[pull_quote_center]“The future will have no pity for those men and women who, possessing the exceptional privilege of being able to speak words of truth to their oppressors, have instead, taken refuge in attitude of passivity, of mute indifference, and sometimes, of bold complicity. We are nothing on earth if we are not slaves to a cause, the cause of justice, liberty and free ideas that are made available to all. Each generation must, out of relative obscurity, discover its mission, fulfil it, or betray it.” (Frantz Fanon).[/pull_quote_center]
[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he above immortal words of Frantz Fanon is a fitting introduction to our present article. The dearth of a moral authority leadership in Nigeria’s political landscape is the greatest tragedy besieging the country at this time of our history as a nation state. That Nigeria, since its political independence in 1960 has not been able to produce at least one such a leader with a moral authority that commands national fellowship and international acceptability, a model and point of reference in time of crisis like ours today, is a tragedy we must all lament.
Again, if the ongoing killings of innocent citizens by the Fulani herdsmen militants and terrorists does not produce such a selfless leader of moral authority in our political scene today, we are doomed as a nation! At a time like this of national crisis and mourning of innocent victims of terror groups, Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen militants, what Nigeria needs most is a selfless and holy leader with commanding moral authority to help us navigate through this difficult period. We are already in trouble because of dearth of selfless and holy leaders with moral authority at the center of the nation’s political scene to help save our drifting nation from total collapse.
The aim of our present article is to advance the argument that Nigeria’s founding history as well as present reality of ineptitude leadership and violence, are a providential prepared ground for the emergence of a leader of truly moral authority at the nation’s political scene. What Nigeria needs most today is a selfless leader, a moral authority and voice that will rally the nation together, lead and inspire the people towards reinventing the country for the sake of the present and future generations of its citizens!
Such a selfless leader of moral authority need not come from the political class. In fact, taking clue from experience of other countries who have passed through similar situation like ours today in Nigeria, such a leader usually comes from the rank of religious leaders. This may be a religious leader, who, because of his chosen mission for his country and the gospel, choses to fortify himself spiritually through life of prayer, sacrifice, fasting and self-denial. Because the task is both risky and very demanding. It calls for self-sacrifice, even unto martyrdom for the sake of the common good and nation.
It suffices to mention some examples in recent times of such religious leaders who became national and international acceptable moral authority for their people. The Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. of the United States of America, Archbishop Desmond Tutu of South Africa, Cardinal Jaime Sin of the Philippines, Archbishop Oscar Romero of El Salvador, Cardinal Joseph Malula of Democratic Republic of Congo, to mention just a few.
These are religious leaders, who in spite of the difficulties of their day, damned every consequence and assumed the divine responsibility as the authentic voice and moral leader of their people and nation. They remained consistence and steadfast in their chosen mission both for the nation and the church. They persevered to the end. They refused to compromise their mission or induced with money or political post. They remained focused on their God-given mission as the moral authority and leader in the society and the church.
When will such a religious leader of this caliber emerge in Nigeria’s political scene, a moral authority to help direct and lead the country towards embracing the ideals of a true nationhood? This is a billion Naira question!
A word of caution
We should not confuse religious leaders of moral authority we are discussing in this article with the so-called General Overseers or founders of the Neo-Pentecostalism Assembly churches – centers of workers and seekers of miracles, dotted all over Nigerian cities and towns today. As recent events are showing, most of the activities of charlatan pastors and miracle workers of these new religious movements and healing or miracle workers’ centers is part of the wider problem that saddles the Nigerian church and society in general.
Theirs is a deformation of true African religiosity as well as authentic Christian spirituality. They cause a great harm to African religious-cultural heritage as well as to authentic Christian life and spirituality. It is therefore, obvious that the salvation of the society and people cannot come from the activities of the charlatan pastors and miracle workers of these healing and miracle centers.
It is no longer a hidden secret to say that most of the founders and pastors of the healing and miracle centers in Nigeria are really in business of making money by hook or crook. Unfortunately, they are the people our political class and those in corridors of power run to and seek advice on how to run the state. They are also the so-called Christian religious leaders some politicians use for their campaign during elections.
Most of these charlatan pastors do not preach about salvation and righteousness to members of their congregations, but rather about politics and money. Their preaching is often, tailored to malign one politician against the other. The charlatan pastors often dance to the highest bidder among the politicians in deciding who among them to support or promote during his preaching. Most of these pastors and power-priest healers among them are already turning into tycoons, with their business empires and industries located all across the nation.
