In my last intervention, I defined the inflexion concept and explained why and how we found ourself at that critical juncture. Indeed, as Asa sang during the NNPC repainting ceremony, there is fire on the mountain! Deji Ige (Let there be light), who asked which way Nigeria (Sunny Okossuns, 1983, and that was when there was still a way) bemoaned the Nigerian situation in which poverty is a stakeholder, hunger is the breadwinner, fuel scarcity is a citizen, the reward of teachers is still in heaven, salary remains a punishment for hard-work and a cow is equal to (indeed more valued than) humans due to a rickety, myopic leadership’ driving us recklessly into the obviously shark-infested deep blue sea!
Reverend Fr. Sly Ameh had compared Nigeria to the traveller on the road to Jericho (Luke,10:25-37). As such, what we need now is not another brigand or steel-hearted, Machiavellian fellow but a Good Samaritan, who is not of the family; to rescue and restore.
Nigeria is sick unto death; it is like a car with a knocked engine that requires not just an ordinary driver but a dexterous mechanic. 2023 is an opportunity to start afresh and any mistake then will be Fatal.
OBIcracy also espouses PWB (Politics Without Bitterness) as preached and practised by late Waziri Ibrahim of Great Nigerian Peoples Party
Lasisi Olagunju has reminded us that modern medicine ordinarily prescribes surgery as a remedy for a birth defect or at least, compulsory long-term support. I believe that it is time to perform that painful surgery in/on Nigeria or at least, install a sustainable long-term support.
During the PDP national convention as a prelude to the 2015 elections, Lucky Goodluck, the man who moved from grass to grace and from grace to greater grace, made this prophetic statement: The choice before Nigerians in the coming election is quite simple: a choice between going forward or going backward; between the new ways and the old ways; between freedom and repression; between a record of visible achievements/beneficial reforms and desperate power-seekers with empty promises.
Unfortunately, like entranced folks, we gleefully chose going backwards, the old ways, repression and desperate power-seekers with empty promises. And unfortunately, we are now in a more precarious position than we ever imagined that we could be.
Today, the choice between us is like that between day and night. We have two broad options; to choose OBIcracy, which goes beyond PO or the insufferable troika of plutocracy, gerontocracy and kakistocracy.
OBIcracy is the theory, practice and philosophy of OBIism or politics as practised and espoused by Obi. It is a system in which ‘people who are disenchanted with structured political leadership choose a structureless but competent leader of character, voluntarily deploying their 3Ts to mobilise and campaign for him against Fully structured incompetent leaders with missing and/or doubtful certificates, age, integrity, origin and even parentage.’ It is also seen as a system of government where savings is the goal, producing is the strategy and funding the SMEs is the philosophy.
OBIcracy espouses inclusiveness, shared prosperity, ‘youthocracy,’ social cohesion, compassion and preferential interest in the poor, underprivileged and marginalised. It prioritises character, competence, openness, pro-people policies, respect for the rule of law, civility and moderation in speech and action, whether in public or private life; clean, simple and credible lifestyle and all-round education and exposure sufficient to lead Nigeria from the ‘nth’ world (we had long gone far below the third) to the current world and to the future.
Read also: Nigeria@inflexion point: OBIcracy vs gerontocracy, plutocracy, kakistocracy
Under OBIcracy, everything is OBIvous, OBImatic and OBIfied all built on a foundation of OBIology. It is built around a holistic concept of integrity, which always seeks the good of others; it believes that if something is not good For Both Sides, then, it is not good for either side. You may succeed momentarily for what do or know, but you can only succeed permanently because of what you are (The Word for Today 1/3/19; Before I Die, 30/4/21).
It also SOLEY thinks and works around whatever is true, whatever is noble, whatever is right, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is admirable, whatever is excellent and praiseworthy (Phil. 4:8). It abhors desperation and ambuscade, and believes strongly in equity, while adopting the golden rule!
OBIcracy adopts a Pacesetting Leadership Style as propounded by Daniel Goleman in which the leader leads from the front, constantly sets high standards for the team and expects them to exceed with minimal management; when the leader sets the cadence for the team and demands high intensity in their performance. This is because, ’the perfect way to lead is by taking the lead. Taking the lead stiffens the backbone of the followers and enhances their confidence. Taking the lead demonstrates your faith and commitment to what you are directing them to do. Taking a lead shows them how to do it and at the same time inspires them to do what they see you do.
OBIcracy as a construct goes beyond Peter Obi and that was why he was able to identify another OBImatic Nigeria, a YUSful one for that matter in the person of Dati Baba-Ahmed, out of the numerous other OBIfied people across all the regions of Nigeria. Thus, there are many OBIcratic individuals beyond Peter Obi. The mission statement of OBIcracy is ‘to take back Nigeria, for the purpose of rescuing it from continued decline, shift the National Psyche from consumption to production and from sharing dwindling resources to creating wealth and frontally combating poverty, all with the overarching aim of creating a Nigeria that Nigerians will be proud off.’ OBIcracy also espouses PWB (Politics Without Bitterness) as preached and practised by late Waziri Ibrahim of Great Nigerian Peoples Party.
On the other side of the divide are the three detestable philosophies of Plutocracy, Gerontocracy and Kakistocracy. We shall examine these later.
