The Ibo’s And Their Lack Of Leadership
While leadership has been described as an art, others have described it as a science. Many also have postulated a lot of qualities that make for a good leader, yet there are some powerful quotes by some esteemed scholars that will enable us think about the meaning of leadership and the qualities therein. Quotes that will enable us ascertain what qualities we as Ibo's seek in our leaders or aspiring leaders and if any of the political charlatans who presently parade themselves as our leaders fit the bill. We will start with the words of Peter Drucker who had this to say about leadership. ”leadership is not about making speeches or being liked”. In his opinion, “Leadership is defined by results , not attributes”. To which Gen Collin Powell invariably agrees, when he is quoted as saying, “Great leaders are almost great simplifiers, who can cut through arguments, debate, and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand”.
Former U S president, harry Truman, who knew a thing or two about leadership had this to say about the subject and I quote, “Men make history, and not the other way round. In periods where there is no leadership, society stands still', adding that 'progress occurs when courageous skillful leaders seize the opportunity to change things for the better” To which Gen Douglas McArthur, the US general who supervised the rebuilding of Japan after the second world war opined, “A true leader has the confidence to stand alone, the courage to make tough decisions and the compassion to listen to the needs of others”. He continued by saying “he does not set out to be a leader, but becomes one by the quality of his actions and the integrity of his intent”. In the opinion of John Kenneth Gailbraith, “All of the great leaders have one characteristic in common and it is the willingness to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time”. This according to him, 'is the essence of leadership”. The age long question as to whether leaders are born or made, got a response from Israelmore Avivor , who had this to say.” Contrary to popular opinion, leadership is not a reserved position for a particular group of people, who were elected, appointed, ordained or enthroned.” In his view , “Leadership is self made, self retained , self inculcated and the exposed through a faithful sincere and exemplary life.”
No matter what your view is regarding the issue, the truth is that as an ethnic group the Ibo's have no leaders who presently possess any of the aforementioned qualities and attributes. The dilemma and grim humor of our predicament is that the quality of our elected or appointed representatives who parade themselves as our leaders are lacking in any appreciation of what it takes to be a leader. Before the civil war the Ibo's were the cream of the land. We were revered and envied. We were the embodiment of intellect, hard work and entrepreneurship. We had good leaders . leaders who not only exuded good leadership and wisdom, but of whom we were proud to call our own. We had leaders like Dr Azikiwe, K O Mbadiwe, S G Ikoku, Mbonu Ojike, Akanu Ibiam, Chike Obi , Michael Okpara and the venerable Odimegwu Ojukwu. These were men who were respected for their wisdom, intellect and advocacy and not the size of their bank accounts. They did not own palatial mansions, fleet of expensive foreign cars or private jets. Unfortunately what we have today are a bunch of cocktail sipping crooks and sycophants whose only claim to leadership is the size of their wallets and the amount of money they have misappropriated from public coffers.
If we are to pick as our leaders from the present crop of Governors, senators or ministers, we will be hard pressed to find anyone whose feet can fit the shoes of any of our aforementioned leaders. Most, if not all are preoccupied with wealth acquisition and obsessed with the trappings of office and power. They care little or nothing about the welfare of the people they claim to represent. How can anyone explain the present state of affairs in Abia, with the lack of infrastructural development, the absence of adequate healthcare facilities , the falling educational standards, the dilapidated roads , the looting of the treasury and of course the neglect of the now decaying and epidemic prone city of Aba. Yet without shame or any show of remorse the same Governor wants to go the senate to represent the same people whose lives he failed to improve in his 8 years in office. In Imo state ,the people are demanding an explanation as to what happened to the millions of federal allocation to the local Government authorities. It is the same in Anambra, Enugu and Ebonyi states where the rate of economic development is not in lock step with the people's expectations. As for our senators, federal and state assembly legislators, they are a collective disappointment. They seem to be more concerned with who to impeach , thereby using the threat of impeachments as a means of extorting money from the Governors.
It is for these reasons that many Ibo's including yours truly revere and cherish the memory of some of our now deceased Ibo leaders. I never met Zik, Mbadiwe and a host of others but I was privileged to meet SG Ikoku and M I Okpara as a young kid courtesy of my parents. I was also honored to meet and work for Chief Emeka Ojukwu as a young adult fresh out of college and it was the greatest learning experience of my life. All these men were transformative leaders who made great contributions to the development and progress of the Ibo race. Ojukwu is in my humble opinion , the greatest Ibo leader of his time and there may never be another like him. He was the most passionate leader we could ever ask for. Unlike Azikiwe who was a nationalist, Ojukwu was our most vocal advocate, always cajoling and fighting for our interest. He was a motivating force without parallel. He was a true original with a thoroughly creative and imaginative mind that defined an era. There was not a fake bone in his body. He was as authentic as they come and I believe God does not make people like him anymore.
