Let’s Discuss Ambition – Independent Newspaper Nigeria

 “Ambition should be made of sterner stuff,” submitted Mark Anthony during his funeral oration for Ju­lius Caesar. Anthony contends that ambitious people should be cruel, desperate, self-indulgent, and lack­ing empathy. Those are examples of “sterner stuff” Anthony re­ferred to in his oration. According to him, Caesar had none of these attributes, yet, the conspirators, spearheaded by Caesar’s friend, Brutus, murdered him. Everybody is implicated in the ambitious web towards achieving different objec­tives. Everyone is ambitious in one way or another, positive or nega­tive. But it would be wrong to gener­alize that all ambition or ambitious people are made of “sterner stuff”. When I asked my students one af­ter another about their ambitions, the responses were intriguing and varied. But “sterner stuff” could be correct in terms of inordinate, egocentric objectives. Sometimes, ambition motivates hard work and tenacity. Other times too, ambition is motivated by hate, wickedness, and various complexions of loath­ing. And I ask, what is Bola Tinu­bu’s ambition as the president of Nigeria? What is the ambition of a Nigerian politician? What is my ambition with all these big books in my office? What is the ambition of an average Nigerian? What is the ambition of a Nigerian youth?

Identifying Bola Tinubu’s am­bition as the president of Nigeria is very simple. He knew what he wanted ab initio and ruthlessly went for it. It was an ambition or­chestrated and well-planned many years ago. He always wanted to be the president of Nigeria, buy a pri­vate jet, buy an escalade even when it was unnecessary, and live in over­flowing, hypnotic opulence. There is nothing wrong with a president living large. But that ambition be­comes perverse when the display of affluence and obscene ostenta­tion is engineered at the expense of millions of suffering citizens in the country. However, the graduat­ed levels of poverty and anguish across the country indicate that the president does not care as long as he successfully conquers Nigeria as his fiefdom. The lack of any de­monstrable economic policy that would positively improve the lives of ordinary people paralleled by flamboyant vulgarity and display of mammon worship makes his ambition redolent of inordinacy. Although it is reported that Nige­ria’s GDP has improved, inflation is still high, petrol sells between N865-N1000, the cost of living is abominable and people are suf­fering. Mr President has achieved his ambition riding at the back of millions of decadent, grovelling, poverty-stricken citizens. Indeed, Tinubu’s ambition is “made of sterner stuff”. It is erected on the graves of many Nigerians.

Nigerian political space is dom­inated by a coterie of opportunis­tic politicians whose ambition is “made of sterner stuff”. The ambi­tions of most Nigerian politicians are easy to decipher. Acquire, pro­cure, enjoy, and acquire more. The conditions of the states or the peo­ple are not important. Except Ba­bajide Sanwo-Olu of Lagos State, Alex Otti of Abia State, Amadu Umaru Finitri of Adamawa State, and Babagana Zulum of Borno State, other governors in Nigeria are unconvincing in governance but considerably resounding in personal pursuits. Infrastructures in their states are dilapidated. State universities and their medical schools are in a shambles. Second­ary and primary school buildings are eye-sores. Pensioners have not been paid, active workers are owed salaries too. The ambitions of these governors are “made of sterner stuff”. Sadly, many of these governors are planning ahead of 2027. Those who will complete their terms in 2027 are already shopping for replacements, errand boys or placeholders, to maintain a con­stricting hold on the states as per­sonal enterprises.

The ambition of career-minded persons is to get to the pinnacle of their careers. Many academics and lecturers are in this category. If financial or material rewards were a consideration for univer­sity teaching, there would be a few university lecturers on our campuses. Therefore, something else inspires lecturers, certainly not money. Perhaps it is the joy of knowledge, discovering, impact­ing, and changing the world no matter how little. Perhaps, that is my ambition. But that is putting it mildly. There are university lec­turers whose ambition operates within the nucleus of diverse acts of treachery, unconcerned with re­search. They frolic in subterfuge, underhand practices, scheming, jostling for positions, desperate to pull a colleague down by all means, and erecting the pillars of strife. Such little minds glory in their reckless, unbridled ambition to destroy the career of a colleague. They concoct falsehoods of stag­gering impudence, fabricate cheap schemes and blackmail from the pit of hellfire against a colleague. Unsurprisingly, like-minded, hare-brained nitwits become their en­ablers and believe in their evil schemes. It happens in religious organisations too, churches and mosques. Some people think that the highest number of wicked, un­conscionable, biblically ignorant people are in churches. These fake Christians present a façade of ho­liness and piety but inwardly they are ravenous wolves desecrating the name of God by calling prayer points and speaking in tongues. They are all incarnates of the dev­il. It is the same in the corporate world and many public service sec­tors. Ultimately, the recompense for such insidious ambition is always tragic.

