…… Political elites effrontery to throw up mediocre, suppress the intelligent
Aniekan Udofia
It was veteran journalist Ray Ekpu in 2018 that described the actions of the 4 sacked lawmakers in the Akwa Ibom State House of Assembly to convene plenary and declare the legimate Speaker impeached and elect one of them the new speaker as, “The courage to do nonsense. ” This statement has found an evergreen place in our political history. Today, across the political space, actions and inactions of some political elites reveal a strong penchant to do nonsense.
The recent campaign ground video of the All Progressives Congress, APC governorship candidate, Monday Okpebholo making an uncoordinated speech while Adam Oshiomole was seen practically whispering to him what he should say at intervals was the most disgusting sight to behold. One is left to wonder why someone of Oshiomole’s intellectual capacity and clout will stand by such a candidate. From the pool of several intelligent Edo sons and daughters to choose from, it is a tackless Okpebholo that Oshiomole settled for.
Edo state boast of one the greatest citadels of learning, the University of Benin of which I am an alumnus. In 2007, as a final year undergraduate in the department of Political Science and Public Administration, I was the spokesperson to a delegation that meet Adams Oshiomole to declare students’ support to his governorship bid. Even after Prof Oserheimen Osunbor was declared winner, we told Oshiomole that his mandate was too loud to be ignored by a fraudulent election Months later, the court declared him the winner.
Today, the same Oshiomole that competence and intelligence threw up as governor of Edo State is at the forefront of projecting a total mediocre who can barely articulate his vision for Edo State. Monday Oķphebolo the choice of Oshiomole and others represents alter shame, that in a state like Edo, that is the best APC can present.
Is Oshiomole the only culprit of this devious political reward system? The answer will be an emphatic no. What is happening in Edo state is the norm with most political elites in Nigeria. Why are the political elites throwing up some of the worst candidates as successors or occupiers of other offices? The answers would not be far from the following:
1. Manifestation of inferiority complex
2. Desire to continue dominance
3. Instituting stooges
4. Intolerance to competition
Inferiority complex has been at the heart of many succession plans of most political elites, especially the governors in Nigeria. Their ego drive them to the point that when it gives way, it is an inferiority complex that manifest and override their decisions on the choice of who succeeds them. Many of the political elites have become very insecure in the face of intelligent people around them. They become uncomfortable and fear that the focus of attention will shift to intelligent ones, and their relevance will diminish.
It is typical for a governor in Nigeria to sack a commissioner for being smart, intelligent and gaining the attention of people for their exploits. The political elites suddenly identify talents as potential threats and would stop at nothing to dim their stars.
It is the height of inferiority complex for any leader to singlehandedly produce a successor that is lower than him in terms of intelligence and competence but fight to a standstill the intelligent ones. It is inferiority complex in manifestation to see a leader always seeking people he is better than so he would continue to be the only cock to crow.
It is inferiority complex that has kept many talents away from government because the system abhors them. Even those intelligent ones who have emerged against the run of play would end up being led by a mediocre in the legislature or blackmailed out of government. The conclusion of some political elites is that, “When he is too intelligent, you won’t be able to control him.” Ironically these political elites that want to control grown up adults have failed to even control their wards and teenage children at home.
The desire to continue their dominance also fuels the kind of successors that the political elites produce. For many of them, if it is not a mediocre, he would shift the attention away from them and weaken their dominance. Most of these past governors still want to have control of the states they once governed and and it is only a mediocre as a successor that can guarantee that.
Instituting stooges who will never find their voice because they lack every quality that the occupier of the office they hold should possess, is one strategy that the political elites have deployed to keep their successors in check and loyal. It is not loyalty for a successor to tolerate the overbearing nature of his predecessors but a clear lack of capacity to stand up against the man who made him. The low intelligent quotient of many successors is what has kept them in check and bound to the dictates of their masters.
Intolerance for competition by many political elites drive their choices of who they will give power at any level. These political elites do not know the spirit of healthy competition. In their playbook, you must not be more intelligent than them or be seen to be more intelligent. The intelligent people around them must accept and act at all times to be foolish to survive in their government. Advisers to these political class end up as people who work on directives of the emperor to retain their jobs.
What is playing out in Edo State is a common currency in Nigeria today. Okpebholo meets every criterion that will feed Oshiomole’s ego, satisfy his inferiority complex, produce a stooge, maintain his dominance and intolerance to competition. Several Okpebholos will continue to emerge in the midst of very competent and intelligent individuals whom the political elites see their emergence as a political suicide.
