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| Hon. Onyekachi Ugwu |
Permit
me the gross immodesty of even associating myself with any form of Socratic
wisdom and intuitive abilities. Forgive me for the carelessness of arrogating
and electing myself to act in the stead of a gadfly: a characterization left
for only personas with incredible abilities to ruffle feathers for the purposes
of stinging society to a conscious reawakening. I have neither ability.
Having
from outset disqualified myself of any of such attributes, permit me to give
you an insight into the workings of my mind through the agency of the words of
the sage Socrates.
In his
own words Socrates, while waiting for death as decreed by the Oracle of Delhi
says, “I am the gadfly of the Athenian people, given to
them by God, and they will never have another, if they kill me. And now,
Athenians, I am not going to argue for my own sake, as you may think, but for
yours, that you may not sin against the God by condemning me, who am his gift
to you. For if you kill me you will not easily find a successor to me, who, if
I may use such a ludicrous figure of speech, am a sort of gadfly, given to the
state by God; and the state is a great and noble steed who is tardy in his
motions owing to his very size, and requires to be stirred into life. I am that
gadfly which God has attached to the state, and all day long 1and in all places
am always fastening upon you, arousing and persuading and reproaching you. You
will not easily find another like me, and therefore I would advise you to spare
me.”
From
the foregoing, it is obvious, drawing a relationship between Athens and Igbo-Eze North/Udenu constituency
that what we need is a deep introspection beyond the theatrics of the blaring
siren of a quick return to prosperity and grandeur and the beguiling humility
canvassed by those wishing to run for the House
of Representatives seat come 2019.
As a
matter of fact, we do not need those practiced dance steps rather what we need
is to know our problems and how with level headedness we can reconnect to the
era of seamless leadership of the past, navigate out of the murky waters of the
present twists in our fortunes, and above all, the grandstanding of crass
ineptitude of today which has left us more divided than Sudan and South Sudan.
Like
Socrates, I am going to ruffle feathers, mindful of my facts and figures,
bearing in mind that what is at stake now is about the fate of a great people
and not the unbridled crave for few naira notes and the centripetal pull of the
bandwagon reaction.
Our
constituency has every potentials to become the centre point of informed
national discourses on responsible representation. We are endowed with human
resources to produce the best but like Nigerian Super Eagles we are oscillating
between success and failure, thereby vitiating the gains we had hitherto made.
Instructively,
we cannot reasonably continue to act as if all is well. All is not well. We
also cannot pretend that nothing can be done. A lot can be done. Yes.
To
start, we need a gadfly to sting us to conscious realization especially
regarding where we are derailing, to excite in us the desire for urgent
solution and prime us for success. Let the glory that has departed return.
What is the
problem?
The
problems are magnitude. But the one that should assumed the front burner is
that of lack of leadership. Leadership is the art of leading and galvanizing a
people to pursue common purpose. Seen from this prism, a leader must command
personal charm, exude humility and deep commitment to the cause of his society:
such as development, peace and the greatest happiness of the greatest number.
Added to this, a leader must have personal touch and essential connect with the
people he is leading. Anything short of this negates the cardinal thrust of
leadership. Has Igbo Eze North/Udenu
Constituency enjoyed leadership?
We will add a
continuation of this article later
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