“The way of a fool is right in his own eyes, but a wise man listens to advice.” – proverb 12:15
In the course of my childhood, I was warned: “Be wary of arrogant and narcissistic leader as he is only interested in self-promotion, self-interest and advancing his own status no matter who he has to trample to get there. An arrogant leader is blinded by his sense of importance and ego to such a degree that he can be easily blinded to the effects it has on his people and his position. He thinks by the elegance of his oratory supported by his over bloated ego that he is immune to his toxic behaviour.”
I was equally informed that, “the traits that embody great leaders are the absolute opposite of arrogance and they include: Integrity, open mindedness, empowerment, patience, accountability, inclusiveness, and tolerance. A true leader plows the road for his people, he support them in their efforts and is willing to role up his sleeves and get dirty to ensure their well-being.”
“Voting for El-Rufai is a moral crusade.” The aforementioned assertion was the senseless and meaningless narrative peddled and trumpeted by moral leaders in Kaduna state during the course of the 2019 electioneering campaign. They were the best instruments government used to create division among the populace.
Sadly, the conveyors of this divisive crass failed to educate the governor should he be ignorant or nescient of the fact that we are enjoin to pay our labourer his due before his sweat dried up, and also deliberately refused to inclined him to fear his creator and offset the outstanding entitlements of the workers he sacked four years ago.
This is the dual nature of contemporary religious leaders who impeccably manipulated and deceived the gullible. Well, I have been reclining on my chair, at the comfort of my room, watching with disdain though, how governor El-Rufai is now meting out severe punishment against the same people who perceived his reelection as a crusade. I hope this will serve as a deterrent to those whose senses of reasonings were eclipsed by bigotry.
Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) had gone a step too far in Kaduna. Does anyone asks why? Because the captain here regarded himself as the-be-end and end-it-all of life — too invincible to be defeated; too conceited to create atmosphere for dialogue; too vainglorious to listen to anyone in particular. Thus, NLC vowed to shatter his pride and puncture his ego, and it appears they have succeeded.
Our legislators are in the best position to stand by the people and fight for the oppressed members of their constituencies; unfortunately, they have become a mere rubber stamp for the governor’s wishes. What we have here in Kaduna is not a legislature but group of stooges and lackeys of El-Rufai.
NLC come to Kaduna, exercised their constitutional function and gone just like El-Rufai freely exercised his under Jonathan’s administration. Some accused NLC of subjecting masses to untold hardship because they shut down hospitals, filling stations, power grids and so on.
NLC were not to blame for that mess; should His excellency be subordinated to his pridefulness and egotism for the common good of his people, the situation wouldn’t have been that bad. His vanity didn’t allow him because he knows that he doesn’t frequent our ill-equipped hospitals and he doesn’t rely on KAEDCO to source his electric power.
An extrapolation is quite suitable for this situation: El-Rufai sacked thousands of workers in 2017 in which greater percentage of them are yet to be paid their retirement benefits. This is the aspect the governor and his errands boys are always sidestepping.
I’m not on collision course with the governor over reduction of workforce of both state and local government as well or a meaningful civil service reform. But that’s not the way to go about it. And no sensible human being would ask the governor to spend ninety percent of federal allocation on workers salaries.
Yet, I’m totally not in support of his despotism against the sacked workers of the state. One must come to terms with the fact that there are eventualities after every compulsory retirement. Therefore, a proper financial provision are made before any layoff take place in a healthy and compassionate parlance. Or rather on the say so of the labour act.
But in this tyrannical kingdom, no such thing as financial consolation called retirement benefits is paid after the disengagement of thousands of workers from service. This disdainful act of El-Rufai reinforces poverty and exposes the sacked workers to greater social deprivation and financial insecurity. When one’s service is said to be no longer needed, some certain amount of money must be giving to him to relieve him from his future financial hardship.
At the peak of the industrial action, when the damage had already been done, when it was glaring he was so helpless — lost the support of his party, his counterparts and his people, then El-Rufai claimed to have feel the pain of the masses. That is laughable. How can someone who takes pleasure in subjecting his people to unnecessary retribution feel their pain? One area El-Rufai is currently succeeding is uniting everybody against him.
If you think you can win every fight, you are getting closer to your downfall.
Amiru Halilu writes from Kaduna and can be reached through [email protected] or @AmiruHalilu