This was a man who combined a profound sense of responsibility with abiding faith in the indomitable spirit of the Ibo people, coupled with a sense of optimism for their future. Here was a man who never did things in half measure. As a vocal advocate for the Ibo nation, his preferred phrase of usage, he made sure he was heard, irrespective of whose tender sensibilities he offended. He was relished and respected by us because he was such a great character and a relatable one. He was a man who wore his flab, flaws and bruises as conspicuously as his talents. He came back from exile , resolving not to live anonymously and in obscurity and so he strode confidently across Nigeria's cultural and political landscape, a libidinous military charmer whose effervescence was a constant rebuke to his outspokenness and laboriousness of march towards popular affection. Despite some misgivings by some, he was above all a man who came in peace however well disguised. He was also compassionate as he was magnanimous. I was the first person who saw his tribute to Awolowo “ as the best president Nigeria never had”, in my capacity as the one who compiled and partially edited the manuscript for his book “Because I was Involved”, before it was sent for printing. In that one moment when I first read it, I could not believe he could pay such a compliment to a man who reneged on his promise to secede also if the Ibo's did or who condemned the Ibo's to hardship and penury by denying them withdrawals from their bank accounts after the war. But Ojukwu being a shrewd politician knew what he was doing. Even as a young assistant I knew the import of that comment. That comment did not only secure him a measure of goodwill from the Yoruba's but also generated some good will for his fellow ibo's. Besides he actually meant it, because he told me so.
Unfortunately today, the Ibo nation where his star blazed as brightly and persistently as he did no longer exits. Today the Ibo audience is fractured. The ugliness of our politics and our ethnic fault lines
have deepened. We now send thugs to attack our opponents at campaign events. A recent case in point being the attack during the town hall meeting in Ikwuano, Umuahia of the APGA governorship candidate Dr Alex Otti , a technocrat and a new kind of politician we should all embrace. Our politics have been taken over by interlopers, wannabe's and imposters who parade themselves as leaders. Our many colored fibers of the fabric that binds our Ibo nation has been shattered and torn to Shreds. If not, how can anyone explain the justification behind the Abia state governor sending away indigenes from other Ibo states in the state civil service. The truth is that today, the Ibo's lack as its leaders men who possess some national recognition, reputation and acclaim. Men who are radicals without the petulant and vicious fretfulness that goes with it. Men of undoubted intellectual abilities and of unsurpassed personal integrity. Men with candor and courage to admit their errors when they are wrong. Men who are not destitute of wit, wisdom and experience. Men who are not oppressed by anxiety in their decision making and who are willing to talk about solutions instead of whining about problems. Like Woodrow Wilson once said “Leadership does not always wear the harness of compromise”, hence we need Ibo leaders who do not just get along for the sake of getting alone, but who are capable of taking us where we want to go, and sometimes where we do not want to go but ought to. Above all we need leaders with transparent honesty, depth of convictions and who inspire confidence.
As I once mentioned in a previous write up, the Ibo people have never been victims of destiny. We have always been masters of it. It is true that the civil war marked a turning point in our political fortunes and that we have been treated as the country's stepchild when it comes to certain positions including the presidency. We are however an exceptional people. Be that as it may we must not fail to realize that our exceptionalism is a double edged sword, hence the virtues celebrated by us are the vices despised by other ethnic groups. A few days ago I watched a facebook video in which an APC Ibo chieftain was admonishing his audience not to vote for Jonathan, because according to him the Ijaws, declared their properties abandoned after the war and seized them and that they have never voted for an Ibo man. This in my opinion is not the kind of Ibo leaders we need. We want leaders who will help us break away from the prison of our past prejudices and make or form political alliances with our neighbors in the south south and south east. We need leaders who will help us practice the politics of outreach not just inclusion. The truth is that we can learn to walk hand in hand without seeing eye to eye. We can learn to work for unity without stressing uniformity. Even though some say, love and trust go together, I tend to believe you can trust someone to always do the right thing without loving that person. Our new kind of politics must be that of trusting that our neighbors and indeed other major ethnic groups in the west and North will do the right thing by voting for an Ibo presidential candidate when it is our turn , just as we Ibo's have voted for Yar Adua from the north and Obasanjo from the west. That's why we must vote for Jonathan so as to also place the south south in our debt column. But to be able to do this we need as our leaders people who can articulate our interests , fully mindful of the fact that in politics just as in International relations and diplomacy, there are no permanent friends or enemies, just permanent interests.
It is very pertinent to state here and now that as we hope and wait for the emergence of these leaders , we as a people must first fix the erosion of our basic values that once made us great. We have become too fixated on ourselves and wealth acquisition, hence we have lost all sense of empathy and responsibility to one another. We have lost the beautiful sound of our neighbors voices. There is need for us to move beyond ourselves because it will not only help us open our eyes but will help us as a people. What we need are patriots, not more politicians. Patriots who will put our collective interests above self. I will end this essay by borrowing a quote from Warren Bennis who said and I quote, ”the most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born, that there is a genetic factor to leadership”, In fact the opposite he said is the true, “ leaders are made not born”. I am well aware that Ibo culture and tradition do not encourage leadership to be invested on one individual hence the saying “Ibo enweghi eze' (the ibo's have no king) yet we do have communities that have not subscribed to that saying, and have had long standing monarchs like the Eze Aro of Arochukwu Kingdom, the Obi of Onitsha and the Eze Nzeribe of Oguta. It is also true that the 'Ohaneze Ndigbo” an Ibo cultural association has tried to fill the leadership gap. Their efforts notwithstanding, it is doubtful if they can be as effective in advocating our interests as can be done by one or more nationally recognized, reputable, trustworthy and blemish free individuals. As we can see some APC members of the group are already opposed to the group's endorsement of jonathan. It is now up to those who want to be our leaders to show us the stuff they are made of and no doubt if they are authentic and selfless we the Ibo nation will not hesitate to follow.
NNANNA IJOMAH
A former Assistant to Emeka Ojukwu teaches Political Science in New York