OPPRESSORS OR LEADERS IN NIGERIA?

By Chidi Aloysius Nwosu (Abia writers)
Edited by Livingrich Ezeikpe
At my silent times, I kept asking myself, “In this country called Nigeria, do we have leaders or oppressors”? I tried to look at the characteristics of good leaders from other countries of the world and then compared them with what is found in Nigeria, and came to realize that there is a huge difference between the leaders in the other countries of the world and what is found in Nigeria, and conclude that what is found in Nigeria may better be called oppressors and not leaders.

First, it is only in Nigeria that you can see a leader, be it incumbent or otherwise who wants to win election by all means including using money to lure the already impoverished members of the public to vote for him; the recent election in Anambra state, where there was clear money politics is a good example. About thirty seven political parties participated in the election, the bigger parties that have looted the common treasuries, including people’s democratic party (PDP), All Progressive Congress (APC) and the incumbent party, All progressive grand alliance (APGA) were distributing money to the electorates, to the tune of five thousand to ten thousand naira each to make the electorates to vote for them.

At the end of the election, there was no clear winner, the parties summoned themselves to a meeting to declare the highest bidder the winner of the election and it went to the incumbent governor Willie Obiano of All Progressive Grand Alliance the winner of the election. But in other countries elections are conducted without sharing money to the electorates but only won on the basis of the parties or personal manifestoes.

Secondly, it is only in Nigeria that the parliaments are rubber stamps for the executive. The parliamentarians make laws that favour themselves, the president, ministers and other government functionaries. They never enacted laws that favour the masses. If a bill that favours the masses is presented in the house, it never saw the light of the day; either it stops at the plenary or at the first reading, the constitution that was claimed to be amended but was never amended is a clear instance.

Thirdly, the third arm of government-the judiciary is being used by the executives to pass judgment in cases to favour the politicians to the detriment of the masses. If the judges refuse to pass judgment in their favour, the executive sends security agencies such as the department for security services (DSS), economic and financial crimes commission (EFCC) to arrest the judges. This can be seen in the cases that led to the arrest of Justice Ademola of the Federal High Court. He was arrested for setting the leader of the Indigenous People of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu free. Another example is the arrest of Justice Nwokolo of Federal High Court. He was arrested because he passed judgment that favoured the opposition and the masses at the election tribunal.

It is therefore clear that what Nigeria has is oppressors and not leaders. They oppress the masses, the innocents and the armless; a thing, which does not happen in other countries of the world, little wonder the leader of the Indigenous People Of Biafra, Mazi Nnamdi Kanu called Nigeria a Zoo and President Trump called her shithole.