This is the greatest tragedy of the whole thing. Nigerian politicians instead of working with our scientists and those in the world of academia for better advancement and development of the country, preferred instead to work with these self-acclaimed General Overseers, miracle workers of the healing ministry and ‘adoration’ centers. Today, most members of our political class seek guidance from the sorcery power and divination of these charlatan pastors and miracle workers.
This is the most pitiable aspect of Nigeria’s political scene today. It goes to confirm why the country urgently needs both spiritual and moral redemption.
Another important caution is that we should know that the salvation or rather liberation of our country is in our hands. We should not expect God to come from heaven and solve our problems. God has given us freedom and talents sufficient to navigate this earthly existence and its problems like the ones we are experiencing today in Nigeria. If we fail to make use of our God-given wisdom and talents to solve our problems as ordained by Him, then the blame is all ours not God’s.
Again, we should not expect foreigners to come and solve our internal problems for us. Each nation has its own problems and its citizens themselves solve those problems. We should not also be looking at our retired church leaders, such as Bishops and Cardinals, some of whom are nearing their 90 years of age, to come out today at the stage of our political scene to solve the problems of this generation. No. Those retired Bishops and Cardinals have done their own part during their own time. It is now time of the ‘heirs on the throne’ to take the center stage in serving the society and the church as prophets and moral conscience of the people.
The Causes and Effects of Dearth of a Moral Authority in Nigeria
The question is, ‘why has there been absence of a truly moral authority leadership in Nigeria’s political scene all this while?’ What is the cause of the dearth of a moral authority of class in Nigeria?
A good number of the so-called founding fathers of Nigeria’s political independence in 1960 are nothing else but glorified ethnic and regional political leaders. They do not have moral authority beyond their ethnic or parochial confines.
The events that led to the collapse of the First Republic, the rigging of elections in the defunct Western region, consequent Military Coups of 1966-1967, as well as the Nigeria-Biafra War, – Biafra genocide in particular, could have been averted had the nation a leader of class with moral authority at the time of these crises. A credible moral authority in post-independent Nigeria could have helped the nation towards addressing its’ faulty founding story and avert the catastrophes.
Instead, the nation has chosen through its political class and leaders since independence in 1960 to immerse itself into catastrophes caused by ethnocentrism, religious bigotry, nepotism and lopsided government of mediocrities. As a nation, Nigeria sacrificed meritocracy at the altar of mediocrity in political governance and structure.
Moreover, after the genocidal Nigeria-Biafra War, the nation’s political class and ruling oligarchy decided to suppress the founding history of the country as well as the history of the war itself. Nigeria became a country ‘without history’ to teach its children. This is still the norm in the country. Nothing has changed almost fifty years after the Nigeria-Biafra War.
However, we forgot that by setting aside our history, we have set-aside our soul and sense of direction as a nation. This fact is well captured by Chancellor Williams in the epigraph to his monumental book, “The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of a Race from 4500 B.C. to 2000 A.D.” (1987). – A Sumer Legend:
“What became of the Black people of Sumer? The traveler asked the old man, ‘for ancient records show that the people of Sumer were Black. What happened to them?’ ‘Ah’, the old man sighed: They lost their history, so they died.” (Chancellor Williams).
The loss of history is one of the worst thing that can happen to a people or nation. It signals their extinction as a people from the face of the earth. Unfortunately, this is the dangerous path our political class and rulers have chosen for the country since the end of Nigeria-Biafra War.
This is also one of the major reasons the country has continued to experience the catastrophes of political instability, violence, terrorism and all those other vices of national maladies today. The major cause of which is ineptitude leadership, lack of a moral authority to call our political class and elites to order to remind us of our founding story as a nation state. Things are the way they are in Nigeria today for the simple reason that we have no leader of national and international standing with commanding moral authority who could call us all to order. Because we have no moral authority leader that could help the political class and citizens to see things in the right perspective, we have all fallen victims of ethnic and religious venoms of divisiveness, conflicts and violence.
Another caution: Our so-called intellectuals, ex-presidents, elder state-men and women suffer from the same malady of parochial heroes as well as from stoicism, compromise and complicity of silence at a time of crisis.
A typical example is the event that happened in the buildup to the 2015 Presidential Elections. It is still very fresh in the memory of all and sundry how one of our most revered literary giants became a front-liner campaigner for the election of a former military dictator he had in the past, rained an ocean of venom. Neither have we forgotten how also a former president had to tear his party card in public as a disapproval of the then incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan’s reelection bid. He did this in order to make way for a former military dictator to be elected president of Nigeria.
