By Daniel Bwala
There is a common cliché that, it is always painful where one expects wisdom and discernment to prevail, it is indiscretion that take order. In recent times, I have taken my time to observe happenings within the polity. I have been vociferous, many times, against people’s views, especially those who have had the rare opportunity to occupy one position of authority or the other in the country but have had little or nothing to their name. I have had cause to call people out including but not limited to governors, National Assembly members as well as other government appointees. It will amount to sheer hypocrisy or worst still unctuousness. It smacks of double-face of my personality if I fail to address this and now. Like Gilbert Ryle opined, to be hypocritical is to ‘try to appear activated by motive other than one’s real motive.’
Bela Szabados and Daniel Statman argue that self-deception is the characteristic attribute of “garden variety of hypocrisies.” In their views, Roger Crisp and Christopher Cowten identify four (4) types of hypocrisy – pretense of moral goodness; moral criticism of others by those possessing fault of their own; failure to satisfy self-acknowledged moral requirements; and a complacent, unreflective commitment to virtues feigned or preached. It is from this prism that it becomes germane that I make this very important position, rightly and now that the Senator representing Borno South Senatorial District, Senator Mohammed Ali Ndume, a man who has enjoyed tremendous benevolence through, largely providence, has repeatedly proved to be an expert of grandstanding with his endless controversial stance on national issues. From proving to be a controversial personality in actions and inaction, the 21-year-sway National Assembly member seems not to have learnt anything in and about leadership. It is for this reason that I am compelled to call him out over his endless unguarded verbal utterances in the media in recent times against the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Senator Ali Ndume has continued to show a lack of leadership quality by any standard. He is just a beneficiary of a system that promotes Stockholm syndrome. Otherwise, how could a man with relatively less political value continue to represent people for 21 years, yet enmeshed in endless controversies with little or nothing to show in his Senatorial District? Of course, he knows his people too well. Like Maxwell clearly stated in Law 20 – The Law of Explosive Growth, John Schnatter, one of America’s best makers of pizza had said, “It is my job to build the people who are going to build the company.” The question therefore is, how many people has Senator Ali Ndume built in his 21-year sway at the National Assembly? As a 2-term House of Representatives member from 2003 through 2011, and now a 4th term Senator representing people of Southern Borno in the Red Chamber, who are his mentees who have gone on to excel in life?
A grasp of this best-seller’s piece by Maxwell would have been very helpful to controversial Sen. Ali Ndume. Who knows, maybe his failed attempts at becoming the Majority Leader of the 10th National Assembly after his alleged support for the now Senate President, Senator Akpabio is his recent drive for his expertise in gaslighting and grandstanding. But then, it is what it is – who you are is who you attract. The 9th and 11th laws explained by Maxwell in his ‘The 21 Irrefutable Laws of Leadership speak about the ‘Law of Magnetism’ and ‘The Law of the Inner Circle’ respectively. While the 9th law emphasises likes attracting likes, the 11th law says a leader’s potential is determined by those closest to him. A look at the many controversies surrounding Senator Ali Ndume reveals his personality and that of those who flock around him. It is only natural that one cannot give what one does not possess. Just like Maxwell expressed in another of his books titled, ‘The Ultimate Leadership – Maximise Your Potential and Empower Your Team, Maxwell had opined, change the leader, change the organisation or setup – here, everything rises and falls on leadership.
Senator Ndume has thrown caution to the winds with his continuous attempt to mudslide, denigrate, asperse, and besmirch the name of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He continues to make it look like the situation Nigeria finds herself is President Tinubu’s making. He is quick to forget that whatever Nigeria is going through today, the seed was planted by his Northern brother, President Muhammadu Buhari’s unfortunate leadership for 8 years. He is oblivious of the fact that it is the mess of his brother that the present administration is trying hard, in the midst of an excruciating economic situation, to clean up. He has forgotten that it is easier to destroy than to build. The humongous revelations with the odious and odoriferous ooze of financial recklessness of the appointees of former President Muhammadu Buhari is why Nigeria is the way it is today. It is unfortunate that Senator Ndume expects a miracle performer or a man with a magic wand to correct the many anomalies of the past administration. Of course, he has been a beneficiary of the endemic system for many years. He does not believe in laying good foundations, like the Tinubu administration is currently doing to put the country on a trajectory of economic prosperity and socio-political wellness of the common man.
