Before dealing with the substance of our discussion today, a useful preliminary would be to explicate the meanings of ‘hypocrisy’ and ‘hypocrite.’ According to Chambers Twentieth Century Dictionary, hypocrisy is the act of “feigning to be better than one is, or to be what one is not: concealment of real character or belief (not necessarily conscious): an instance or act of hypocrisy.”
On the other hand, a hypocrite is someone “who practices hypocrisy,” that is, someone pretending to be what he or she is not or deceiving oneself and others using half-truths, lies and subterfuge. For many years now, consensus has emerged from Nigerians that the fundamental cause of the country’s chronic underdevelopment is bad leadership characterised by insane corruption amongst the ruling elite.
Of course no sensible person would dispute that because the virulent virus or cancer of corruption has seriously hampered the emergence of Nigeria from the thick mud of arrested development on to the path of sustainable economic growth, political stability and human progress in its diverse ramifications.
But then a sober reflection would indicate that at the root of corruption is hypocrisy which often serves as a veneer for covering up the deep character flaws especially in prominent politicians, public servants and the elite generally. Let us be clear on this point: hypocrisy is a peculiarly human attribute or characteristic, which implies that every human being has the potential to be a hypocrite, although our focus here is on the elite.
Like every other behavioural quality,people manifest different levels of hypocrisy depending on complex genetic and environmental factors. Now, religion tends to encourage hypocrisy. That is why religious leaders, particularly founders of new-fangled Pentecostal churches sprouting everywhere like mushrooms deploy all sorts of shenanigans to hide, explain away or whitewash their temperamental weaknesses and immoral conduct while their gullible brainwashed church members are busy shouting alleluia or speaking in tongues and debasing themselves like mentally deranged lunatics.
Pastors and general overseers lie a lot, perform fake miracles and employ hypnosis, auto-suggestion together with other mind-bending tricks to deceive their followers. On the other hand, muslim clerics who claim that Islam is a religion of peace are either involved in evil ritual practices and propagation of antiquated harmful islamic practices or encourage muslims terrorists to commit atrocities.
Without clandestine support by the high and mighty Boko Haram would have since been decimated and dumped into the dustbin of history. That said, there is no doubt that the fulanisation and islamisation programme which gathered momentum since the All Progressives Congress (APC) came to power over six years ago and escalation of insecurity and terrorism nationwide under Buhari’s watch have exposed the president and prominent members of his party as a bunch of hypocrites who deceived Nigerians with bogus promises just to win election.
It is beyond dispute that top public figures especially politicians, celebrities and political office holders, just like influential clerics, have elevated hypocrisy to the level of an art.Many celebrities regularly give eloquent and inspiring motivational speeches and pretend to be paragons of virtue, whereas their private lives are chaotic and fake, the very opposite of what they profess in public.
It is pathetic that people take seriously fraudsters, closet prostitutes (small girls with big Gods), murderous ritualists and undesirable elements who use various mass communication platforms, especially social media, to sermonise about integrity, honesty, hard work, kindness, love, marriage and so on forgetting that all that glitters is not gold.
The lives of innumerable young men and women have been ruined because they sheepishly tried to conform to the Tales by Moonlight concocted by their favourite celebrities. Anyway, it seems that politicians are probably the worst hypocrites in Nigeria, next to the clergy.Take for instance what is happening in my home state, Imo. Hope Uzodinma, the governor drafted to the state by the Supreme Court, pretends to be working for the people while there are strong indications that his actions are guided by the desire to please those who made him governor.
The nauseating aspect of it is that, like his predecessor Rochas Okorocha’s tenure the current administration seems to be a continuation or recycling of heart-wrenching succession of mediocrity in governance that has plagued the state since late Chief Sam Mbakwe’s illustrious administration. Uzodinma’s track record both as a businessman and senator is uninspiring, and his performance thus far shows that he is unsuitable to lead the state at this critical time.
Keeping hope alive by not ruling out completely the possibility that he might achieve something tangible for Imo people, there is enough reason to be pessimistic because a leopard cannot erase its spots overnight. In other words it would be easier for a camel to pass through the eye of the proverbial needle than for the current government in Imo to implement programmes geared towards uplifting the welfare of the poor masses currently facing unprecedented hardships.
Majority of Imo people, I suspect, believe that the emergence of Uzodinma as governor is a misfortune given that he lacks the high mental magnitude characteristic of great political leaders like Dr. Akanu Ibiam, Dr. Michael Okpara and Chief Sam Mbakwe. That is the honest truth, but hypocritical agbataekee political chameleons, sycophants and useful idiots benefiting from the system are singing his praises for no good reason.
Many Nigerians are increasingly coming to the realisation that the election of Buhari as president was a terrible mistake, and probably ranks as one of the greatest triumphs of hypocrisy in Nigeria’s political history. Let us face the truth: as at 2015 Buhari was (and still remains) an ageing, not-well-educated former military dictator and devout muslim whose decision-making as a public official is heavily influenced by his ethnocentrism and islamic predilections.
In countries with mature democratic culture Buhari would not have emerged president because, among other things, he was a dictator who benefitted from the military coup that ended a democratically elected government and his short-lived regime was a nightmare for majority of Nigerians. Arrowheads of the Jonathan-Must-Go-Buhari-Must-Rule bandwagon such as Bola Tinubu, RotimiAmaechi, Babtunde Fashola, Prof.Wole Soyinka, Dr. Obiageli Ezekwesili, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and several others knew quite well that Buhari is unfit for the job and probably might have said so to their friends and associates behind closed doors. Still they opted to support his fourth attempt to win the presidential election.
Indeed there is a report alleging that Tinubu privately described Buhari as someone “whose ethnocentrism would jeopardise national unity. Buhari and his ilk are agents of destabilisation… .” Although one of Tinubu’s aides, Tunde Rahman, had insisted that the information was fake news (medicine after death, of course), events in the last six years since Buhari became president have amply corroborated that assessment. So, assuming that Tinubu actually made those claims about Buhari in the build up to the 2003 presidential election, why did he change his mind and worked for the perpetually unelectable candidate(according to Nasir el-Rufai) to defeat Dr.Goodluck Jonathan in 2015?
To be continued…
Credit: Douglas Anele