Leadership: Why ‘Yahoo Boys’, drug barons flock to governance in Nigeria ─Prof Soludo

*Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, Governor-elect of Anambra State, says Africa nay Nigeria needs a new liberation movement, and the first struggle was liberation from the colonial masters while the second will be liberation from rentier politics and politicians for elite with values-based leadership

Alexander Davis | ConsumerConnect

Concerned about the relatively low quality of leadership in the West African country in recent times, Prof. Chukwuma Soludo, Governor-elect of Anambra State, has said some Internet scammers and drug barons are rushing into Nigeria’s political space in order to avoid being arrested and prosecuted.

It was gathered Prof. Soludo stated this Saturday, January 29, 2022,  while speaking at the first graduation of the School of Politics, Policy and Governance Pioneer, in Abuja, FCT.

Dr. Oby Ezekwesili, former Minister for Education, founded the school, according to report.

Soludo declared: “Indeed, Africa needs a new liberation movement. The first struggle was liberation from the colonial masters. The second will be liberation from rentier politics and politicians.

“For me, there is almost a sense of nostalgia, recalling the mission and accomplishments of our founding fathers, especially as we contemplate the world without oil in Nigeria.

The Anambra State Governor-elect also stated: “Much of the existing social order is founded on competition for, and distribution of, rents.

“Oil and the easy money that came with it destroyed the social fabric and the elite created new institutions and political structures to maximise their gains.

As the noose tightened globally on other rentier/criminal enterprises, such as drug trafficking or internet scamming, many of the barons flocked into politics as the next easy alternative.”

He further noted: “Politics has become big business. Appointment or election into public office is seen largely as an opportunity to ‘eat’ rather than a call to selfless service.

“There is an army of rich (big men) who have never worked or done any productive work in their life and believe that it is their right to expect something for nothing.”

Soludo added: “The tiny less than one per cent elite have a stranglehold on the public purse, sprinkling occasional crumbs to the citizens as ‘dividends of democracy’.

“The citizens themselves either out of helplessness or acquiescence join the party, expecting the politicians to dole out pittance out of public treasury as charity.”