2023: Auspicious Year To Vote Against Bad Leaders From Continuously Ruining Nigeria’s Economy

Without resorting to discounting any leader’s achievements in this piece, it is expedient to recall that the predicaments which Nigerians constantly find themselves with each passing political dispensation, particularly since the democratic system of government was embraced in 1999 coupled with the attendant smooth slope of crime and violence, deepening levels of poverty, the poor state of the country’s economy (which is not in any way showing signs of improvement) were exacerbated by bad leadership occasioned by the political elite.

In fact, the moral decadence, indiscipline, and worsening level of corruption, under the platform of the All Progressives Congress (APC), which is being led by President Muhammadu Buhari, are all rooted in bad leadership, and the collective naivety of the electorates in making decisions on the right choice of leaders to vote for at the polls together with the shared gullibility of always swallowing the lies in their campaign promises hook, line and sinker. Thus, since 2015 when the ongoing APC deceitfully grab the rein of power by giving the previous ruling government a dog’s name and eventually hung it, we have not been freed from the backlashes of poor leadership in every facet of our society. and this shared Achille’s heels is what is causing many of the societal ills we now face. Surprisingly enough, the lack of good leaders is not only from the political arena but from the civic and business arenas as well as in the churches. The people are wont to be easily deceived by smooth talkers and somewhat scammers and worst enough virtually everyone lacks the strong will to tell them off by saying “enough is enough”.

If a leader lacks vision and a clear direction, and upon that he or she leads no one adequately, but rather leads the people amiss to the extent that they become miserable, then one cannot but ask “Why keep supporting such a leader and voting for him or her at the polls?” At the moment, not a few Nigerians are facing difficulties of diverse dimensions since the politicians took charge of managing Nigeria’s economy. Not a few Nigerians have been experiencing pain, sorrow, and agony for many years without growing or blossoming because not a few of the leaders in various constituencies across the three tiers of government lacked vision, direction and the ability to motivate. Given the foregoing, it is expedient to say that one can only go as far as the leader will take the people under his constituency to. If your leader is limited in his thinking and in his ability to motivate, then you cannot have any substantive growth personally, be it in an organization, or a country.

It would be unwise to pooh-pooh the foregoing view as we have for the umpteenth time witnessed how some Nigerians who could no longer bear the sufferings in the land decide to “Jakpa” to other countries across European and American continents, and even to some less endowed countries in African continent and have their lives bettered by virtue of dynamic leaders who have the vision, drive and keen ability to motivate that can be found in such countries at any given political dispensation unlike in Nigeria where the plague of leadership has become a vicious cycle.

Against the foregoing backdrop, it is expedient to say that for us to have credible leaders that would begin to lead us from 2023, which is no doubt an auspicious and momentous year to stop bad Leaders from continuouslyscamming us, and in the same vein mismanaging Nigeria’s economy, there is a need to eschew primordial sentiments in the oncoming general and presidential elections.

In fact, there are two main categories of leaders the electorates should be rooting for as the political drumbeats for the general and presidential elections scheduled to hold in February 2023 are by each passing day emitting a staccato sound.

Given the varied situations that bad leaders have compelled not a few of us to be passing through, particularly since 2015 when the ongoing administration of President Muhammadu Buhari commenced, it is incumbent on all Nigerians of voting age to vote for politicians who have demonstratively put themselves forward as leaders by virtue of possessing the moral compass and resolve required to salvage a nation’s economy. Otherwise, any politician that lacks the foregoing leadership virtues should be considered to lack direction and should be seen to be a leader that would be found to be morally reprehensible, and capable of exhibiting unethical behavior when naively or mistakenly voted for come February 2023. It is apt to recall that the electorate never thought of the consequences of the opportunities given to politicians, and that is why the entire country has seemingly been held to ransom by few Nigerians who now see political leadership as their right, to the extent that one of them ahead of the ongoing electioneering audaciously reminded Nigerians that it is his turn to preside over the affairs of Nigeria as he proudly spoke in his dialect, “Emilokan”.

Our past mistakes in our collective choice of candidates and naivety in casting our votes at the polls are the reasons why we see many political leaders being hauled before the courts by the EFCC for embezzlement, why the civil service has found an Accountant-General involved in the stealing of public funds that amount to millions of Nairaeven as a top-ranking leader at the corridor of power would use millions of Naira to cut grass that could have been cut by a farmer in my village for a fee that could not be more than N50, 000.00.

Until our political leaders in all spheres of society return to good morals and values we will continue to descend at every level of society. Crime and violence will not stop as a result of policing efforts alone, but with good leadership; firstly, in the home, followed by the schools and the church, as well as in every facet of a person's life.

In fact, the other category of leaders the electorates should equally be rooting for must possess integrity. Integrity is really being an integrated person, that is, what you say is what you do and what you show is who you really are. Persons of integrity must have a center or core of values that they live by and that governs their actions. Many of our politicians today lack this, and what they say is not what they do (but what you want to hear), and who they are in the public eye is not really who they really are. The lack of core values needed for integrity will cause our leaders to do unscrupulous, wicked, unethical or even illegal things to forge ahead, to gain an advantage or for expedience.

To rescue our Nigeria from self-destruction expedited by our leaders, we must demand leaders with high moral standards and integrity as we make our queue behind leaders ahead of the oncoming 2023 election. In fact, it is incumbent on us to queue behind leaders that possess the qualities that show they would be capable of leading us out of this mess in which we have found ourselves since 2015, in particular.

Until our leaders in all spheres of society return to good morals and values, we will continue to descend at every level of society.