Dambazzau: The Big Man

Dambazzau and his aide 

 

A viral video depicting an aide cleaning the shoes of Nigeria's internal affairs minister in public is a clear visual reminder of what leaders ought not to be and what followers pitifully are. Generally, Nigeria's leaders are not ashamed of embracing feudal tendencies coupled with a hint of religious fascism. Our leaders are comfortable holding courtly charades instead of engaging constructively with the citizens to build an egalitarian society. 

A northern government official was once asked why politicians from the region were clearly nonchalant about educating their people. The distinguished official stated matter-of-factly that if everyone was educated, who would serve the leaders!

Dambazzau's show of shame is gaining national attention because of the new information age we live in. But the same sick ritual plays out daily like a broken record in offices, schools, Universities and other public areas of our national life. The 'Oga' or 'big man' syndrome has robbed us of our ability to build a nation of accountable leaders and followers with rights.

We have resigned ourselves to an unconscionable personal survival system that hands power and rights to superiors without question. Though a system that relieves us of personal responsibility by acceding to the whims of Ogas may be temporarily beneficial, it ultimately enslaves and makes cowards of men. 

For 'Oga' Dambazzau to seat while an aide cleans the dust off his shoes in a public forum is an indication of the contempt leaders have for those they think are beneath them in Nigeria. And if a security detail had to publicly clean his shoes in order for him to feel big then Dambazzau has a bigger problem than the aide does. The aide can rise up but Dambazzau can only go down.

Nigeria is in the throes of a sad security situation where armed robbery, kidnappings and unsolved murders are the order of the day. The country is criminally underpoliced while 'big men' and their families are protected and pampered by security details of all hues. The privilege of having security details has been abysmally abused in Nigeria to the extent that uniformed men and women carry grocery bags, umbrellas and perform domestic chores for their principals. The sorry aspect is that these aides enjoy such jobs because of its obvious perks while leaving the majority of Nigerians defenceless. A former vice president, with over seventy security details assigned to him, once complained of not having enough security men!

Our ruling class have always been power-mad but the disease continues purely because of our acquiescence. The behaviour of Nigerians in the presence of those with power deepens folly into crime and smears the soul. We are all guilty, sometimes quite unconsciously, of giving honour where it is not due.

A society that is totally corrupt; where money is man's main aim, where cunning supersedes honesty, where truth is barred out and basic human rights are denied must come to terms with an unpleasant inevitability.

Danbazzau, as Army Chief, was the military wing of the late Yar'adua's kitchen cabinet. He single-handedly smuggled the late president into the country under the cover of darkness without bothering to inform a sitting vice president. But now, the lord of insubordination is misusing subordination in public! 

One day, the man bowing down to clean Oga's shoes would realize his own manhood and gather enough dust to blind his oppressor, unholster his pistol, point it between Oga's eyes and gently squeeze the trigger.