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The umbrella organization of Nigerian lawyers, the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) between August 19 and 26 held her 2022 annual conference in Lagos. It was splendid. Some lawyers said it was the best they had ever organized. This is what it should be, new endeavours ought to be a far improved version of the previous. As is usual, and as would be expected, the gathering got well deserved attention. That was anticipated given that politics towards the 2023 general election is beginning to gather momentum. The campaigns will commence September 20 with the presidential campaigns.
So it was expected that the candidates would honour the invitation of the NBA and two of the major four honoured the event with their physical presence, they were Peter Obi and Atiku Abubakar of Labour Party (LP) and People’s Democratic Party (PDP) respectively. Ahmed Bola Tinubu of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) sent in his deputy, Kassim Shettima, to stand in for him while Senator Rabiu Kwakwanso of New Nigeria People’s Party (NNPP) didn’t put up appearance in any form at all.
Before we take the lessons of the August gathering, I want to take liberty to touch on a lesson one of my friends keeps hammering into our subconscious each time he has opportunity to talk about our collapsing economy and the hope it holds for all citizens, not just the young generation: “The difference between success and failure, between your standing strong, feeding well and being acknowledged in your world is understanding.” Everybody may do the same thing but those who go the extra to find out the essence and how to apply it in the world make the most out of what they know. This secret played out in a very interesting way at the recent NBA conference.
Everyone, especially the highly publicly exposed persons, came to the gathering very happy and of course expectant. The political elements talking about the presidential candidates knew it was excellent chance to take in some advantages. As is usual with our character, many in that gathering struggled for vantage positions. Inside their hearts the objective was very clear: they wanted visibility and to appear in pictures, they desired to embrace the kleiglights from the cameras of various television stations, all in search of prominence. If truth be told, it was a market day for the cameramen and photojournalists who came to the event.
In the early moments, Obi and Atiku appeared to receive all the attention. They were the cynosure of all eyes. It was rightly so because they were point men who were duly invited, it was not “spare-tyres”, as we tag deputies in our clime in recent times. So the second class treatment given to Shettima wasn’t completely out of order. It met protocol demands to a point, yet in all of that one man, yes one man, not the main act but a representative, the former governor of Borno State and currently Vice Presidential candidate of APC, Kassim Shettima took all the shine off the main actors and everybody else present in opening day ceremony. He had come very prepared to beat all obstacles and odds to emerge not just the star but hero of the time.
How did Shettima record the enviable feat? Very simple. He understood the power in the “Law of Identity.” Power of identity teaches that if your work, contributions and essence in the crowded world of men is to be appreciated, then you must maintain your originality in all about you, be it in your character and general attitude, dressing, speech mannerism, actions and more importantly in your creative endeavors. This is one law of excellence Shettima knew which his fellow competitors in the coming election didn’t know or knew but trivialized to their disadvantage. Shettima came to the big, conservative but highly conventional event wearing an attire he wasn’t very used to: while the rest of the pack turned out in suits, Shettima had on a coat of very distinct dimension. Many may not know there is a difference between a suit and a coat.
There is a difference between a “coat” and a “suit.” People into power dressing worldwide know the difference between the two. The only way one can explain it better in this discourse is to point to the example that church Ministers in old order churches still wear coats but pastors in the modern churches go on suits. Hahahaha! But it is true. Anyone still not certain about the example is free to undertake his own research simply by observing those in the examples mentioned; he may look to the banks to draw rich inferences it will help a great deal.
Those who managed the Shettima outing were great strategists, they knew the fashion sense would attract attention which is vital in political marketing or sellsmanship if you like, but for the memories to stay far longer than the event something special had to be added so they found sense in making the cloth far bigger than the wearer, not only cloth the tie as well. He also had on sneakers for shoes. It caught on like a wildfire in summer Europe, everyone left everything else to cheer, hail and to appreciate an uncommon statesman. What Obi and Atiku would have wished to even pay billions to get, Shettima got free of charge by way of knowledge of secrets, understanding and right application.
It was not his intention to be a star, not to of entering the heroes class yet all that was thrusted on him in a twinkle of an eye. He just emerged the unintended hero. The event has since ended and nearly all the participants and issues forgotten but the memories of Shettima is fresh in our minds and it promises to remain so for very long time just because he had unique knowledge and understanding that must follow knowledge if the latter will produce tangible results. Shettima applied the law of “different species” and he got the attention he needed, he made the headlines. Result: he turned out the unintended hero of the NBA award.
Peter Obi and Atiku got awards for excellent presentation of a blueprint but Shetima got the acclaim of the entire watching citizens. It just confirms the affairs of this world revolve round systems, the knowledge and understanding of the systems is what produces value. Those who gain appropriate skills scale great heights. As it happened to Shettima, same process applies to a society and nations. Those who take pains to discover secrets of transformation will build great nations out of backward entities. Some people are drawing inferences; one of such is that APC is made up of “archaic” people who are not very conversant with modern ways of doing things. This position for some of us amounts to aspersion, we don’t agree with it. It can only be situated within political yabis, which is tolerable to a lesser degree. Political jabs once in a while are okay where it is not taken across lines of decency and where don’t substitute for campaign of issues.
Do apparels speak of the make-up and character of a person? This argument has been a long one to point it has become the subject of study in psychological departments of universities worldwide. There is an agreement that dressing tells a thing or two about people just the same way spoken words do. A naked person will be passed for an insane, while the shabbily clothed could be labelled a confused man. However, relating to the issue here, it is not essentially about a good and modern dress sense, it is first and foremost about the absence of rigour in the way our leaders approach state and public matters. Where there is rigour aides would do their job and principals will turn out appropriately. Shettima challenge as many refer to his dressing is for many of us a throwback to how shoddy we do nearly all things.
There is no serious thinking over. Our leaders have this mentality of “barge in and barge out” of everything and situations. It shows in the way they handle even sensitive matters of development and this explains why we experience backward integration in spite of huge resources available to us. Our leaders engage aides who are not competent and confident enough to constructively confront their bosses on right paths and decisions to follow. It has gotten to the point leaders never see need to consult let alone take meaningful and progressive advice from so-called aides. Yet, it is said that in the multitude of counsels there is safety.
NBA did well to invite candidates and give them opportunity to espouse on their vision for the country. And they went ahead to score. Some of us would wish organisations leave out the scoring perspective but allow the citizens to draw their own conclusions. Tinubu and Kwakwanso’s absence subtracted from their standing. Such acts signpost what to expect going forward. They may dodge other future debates. Elsewhere when candidates fail to show up the people make them pay for it. The bigger challenge would be how to make candidates who avoid public debates pay for it. Debates and appearance should be made legal matters.
Finally, other formal organizations should have by now drawn up plans to fully engage the candidates. Where we are today requires we know those who want to serve us as well as their visions. We must create the fora and get them to talk to us, asking them the right questions and giving them ample time to give us straight and understandable solutions. We have left the process of leadership recruitment to chance and it has proven such a terrible and costly gamble. The consequences are too hurting to be left to continue. We need genuine change propelled by our internal dynamics, and the right time is now not tomorrow.
