Habeeb Lanlehin
For many of us, growing up was fun as we were jobless, unburdened, and flourished under the protection of our parents. With closed eyes and deep nostalgic breaths, we can relive some memories that stuck with us from childhood. Today, I took a deep breath and the wheel of memories threw me to my parent’s living room, sitting beside my brother watching the Spider-Man movie for the first time. The highlight of my journey through time was not the movie I was watching but a line from the movie where Uncle Ben (Spider-Man’s uncle) said to Peter Parker (Spider-Man), “With great power comes great responsibility. With a deep sigh, I came back to reality and realized I was running late for a class. With the weight of the quote, I headed to class in deep thoughts on how the Nigerian ruling class enjoys the benefits of political power and how they stand up to responsibilities.
Still rummaging over political power and the responsibilities attached, I saw a copy of my department’s -political science- immediate past President, Ikotun Oluwafemi manifesto, and the many plans he highlighted and promised to fulfill. Surprisingly, he could not successfully implement his plans before he left office. He languished in the respect and authority the office brings but failed to live up to the responsibilities attached to the office despite the lofty promises he made during the electioneering period.
I took a deep breath and moved away from his manifesto and my eyes fell on the association’s souvenir, a book. The souvenir is given towards the end of every session to every NAPSSite that pays the association’s seasonal dues. While looking at the book, I remembered the drama that unfolded before Ikotun delivered the books on the fourth week of the new session after numerous complaints from NAPSSITES and pressure from the newly elected President, Mr. Johnson Victor, and his cabinet. To carry out a quick survey, I reached out to some NAPSSites and asked if they were satisfied with the souvenir they got. While everyone likes the design of the book, there are complaints about the quality of the book.
“I like the design of the book but the writings in front of the book are already peeling off. I don’t trust the durability of the book” A student said.
A NAPSSite expressed his satisfaction with the book by opining, “I like the book, that was what we were promised”
Another NAPSSite from 300lv expressed her rage in several unprintable words and stated vehemently that she was disappointed and was expecting a better book to be delivered by the President.
Olajumoke (not real name) replied by saying “ I can’t believe Ikotun took so long to deliver the books and still managed to come up with a subpar quality product. The book looks like something that will get torn easily, in fact, a part of mine is tearing already. I expected something better from a guy who runs a printing company, does he provide all his customers with low-quality products?
It is a known fact that leadership is not an easy task and every leader suffers from criticism at one time or another but when the criticism swallows the praises (if any) it only means incompetence. Why should an incompetent individual run for political office? Does it boil down to the euphoria from the electioneering period or the flush of excitement from being declared the winner? Perhaps, is it for the sense of pride that comes with being called Mr. President or Madam General Secretary?
What can be said about a politician- NAPSS senate president 2020/2021 President, Tofunmi who ran out of a sitting with the mace during a sitting to impeach him or NAPSS immediate past General Secretary, Miss. Ademide when being questioned by the House over her “incompetency” told the House she was unable to perform her duty because the President did not give her a chance to perform.
A glance at manifestos of political office holders in the Department (political science), the Faculty (social sciences), and the University will reveal a huge bunch of broken promises, unrealistic plans, and countless carefully disguised lies. What hope does the country’s political office promise when the political “elitist” in our hall of residences deceive us with plagiarized manifestos they don’t understand and the political office holders in our faculty can’t fulfill basic promises they sold to us when begging for our votes? To a whole lot of them, they don’t care about their competency or have the conviction to serve. After all, it looks good in their CV!
