Leadership and Compromise.
Upon the one who wears the crown lies the many choices of alliances and compromises.
Leadership has never been an easy task to accomplish, not because the leader is inadequate or incapable of such achievement but because, at some point, he or she begins to give up on their vision and give into the pressures and demands of the power brokers.
The irony is that these power brokers have never had the interest of the masses or the general whole at heart
. . . For them, it will always remain a business, the one of making so much money with the constant use of tools of threats and blackmail.
Even so, it will always remain a leader’s choice to trade or not to trade. However, he or she should be one, strong enough to pitch his or her beliefs.
It’s really sad how some leaders can easily throw away their vision or good intentions for people regarding attaining good governance all in the name of compromise.
A good leader is one whose loyalty and alliance is first to his country, his state, the people, especially the weak, the vulnerable, the voiceless and all the citizens whose lives and properties he has sworn to protect, the ones, on whose mandate he is being recognised and acknowledged as a leader.
Thus, he is expected to pilot their affairs in fairness and equity irrespective of their geopolitical, ethno, social or religious affiliations, upholding the rule of law knowing no man is above it.
It’s true that over the years, even till this day, leaders in most parts of the world have always had to deal with the different kinds of forces or powers that claim some kind of rights to the throne
… People that think without them no one can ascend the throne or become a king or a leader, due to their status or position in controlling the means of production not to mention their monetary contributions, these individuals are often times referred to as the kingmakers.
It’s unfortunate that the fate of a whole nation is sometimes or most times determined by a selected few and these individuals, are often members of the ruling party.
The kingmakers or power brokers who are the same as the sponsors of the electoral candidate without a doubt see this venture as a quick and lucrative business investment where the state and it’s eventual leader becomes their cash cow.
For as long as he or she remains in power, they determine what goes in and what goes out, who gets what, who dies and who lives.
They literally take charge of the operation of such a state, the leader and the people in general. In other words, their intent is to politically relegate their ‘sponsee’ to doing their bid as they practically dictate written script that has no interest of the electorate at heart.
Some even go as far as using fetishism to solidify the secret oath binding their ‘sponsee’.
The common man may never understand the intrigues of politics, just as the kingmaker will only always see nothing but the opportunity to continue to stay in power, make more money and be relevant in the matters of the state at all times, in all administrations if possible.
When a leader is led by the choice of keeping happy a few individuals over the entirety of his subjects, then something is definitely wrong.
For even if his or her candidature was secured by the members of his or her political party which of course is what it should be, this function of the political party is conducted either by election or by a consensus which normally is the result of nomination.
Nonetheless, the real power and advocacy belongs to the common masses on whose veto power such a leader became a leader in the first place.
But politicians these days have quite a different approach, especially in Nigeria. That is why it’s easy for a few individuals to hold an entire state or nation to ransom especially when the leader in question does not have the mental capacity or strong will to outsmart the bad political demands that may be asked of him or her by those same powers behind the scene. Worse still is if such a leader has a lot of “skeletons in his or her cupboard” which those political powers won’t hesitate to use against him or her.
There is no doubt that the political party is the springboard on which many leaders have emerged as leaders over their people and there is no denying that it can be referred to as the primary source of the politician’s political journey, but when the affairs or sustainability of the party becomes more important to the extent that the general good of the people is at stake, then such loyalty or compromise is not worth the trouble because, the oath taken during swearing in ceremony by a leader, be it a president is normally not a party oath but an oath taken in sovereignty for the general wellbeing and good of the entire whole.
