The Instincts Of Power Which Have Swayed Most Leaders Of Our Time

Crawling when we were young was a captivating storyline; delineating how powerless and less authoritative we were without any dissention of the sought! And so, none of us at that epoch of time dreamt of supremacy; an accoutrement for subduing and getting people subservient unto You. But all that we had deliberated over was to rise far away from crawling and to start walking uprightly. So we were lenient and often not regimental but gregarious and opened our hands to those who want to carry us from the ground which we have toiled and moiled helplessly on! It was, however, the best days that we all had an impasse that Allah is the only King on this earth and the Master of the day of judgement. Of this, Satan never occurred in any attempt to whisper into our ears to consider ourselves in aught that we have dominion before us. He only laid an ambush and by the passage of time he cajoled us that we are now there! And lo, we got trapped because we are thirsty for Power!

Now that we have grown and grown tall and have had a solid clout which has actualized and navigated through our individual credentials of ruling and playing a leadership role, thus we have been elected as Chiefs, Directors, and more especially greedy-gut-power-sucking-leaders! As quickly as these privileges are been conferred onto us we then get ourselves forgotten to the ebb of comparing our fallible nature to God's infallibility because we can also pronounce death, grant pardon or freedom and provide food and shelter for refugees and our citizens! We think leadership is all about commanding, like how a Shepherd moves his flocks, which are animals; so they need to be hit whenever they veer off from the route to pasturing or retracing their way back home! We are cruel to our subordinates by denying them their rights due to the power of the Political haven we are milking. We have been remarkably noted for dissipating to amass for our family at the detriment of the very thumbs which voted for us! So transgression has filled our conscience to the brim, but at the same time, we are being hailed for the pejorative and retrogressive governing machinery we have executed by the people we mostly termed us Party ‘faithfuls'.

We must not allow ourselves to be blinded with science and the alacrity and zeal of exercising authority or being in power, because upon all the veto powers vested into your hands in today's life, there comes a time that [Your subjects and you] shall be arraigned completely naked awaiting judgement before Allah's court! That is when you would see how powerless and useless man has always been in the presence of truth! So when you lead or rule, see yourself as one who ought to serve and not to be served, and be steadfast against any corruptible advances from thou abets, and be frank and truthful. And remember as much that leaders who build a prosperous nation do prosper from that prosperity and not how powerful they were or might be in the wrong direction! Its elliptical conclusion is hinged on Thomas Jefferson’s quote which says that “honesty is the first chapter in the book of wisdom”. So decouple your thoughts from ever envisioning of becoming a man who is poised to lead but only to be seen by men and not to bring out workable solutions for the men that he leads! For our elders have already said a lot.

Abdur Rahman Odoi Anum Pobe

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