Some Nigerian politicians, who were at the helm of power between 1958-1966, served meritoriously. Others were dishonourable, capricious, corruptand unconscionable. Their military orderlies and aides were shocked by the level of revelries, gaiety and social festivities that were the order of the times. That debauchery was financed by the monies the Ministers stole from the national treasury.This behaviour of the rulers at the time, contradicted the noble ideas of service to the fatherland, which the soldiers were taught at the various military academies in Europe, America and in Asia.The corruption, political wrangling and social dislocation between 1964-1966, were so intolerable that the military staged a coup in January 1966. Although the leaders of the coup like Major Chukwuma Nzeogwu et al were probably motivated by patriotism, some military officers clearly saw the coup as an opportunity to step into the politicians' shoes.For the next two decades, military adventurism was the order in our land. The military relay race for booty, wealth accumulation and wielding of vicious power reigned supreme. Any military rascal, who could organize a coup, readily found opportunistic, Masonic Nigerian elite, who readily accepted to serve under them.So, it happened that highly educated Nigerians from the Oxbridge group, became the errand men of treasonanous military officers.In an article, which I published in The Guardian Newspaper in 1991, I reviewedsome aspects of the military dictatorship styles of the military governments. I discovered that the well-trained Sandhurst, Kimberly, West Point officers had had to leave the military because, after each coup, every officer above the rank of the coup plotter had to leave the military.This attrition rate threw up the more desperate and vicious military officers, who seized power and dealt ruthlessly with those military officers, who wanted to do what they themselves did.The Vatsa group was decimated in a manner of utmost cruelty and incandescent humiliation by General Ibrahim Babangida. Another group, who killed General Murtala Mohammed, was summarily eliminated by General Olusegun Obasanjo. Fear was instilled in the Nigerian population, which is ordinarily cowardly and readily accept, whoever was thrown up by circumstances and chance happenings in the opportunistic hope of clinching a ministerial slot. Of course, not the best ever turned up because the mediocre leaders feared the intellectual prowess of qualified and experienced compatriots.As a result, a nation that can boast of surgeons, nuclear scientists, the most highly qualified jurists and philosophers, has been regularly governed by marginalized political under-achievers and no-so-brilliant men.A few of the women have performed well because they were qualified and honest. Nigeria has been subjected to so much impunity that it has led to wickedness in both high and low places. Everyone thrives by hook or crook. It is laughable that a nation, which is known for its religious affiliations with the two Abrahamic religious orders, contain the most ungodly ritualists, kidnappers, ministerial under-hand operators and fake leaders.In concluding my 1991 article, I wrote,' Those dictators, who have ruled the world, are constant reminders of the counterfeit nature of man, but history is ever so kind to document their ignoble ends and stresses to the aspirant, the powerlessness of power'If one looks back at the recent events in the Middle East and North Africa, this observation is very apt. If one considers the undignified behavior of our former military/political 'leaders' and their shameless ranting, one begins to see that power is nothing but the illusion of people, who lacking in self-worth and propelled my mystical forces that rule the Universe, impose themselves on societies.If one ponders the wickedness associated with politics on a global scale, one will clearly understand why holy men, pious men, honest men, conscientious men and women avoid politics.All those, who are HEAVEN-bound politely reject political appointments because in Nigeria, such posts invariably lead to temptations that put one into a vortex that leads to corruption, palpitations and loss of good name.To enter into the politics of power and deceit is awesome. This is why the Bible asks,' What shall it profit a man if he gains the whole world and suffers the loss his own soul' The loss of a man's soul is a terrible loss!The Nigerian political philosophy is the acquisition of wealth at all costs or to fraternize with people in office at all cost. Intellectual considerations are treated with contempt. This attitude was promoted by our military 'leaders, 'who found it very convenient to exclude knowledgeable people from politics, except those supine intellectuals, who imbibed the 'owambe' mentality.The lack of really coherent synthesis of philosophies of governance has robbed Nigeria of the ability to think in original terms. We excel in being mimickers, imbibing outlandish cultures and infamies associated with borrowed robes that do not fit.Political power can be demonic, when it grabs the soul and turns a man from man to brute and from brute to demi-god. Then he becomes a monarch of all he surveys propped up by mystics, psychics, fallen angels, spirits with reprobate inclinations, powerful medium that insist that he must cross the Rubicon before his terminal initiation into atavistic urgings..If you carefully consider the political behavior of world leaders and their decision-making culture, you will be amazed that some people can be sent to their graves through political decisions that serve no good.See what Adolf Hitler, Mussolini, Hirohito did to mankind. So, who wants to lead people he can never create and can never understand, all in the name of wielding political power'Politicians age rapidly because of a self-imposed hallucination of being the No 1 citizen, a position, fraught with dangers and insecurity, hence the military/police security cordons.Power is a passing phase and it gets bored quickly in the hands of one person, no matter how good. Italso generates envy. Who does not want to appoint his betters and get the better of them, speaking to them at Executive Meetings, in the language of privileged governor!From earliest times, man has been fascinated by power, which has regularly done man in. The only power that is inspiring and beneficial is spiritual power, which YAWEH gives to those, whom 'He foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son that He might be the firstborn among many brethren.Moreover whom He predestined, these He also called, whom He called, these He also justified and whom He justified, and these He also glorified. What then shall we say to these things' If God be for us, who can be against us'Yet, in all these things we are more than conquerors through Him who loved us.( Romans 29:31 and 37).If one is among God's elect, how can one serve a President' This is why real priests do not hanker for political appointments or governmental earthly favours. We are priests forever according to the Order of Melchisedek.God's elect possesses spiritual powers and the Holy Spirit teaches us all things including the powerlessness of earthly, temporary power.So, my son do no fret because of those in power and 'do not be drunk with win, in which is dissipation; but be filled with the Spirit. (Ephesians 5:18)'Professor Esiemokhai writes in from Edo State, Nigeria
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