The ambition of an average Nigerian is to make money and become wealthy or at least live comfortably. The mind of an aver­age Nigerian youth is a beehive of material consciousness and real flowing wealth irrespective of the source. To nurse the ambition to be rich is not a problem on its own; everybody wants to have a good life. But to resort to underhand, despi­cable means to acquire wealth is a big challenge. Recently, social media has been agog with gory narratives of people caught with dismembered human body parts meant for money rituals. Shocking­ly, the quest to acquire money and wealth has driven many people to become cannibals, harvesting hu­man body parts for that purpose. It defeats every iota of existence to link human sacrifice to wealth. Sometimes, most of the decapitat­ed human beings are relatives of the suspects – mothers, fathers, and children. Such unrestrained am­bition is dangerous and fatalistic. Sadly, that is what our society has become. Maids, drivers, and secu­rity details all kill their bosses too and harvest their body parts. Mor­ticians sell human parts for money and the list goes on.

The most disturbing aspect of “ambition should be made of sterner stuff” is located among ethnic bigots in Nigeria. They ambitiously spread ethnic hate while defending one politician or another. Hausa is this, Fulani is that. Igbo is this, Yoruba is that. Ijaw is this, Urhobo is that. It is a shame. It seems it is the ambition of some people to plunge Nigeria into bloodshed and destroy the country through unguarded ethnic rhetoric. How on earth did we get here? Many Nigerians now view and interpret everything from the mangled prism of ethnicity. When you criticise a criminal-minded politician or public office holder, his ethnic compatriots will come after you and identify an equally criminal-minded person of the same attribution from your ethnic group. So these days in Nigeria, criminality, immorality, felony and diverse anti-social attitudes now wear ethnic garments. Nige­rians can no longer stand up as one to condemn the iniquitous devel­opments that affect them without resorting to ethnic echoes. I have not heard of or seen where armed robbers or kidnappers spared a victim because of his/her ethnic origin. You may ask, what is the ambition of an adult who posts ethnic hate on social media plat­forms? How Ojukwu killed Banjo and Nzeogwu killed Sarduana. How Gowon murdered Ironsi and Hausa/Fulani killed millions of Igbos. How Awolowo betrayed Ig­bos and caused mass starvation in the Southeast. How IBB killed Dele Giwa (?) and Abacha killed Saro-Wiwa. What is the ambition of people who post these things on social media? It serves no purpose and does not answer any of the country’s myriad of problems.

The road to Rwanda is laced with hate and ethnic bigotry. Let us avoid it. Unfortunately, ethnic champions and bigots in Nigeria do not care about the owner of a hotel before they patronize it. They do not care about the ethnic origin of a medical doctor before he/she attends to them. They do not care about the ethnic origin of a bank owner before they patronise it. They do not care about the ethnic origin of a CEO before they apply for a job in a company. They do not care about the ethnic origin of pet­rol station owners before they buy fuel. They do not care about the eth­nic origin of a General Overseer before they attend the church for miracles. When the virus of love hits, ethnic bigots do not care about ethnicity before they marry or ro­mantically ingratiate themselves. It simply means that ethnic bigotry is a creation of politicians to keep the people apart and divided. Those with the heinous ambition to con­tinually stoke the embers of ethnic strife should look themselves in the mirror and think again. If Nige­ria boils, we will all be consumed. All the politicians will fly out of the country with their families. The streets will be littered with bodies of ordinary people. Blood will trickle along the streets un­hindered. No one will be spared, irrespective of ethnicity. We must all drop negative ambitions. They are backward and retrogressive. We must embrace positive, pro­gressive ambitions that advance humanity.

*Adieu to my dearest friend and eminently rugged brother Chike Armani Iroha, who was shot dead by some scoundrels in Abuja last week. I spoke with him on Wednes­day and he died on Friday. Such is the emptiness and ephemeral nature of life. As Shakespeare re­minds us, “death is a necessary end and will come when it will come”. It could be anybody at any time. The one we called “Giorgio Arma­ni”, you were too dear to me. You departed too soon leaving a lovely family. You broke our hearts. May your soul rest in peace.

•Dr Adiele writes from Mountain Top University via [email protected]; X: @drpee4