Leadership Missteps: When Governance Fails, the Masses Suffer

When leaders misrule or misgovern, the good and bad people under them also suffer from the outcome of their misdeeds. For example, when King Pharaoh refused to release the Israelites from bondage as commanded by God, one would have thought that God should have punished the King alone for the intransigent behavior. No! It did not happen. The citizens, including the Israelites, suffered more than the King, Pharaoh.

When Egyptian waters were infested with frogs and turned red, the King would have been drinking from the water stored in tanks while the people had no water to drink. The people lost their first male children, and those killed in the red sea were also soldiers mainly recruited from among the masses. In such circumstances, the masses become more victims than the leaders that plunged them into catastrophic but avoidable calamities.

When the militancy reared its ugly head in the Niger Delta, insurgency in the North East, and banditry in the forests of Nigeria, take a look around you and mention one Governor or the Speaker of the Houses of Assembly that was killed, held hostage, or in Internally Displaced Person (IDP) camps. Instead, they would have been richer from security votes and in foreign currencies from donor agencies.

I was at the banking halls of some banks a few days ago and saw the masses sitting on the floors of banking halls because they were exhausted from hours of standing waiting to get the attention of overwhelmed customer service employees. I saw signs of stress and frustration in bank employees who could not help their customers amid unavailable cash to dispense.

I was at the customer service point for a while at another bank. I saw Nigerians who had less than ten thousand Naira complaining about the inability to transfer a little to their grocery sellers or withdraw money to buy food. Some were sent money that was said to have been deducted from the senders but was yet to be delivered to the beneficiaries. Some accused the banks of debiting them without transferring the cash. It was like the Fuji House of commotion.

Saturday’s election is vital because Nigerians have another chance to do it right and elect those that will positively or negatively impact their lives for the next four years. The beauty of Saturday’s election is that it offers an opportunity to do it differently. It allows us to choose the right people to lead us through this suffering to birth a new beginning where every Nigerian child shall be guaranteed qualitative health and education.

Doing it right means voting for people that would turn the fortunes of the people around for good, developing your local government areas, towns, and villages. Besides, these developments will translate into good governance, which would ensure the provision of good roads for the transportation of agricultural foods to areas of need, affordable health care, an efficient school system, and the freedom to call to account your leaders.

Doing it otherwise means elongated suffering, slavery, and escalating poverty. Nigeria has no reason to be poor. We are poor because we enable bad governance. We can now take our country back.

Good luck as you vote on Saturday. Grace and peace!!!