THE QUESTION OF LEDEARSHIP IN NIGERIA

It is saddening to record dat leadership in our nation
had tended towards the Hobbesian scheme to a grea t
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 belives 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. Andtherefore, it is necessary that he has a mind ready toturn 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 d 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 practiclized the Machiavellian skill of "fox and lion"-
the skill of pretence 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
assasinations,money laundering,tenure prolongation,fraud gangsterism, to mention but a few. To say then that our nation is in a dilapidatin 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 dat 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 dat our society is itself bad,corrupt & Machiavellian. What a pity! But someting can still be done. We can have another community! Another state is possible! Infact, a new Nigeria is possible! What then is the way forward???