By Charles Ogbu
Every country, state, organisation or group rises and falls on leadership; and Leadership is about Influence; Influence is about relationship. If you don’t have a relationship with a people, you can’t influence them to do or not to do anything and once you can’t influence them, you certainly can’t lead them.
The best way to cultivate a relationship with a people which will give you the needed influence to lead them is by demonstrating that you feel what they feel and share in their wars and woes, fate and faith, pains, tragedies, and misfortunes.
For instance, if you are a governor in a region that lost over three million souls in a genocide some five decades ago – the same region where there is an ongoing agitation premised on the same Biafra genocide and at a time the parent country (Nigeria) has been designated a failed state, common sense should tell you to lead the way in honoring those over three million heroes/heroines either by declaring that day a public holiday in your region, declaring a sit-at-home or even a public lecture or seminar in honor of the dead.
Anything at all just to show your people that you share in their pain which is also your pain because there is no household in the entire old Eastern region that didn’t lose someone or something to the war. When you fail to do this, you are simply telling the people that you don’t share in their pain. And by so doing, you are further de-legitimizing whatever remains of your semblance of authority. And you can never lead any people and certainly not Ndigbo with such attitude.
Quite frankly, this set of Igbo governors are the worst in the history of Ndigbo. Deaf! Dumb! Blind! And stupid! All of them! I mean, what does it take to align with your people just for once? Can you imagine how much goodwill and legitimacy Igbo governors would have regained from their people simply by leading the way in celebrating May 30th as Biafra Remembrance Day at a time they seem to have lost all legitimacy?
Who are those advising these guys for God’s sake! Give us regional security, these clowns refused until it became too late. Now, ordinary to align with their own people – the same people they claim to be representing – by officially recognising May 30th as a day to honor men and women and children who died defending our honor and dignity and right to life, these subservient, servile spineless political bandits have refused again.
All because of nonsense 2023 political ambitions in a country they are not even sure will survive till 2023. Ndi uchu!
I’ve said it before and it bears repeating now, the singular biggest tragedy of Ndigbo is the tragedy of leadership. Most times, I’m tempted to think Igbo governors live in an alternate universe far removed from our current realties. A shame, really.
You can follow Mr Ogbu on Twitter via @RealCharlesOgbu
Please note that the opinion expressed by the writer in this article does not reflect the position of the publishers of www.newsbitsng.com
