By Prof Ibrahim Bell-Kano
The author, a Prof of English and Literary Studies at Bayero University, Kano
Whenever I see people or colleagues hunting for office or other appointed positions, I am always reminded of a famous quip by the great Epicurus, namely that one should avoid positions that are up to others to give or refuse to give it. In the African context, or more appropriately the Nigerian one, office holding or office hunting could be harmful to one’s overall well-being because the parasitic and dependent nature of office. First, the perks of office in this part of the world are soul destroying. One comes to depend wholly on things beyond one’s means, or gets used to patterns of behaviour or living that are ultimately unsustainable.
Second, office changes one’s relationships even with close family members. There are cases of officials whose wife would not now want to live according to anything less than what the previous office had offered in terms if perks and privileges.
Third, I know of many former governors, VCs, ministers, permsecs that are now almost destitute after leaving office. The thinking that you could steal enough money or resources while in office in order to sustain one after leaving office or for life is a pernicious illusion because that’s not in the order of things in a hopelessly primitive economy such as Nigeria’s. That’s why we see presidents for life across many African countries.
Fourth, our feudal heritage, where the antiquated mentality of pompous self -importance is endemic, office seekers or holders repeatedly want to bulk their fragile ego with a sense of universal self-importance as this Lord or that Chief.
Imagining the world and even Nigeria without the literati
Fifth, upon leaving office, a lucrative one or not, most such people become bitter, rancorous, and depressive. They either go on to hunt for more office, where they can, or become willing dogs of those in power. I see this everywhere in my native Kano, where a professor who once served as an Ambassador insisted on his being called Ambassador first before his earlier title of Professor! We have ex-VCs who cannot now walk freely within the campus, not out of fear of being attacked or humiliated, but out of self-pity that they are now ordinary people! Thus any self-respecting, proud and emotionally self-loving and self-respecting academic, one that values their self-esteem and psychological and emotional wellbeing should stay away from holding any office that has a stipulated term limit. Why? Because office in our context utterly corrupts one or eventually ruins one’s inner happiness.
The best possible, and the most enduring, office is one that one holds on merit, ones like Professor, Mother, Father, Wife, Husband, and all those “offices” that you hold for life and that do not attract an unrealistic set of perks and pampered stupidities. Finally, we in this part of the world hardly worry about fundamentals such as a serene and peaceful state of mind, a quiet life in the study or the library or the garden, plenty of sex with the wife or such, a deliberative atmosphere among friends, relatives, and siblings, a quiet moment with oneself, a beautiful solitude, a sense of one’s self worth, a calm temper, and, not least, a deeply valued inwardness, among other self-valuing, nature valuing, community valuing pursuits.
At this point, I should congratulate my good friend and colleague, Prof. Gbemisola Adeoti who contested for the VCship at OAU, Ile-Ife, for losing his bid: for, in the end, he would now continue to value and live and live himself as a scholar and academic. He would now be at peace with himself, with his deep conscience. Thus the entirely correct Epicurus is beautifully correct here: NEVER WANT ANYTHING THAT IS UP TO OTHERS TO GIVE OR DENY YOU!