These were unfortunate symbolic actions of our revered literary giant, and of a former president of the nation. Today, the country is paying the prize for the effects of this public betrayal exhibited in the actions of these two supposed ‘national revered’ individuals in the buildup to the 2015 elections. Many citizens were psychologically, put off by their sudden change and betrayal of public trust.
By that singular act, these two individuals have already lost the respect or moral authority ascribed to them in the past. This is because after that incident, people began to wonder and ask, ‘for how many shekels of Silver or pots of porridge induced these two individuals to betray the public trust?’ Now the two individuals have succumbed to the same malady of ethnic parochial politics.
What was it that made them to deviate from being the conscience of the nation to becoming ardent supporters for the presidential election bid of a former military dictator? What might have made these revered personalities to change their noble cause overnight and became supporters of a former military tyrant? I remember hearing our revered literary giant in those days, calling the dictator a changed democrat, forgetting that once a dictator always a dictator.
All this means that Nigeria is yet to be blessed with a moral authority leader of impeccable character, who has an intimidating profile of national and international standing.
The Way Forward
No matter how one sees it, the problem of Nigeria is rooted in its colonial past – the amalgamation by British in 1914 and the forced terms of agreement British entered with our so-called founding fathers in 1960 as conditions for granting us political independence at the time. Until Nigeria gets leaders with moral authority and prophetic voice, leaders who could inspire the political class towards addressing this our colonial history and faulty foundation, the country will never reinvent itself.
Therefore, Nigeria’s problem is historical as it is political. This means that the solution to the country’s present political imbroglio lies in our history, the founding story of Nigeria as a nation state. Again, until we are ready to address our history, Nigeria will never reinvent itself as a modern nation state.
Nigerian citizens will continue to hate and kill one another until ‘thy kingdom come’ unless there emerges on our political scene new crops of leaders and a moral authority, blessed with courage to reinvent the country in the way of justice, equity, freedom and liberty of all citizens irrespective of cultural, religious or ethnic affiliations. The identification of these new crops of leaders is one of the tasks of a moral authority leadership Nigeria is in dire need of today.
Nigeria’s present political instability, culture of violence and bloodbath that have become almost a second nature of the country, will never go away until someone that commands moral authority and who is beyond ethnic and religious bigotry and considerations, enters the center stage of the nation’s political scene.
Furthermore, as bad as Nigeria’s faulty founding history or colonial amalgamation by the British is, that enough is an environment, providentially prepared to inspire and help produce new crops of leaders and a moral authority for the country to reinvent itself. Instead of continuing to produce parochial, ethnic-irredentists sectional leaders that command no respect or moral authority outside their villages and people of ethnic or religious groups, our founding history is an opportunity for us to reinvent our country. In this case, we could see it as blessing in disguise for new Nigeria to emerge.
Again, we are where we are today in Nigeria, simply because we have not been able to have leaders with moral authority, who command national fellowship and international acceptability, and who are able to see beyond their ethnic and religious confines. The country is yet to be blessed with leaders of national and international standing, who command moral authority and are able to provide the country with a different narrative and political language to reinvent itself.
In other words, since the event that led to the Nigeria-Biafra War, Nigeria’s political and religious leaders have not been able to find an alternative narrative story to the civil war philosophy and vision of nationhood. That is, a new vision and paradigm that will help us save our republic without shedding any further innocent blood of our citizens as happened during the Biafra genocide (1967-1970), and are still happening today – the activities of terrorists groups, Boko Haram and Fulani herdsmen militants.
Nigeria needs a new vision and paradigm that could help us see beyond the common narrative, the so-called ‘politically correct’ narrative of the civil war of “victors and vanquished,” or the infamous expression, “Nigeria’s unity is non-negotiable.’
Today more than ever, Nigeria needs a moral authority leadership that will help us all realize that living in unity and harmony, which constitutes the goal of a nation state, is a project. Such a project requires patience, prudence, sincerity, honesty and detachment from personal or sectional interest of the leader.
It is only when there is equity, freedom, justice and fair play, enjoyed equally by all citizens of the country, irrespective of differences in religion, ethnicity or philosophy of life, that living in harmony and unity become possible. Only then will the nation prosper politically and economically. Economic growth will continue to elude the country until our political landscape and structure is well fixed and made functional for the common good.
Qualities of a Moral Authority Leader
To undertake such a mission of a moral authority leadership for the common good in one’s country, the person has to be holy, close to God, live a daily life of prayer and self-denial. No one who prizes self or personal interest over and above common interest and general good is qualified for such a mission in the eye of God and the people. In fact, this is the source of the person’s moral authority, national and international acceptability and respect.
