Leadership by Intimidation

Leadership by Intimidation: Need for a Better Approach

Victor E. Dike

This article highlights the combative and intimidating behavior that is prevalent in the present Chief Obasanjo regime. Instead of addressing the concern of the people he has resorted to insulting, bullying, and intimidating them. Mis (using) his official position to get what he wants has not created a good environment for peaceful dialog with the civil society. Since his leadership by intimidation and blackmail is not working, there is need for a better approach. The people should be respectfully carried along in every policy actions in a democracy (defined as government of the people) without threats and intimidation-that is, without the automatic ‘my way or the highway’ attitude.

His rabid behavior of hauling insult, discourtesy, overreacting and disrespecting others, arbitrariness in policy decisions and playing a thin god, has succeeded only in creating discontents in the society. Often Nigerians are subjected to his embarrassing outbursts at a time he should sympathize with them. We cannot keep tabs of his vulgarity, but OBJ stunned the world on Jan 28, 2002 when he lashed out on the apparently unruly individuals displaced by the bomb explosions at Ikeja Cantonment. To the angry crowd that needed his sympathy he yelled: "shut up. I took the opportunity of being here to see what could be done. I don't need to be here.... After all, the Governor of the state is here, the General Officer Commanding Two Division and the Brigade Commander as well as the Police Commissioner are all here. I really don't need to be here" (The Guardian, Jan 31, 2002 ). No political leader makes such insensitive, crude, and rude remarks in any advanced and truly democratic society without serious political consequences.

This type of vulgarity and incivility, as I have pointed out elsewhere, shows that he lacks the leadership skills to lead Nigeria . Some years ago at a town hall meeting in Atlanta , Georgia , OBJ hauled his infamous “go to hell” insult at a Nigerian who needed an explanation to a report that he said the Igbos should be grateful for what they were benefiting in Nigeria . The recent episode in Plateau State over the religious crisis that engulfed the state where he verbally insulted the state chair of the Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN) who question his motives shows that he is incorrigible. At Rev Pam he yelled, “What type of leader are you? And you are asking me this type of rubbish question. You are an idiot. You are total idiot…” (Vanguard, May 14, 2004 ). His inability of self-restraint shows he does not have any shred of decency.

He lashed out at a crowd of local chiefs and others from the oil-producing Akwa Ibom State that were asking for a lion share of the nation’s oil wealth during the 2003 political campaign. The participants at the political meeting felt insulted when OBJ barked at them: “If you say the major resource you produce is oil then you are lazy” (Reuters, 03/11/2003 ). He was also credited to have said that the people from the oil producing area agitating for resource control would not have been alive today if Biafra had seceded. And he was recently credited to have described Lagos as an ‘urban jungle’ (ThisDay 28/ 05/ 2004). The more I think about his gaffs and insensitive remarks the harder it becomes for me to accept him as a leader. A true leader always guards against vulgar utterances and feels the pulse of the people. Each time there is a problem in the society he rushes out to assign culpability with little or no investigation. During the 6-month ASUU strike actions OBJ blamed university teachers for the low standard of education in the system. Oddly, nothing works in Nigeria , as they should, because his regime is not serious in dealing with the myriad problems facing the nation.

His autocratic tendency does not allow him to follow court orders. As always, for instance, he has been adamant at the Federal High Court order in Abuja to revert to the pre-strike fuel price. But, OBJ who is the Petroleum Minister and the President, does not seem to care whether his economic policies are working or not, as unemployment and poverty, bribery and corruption and other social contingencies are still making live difficult for the masses. As Dan Millman’s “Way of the Peaceful Warrior” would say, Nigeria is now “peopled with minds, whirling faster than any wind, in search of distraction and escape from the predicament of change, the dilemma of life and death-seeking purpose, security, enjoyment, trying to make sense of the mystery” and misery.

Thus, OBJ’s leadership by intimidation has been counterproductive, as his sociopolitical and economic policies have not been taking care of the peoples’ needs. In a truly democratic society the leader would listen to the voices of the people and would not impose its policies on them. But ours is different -OBJ does whatever pleases his ego no matter what others may suffer. The sycophants are cheering and jeering even if he commits a constitutional blunder. That was the case when he declared a state of emergency in Plateau State and suspended all the elected officials.

