By John Ekundayo
To the referred leadership mentor, coach and practitioner, “everything rises or falls on leadership” – John Maxwell. This was the same stand and stake of the late cerebral, erudite, and prolific Professor Chinua Achebe, internationally acclaimed author and socio – political critic. The leadership conundrum, in the context of Nigeria, nay Africa, is a seemingly cantankerous and complicated curse defying human solutions. It is now common to read on social media, curious and informed minds, demanding from anyone who cares to listen: who cursed this country, Nigeria?
The leadership challenge, apologies to the duo of Kouzes and Posner, authority in leadership studies, who for more than two decades engrossed themselves in rigorous and robust research studies spanning all continents of the world in resolving what followers actually desire to see in genuine leaders. To James Kouzes and Barry Posner, author of the bestselling treatise on leadership, “The Leadership Challenge”, after more two decades arrived of research studies, arrived at the conclusion that constituents’ or followers’ greatest desire in their leaders is integrity irrespective of the context. Hence, integrity holds sway in the family, private and public life.
Back to the late Professor Chinua Achebe of blessed memory. Stating it simply and squarely, things have fallen apart in Nigeria between 1983 and the present moment when his book: “The Trouble With Nigeria” was first published. It is truism that over the decades making up many years between 1983 and 2021, the docility in Nigeria’s voters or followers have dipped and degenerated abysmally. It is worrisome that many Nigerians do not deem it fit to participate in the electoral or electioneering process with the warped, wrong and wield notion that their votes would not count. Yet, there have been instances, where elections have been won by slight margins.
The last 2018 gubernatorial election in Ekiti State comes to mind. I, as a courageous follower, partook in casting my ballot. Having read, as a researcher in followership and leadership studies, about ethnographers, who will be conducting vital studies via observations that many people around them may not be aware about, I set for Ido Ekiti, my hometown. There was the readiness to vote by informed people among the local residents while some believed that their votes would not alter the outcome. In the midst of this milieu, the actors or campaigners of two major political parties were wooing voters, with all kinds of promises and incentives. Campaign rostrums and platforms were mounted in many towns and villages where promises were reeled out to potential voters.
On the day of the election, political maneuvering and joggling took over even though formal campaigns had been prohibited by law 48 hours before the commencement of election. I remembered voting and party agents were positioned, albeit against the electoral law, to view how voters cast their ballots. I cast mine. It was intriguing and interesting to note that as I was coming out of the polling booth, a party agent approached me with monetary gift which was not solicited for. Of course, I swiftly but maturely rejected the offer. This inducement was practiced by the two major political parties with one out smarting the other in the amount doled out. In a way, it sent a signal, albeit wrong one, to some voters (followers) that when you come out to vote, you would get money to cook a pot of soup! Hence, the followers or voters turned transactional instead of transformational in practice. In the final analysis, the candidate of the APC emerged victorious with a vote margin of less than twenty thousand (20,000). Think about it: if the candidate of the PDP had mobilized and wooed twenty-one thousand (21,000) more of the people that refrained from partaking in the exercise to vote for him, the table would have turned as democracy is a game of numbers.
In acting right, followers need to be transformational before election and even on election day. Saliently and succinctly stated, courageous and exemplary followers should have been transformational by encouraging, inspiring and motivating aspiring leaders with great potentials, integrity, manifestos and capability to be voted for. They could even lobby and campaign for them without being members of their party. Nigeria needs to get to this point if we are to witness good governance in our country. In addition, they should not only register to vote by possessing Permanent Voter’s Cards (PVC), they should endure the rigour of voting on election day, come rain, come sunshine. Ultimately, each follower (voter) at the polling booth should ensure that the votes cast were counted, recorded appropriately and announced. The regulatory body, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) should ensure the results are digitally recorded and coded immediately on a unified platform that is being monitored by INEC officials, party agents and Civil Society Organizations (CSOs) at the Local Government level, State Level and at the Federal Capital in Abuja simultaneously.
In conclusion, as followers all over the world are increasing getting to be conscious of the power they carry. Mass of voters (followers), acting in unanimity and uncommon determination, can pull the rug off the feet of any inept and incapable leader. It is high time Nigeria’s followers ceased being transactional. The ‘pay me now’ attitude (transactional) must be jettisoned by all and sundry if we are to inspire, attract, encourage and motivate aspiring leaders with appropriate credentials to get to leadership positions via the ballot box. In essence, even as I defer to the cerebral sagacity and acumen of Professor Chinua Achebe, I differ to say that the trouble with Nigeria is not leadership but followership. The Nigeria’s followership cognitively could be tagged docile and/or transactional in charisma, character, colour, content and context.
- Dr. Ekundayo, J. M. O., can be reached via 08155262360 (sms only) and drjmoekundayo@hotmail.com
Leave a Reply