It suffices to remember here some Biblical figures blessed with these qualities. They became not just prophetic leaders of their people but also moral authority in the highest order. The exemplary life of Moses, for example, his denouncing of the royal privileges in the house of Pharaoh, choosing instead life of loneliness in the desert and experience of the burning bush, etc. This is the prize, a leader with prophetic mission has to pay.
Also in the Old Testament, Queen Esther when confronted with similar challenges turned to a life of prayer and fasting. She relegated to the background her royal status of a Queen because of her new mission for her people, Israel. With it, she received a new strength and courage from God and so was able to avert the extermination of her people as planned by Hamman the most powerful man in the ancient imperial Kingdom of Babylon. In that most critical moment, Esther offered the following prayer to God:
“O God, whose strength prevails over all, listen to the voice of the desperate, save us from the hand of the wicked, and free me from my fear.” (Esther 4:17)
In the New Testament, we meet many of such examples. We can think of John the Baptist, his life in the desert and preaching that always made King Herod, household and his cabinet ministers to shiver to the point of ordering that John be beheaded, a supreme prize a prophet as moral authority, often pays.
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, paid the most precious supreme prize of his prophetic mission for our salvation and liberation from sin. He is therefore, the source and model par excellence of our prophetic mission in the area of moral authority today in our society.
A leader of moral authority must denounce riches, flamboyance, political and financial inducements and self-interest. He must give himself entirely to God for the cause of liberating the masses from tyrannical regime and helping the nation to reinvent itself for the common good. He must be a person of prayer, detachment, perseverance and courage.
Only a holy person can sacrifice oneself for the cause of common good and inspire national fellowship and acceptability. Goodness and holiness transcend ethnic and religious boundaries. In fact, any boundary or barrier at all. Holiness and goodness are objective and discriminate against nobody. They are inviting, as they are welcoming to everybody from all and sundry.
Sinners never make good leaders, because they work for selfish interests, given up to nepotism, occultism, lopsidedness and tyrannical leadership. Sinners always see things from the lens of ethnicity, parochialism and religious bigotry. Sinners never make good national or even regional or local leaders. They often end up as dictators whenever and wherever they govern.
On the contrary, holy persons always make good moral leaders. They speak with authority, an altruistic authority, which does not come from man but God. In fact, words spoken by persons of such a moral authority are words of wisdom, inspired not by book knowledge but Divine Wisdom.
This is why such a person of selfless moral authority need not come from the class of the so-called intellectuals or academic community of the society. The armor of a leader with moral authority is holiness of life and dedication of oneself for the service of common good, the liberation of the poor masses from tyrannical leadership.
A selfless leader with moral authority for the common good takes it upon himself to galvanize the people towards a radical change in their political vision and style of governance. He does this with the aim to save the nation from total collapse and from the tyrannical leadership of corrupt and ethnic-irredentists politicians.
In other words, a selfless and national moral authority leader does not work to breakup the country but rather to help the country reinvent itself in the light of its past-experience as a multi-ethnic and multi-religious nation state. Thus, he finds a better narrative and language to convince the people, especially, those at the corridors of political power that they have nothing to fear. The country and its people will always be there but we shall have a better way of relating with one another for tranquility, equity, justice, peace and unity to reign in the land.
The moral authority leader convinces the people through his selfless leadership and dedication to the common good, that the country is not going to breakup but rather will be re-founded on a new paradigm to strengthen our brotherhood, and sense of living together as a nation of people of different religious, cultural and ethnic backgrounds. That unless this is done, we shall continue to hate and be killing one another for many years to come. So, the country needs restructuring and a referendum where necessary!
Conclusion
If a leader with a moral authority is to emerge in Nigerian political scene today, the points enumerated above constitute the core of his onerous task and qualities. Nigeria’s history – past and present reality, is a fertile ground from which a prophetic leader with moral authority should emerge and begin to work to help the country reinvent itself.
The fact that after about sixty years of political independence from Britain, Nigeria is still immersed in political instability, violence, bloodbath, Islamists’ extremists and Fulani herdsmen militants’ terrorism, is a clear indication that the country lacks leaders with commanding moral authority to direct the nation. But it is also a fertile ground for the emergence of such a moral authority leader with prophetic mission in Nigeria today.
Francis Anekwe Oborji is a Roman Catholic Priest. He lives in Rome where he is a Professor of missiology (mission theology) in a Pontifical University. He can be reached by email HERE.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.
