Nigerians Allow Themselves To Be Manipulated Into Electing Wrong Leaders – Dr. Amos Akingba

A popular chieftain of the Yoruba socio-cultural organisation, Afenifere, Dr Amos Akingba has come out to speak about Nigerian leaders.

He recently had his say while speaking to the press, and Nigerians have been reacting.

According to him, it is obvious that western powers are manipulating Nigerian leaders, and Nigerians themselves are manipulated into electing leaders who are not fit for the role.

He added that there is no democracy in the land as well, and we just claim that it exists.

His words, “When Western powers place people in leadership who are incapable of leading, they will inevitably interfere with the country’s internal affairs. It’s as simple as that. Western powers are manipulating Nigerian leaders, and Nigerians themselves are manipulated into electing leaders who are not fit for the role. We need to understand that no one will love us more than we love ourselves, although we can be foolish and fail to do the right thing. The people ruling us are not capable.

We don’t have a democracy. We just claim that we do—that’s all I’m saying. How can you have democracy when local governments are not independent in any sense? That is not democratic. Even the states are not independent enough to do what they need to do. Everything comes from the Federal Government, which issues directives. If you comply, you get money; if you don’t, you get nothing. What we have is “militarocracy,” not democracy. The military has ruled Nigeria longer than civilians since independence. They did what they knew—ruled with iron fists and militarised everywhere, and they passed this on to civilian governments.

We need to restructure. We must return to how we governed ourselves before the military’s interference. We held a national conference during former President Jonathan’s era, but it was dismissed. Without taking that step, we are in serious trouble.

Yes, decentralisation, particularly into the various mono-ethnic groups and those that can unite, like in the Middle Belt, would help improve governance. The Igbo have identifiable units, as do the Yoruba and the North. The Middle Belt is more complex, but they can also come together. We’ve done this before; the framework exists, but it’s not being followed.”