I find it apropos to begin this article with the cogent words of the renowned American agricultural economist John Kenneth Galbraith. It was he who observed that the one characteristic most great leaders have had in common was to confront unequivocally the major anxiety of their people in their time. “This, and not much else,” Galbraith wrote, “is the essence of leadership.” Sadly, this cannot be said of many of today’s leaders for whom leadership has become an opportunity for self-enrichment in total neglect and detriment of law-abiding, tax-pay masses. In their mean-spirited pursuit of personal interests, the masses struggle to eke out a living.
That said, life is not all about how much money you have or possess. Life is not all about hoarding, coveting or desiring what belongs to others. Life is not simply about comparing yourself with or looking down on others. Life is not all about making a living. It is also about what you do with what you have. Someone once said that at any age, it is not how much you have, it is what you do with what you have that counts. Cristiano Renaldo, the Portuguese soccer sensation, originally wanted to acquire a private jet costing about sixty million Euros for his family travels. He had a change of mind after recalling what his mother once told him about her life growing up as a child, when she used to walk long distances with her peers to school. Touched by his mother’s experience, he went on to purchase 100 school buses to convey children to and from school. Like Dr. Maya Angelou, I have learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will not forget how you made them feel.
What good is what you have when people all around you are poor and miserable, when they do not know where their next meal is going to come from, when they have to go to bed hungry? What good is what you have when the recent flood victims in Ire, Abor Ogidi, and Ezi Ogidi are confronted with their worst nightmare of being displaced from their homes, not sure of where to sleep, change clothes, not sure of food, and all the things we take for granted? I tip my hat to High Chief, Professor Obiora Okonkwo (Dikeora Idemili), the Executive Chairman of United Airlines, for coming to the aid of the flood victims with assorted food items.
Life is about sharing. Don’t just count your blessings, share them. Our richness inheres in the ability to share and not in how much we have. Life is also about making a life, besides making a living. There is no exercise better for the heart than reaching down and lifting people up. Our Lord Jesus Christ has already let us in on the precepts for inheriting the kingdom of God, including His words in Matthew 25: 35-40: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came to visit me.” This reminds me of the assertion attributed to Martin Luther, the German priest, theologian, author, hymnwriter, professor, and former Augustinian friar, that God does not need your good works, but your neighbor does. It’s my personal experience that the more you positively impact others with your God-given gifts, not necessarily from abundance, the more you receive in return. Yes, life is like a boomerang, the more the good you deliver out there, the more you get in return. I can certainly attest to that from experience. I was once completely tapped out with nowhere to turn when unexpectedly I received an envelope in the mail containing a stimulus check from President Donald J. Trump during his first term. The stimulus checks went to millions of Americans intended to ease the hardship of ordinary citizens and to give the economy a boost at the time. Such considerate and humanly act from a leader inspires good feelings that will not be forgotten anytime soon. Thanks to God, those who bring sunshine to the lives of others cannot keep it from themselves.
This is why it is hard for me to fathom why the growing indifference, apathy, insensitivity, and narcissism of some leaders in the African continent with the power and resources to make life livable and bearable for the great multitude of citizens in dire straits but choose to not do the needful. Instead of leaders in love with justice and humanity, we have leaders in love with money and photo opportunity. Instead of leaders who are not hypocrites, we have leaders who splurge in conspicuous consumption and heartlessly preaching to the citizens they work for of the need to be patient amid protracted hardship until their imaginary development plans kicks in in the long run. I will never forget the counsel of Octavia Estelle Butler, an American science fiction and speculative fiction writer, to choose your leaders with wisdom and forethought. She went on to reason that to be led by a coward, is to be controlled by all that the coward fears. To be led by a fool is to be led by the opportunists who controls the fool. To be led by a thief is to offer up your most precious treasures to be stolen. To be led by a liar is to ask to be told lies. To be led by a tyrant is to sell yourself and those you love into slavery.
To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, liberty is when the government fears the people, but it is tyranny when the people fear the government. The latter is the case in Nigeria, where freedom of speech is left at one’s volition, but freedom after speech is not guaranteed. Isn’t it appalling and depressing that the oppressor would not be so strong if he did not have accomplices among the oppressed? Nonetheless, it is absolutely true that when spiders unite, they can tie up the lion. Haile Selassie, the Lion of Judah, observed that throughout history, it has been the inaction of those who could have acted; the indifference of those who should have known better; the silence of the voice of justice when it matters most; that has made it possible for evil to triumph. Former United States representative for Wyoming’s at-large congressional district, Elizabeth Lynne Cheney, once remarked that remaining silent and ignoring the lie emboldens the liar. I know those who rejoice over injustice because it favors them, one day, they shall each cry for justice and it will elude them. George Orwell stated that a people that elect corrupt politicians, impostors, thieves, and traitors are not victims, but accomplices. As I have learned from my participation in Catholic meditation, failure to speak out against and oppose evil is failure to obey God.
As for me, I know I shall pass this way once. Therefore, I am in accord with Etienne de Grellet that any good that I can do or any kindness I can show to any human being, let me do it now. Let me not defer nor neglect it, for I shall not pass this way again.
Professor Akubue, United States of America, Wednesday, October 15, 2025
