The Problem With Nigeria Is Not Leadership

BENJAMIN OBIAJULU ADUBA

The problem with Nigeria is not leadership.. There could be a small leadership problem but it is not the major problem. This statement probably sounds blasphemous to some but come with me.

1.   Who elects these leaders?
2.   Who implements their agenda?
3.   Who misleads the people via press conferences?
4.   Has anybody seriously opposed the direction the leaders are/were heading?
5.   How many “clean hands” do we have in the population from taxi drivers to street police and soldiers to teachers and counselors?
6.   Do we know the perpetrators? Have we reported them?
7.   Have we protested?

The above is just a short list of questions that we need to answer before placing the entire blame on leadership.

The real problem with Nigeria is followership. Nigerians follow the leaders like sheep being led to the slaughter house. Very few people resist following. Let me point to a few examples. Compare the activities of the students at Florida High School since the shooting to the reaction by kidnapped Chibok and Dapchi High School girls and their parents. One has decided to take on the President, the VP, and the much feared NRA. They have forced the Florida Legislature to enact laws for stricter gun regulations. The other sat patiently while the President passed the buck to traditional rulers.

The Legislature is supposed to be a check on the Executive and the Judiciary is supposed to be a check on both. Will anyone swear that anyone is checking anybody in Nigeria? The press is supposed to be the eyes and the ears of “we the people”. But who is protecting the hoodlums?

How about the elite? We see on these forums the positions of our intellectual elites who for all practical purposes have secured their last meals yet are not able to say a word about the return of Dapchi girls in broad day light without any questions being asked.

We can blame the leadership all we want but if we let them lead us to the slaughter houses we will be killed and eaten just as we do the sheep and goats of our farms.