|
My Treatise on Managing Political Capital and Power By Leonard Shilgba, Ph.D.
Power possessed without a clear idea and vision on the appropriate manner of efficacious deployment for the common public, national and international good will prove a devastating burden in the end. Good politicians always have a blueprint for expenditure of political capital in possession and develop such blueprint well in advance of the possession.
I do not wholly accept the cliché that “Power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely” any more than I agree that “money is the root of all evil”. In the latter dictum, the key definitive word missing is love. So, it is truer that “the love of money is the root of all evil”. The former statement therefore, will be truer in the injection of a kind of base passion. Thus, it would be more fitting to say, “Blind and barren passion for power corrupts absolutely”. By barren passion, I mean an unfruitful passion that does no altruistic good, neither to the local community and nation nor the international community; blind, because it is visionless. It is this quality that is damaging the most.
Blind and barren passion for power puts a burden on the victim who must keep re-inventing himself to maintain relevance. In Africa, the power of raw money is diligently and carefully exploited to build a colony of lackeys, minions, boot-lickers, and sycophants who are always ready to stoutly defend their political (money) masters until a higher bidder buys them over. That is why money loyalty is transient; and the sustenance of it is very costly, requiring a limitless purse that can only be guaranteed by graft and sleaze if the master lacks credible means and lines of wealth generation.
Any follower-ship that is not influenced by an ideology and pristine or uncommon vision proves a catastrophic burden and liability to the Head figure. The followers are unclear about what the Head wants to do and over shoots with their mouth in the blind passion and zeal to please. This error unwittingly buries the master deeper in political quagmire. In their unbridled but unintelligible zeal, they give away too much information than is presently safe. This costs the master dearly, politically and otherwise.
In this age of information technology and communication, only informed and intelligent followers can be true assets to a man who will succeed in the game of politics. But the man can only attract his kind.
Too much noise in a political camp is an indication of weakness. Silence and choice utterances are a symptom of great political strength and wisdom, or at least suggestive; and in politics, perception is truth. In much talking we offend a lot and err aplenty. We may even alienate otherwise good admirers. The mistake made by political talkers is in their erroneous thinking that verbal threats are veritable scarecrows; they are not. A sagacious group of political rivals can read a lot about their opponents given to too much talk. Studied silence is an art that political masters in Nigeria need to learn.
Blackmail is an old tactic both in politics and business. It has been used by many over many centuries to disarm both perceived and true opponents and rivals. It has been used to negotiate better terms. When a stained politician -either by entrapment or unforced choice-is confronted with their “sins”, they have no choice but to beat the path of retreat if they cherish perceived public honor.
What can a politician, hungry for power, do when confronted with their underhand deals (or allegations thereof) and suddenly find themselves on the weak side of the game? Compromise is a response. But a politician so confronted need not yield in a hurry; the opponents may only be fishing. They may not have the evidence of their claims. He may momentarily call off the bluff until he is otherwise assured. Besides, he may need to enquire if the opponents may not smear themselves in the sling of the blackmail muck, and what degree of smear that would be and would they dare? Then compromise is the last option.
Always allow your political enemies an honorable exit from the scene. If your enemy realizes they have all to lose and nothing to gain; if their honor is irredeemably threatened, the demons in them will be unleashed. Two things that consistently restrain a normal man are self-respect and hope. When these are done a deadly blow, a spooky monster is born. A country that must develop on a continuously ascending scale needs not have too many monsters.
When almost all the leaders of a nation are suspected to be corrupt and untrustworthy, so are the majority of her citizens. Corruption is not simply the actual use of public and corporate influence for private gain, but also an inward kindred disposition awaiting the opportunity. Leadership is a mirror of society. It is the face of the nation. As significant as leadership is, and great as its responsibility for national growth is, the point must not be missed that today’s leadership was yesterday’s follower-ship. Corruption in leadership is directly proportional to its level in the follower-ship; the cumulative distillation of it is nevertheless in the leadership. It must be said then that a corrupt people will never encourage their leaders to fight it; rather, they fight the leader who attempts to fight it, however subtle, even using cynicism and mockery. Scare tactics are generally used by the class so threatened. So, as a nation makes her bed, so they will lie on it.
We must never relax on our responsibility as followers with the mere comfort that we are not leaders. In any case, each of us is a leader in our right. Our collective impact on foreign perception is tremendous. Nigerians in the Diaspora, for instance, are more visible than a few diplomatic staff posted by the Federal government of Nigeria on diplomatic missions. We interact so much with foreigners in our host countries.
In July this year, I was in Vienna Austria. I observed during my stay there that black Africans did not appear as friendly towards or excited at seeing a fellow black man as their counterparts in Japan where I live, who would usually give a smile or acknowledge each other when they meet on trains, at train stations, shopping malls, on the street etc. One day, I met some black men at a tourist show at Stephansplatz, who turned out to be Nigerians. I asked them why black people in Vienna didn’t seem so amiable. They told me that it was because of “frustration”, that it was hard to conveniently save as much as 200 Euro a month. They went on to tell me that if an average Austrian knew you were a Nigerian, they would keep a distance.
One of them told me his landlord had been severally told to send him packing just because he is a Nigerian. “What are you doing in Austria?” I asked him. He told me he was looking for Asylum. “What for and from what?” I prodded. He said he was running from sharia in Nigeria. On enquiry, this young man comes from Kogi state Nigeria. I am not aware that there is sharia in Kogi state. And even if there were and this young man didn’t like to reside in a sharia state for some personal reasons, there are many states in Nigeria where sharia is not legalized that he could have moved to instead of portraying Nigeria in bad light before foreigners.
