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Power is to politicians what breast milk is to sucklings. It is always difficult to let go without a struggle when a politician has to leave power, just as babies cry and protest when weaned off breast milk. This struggle is a sign of immaturity and, as the election season approaches, we will witness a lot of succession conflicts.
Our youth who aspire to positions of leadership, especially in politics, should learn to know when to leave the stage. When do you leave the stage? It is more honourable to quit when the ovation is loudest; not when you’re no longer wanted. When applause turns to hooting, respect is lost, anger sets in and, if you are adamant, you’d be dishonourably discharged by the same people who elected or appointed you with fanfare. That’s the irony of power.
The great Nelson Mandela understood perfect timing by his exemplary honourable exit from the stage when he voluntarily stepped down as South Africa’s president after only one term in office. If he had opted to rule till death because he spearheaded the liberation of the Rainbow Country from the clutches of apartheid, he’d have been disgraced out of office like many leaders of his generation.
Success without succession is failure. If you get to a position of leadership, remember that you are not a monarch who rules for life. Everything in life, including life itself, is for a season. Even potentates and maximum rulers come and go. Most maximum rulers who refused to go ended up humiliated out of office, some ended up being executed like infamous dictators Saddam Hussein of Iraq, Benito Mussolini of Italy, etc. it is the lust for power that often consumes the powerful.
Lord Acton said, “Power tends to corrupt, absolute power corrupts absolutely.” So, folks, never get carried away by the allure of power. Getting power is not what matters, what you do with it is what counts. In Nigeria and some African countries, politicians are known to fight dirty to obtain political power and then use such power to loot the treasury.
If you desire to run for political office, the question to ask yourself is this: to what end? The primary purpose of political power is to use such mandate to develop your constituency, not to enrich yourself or boost your ego. If you acquire power for personal aggrandizement like most of our politicians do, you are on the road to self-immolation. Yesterday’s men of power and influence who looted the treasury are either behind bars or on the run. Some are on self-exile abroad, hoping to escape justice. You don’t want to live like that. Do you?
So, the point is live and let go. In life, we all come and go; nothing lasts forever, more so, a transient thing like leadership. The vocabulary of the election season in Nigeria is full of expletives. You hear phrases like “do-or-die” affair. People go for power for what power can give them in terms of easy wealth, personal aggrandizement and other perks of office, not what they can use power to give the people in terms of service delivery. That’s why elections are so fierce, and the tussle so deadly, they often claim innocent lives, the lives of young people.
The reason for this is that politicians in this country have a wrong concept of power, that’s why they want to sit tight in office or position and appoint a crony to succeed them. There’s nothing bad in putting someone in line of succession, provided they are well groomed, well mentored, and the motive is not self-serving.
Every generation produces successors, that is how genealogies are formed to create nations. For instance, I succeeded my father, my father succeeded his own father and so on, my own son will succeed me, and his own son will succeed him. Like it or not, nature compels this biological succession through death in old age. When you finish your course, you give way for younger ones; so the earth is replenished and renewed. The process of birth and death reinvigorates the earth, and perpetuates it till eternity. You cannot upset this order of nature.
Most people do not learn from this simple process. I want the youth to understand and observe this law of succession because, like it or not, it will catch up with you someday. No one can cheat nature. When you get into any position of authority, serve out your term very well, leave a mark and bow out honourably. The Boys Scout motto says: Act well your part, their the honour lies.
The authors of our constitution introduced term limits for political office holders, to discourage tenure elongation or what is known as the “sit tight syndrome.” Yet, powerful politicians sometimes constitute themselves into thin gods or godfathers who forcefully plant puppets as successors to indirectly perpetuate their expired tenure. In the ensuing crisis, the political process is pulverized, resources are deployed to fight pitched battles and the people become poorer for it. Our youth must break this vicious cycle.
The way to go is to go into any kind of political office with a mindset of a servant leader, who has a set of goals. Work toward your goals, achieve them, make your impact, groom successors, mentor them thoroughly and let the system produce its own leaders.
WEEKEND SPICE: Your faith is only as strong as the crisis it survives – Myles Mouroe
Ok folks, let’s do it again next Friday. Stay motivated.
Ladi Ayodeji is an Author, Rights Activist, Pastor and Life Coach. He can be reached on 09059243004 (SMS & Whatsapp only)
