If every Nigerian was as disciplined as this wonderful Femi Adeoye Snr from Ekiti, half of our problems will disappear within two years

By Ayo Akinfe

(1) Nigerians like to hide behind the excuse of bad leaders but they are just being dishonest. They know deep down that even if our leaders want to be honest men, we will not let them be honest men. Nigeria’s leaders are a mirror image of the rest of society

(2) French philosopher Joseph de Maistre once said: “Every nation gets the government it deserves.” I agree with him 100%. Our criminal and unimaginative leaders are a genuine reflection of Nigeria. There are 109 senators in the National Assembly. If you went to Oshodi market and selected 109 people at random, their behaviour and thoughts would be identical to that of the senators

(3) As a people we are simply too indisciplined to fight a pandemic. We refuse to obey health guidelines, we refuse to observe social distancing advice, law enforcement agents collect bribes to bend the rules, we refuse to queue when asked to and too many people are looking to make a quick buck from the misfortune of others

(4) This young Mr Adeoye had no reason to travel from Lagos to Ado-Ekiti but yet he did during the height of a pandemic. He travelled on buses with other people and heaven knows how many people may have been infected as a result of that journey. That is not poor leadership is is societal indiscipline

(5) I just love Mr Adeoye Snr for standing up for what is right. He refused to adopt the usual Nigerian approach of “My family first.” We cherish you highly sir!

(6) If you look at all the thieves who steal Nigeria’s money, it is their children, siblings and extended family who join them in bleeding the country dry. How many Nigerians would cut themselves off a family member who loots the state treasury?

(7) Whenever there are immediate gains to be made, as a people, we shun principle and rally around “one of our own.”

(8) The only other time I saw a Nigerian man act as principled as Mr Adeoye Snr was in 2009 when Umaru Mutallab Snr went to report his son, Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the famous shoe bomber for being a member of a terrorist organisation. Sadly, such men and women are too scarce in Nigeria today

(9) Do you know that in 1962, the federal government asked Awolowo to apologise and pledge his loyalty to them. They said if he did so they would release him from prison and even make him deputy prime minister? He obviously rejected the offer, just as Nelson Mandela later rejected a similar offer from the South African apartheid regime in exchange for his freedom

(10) When discipline and principle becomes a part of our national psyche, we will see dramatic change in Nigeria. If 70% of the populace thought and behaved like Mr Adeoye Snr, our GDP would probably double within the next two years