10th April, 2012
An African proverb says that “A performing masquerade that tries to extend his allotted time while trying to impress his audience may expose his anus.” The phrase “…expose his anus” in this proverb simply means being put to shame, reproach, trouble, and to some extent being put to death.
Many leaders, particularly in African countries, were at different times in the past put to shame, reproach, trouble, and even death while fighting to stay longer in power. But alas! Like the proverbial masquerade mentioned in this piece, many a leader had had his anus exposed for the world political watchers to see.
Leaders that refused to relinquish power until they were either disgraced or killed include Muammar Gaddafi of Libya, Syrian autocrat Bashar al-Assad, Ali Abdullah Saleh of Yemen, ailing Hosni Mubarak of Egypt and you name them.
Permit me to ask, why would a masquerade be wiggling his costume-bedecked body before an uninterested, wearied and yawning audience, and would still be asking for an elongated tenure or another term? Contextually put, why would a non-performing president be asking for elongation or extension of tenure when the people are silently praying that he should exhaust his tenure and relinquish power to a better president?
It is only in Africa that a country’s president would be asking for tenure elongation even when he knows he is not performing, and may likely not improve on his performance when he is magnanimously allowed by the people to go for another term.
As earlier pointed out, when a performing masquerade is not thrilling the audience, the audience would become weary, uninterested and begin to doze away. They would rather be praying silently for the masquerade to pave way for a more theatrical masquerade.
In the same vein, if a nation is facing the challenges of security, decaying infrastructure, youth unemployment and social disintegration, it would be preposterous for the president that presides over such a nation or any of his lackeys to be making utterances or exhibiting body movements that suggest that the president is scheming for a third term in office. Personally, I believe what a president cannot achieve during his first and second terms in office may not be achieved during his third term in office. An African proverb says the smell of a fart goes a long way in providing a clue on how the faeces would smell. Therefore, I believe any president that failed to perform creditably well should honourably relinquish power at the expiration of his tenure for a more patriotic and capable president rather than scheming for another term of probable non-performance in office.
The book of Proverbs chapter 4 verse 7 says “Wisdom is the principal thing; therefore get wisdom; and with all thy getting get understanding”.
It would be germane at this juncture to advise some African leaders to always hold on to the foregoing scripture at every point of taking decision that borders on the issue of tenure elongation or another term of office.
Though this piece is not a church sermon, permit me to say that Solomon is remembered in Jewish tradition and in Christendom for his wisdom. In the book of 1 Kings chapter 3 verse 4, it is written that in a dream God said to him; “Ask for whatever you want me to give you”.
According to biblical record, the divine opportunity was instantly seized by Solomon. Rather than make request for money, power or any other request that would have been considered to be ephemeral, he asked for the wisdom that would enable him to be a good ruler. He was in that divine encounter blessed with what many people would call a “blank cheque”. In other words, he was given the full power to act as he thought best. However, he requested for wisdom for the accomplishment of his royal assignments. Given the same situation today, some contemporary leaders would have asked for another term of office or for things that can be said to be materialistic.
Considering the foregoing biblical event, it would be germane at this juncture to urge African leaders to begin to initiate and implement policies and programmes that have the capacity of improving their leadership styles, and by extension the welfare of the people. This is possible if they ask God for it in a righteous manner. Like the wearied audience watching the non-performing masquerade, Africans are wearied and yawning after seeing non performing presidents having the guts to ask for ticket for another term of office. To me, such political ambition is tantamount to standing logic on its head.
We have had cases in some African countries where obstinate and despotic leaders literarily tried to swim against the tide of the people’s wishes over tenure elongation, and they no doubt in their various countries exposed their anus to world political watchers. Those that can be cited at this juncture are Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal, who can be said to have floundered through the recent conflagration that almost obliterated Senegal’s name from the world map, the late Samuel Doe of Liberia, the late Muammar Gaddafi of Libya amongst others.
Some leaders in Africa, whom I may in this context refer to as political masquerades should imbibe the leadership style of leaders such as Dr. Nelson Mandela. Like the true entertaining masquerade, he literarily thrilled the South Africans, and theatrically wiggled himself into all African countries through his style of leadership that today those who know what true leadership is, are wont to cite him at political symposia and fora as an ideal leader worthy of emulation.
Personally, this writer would be a happier and be a more hopeful Nigerian if a leader that believes in the emerging political ideology called Mandelaism becomes the No. 1 citizen of our country; sooner or in the nearest future.
Given the leadership standard which Dr. Nelson Mandela has set, it would be expedient and ideal for our present crop of African leaders to take after him. No doubt, he created a fountain of ideal leadership which I would advise our leaders to be drawing from each time they are bereft of ideas or become myopic.
But alas! Rather than striving for good governance, some African leaders are busy scheming for tenure elongation or chasing third term ticket.
It is very disappointing to realise that despite the political conflagration and sanguinary violence that swept across some Arab countries between 2010 and 2011, a leader such as Abdoulaye Wade of Senegal could swim against the tide of public opinion and seek to run for a third term. Thank God his anus was exposed like that of the performing masquerade that requested for an extra time to perform well before his wearied audience only to end up exposing his anus.
As I write this piece, I can make a bull’s eye prediction that there may be two or more African presidents that are already scheming for a third term ticket even when evidence abounds that such presidents have not performed more than a local government chairman. To me, such inordinate ambition would be disastrous and suicidal, given the fact that the presidents did not fulfil their political promises.
At this juncture, one may be compelled to ask; Why is it that African leaders do not learn from the mistakes of their past leaders? For instance, before Muammar Gaddafi was killed, there were many cases of violent political crises that rocked so many countries as a result of the unbridled, intransigent stance taken by the leaders of such countries. He would have been alive today if he had learnt from history. The problem with African leaders that have despotic tendencies is just like that of flies that are destined to be drowned in a keg of palm-wine. They do not learn from history.
I know you may have been wondering why I used a masquerade to express this metaphorical piece. One of the reasons that compelled me to use it is that like a power-hungry or power-drunk president, typical masquerades in some cultures are wont to foment trouble. There are reported cases of communities that fought ethnic wars due to the foolhardiness of competing masquerades.
Some masquerades are not usually punctilious enough in carrying out their cultural responsibilities so much so that they tend to display their skills outside their cultural purview to the detriment of the peaceful co-existence of communities. In the same vein, African leaders are wont to do things unconstitutionally, particularly when they are misguided and try to adopt the unpopular principle of “Sit-Tightism”.
I once saw a masquerade that was drunk to the extent that he could no longer play his cultural responsibilities but was busy lashing anyone on sight with his whip. In the same token, most African presidents or heads of states are so power-drunk that they no more perform their political responsibilities but only administer what I may in this context call the whip of hardships on the people. Like the masquerades, one can literarily say that their costumes have covered their eyes to the extent that they hardly see the people suffering.
I am therefore calling on African leaders in general and presidents in particular to stop behaving like the proverbial masquerade that is in the habit of exposing his anus and unnecessarily administering whips on people that are supposed to cheer him up. They should be delivering good leadership to the people instead of blindly and unreasonably seeking for third term ticket.
•Asabor wrote from Lagos