PartI:

Of all the relics of our colonial past still present in its ever-growing monstrous and grotesque form is the habit of seeing or perceiving public servants as something akin to “Deities”. It is something you see from the Master of Ceremony in any event to the media itself. It is present in every sphere of our live even in the lowliest of places. And to be honest, it has done so much damage to our effort of nation building than any other thing. One common method the leaders use to cement their god-like status is to acquire lengthy titles and other symbols of honor; a practice that we have tolerated, ignored and have come to accept as proving that one matters in our society.


From our courts to the pulpits, you will witness something that sounds so archaic and troubling at same time that you will wonder what purpose it serves. Lawyers addressing the judges as “my Lord, “your Lordship”, when simple” your Honor, Sir or Honorable court” will suffice. Check Nigerian dailies  and all you will see titles like “His Excellency, Her Excellency for Governor’s wife for Pete’s sake, Honorable Minister, Chief, “Engineer” and all kinds of stupid, senseless, worthless craps that makes no sense whatever.



Even in the Christian world, it is the “Reverend, Most Reverend” and stuffs like that; a word that came from the Latin “revereri” meaning to regard with reverence mingled with awe or fear; to venerate; to reverence with great awe and devotion. I think that these are qualities we often attributes only to the Gods [either existing or non-existing] and now mere mortals among us have arrogate themselves to these titles. In Matthew 23:11 in the Christian Bible said “But the greatest among you shall be your servant”. One wonders why the so-called Pastors have taken it upon themselves to exhibit all kinds of excesses, indulging and wallowing in pride, often justifying their actions that Jesus advocated an extravagant life-style.




This attitude has made our leaders the most selfish, merciless, greedy, corrupt, power-hungry individuals on the face of this planet. Ideally, leaders should be caretakers or stewards who steer the people towards collective prosperity. But on attaining power, most African leaders become 'deities.' They seek to be worshiped by the people they lead because we encourage such behaviors. That they do these absurd things with far-reaching consequences is possible with our complicity.



Part II.

In present day Nigeria, to be addressed as a Mr., Mrs. or Ms. means you are a Nobody. To be a mover or shaker you need to be a chief - or to at least hold a doctorate. Everybody wants to acquire one chieftaincy title or any other title. The number of honorary PhDs we have in this country is symptomatic of a people who have failed in so many aspects of life.



In our communities, we see the successful young ones spending huge amounts of money which ought to use for educational purposes or community building efforts into acquisition of ceremonial titles. It costs a lot to acquire chieftaincy titles. I know that sometimes they spend up to $200,000 to $300,000.  It doesn’t matter who you are as long as you can shell out the money. This usually takes place amid crumbling community schools, erosion, bad roads and collapsed infrastructures. The Chiefs who have no other interest than lining their pockets will often seek out these boys in order to confer on them one title or another and while waiting on the Federal Government to come and deal with the problems which they can easily fix by just being a little less selfish. Do we really still need the traditional rulers in the 21st century?



Pride sullies the noblest character. Is it necessarily important that we must address our public servants with such high-sounding names?  Must we assume such caricatures in order to boost our ego?  When dealing with people, we must always remember that we are not dealing with creatures of logic. We are dealing with creatures of emotion, creatures bustling with prejudices and motivated by pride and vanity. We have continuously placed these individuals onto a pedestal and have proceeded to worship them, sometimes literally. And then turns around and complain of victimization, of abuse of power and trust, and of those who leads acting if they are above the law. Yes, they have acted that way and will continue acting that way until we change the way we perceive and acts towards the concept of leadership.



Certainly, respect must be given to whom it is due. But respect is something that is earned. And it goes in hand with a good reputation and doesn’t need to be trumpeted, advertise and proclaimed by high-sounding titles. A good name, like good will, must be well-earned by many actions. Take a look at the present crop of Nigerian leaders and the ones that precedes them, only few if at any, earned the right to be called “Honorable”. There is simply nothing honorable in their thoughts, words and deeds. This is something we took from the British with their class separation and privileges.  And if there is something every person with enough grain in their brain will attest to, it is that we have the ugly habit of abusing anything that comes our way. This one is no exception!



Abraham Lincoln once said that nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man's character, give him power. The problem with us is that we have promoted knowingly or unknowingly the irresponsible and indulgent definition of power. We have created Frankenstein monsters who have in turn have made us their first victims.



There was a story about the South African Archbishop Desmond Tutu who one was walking by a construction site on a temporary sidewalk the width of one person. A white man appeared at the other end, recognized Tutu, and said, "I don't make way for gorillas." At which Tutu stepped aside, made a deep sweeping gesture, and said, "Ah, yes, but I do”. That is humility with class and distinction at its zenith. That is what a leader ought to be.



Is it not really high time we do away with these left-over we have borrowed from the British? Is it not time we treat our leaders as individuals answerable to our collective identity? Is it not time we strip especially our public servants these burdens that have successfully impeded their steps? Will it not be to our advantage if we can prohibit all usage of these out-dated empty sounding titles in our daily lives and devote more energy in trying to know who these individuals really are? There are lessons offered by our writers, thinkers and philosophers which ought to be taken more seriously. It is a privilege to be a leader, and leaders should put self-interest behind the agenda of the people who elect them. Any person who negates this cardinal rule is unworthy of holding any leadership position.

What an interesting write-up. . . .it would have been funny had it not been sadly true.