What is so disturbing in all of this is that Senator Ndume hails from the same State as the Vice President, Sen. Kashim Mustapha (GCON) and my humble self. Even if one must agree without conceding that he did not have access to Mr. President, is he saying he does not also have access to the Vice President who incidentally is from the same state as him? How about his leader, the Senate President, Senator Godswill Akpabio whom he supported to become the Senate President, or the Chief of Staff, Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila with whom he served together as House of Representatives members many years ago? Can Senator Ndume deny that he has seen the president at least twice after President Tinubu came on board? What sin has Mr. President committed that Senator Ndume finds it pretty difficult to forgive? Why the sudden change after his purported support for the same man less than 13 months ago? Why has Ndume continued to visit every media platform to cast aspersions on the name of the president, using many derogatory adjectives, suggesting Mr. President is in a cage in the Villa as if the Villa had become an amusement park or zoo? Does this stem from the insinuations that Senator Ndume is working clandestinely with some dissenting voices against Mr. President? For his information, the president has been meeting the people he wishes to meet on a daily basis as has been reported by several media outlets. If, however, Senator Ndume is in doubt, he can ask the Press Corps from the Villa. I personally think Senator Ndume has an over-exaggerated opinion about his self-importance. There is a ubiquitous hunger in the land. No one is in doubt, not even Mr. President himself who has constantly empathised with the Nigerian people and has continually promised to change the tide. For crying out loud, Mr. President has always made known many of his intervention programmes to address the situation. Some of these interventions also touched on Senator Ndume’s Senatorial District. What else does Ndume want?
It is also often said that a man with his eyes full of pecks does not leave his to help another man. Senator Ndume, like a self-conceited man that he is, is always blaming and accusing everyone except himself. He absolves himself of any blame whatsoever while he relishes in grandstanding. What the public will like to know is that how many persons has Ndume raised in the last 2 decades of benefitting from the country? What has been his impact in his Senatorial District? His Southern Borno Senatorial District still suffers from lack of portable water. The health system is still comatose with many debilitating diseases claiming lives of the ordinary people. What has Ndume brought to his people even as a past member of the Senate leadership? He was a former minority Whip. What benefit did that bring to his people? Senator Ndume does not listen to anyone from his constituency – whether eminent members of the public or even political leaders. He does not give them an audience. He does not run an open-door policy. Except for his political bootlickers, Senator Ndume does not allow for engagement with the people. The purported signature bills he proposed at the hallowed chamber were decoys to take advantage of the people. His bill seeking the creation of Southern Borno State was a deceit meant to hoodwink his Southern Borno people. It is akin to giving people false hope so they can think he has their interest at heart.
Senator Ndume constantly disparages President Tinubu’s administration over his cabinet members. He is quick to forget that many of the so-called cabinet members were brought by people like him, governors and party leaders from across the states of the Federation. And Mr. President has repeatedly told whoever cared to listen that he would not run a cabinet that is not prone to reshufflement like Nigerians witnessed under former President Muhammadu Buhari. Only recently, the assessment of the current crop of ministers was done. And in a couple of days or weeks from now, President Tinubu would unveil a new cabinet reshufflement. Why cannot Senator Ndume wait till that time to know if he will continue with his wailing and ululation? Senator Ali Ndume has continued to show that he is an overrated political beneficiary of our system and is in endless search of self-discovery.
What Senator Ndume should have done is to show that he is a man of honour and dignity. If his desire is to pander and fraternise with those who overtly want Tinubu out, he should show his true colour without hiding behind a finger. He should stop using the situation of the masses to promote his ulterior motive. If he has any reason not to believe anymore in the leadership of Mr President, he should opt-out with immediate alacrity, not hiding under any incognito or under any illusion of speaking truth to power. He should be man enough. When I opposed the Muslim-Muslim ticket shortly after the All Progressives Congress Presidential Primaries in 2022, I opted out. I left the party and made my decision public. That is how a man with integrity and honour does, not exhibiting a two-faced personality. It is only hypocritical of Senator Ndume to continue to blame the same system that he, alongside his family has benefitted immensely from. It does not portray him as a man with dignity.
Whether or not Senator Ndume and his ilk like it, President Bola Tinubu will ultimately deliver a Nigeria that everyone will be proud of.
Dr. Daniel Bwala
Legal Practitioner/Policy Analyst writes from the United Kingdom
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