Back in my hotel room, I turn on the television and see on the CNN a documentary on asylum seekers in Hong-Kong. They show a Nigerian called Damian, living in a slum of squalor that millions of his fellow Nigerians don’t live in at home. I wonder why Nigerians are prepared to suffer all sorts of indignities in foreign lands than suffer even less back home. An easy answer will be the refrain, “bad leadership”. We have been blinded to the fact that we the followers keep supplying the kind we detest so much. Until our attitudes are changed, we shouldn’t keep blaming “leadership”.
I take this position responsibly. If I smuggle banned goods into Nigeria and contribute in killing available industries, I have no right to blame government for not providing enough jobs. If through my dubious actions in my dealings with foreigners, they are now afraid to do business even with genuine Nigerian business community, I have no right to complain of corruption in the upstairs. If I spend all my money in foreign lands and do not send significant amounts back home, I should not complain of lack of productivity and jobs for our graduates. Filipinos in the Diaspora remit home about $9 billion every year; they are trusted abroad because they are faithful. Their government may be corrupt, but no where do foreigners live suspicious of them as they are of Nigerians.
The name Nigeria has been blasphemed because of us Nigerians, especially those of us in the Diaspora who interact more with foreigners than Nigerians at home do. We have lied against her and committed so much crime abroad that genuine Nigerian business folks are being frustrated in their attempts to increase the level of production back home and generate employment for fellow Nigerians. Our activities abroad in our relationship with foreigners have cast a slur on the name Nigeria. This name has been soiled not so much by thieving leaders as by scamming Nigerians. And an honorable name, they say is better than gold. Some foreign banks refuse remittance to bank accounts in Nigeria because of the criminal activities of Nigerians, mostly in the Diaspora.
Nation building is not only the task of political leaders, although we have lived with this lie for decades and refused to change this thinking; it is also the common responsibility of business leaders and the entire citizenry. When I read some articles by supposedly enlightened Nigerians, and all they do is go on pontificating on “failed state”, “bad leadership”, etc deliberately refusing to balance things up by acknowledging positive developments, and then pointing out areas that need further attention, I see our problem as a nation. Who tells us that we are safe and secure in foreign lands? Some Nigerians have dual citizenship and have this attitude like “If Nigeria fails, I have an alternative”.
I have written before that we remain despised abroad so long as we give Nigeria a bad name by our acts, and do not contribute in cleaning the muck or at least supporting those who are doing so. Fault-finding and meticulous research to discover that deficiency without practical suggestions is our undoing. A country with more fault-finders than solution seekers and responsibility-takers must wait much longer for the connection flight to Utopia. Some of us have the strange idea that commendation of credible acts of governance amounts to compromise. Nothing can be farther from the truth.
I am pleased that a new crop of leaders is rising up in every field in Nigeria and private Universities are emerging with innovative curricula for mind development and confidence enhancement. Men and women of ideas, information, and knowledge will dominate the landscape with time. Politicians who line up behind money bags will soon realize the limits of money politics and politics of sycophancy. An increasingly informed populace becomes difficult to sway with bare sophistry. The media in Nigeria is being faced with the challenge to update their style of journalism if they will satisfy an increasingly informed and enlightened readership who reads between the lines and hunts for back up information on the web.
May I ask this question: What is in 2007 in Nigeria? Why are supposedly enlightened people making so much noise about the “perceived Presidential 3rd term ambition”? I am baffled when I see the unbelievable alternation between sublimity and utter puerility seen in our elite. Maybe in our anxiety, we ascribe to political figures powers they do not have, and to the legislature inherent follies and degrees of subservience we suspect. Then, we contradict ourselves thoughtlessly. Can the President of Nigeria go for a “3rd term” without constitutional amendment? Is the legislature-both National and State-so subservient to Mr. President as to amend the Constitution as procedurally as enshrined in section 9 of the existing Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in order to allow him a third term? Should we therefore exert our energy on this debate? If at all, had we rather not wait at the gates of the legislature at both levels? We cannot stop the flow of a stream at the course but source.
But there is this claim that the Vice-President, who is reportedly opposed to a perceived 3rd term for Mr. President, has so much influence and enjoys so much goodwill in the National Assembly. Logically then, the Constitution can never be amended to favor a 3rd term for the President. Why then this cacophony of noises against a 3rd term for Mr. President, if it is not for some hidden mischief in the society? Do we expect the military to give Mr. President a military 3rd term rule? This is the only 3rd term for Mr. President outside legislative amendment that is remotely possible.
But if the legislature (at both levels) can somehow amend the Constitution in accordance with section 9 to give the President a 3rd term, then who in Nigeria can correctly say the 3rd term so allowed is “unconstitutional”? What defines constitutionality in a nation if not her Constitution? The use of language should be taught and studied in our educational institutions. We use language in Nigeria without listening to what we say. A good talker must listen to himself and analyze what he and others say.
It is obvious therefore that, opponents of a 3rd Presidential term must take their pre-emptive fight to the right battle field. They must change their tactics. I however, suspect that for many, it is not so much a fight against a perceived 3rd term as where the next President should come from.
To manage our political capital well, we must know the times and seasons for each move. To manage power well, the leader must feel the people he leads, and let them feel him when they can’t see the good he is trying to do. Blindness on the part of the people produces so much unnecessary tension. But this can be partially cured through plenty of information. However, when for some inexplicable reason the people refuse to understand, the leader must trundle on and leave history to judge. Political capital and true political power therefore cannot be successfully managed by cowards and men-pleasers. If followers always understand where the leader is going, he is not a leader. He may try to explain for them to know only so much as is necessary. He is the true leader who sees first, has more information, while the majority of the led keep having nostalgia for the Egyptian cucumber and garlic of yesteryears.
Leonard Karshima Shilgba, PhD Yokohama. Japan.
|