THE VOICE - True Leadership
There's this Latin phrase that says Vox Populi, Vox Dei which translates to "the voice of the people is the voice of God."
But what happens when the people lose their voice,what happens when the people are so repressed they forget that their voices should be heard?
A lot has being going wrong in the economy of late; intrigues and counter intrigues, unfavorable government policies and recession, one sided corruption fights and scandals, ladidadida.
In the midst of all this,the people didn't/couldn't afford to or in some cases were scared to use their voice,some did not even realize they had a voice.
Then a voice sounded in the wilderness of silence, a voice that realized the concept of owning and using the voice. Some said its because he's popular, some insinuated he was politically sponsored, others that he was aspiring for political position. They denigrated him,called him names,even went as far as dragging his past to cloud his present(his wedding in dubai,his having 5 kids by 3 women,echetram-echetram).
The voice called for an awakening,a movement,an uprising(albeit a peaceful one); the voice called forth a protest, a march, a walk - to let the government know that the people are dissatisfied,that the people are suffering, that the people need a change - a change from the economic hardships, that the cost of governance was too expensive and its telling on the people.
The security forces didn't like the voice, the movement, the force; so they put up a show of force, trying to suppress the voice but the voice would not be suppressed, the voice would be heard. A date was fixed, the movement was ready; then something happened - something weird and unfathomable.
The voice pulled out, for whatever reason, for unknown reasons the voice spoke again - a second time barely 24hrs to the set date. The voice called for a stand down, a halt, a cancellation of the movement.
And again the vultures gathered, some called him lily-livered,some chicken hearted some even said he was two faced. The conspiracy theorists insist he was threatened by security forces, raided (as has become their modus operandi) in the dead of the night and coerced into rescinding prescheduled arrangements.
The voice cited security challenges and the fact that the movement was under threat of a hijack from forces not aligned with the ideals and purposes of the movement but you see, no one really listened to what the voice had to say, no one tried to listen to the reason for the voice's actions, no one really cared. Everyone simply reacted in their own way according to the way they felt - which is well within their rights.
After all was said and done, the day came and guess what happened - that's right, you just hit your head smack on the nail - IT HAPPENED.
The force metamorphosed into a movement and the match was on on many fronts - Lagos, Ibadan, Abuja, and ironically even in the UK. And it was peaceful too.
So people said it proved the cowardice of the voice, but did it really?
Or was it the sacrifice of the voice that ensured it was peaceful?
Some questions in this whole brouhaha we'll never have answered.
But here's one basic fact - hate him or love him, think him a coward or a boss, the voice made it happen.
You see had the voice not sounded, had the voice not spoken, had the voice not taken a stance there would have being no gathering,no force,no movement hence no voice - the voices of the people would have remained silent.
They might have silenced a voice but they did not silence The voice.
The Voice of The People.
There's various types of leadership, but only true leadership often requires sacrifice.
So this is me duffing my hat to a great man, a true leader, a selfless hero. To the one who spoke when everyone else remained quiet, to the one who stood tall under pressure yet stepped aside not minding the damage that would do to his public image and persona.
Big ups 2Baba, brava to the true leader.
Innocent Idibia.
