My ABUJA DIARY 2
By Onyekachi C Ugwu
The grevious crime a society can commit against itself is that of electing a leader at any level who has no taste for personal touch and effective communication with his constituents.
Such a leader leaves a wide gap between himself and his immediate constituents, leaving no nexus between himself and quality representation but rather tends towards naked egoistic miscalculations at each turn.
Effective communication is the art by which a leader strikes a connect between himself and the lead, understanding their needs according their immediate local environment. It creates mass appeal and cult like followership for the leader.
Chanakya, an Indian sage and Teacher said that “When in the court (position of authority) he shall never cause his constituents to wait at the door or (call him endlessly without his response) for when a king (leader) makes himself inaccessible to his people he may be sure to engender confusion and distrust and in consequence cause public disaffection. He becomes vulnerable to mass hatred and a prey to his “enemies.” (opponents).
Most leaders get caught in the entrapments of their titles and entitlements. The higher they climb, the less accessible they become to the very people who at the end of the day are responsible for their rising.
Leaders need to understand that those who entrust mandates on them are the very reason why leadership came to be and so they cannot lead without leading a people. Personal Communication improves when the channels of communication are kept open both vertically and horizontally. When leaders are willing to associate with the people, share their concerns, warm up to them, answer people’s queries and take the time to explain the deliverables – that’s when people will also feel at home with them, warm up to them and learn the value of good communication and practice it themselves.
Our trip to witness the Supreme Court Judgment of 6th July, 2018 at Abuja in the preelection suit between Senator Ayogu Eze (litigant) and Governor Ifeanyi Ugwuanyi (defendant) once again pointed to a glaring fact: that there are leaders but there are leaders. The two classes of leaders are evident in their interpretation of their responsibilities to the people. On one part is leadership that understands the gains of effective communication and on the other part is a leadership that seats atop the high horse and attaches no value whatever to effective communication.
The first type of leaders do not need prompting but sees in every circumstance the opportunity to reach out to the constituents. It does not matter to them whether it is about sorrow or joyous moment. To them either way, the people count.
This explains why Leaders such as Hon Frank Ugwu, Engr Simon Atigwe, Prince Emeka Mama, Barr Charlie Ugwu, Barr Ifeanyi Ossai, Hon Ike Ezeugwu, Hon Okenwa Frank, Mr Chuks Ugwu, Hon Ethel Ugwuanyi, Hon. Tony Ogidi, Barr Nestor Ezeme, Hon Inno Eze would after the Court Judgment ensure that hundreds of our constituents were well catered to in food, drinks and even pocket / transport money.
They were on hand at the various venues of reception to see that people were well treated and felt at home. They shared jokes, sang along and danced the dance of victory late into the morning hours. These are men and women who could have just retired to the rich ambience of their homes or hotel rooms and nothing would happen. But hell no! They put the people first.
Effective communication and personal touch heals and soothes. It boosts a leaders favourable standing among his people. And these leaders understand same.
Contrawise, there are leaders who do not allow for closeness between them and the people who entrusted leadership on them. They do not appreciate that Government / leadership should provide for the greatest happiness of the greatest number. This utilitarian nature of leadership excites in them a systematic repulsion. They cannot just bring themselves to feel the feeling of their people.
This accounts for why our House of Representative member Hon Dennis Nnamdi Agbo did not see and couldn’t have seen the imperatives of even arranging to welcome the constituents of Igbo Eze North / Udenu constituency to Abuja. He adopted his trademark aloofness and was not sighted anywhere. Those who went for the inauguration of the National assembly in 2015 can vividly recall their horrendous experience in the hands of their leader.
A leader is a leader because he leads and should lead. In a typical rehearse of the recent past, we were left to lead ourselves in Abuja. We wandered to the supreme Court like a shepherdess herd. Our Shepherd was just busy in the comfort of his home routing calls to his Legislative Aide to ascertain if court was seated already. He sauntered into the Court after several Judgments had been made and was a shade missing the Judgment on the case for which Enugu had stood still for hours. That was the undeniable reality of lack of concern and commitment to leadership. It is an example of when a leader has no capacity to connect to the poignant elements that touch on the foundation of peoples trust.
The worst was to come after judgment had been delivered. While Senator Utazi, Hon Pat Asadu, and other elected, appointed and non appointed leaders led the people of Enugu State in jubilation, addressing the press and exchanging pleasantries, Hon Agbo disappeared as Nichodemously as he had come leaving Udenu/ Igbo Eze Constituents without a word.
The long and short of this piece brothers on: If you must be a leader, be ready to lead. Show the capacity to lead for he who can lead even in the smallest of matter can lead the biggest.
Aloofness and a clear demonstration of self detachment from ones constituent does not make a leader.
I conclude this piece, unmindful of a horde of army of defenders of the absurd who will swarm this post like hornets. I am not flustered. I am a gadfly sent to sting us to consciousness and reawaken our minds to the wrong things we neglect but which will continue to plague us until we adopt an open minded response to truth.
Onyekachi C Ugwu
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