The question of leadership

It is saddening to record that leadership in our nation had tended towards the Hobbesian scheme to a great extent.As a matter of fact, it has even left the realm of Hobbesian to Machiavellianism. Our political leaders have learnt credence from Niccolo Machiavelli who postulated that the prince(leader) is one who usurps,absolutes or monarchies power. A leader for him, is one who does not believes in slave morality (e.g peace,gentleness,justice,rights, etc),but one who upholds master morality(e.g cruelty,deception,callousness,etc).He says: it is necessary to understand this: that a prince, and especially a new prince, cannot observe all those things for which men are considered good, for in order to maintain the state, he is often obliged to act against his promise, against charity, against humanity and religion. And therefore, it is necessary that he has a mind ready to turn itself according to the way the winds of fortune and the changeability of affairs require him, as long as it is possible,he should not stray from the good,but he should know how to enter into evil when necessity demands. Such is the frame of mind of Machiavelli; and such is the frame of mind of most, if not all,our political leaders in Nigeria. They have so much practicalized the Machiavellian skill of “fox and lion”- the skill of pretense and evil (maradonic skills). And the products of such skills are misuse of power,election manipulations,election rigging,god fatherism,false electoral promises,certificate forgery,political assassinations,money laundering,tenure prolongation,fraud gangsterism, to mention but a few. To say then that our nation is in a dilapidating state is to beg the question. Hence,we could confidently affix the bad situation of the country to Machiavellinism-bad leadership. At all events, Nigeria cannot truly overcome the follies of its recent history until former leaders are made to account for their stewardship, or lack of it. For too long, Nigerians seem to be incapable of rising up in unison to demand justice from their leaders. That is why folly, if care is not taken, will continue to be the defining characteristic of Nigerian leadership.But wait a minute! Let us ask ourselves a question: from where do the bad leaders we have come from? What made them bad? Were they just intrinsically bad? The simple answer is that they are products of bad/corrupt system- the society.So, it is often said that a bad followership (or bad system) cannot produce a good leadership, just like a mango tree cannot start to produce guava fruit, ceteris-paribus. It then means that our society is itself bad,corrupt & Machiavellian. What a pity! But something can still be done. We can have another community! Another state is possible! In fact, a new Nigeria is possible! What then is the way forward???