Given how much we deify the Late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, how come we never voted a man comparable only to perhaps Mandela to become our democratically elected President ? He offered himself more than once! I shall tell you why. Contrary to the saintly and incorruptible image now painted of him, his contemprories in the political system obviously didnt see him that way. They probably saw a sectionalist or at worse a desperado. That answer doesnt satisfy you ? Well, me neither. But I dont want to believe that theres a grand conspiracy among our political elites to keep the best hand away from the presidential job. It is a hard swallow for me to concede that certain people actually profits from the continued under-development of this country. So please, manage my explanation. But wait, We had elections. We had a chance to decide. We as the electorate and by far the truest reflection of what we want could have upturned such conspiracy if indeed it existed. But no, we didnt. Instead, we voted against our conscience. We have to accept that we voted against our conscience or that Pa Awolowo was never as fantastic as he has been painted. And since thankfully, Awolowos records are not feats of some distant extinct past we have no access to, it is safe to conclude that even though Baba was human and fallible, he was the closest to fantastic we had as a leader. Yet, we didnt consider him good enough for the top job. Why ? Lets examine a line of thought triggered by Chioma, who commented on one of my Facebook posts recently. She was of the opinion that even if Buhari wins the next general election, ( ah, my Jonathanian friends are saying God forbid already.*laughs ) Nigerians for who we are will still complain and grumble for a change four years after. She lamented that since our Independence ( an untimely one in my unapologetic opinion ) we have always complained of every regime or administration only to appreciate them when another government takes over the reins of power ( with the exemption of perhaps the Abacha regime ) This objective view got me pondering about our sins as followers. We suffer from what I call chronic penchant for discontentment. We never appreciate the people that govern us nor encourage those that offer themselves up for service. We have taken the chieftancy title of one who does not, and yet disallows others. The only time we obey the yoruba adage giving praise to provoke more is when we regal ourselves in the toga of sycophancy. An act typical of any election period. We dont know what we want. We are indecisive. We just enjoy to have our share of complaints. This is not how to motivate the good apples among our leaders. How do you motivate a single man who has chosen to be unpolluted in the midst of badness if collective condemnation and ingratitude is all he gets for all his efforts? Such person would sooner convince himself of the futility in goodness and join the attractive crowd. I strongly suspect this is how we have found ourselves in the present dearth of men of integrity in our political system. We have given our leaders more reasons to lack faith in us. We have shown without knowing it that we are not worth sacrificing for. The same Obasanjo we despised is the one we now look towards for national direction. The same Yar adua we rubbished as unfit and unhealthy, we now adore in death. In fact the same Buhari we vilified as mean and dictatorial, we now laud as the only alternative change. Im not a seer but even if Jonathan ceases to preside next year, I give us two years as a people before we start missing his free hand. Such is the audacity of our hypocrisy and levity of our chronic penchant for discontentment. Someone who has never offered himself for service would be reveling in armchair criticism. What exactly is our problem ? Adedayo OlaOluwa fisayo aka Ogbeni La writes from the Sunshine state
Posted on: Fri, 19 Dec 2014 09:23:41 +0000