State, are poignant reminders that addressing constitutional issues alone won’t solve all of the nation’s issues.
Southerners DO indeed feel poorly represented by their leaders. They’d rather not be led by warmongers and narcissists who happen to be championing their cause. But they DO want equity in Nigeria. If that’s not possible, then they want independence. Yet, there remains a pervasive feeling amongst them that their leaders have, on the whole, been too subservient to the North.
Until recently, these Southern leaders were happy enough with the status quo, so long as it benefited their selfish ambitions and bank accounts. So, even though many of them are finally jumping on the constitutional restructuring bandwagon, they’ve left it too late. IPOB and similar groups have filled a political void left wanting for far too long. Now, the masses perceive them as the only organisations speaking truth to power about their marginalisation. There’s also a general belief that it is these militant groups, not mainstream politicians, that a growing number of influential voices are now calling for restructuring.
So, what then, in actual fact, is the difference between these Southern leaders and their Northern counterparts in the federal government? Little — their approach to leadership is almost identical. The impact of one is more regional in scope, while the other is more national. However, both are bleeding the country dry.
Nonetheless, 9 out of 15 of Nigeria’s heads of states have been from the North and not by chance or merit alone. Northerners have held on to real power in the country, even during democratic periods. So when their leaders dismiss calls for restructuring by highlighting poor leadership in the South, they merely engage in whataboutism. But, in choosing not to challenge critics of the constitution, they are tacitly admitting the political status quo is stacked up in their favour.
This advantage, lest we forget, was not achieved via democratic means. They seized it with military force through their winner-takes-it-all approach to governing after the civil war and via a series of military coups. Since then, Southern leaders have danced to their tune, usually at the expense of the people they had been elected to serve. But that is not unusual amongst a conquered people. In the absence of hope, the oppressed will often bow to their oppressors. In a bid to restore some semblance of dignity, individuals will sometimes seek from their masters whatever advantage they can gain over their fellow brothers and sisters in bondage.
Some Northern leaders, undoubtedly, found themselves in a similar position during British Colonial rule. But then, we were all Nigerians. We were all part of an empire ruled, not by a democratic government we had elected, but by an alien force that came to plunder, divide and conquer. We were not at one with the British and could never be, given their colonial policies towards Africans.
Today, one part of the nation feels as though it is facing another alien force. This time though, their perceived enemies are fellow Nigerians who continue to treat them like a conquered people rather than equal citizens. Now, after 51 years of marginalisation, their beginning to find their status as second-class citizens unbearable. They are beginning to feel like a nation under occupation are rebelling against it, which is understandable.
Is the North alone to blame? No, every region has had a hand in our country’s gradual slip towards anarchy. But there’s no hiding from the fact that if Northerners really want to unite the country, and many of them do, then their leaders will have to change their attitude towards the South.
Brute force may quell calls for Odudwa, Biafra and other independent states temporarily. However, it will also lead to more bloodshed and deeper divisions, and in the end, Nigeria’s development and unity will continue to be hampered indefinitely by talk of separation.
The North, therefore, has to agree to the restructuring of the constitution. But for such an accord to yield fundamental positive changes, both sides will need to ensure a revamped constitution isn’t simply going to hand over individual state coffers to a handful of corrupt leaders.
That is why those of us clamouring for change through peaceful dialogue should also be calling for new leaders. The Governor-Senate-Minister (GSM) circuit a handful of our politicians have created and monopolised for themselves for so long must go. Ex-military dictators should have no say in our democracy, and leaders who have failed us once in office should not be given a second chance to fail us again.
It is a tragedy that despite the size of our population and the wealth of talent we have in the country, we keep recycling the same group of leaders every four years, hoping for better outcomes.
