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To understand the personality failure of General Sani Abacha the most corrupt and cruel political leader Africa has ever produced, one needs to examine the three types of minds that Niccolo Machiavelli addressed in his classical book on political renaissance in Italy during his time.
Perhaps these minds are deeply rooted in accounting for the success and failure of any political leader of our own time too.
In his book titled: “The Prince”, Machiavelli placed much emphases on leadership success and failure to the resultant effect of the type of mind possessed by a leader. According to him, there are three types of minds and one thinks:
a) about itself
b) about others
c) neither about itself nor others.
He said however that the first of the minds is not defective but the most healthy one because it will help the leader in the choice of his cabinet to select those that will maintain his reputation.
For him, a mentally active gentleman would likely think about his image and the effect of disrupting it. With this self-thinking mind, he will go far from selfishness to make perfectionist and in his administrative policies, he will grossly excelled as a leader.
While this is true, few Nigerians in politics today think much about their images and reputations. Many do not even believe in any personal virtue. This is responsible for the myriads of misrule in governance of this country and the prime motivator of the political saying; “if you can’t beat them; you join them”.
Another cause of leadership failure due to lack of this mind of thinking is that it has succeeded in choosing politics as a career and corruption as the way of life for some people.
Not until recently that change of government was able to prove to some people that to loot public funds is a national disgrace rather than bagging home national medal. Few realise till today that they have this mind to think about themselves which is honourable.
Coming to the second type of mind, the mind that thinks about others. Machiavelli eloquently said it is honourable for a leader to think much about others by taking into consideration of what the people will feel if this is that or that is this. By this, the people will be able to evaluate the government’s policy in relation to their welfare.
The people will give favourable nods to a just policy and when it is unjust, they will attacked it by every possible means in proportionate to the harshness of the policy.
A leader who has this kind of mind is thought sympathetic and would be sympathised with by the people when anything happens to him by the force to which the people have no control over. I have cause to reason this kind of mind will make a best leader that would be worshiped and adored from generation to generation making him a Hero.
However, the last of the minds is that which thinks neither about itself nor others. It is said that such a mind is dead and not useful at all even to that man on the street.
The mind is said to be defective and dead chiefly because is unproductive in leadership. A leader who possesses such a mind is said to be half-dead and half-living and will breed cabinet that will help him ruin himself by way of meting harsh policies on the people.
A leader with this mind can make no difference in whichever system of government he finds himself. Since all men are alike, in military, he is at best a beast, a dictator arresting oppositions, violating the fundamental rights of the citizens and meting harsh economic policies that will pursue the poor to their graves. He rules with frustration and will not hesitate to incarcerate even an infant.
General Sani Abacha matches the best example of a political leader who has this kind of mind just discussed in the politics of Africa. This is because he lacked the first two minds above but was richly blessed with the last.
Now I believe it is understood the factor responsible for the personality failure of Sani Abacha. I move forward to discuss the danger of such seed if planted in democratic government.
So what happen if a political leader who by fortune found himself in democracy with this ill-fainted mind? I will answer that sharply since I am not theorising.
Democracy is said to be a decent form of government. It is decent not because it does not have its own flaws. In fact, to Plato, this form of government can decline from decency to anarchy. Here is the reason why Plato could not belief anything called democracy; for it succeeded in execution of his most adored teacher Socrates. He therefore condemned democracy for the incompetent and ignorance of politicians which is as a result of the marred mind Machiavelli said as pointed out earlier.
Having seen the danger, I do not however by my own belief have any preference to democracy as a form of government because the people to Cicero may be ignorant but they can recognise truth and yield it if a
trustworthy man comes forward to enlighten them. It therefore suffices to say that they will hold themselves accountable if they deviate from the preaching of such a man. The consequence is what they will bear alone!
But because democracy cannot be guaranteed without rule of law, I dare say it is bound to be marred sometimes especially in a country like Nigeria where the laws are what the Supreme court said they are. Since corruption chops all arms of government, I fear gravely democracy in Nigeria for election may be won at the pools but victory can be bought from the court.
This is however nothing new in contemporary politics of Nigeria while in Kogi state, her cases are always not different.
From the political experiences between the Ex-Governors: Prince Abubakar Audu and Ibrahim Idris, to Idris Wada and Prince Abubakar Audu; these cases are all interesting but in the end the stories always end sad for the innocent Kogites who became the receiving ends melted with hardship due to legal expenditures and they would spend time to govern with many excuses about their inability to pay workers’ salaries and to undertook tangible capital projects.
That is how Kogi has lost it in the past.
Coming to the present administration of Yahaya Bello, the drama started like a joke.
When Prince Abubakar the obvious winner of the November 21st 2015 died before the conclusion of the election, although almost 95 percent of the votes were cast but the election was declared inconclusive in consideration of the remaining 5 percent votes, the incumbent Bello was used to replaced Audu through the lacuna in the constitution.
However, Bello was the first runner up of the APC primary as he secured votes of six hundred Kogites in the party. The question although laid to rest now is the issue of democracy and not legitimacy. It is of course settled before now that Bello is a legitimate Governor of Kogi state and I will accept him for that but he however does not have the mandate of Kogi people to rule them for Kogi have above one million voters. May be that is the reason why he
does not care whose oze is gore.
Given that as a government without test of democracy, what are we likely to call such? May be anything you can imagine. But ever since the emergence of Bello, the state has been witnessing surplus problems one of which is the nonpayment of salaries to some workers which has led to closure of all tertiary institutions in the state for more than
three months now.
It is well enough that all the tertiary institutions have locked thousand students who are indigenes of Kogi state. Frustrated by the actions, the students of Kogi State University, Anyigba protested to the state capital on 24th April while on 26th April was followed by protest of Joint Campus students. These students were out to demonstrate their grievances to enable government to meet up the demands of their lecturers to resume back to classes. The last stroke
which broke the proverbial camel’s back was the reactions of the government on whose directive security agents were deployed to abused the just course.
It was also embarrassing the remarks of the Chief of Staff to the Governor Edward Onoja who was blinded by over loyalty remarked that the government cannot flogged the workers back to their classes. Like a vain Doctor, he pitied the born child but neglected the dying mother waiving sense of responsibility to think of who would nurse the child.
Are the students supposed to be comforted or ignored?
Yahaya Bello himself seems to have forgotten that as the father of the state, he takes responsibility for everything happening under him. In his fifteenth month in office now, Kogi State University is witnessing strike for eight months to sum up the ASUU’s strike with the ongoing one. Any excuse to the students without the call off of the strike is unacceptable. The missed months are enough to make up a session. Like a consumer of eggs, Bello should have known that it cost the hen some pains to lay them. For many things are happening under him, he bears
all praises and blames.
Well, Bello said he is fighting criminals in the state. This is a just cause but the storm is getting closer. Also Austin Okai’s arrest beamed bad signal to democracy and that is why I have always wondered if this is a military era of Abacha or democracy. I think he has just started learning Government and leadership. This must be an
interesting moment in his life.
– Abdullahi Suleiman Otiwe
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