When the NLC was gearing up for the recent strike action against the arbitrary fuel price increases, Chief Audu Ogbeh warned that the planned strike action could “provoke” ‘The Almighty and The Omnipotent’ OBJ, as it was to him ‘a declaration of war’ (Daily Champion, June 8, 2004). One wonders from where he read (or who taught him) that a civil protest in a democracy is ‘a declaration war.’ Chief Ogbeh seems to be leaving in a different planet. Chief Obasanjo’s actions speak volume; feelings and not values seem to have been driving his autocratic behaviors. Now OBJ is apparently routing to converting Nigeria into a one-party state. For instance, he recently said: “I believe that the PDP will rule this country for the next 30 years…. I will work for it and I am ready to die for it…” (Daily Independent, June 17, 2004 ). The sordid state of affairs in the society, which has in part been created by the PDP, does not seem to bother him. And he does not care what becomes of Nigeria as long as his ego is satisfied. But he should understand that good leadership entails doing the right things. As Aristotle had noted ‘We are what we repeatedly do.’

Whenever the labor unions make a demand OBJ resorts to harassing them with the police and the SSS. As we are all aware, he has been at logger-jam with the ‘Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) over arbitrary increase in fuel prices, and with ASUU over inadequate funding for government owned tertiary institutions. As a result, labor agitation has often traumatized the nation. And oppositions are paralyzed by fear of retribution, because OBJ has cast away the ethical principle of respect, which states that we owe each other respect or regard as human beings. As a leader, he is expected to respect the opinion of others, and not to insult them, even if their views are contrary to his.

A true leader would endeavor to determine the causes of social discontents when the people are complaining. However, OBJ lacks a simple human relation’ approach that could solve many of our problems. This deficiency has prevented him from appreciating the under-laying causes of the peoples’ anger. In addition, it seems he does not understand that the ‘basic task of leadership is to increase the standard of living and the quality of life for all stakeholders’ (Covey 1989). And a good leader weighs the pros and cons of any policy action, and act with restraint if the harmful effects outweigh the benefits, and use appropriate policies to ameliorate their sufferings. But OBJ’s authoritarian ‘win/lose’ leadership mentality has not allowed him to seriously look into the peoples’ welfare. Thus, the peoples’ trust on him has waned; in other words, he has overdrawn the peoples’ ‘Emotional Bank Account’ thereby creating a culture of low trust in his administration (ibid.) As mentioned, understanding why the citizens are angry is the first step toward solving their problems. With that, economic hardship has often redirected their frustrations into violence. And the politicians and their political parties are not helping matters.

In advanced and truly democratic societies, political parties are built on and are committed to their ideologies. As we are aware, political parties in Nigeria are not operating on any ideological framework to tackle the nation’s sociopolitical and economic problems. The politicians are selfish and greedy and are incapable of effecting positive social changes in the society. However, we can’t restraint their greed without the ability to decide who governs us. They lack ideas and solutions to our problems. Consequently, many have no job and no hope; and the unending fuel strike actions and ethno-religious crises have added to their misery. The police have been crude and rude and perceive everyone as a criminal. The number of innocent citizens that have been killed by the police and security force runs into thousands.

As the management guru and philosopher, Peter Drucker, states in The Effective Executive ‘the effectiveness of a modern society and its ability to perform, perhaps even its ability to survive, depend increasingly on the effectiveness of the people who work as executives in the organization’. Any person with two eyes and common sense to assess issues in the society knows that OBJ’s leadership by intimidation is not working. Therefore, for him to move the nation forward and leave a good legacy he should make a “paradigm shift” (change the way he perceives, understands, and interprets his policy choices). In other words, he should adopt a new and better approach, and work on the root causes of our national problems. In addition, he should take preventive steps that to keep our sociopolitical problems from developing into national crises. If he is proactive (driven by values) and not reactive (driven by feelings) -see Covey 1989 - the problems facing the nation will shrink to a manageable level. There is no short cut to this; as it has been said, ‘you always reap what you sow!’

Victor E. Dike, CEO, Center for Social Justice and Human Development (CSJHD), in Sacramento, California, is the author of Nigeria and the Politics of Unreason: A Study of the Obasanjo Regime [London: Adonis & Abbey Publishers, Nov 20, 2003].