NIGERIAN POLITICS: LONE GIANTS AND THE TRAGEDY OF THE LIGER
LONE GIANTS AND THE TRAGEDY OF THE LIGER
Better a primus
inter pares, a first among equals is better than a lone giant.
The Liger is an offspring of a male lion and a female tiger.
The liger is a zoo-bred hybrid, as is the tigon, which is the result of mating
a male tiger with a female lion. The liger and the tigon possess features of
both parents, in variable proportions, but are generally larger than either. It
is thought that most, if not all, male ligers and tigons are sterile. The
females, however, on occasion, may be able to produce young.
The terms liger and tigon are portmanteaux of the words lion
and tiger.
Ligers tend to be larger and heavier than members of their
parent species. Biologists suggest that the liger’s large size, or “growth
dysplasia,” results from the absence of certain growth-limiting genes.
Ligers however can’t reproduce their own type.
In a pride of lions, the liger is rejected. It is not a
lion.
The liger is also not accepted in an ambush of tigers.
The liger, because of its size sees the lions and tigers as
inferior.
Human ligers abound in Nigerian politics, especially in
recent times.
A person who rose to power on a hybrid of factors and
influences does not belong to any of them.
He sees himself as bigger than the progenitors.
He, like the liger has become estranged from both lions and
tigers.
When the poachers come, the lions band together in a big
pride. Tigers also form an ambush.
The proud giant liger becomes easy prey, standing alone.
It is so difficult for the lone liger to survive the
poachers.
It is unwise to forget the building blocks.
It is not wisdom to pull at the legs of the podium on which
you once stood.
It is common in Nigerian politics today to find people in
positions of power to struggle to decimate all political superiors and peers,
aiming to become the only tree standing. The lone giant standing is surrounded
by shrubs and herbs that grow aplenty yet never tall or strong like the giant lone
tree.
His ward is law. His opinion, right or wrong, is never
questioned. His retinue of appointees and advisers are just Tapestry;
ornamental but never to be worn.
Shrubs have woody and profusely branched stems whereas Herbs
have soft and less branched stems. Shrubs are taller than herbs.
The Herbs are the technocrats and professionals the man in
power surrounds himself with. They have virtually no political value and are
politically inconsequential. The shrubs are woody, having local strength in
their little cocoons. They have their own circle and caucuses but are dwarfed
by the giant tree. Neither the shrub nor the herb dares the almightiness of our
peerless giant. When the sawyer comes,
the lone giant becomes easy prey.
Political giants who leave legacies and names behind had
peers and competitors. Awolowo, Azikiwe, Balewa, Aminu Kano, Balewa, Balarabe
Musa and others were peers and co-travelers in our political history. Their
legacies still endure. Sake for military interregna, their political offsprings
held sway after them.
The modern day political leader is like the Liger, big
strong and peerless but without the ability to reproduce itself. His political
lineage, if it can be called that at all, fizzles out once he leaves office.
Better a “primus inter pares”, a first among equals is
better than a lone giant.
Learn this and find peace.
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