BY OLUSEGUN ADENIYI
When my authority inspires sycophancy, I have no followers, only resentful manipulators of my power for their own selfish gain—George Kunz
Released last week, the World Bank’s Food Security Update Report listed Nigeria among countries that have seen a significant rise in the number of people facing acute food shortages when compared with the previous year. If the situation in the country is worse than the 2023 Global Hunger Index (GHI) report which classified Nigeria as having “a level of hunger that is serious,” one can only imagine the gravity of the deprivation our people are facing. And just Tuesday, the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) released the latest Consumer Price Index report revealing that the headline inflation rate for September rose to 32.70 percent. Year-on-year inflation surged by 5.98 percent points. Sadly, our lawmakers gleefully tell us to scavenge for food anywhere we can find a free meal. That’s the latest ‘gospel’ according to St. Akpabio. But then, we have a National Assembly whose members seem blind, deaf and dumb about the existential challenges in Nigeria today.
To satisfy the preference of President Bola Tinubu for the old national anthem, the National Assembly initiated and passed the ‘National Anthem Bill, 2024’ for Nigerians to move from singing ‘Arise O Compatriots,’ to ‘Nigeria, We Hail Thee’ on the first anniversary of the current administration. A day later, the same National Assembly named their library after the president. Two months after that, lawmakers amended the police act in one day (first, second and third reading) so that the Inspector General of Police, Kayode Egbetokun could enjoy an elastic tenure at the pleasure of the president. And now, a bill seeking to establish the Bola Tinubu University in Aba, Abia State to teach Nigerian languages has passed the first reading in the House of Representatives. Sponsored by Deputy Speaker Ben Kalu, the co-sponsors are Inuwa Garba, Nasiru Shehu, Alex Ikwechegh, Bako Useni, Amobi Ogah, Akin Rotimi, Halims Abdullahi, and Felix Nwaeke.
To be sure, sycophancy has always been a national pastime in Nigeria. That explains why the birthday ceremonies of political office holders and that of their spouses as well as the burial ceremonies of their parents have become state functions. Even within religious institutions, we see how the Papas and Mamas are worshipped sometimes more than the God from whom those individuals claim to have secured their spiritual mandates. Yet, as I have argued in the past on this same issue, when you create an environment in which leaders are hero-worshipped, as is the case in Nigeria today, development is a mirage, and the people are the ultimate losers.
In her piece on the danger of sycophancy, Aasha Mehreen Amin, a famous Bangladeshi journalist, wrote that leaders who surround themselves with sycophants are vulnerable to the malaise of becoming blinded in the smog created by these yes men and yes women. “These are not the people who genuinely care about the leader or act in the leader’s best interest,” she wrote. “No, these are the individuals who will never fail to flatter the leader at the drop of a hat and will always agree with whatever the leader says – just so they stay in favour and accrue some benefit.” But it will take perceptive leaders to understand that.
My main concern is that sycophancy is being institutionalised under the current administration. A few days before leaving office in May last year, President Mohammadu Buhari directed that 15 of the federal airports in the country be named after prominent Nigerians and it was difficult to fault the list. The one in the Niger State capital was named ‘Mallam Abubakar Imam International Airport, Minna’. But early this year, Governor Umar Bago renamed the airport ‘Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Airport’. Beyond sullying the memory of the late Imam—a respected journalist and contemporary of the late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe in precolonial days who is regarded as a premier figure in Hausa literature—the Niger State governor was allowed to overturn the decision of a former president on something within the Exclusive (federal) List in the Constitution!
That provides a ready backdrop to some of the decisions being taken by the National Assembly. Sadly, when an institution saddled with the primary responsibility of serving as a check on the excesses of the executive would rather play the role of sycophant, the needs and aspirations of the people they are supposed to serve are lost. That point was made so eloquently by Dr Gai Chol Paul, a South Sudanese scholar and author of ‘The Stolen Nation’ in the piece, ‘How Sycophancy Destroys a Nation’. The reason why some nations are unable to progress despite having all the resources and potential, according to him, lies in the toxic culture of sycophancy. “In a nation where sycophancy is rampant, meritocracy is replaced by favouritism and nepotism, leading to the downfall of the nation.”
Sycophancy creates a culture of mediocrity where people are rewarded not for their competence and hard work, but for their ability to flatter and please those in power, Paul further argued. “The brilliance of sycophants lies in the way they will make the leader believe that the conclusion that has been arrived at, the decision that has been made, is completely of their own accord. The fact that the leader has been influenced with slow poisoning, that the outcome serves the sycophant’s agenda, will never be detected,” he wrote. “It will leave the leader more and more clueless about what is really going on while pushing them further away from the people they are leading. It will give them a false sense of invincibility and grandeur. The leader will become more and more vulnerable to the lies of the sycophants. Eventually, they will stand helpless in front of a wall that has cracked in too many places.”
The first inclination of leaders surrounded by sycophants is to believe they are above the law. Once hooked on such an idea, they begin to crave constant applause from these professional flatterers, even when the people they are supposed to serve are no longer with them. It is a dangerous place to be for any leader. Seven years ago, when I wrote on this same issue of sycophancy to warn then President Muhammadu Buhari, I illustrated my point with the Biblical story of King Ahab of Israel, who sought the collaboration of King Jehoshaphat of Judah in his bid to reclaim a city. While Jehoshaphat agreed to the request, he advised Ahab to first seek God’s counsel. “Go, for the Lord will give it into the king’s hand”, the 400 prophets quickly assembled by Ahab roared. But being more circumspect, Jehoshaphat asked: “Is there not a prophet of the Lord here whom we can inquire of?”
Jehoshaphat must have seen through these 400 palace prophets, the leading advisers of Ahab, and concluded there was no point relying on the prophecy of sycophants. His question provoked a predictable response from Ahab, as recorded in second Chronicles Chapter 18, Verse 7: “The King of Israel answered Jehoshaphat, ‘There is still one man through whom we can inquire of the Lord, but I hate him because he never prophesies anything good about me…He is Micaiah the son of Imlah.”
Invariably, Ahab was simply seeking validation for a decision he had already taken, even if it was wrong. And those 400 prophets were ‘his men’—people who always told him what he wanted to hear. We have several such well-placed individuals at practically all levels of governance in Nigeria. They are, as George Kunz described them, resentful manipulators of power for their own selfish gain. But for dancing to the tune of sycophants, the story ended tragically for King Ahab.
This dreadful culture of sycophancy is deeply rooted in our society so President Tinubu should be wary of the antics of bootlickers. Nigeria is in a very bad place today and millions of citizens are going through harrowing times, not knowing where the next meal would come for their families. Since that is not what his sycophants are telling him, the president must begin to immunize himself against the ‘400 prophets’ in the National Assembly, Federal Executive Council and among State Governors. They do not mean well for him, and they care even less about the country.
…You can follow me on my X (formerly Twitter) handle, @Olusegunverdict and on www.olusegunadeniyi.com
