Give Poems to Lovebirds, Not Leaders

There is a disturbing political culture in which failure is dressed in beautiful words, mediocrity is wrapped in praise and ordinary performance is marketed as extraordinary achievement.

Politicians are increasingly surrounded by praise singers who turn routine government activities into historic accomplishments, ordinary speeches into “visionary” declarations and basic public responsibilities into evidence of exceptional leadership. This culture deserves to be challenged. Give poems to lovebirds, not leaders. A lover may need poetry; a citizen needs results.

A woman may smile after reading a verse describing her as the most beautiful person in the world. A man may melt after receiving a midnight declaration of love. But no citizen should be expected to fall in love with a government because a writer has described its leader as “transformational,” “selfless” or “visionary.”

Beautiful words will not repair a broken road, create employment, secure a troubled community, equip a hospital or put food on the table. A poem cannot replace electricity. A tribute cannot substitute for good governance. And no amount of literary praise can turn failure into success.

Yet this is precisely what is happening around political power. Every modest achievement is presented as historic. Every political anniversary produces another flood of carefully crafted tributes.

Every ribbon-cutting ceremony becomes an opportunity to proclaim greatness. Every speech is dissected for inspirational phrases while the substance of governance is conveniently pushed aside. The leader smiles, the writer gets recognition, supporters applaud, and the political machinery moves on. But outside the bubble of political celebration, reality remains brutally stubborn.

The roads are still bad. Young graduates are still searching for jobs. Families are struggling with rising living costs. Communities are demanding security. Public hospitals remain under pressure.

Schools need attention. Workers are demanding better conditions. Businesses are struggling with the cost of operating. The ordinary citizen does not eat adjectives. The unemployed cannot pay rent with political tributes. A community cannot secure itself with hashtags. And a hospital cannot treat patients with congratulatory messages.

This is where political praise stops being harmless flattery and begins to become a serious problem. When beautiful language is repeatedly used to conceal poor performance, praise becomes a political curtain shielding power from accountability.

The danger is not that leaders are praised. The danger is that they may eventually believe the praise. The most dangerous writer around a leader may therefore not be the one who criticises him. It may be the one who convinces him that criticism is unnecessary.

A leader who hears nothing but applause can eventually lose the ability to distinguish popularity from performance, publicity from progress and propaganda from achievement.

That is why every serious leader needs people who can speak uncomfortable truths. Someone must be able to say, “This project is not working.” Someone must ask, “Where is the evidence that this policy has improved people’s lives?” Someone must be willing to tell the government, “The people are not feeling the impact.” And someone must have the courage to ask the question politicians often prefer to avoid: What exactly have you achieved?

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Nigerians have grown disillusioned with leadership

Not what did you promise. Not how many people attended your rally. Not how many congratulatory messages appeared online. Not how many newspapers published your praise. Not how many writers described you as a political colossus. What changed? What improved? Whose life became better because you occupied that office? Those are the questions that matter.

Writers also need to examine their own role in this political theatre. The pen is powerful, but it should never become an accessory to power. If a writer can produce ten paragraphs glorifying a politician, that writer should also be capable of producing ten paragraphs demanding accountability.

If a politician is described as a “messiah,” where is the evidence? If he is called “transformational,” what transformation can citizens actually point to? If she is celebrated as “the people’s leader,” what do the people themselves have to say? These are not acts of disloyalty. They are legitimate questions in a democracy.

Political leadership is not a beauty contest for adjectives. It is a public responsibility. Citizens do not elect politicians to provide material for poetry competitions. They elect them to make decisions, solve problems, protect public resources, provide essential services and improve the conditions of the people. The writer’s duty, therefore, should not be to make power comfortable. It should be to make power accountable.

There is nothing wrong with celebrating genuine achievement. Leaders who deliver should be recognised. But recognition should follow results, not replace them. The problem begins when praise becomes the achievement and publicity becomes the evidence of performance. A government should not need writers to manufacture greatness for it. Its record should speak loudly enough.

So, write your poems. Write about love, heartbreak, butterflies, midnight calls and the person who makes your heart beat gbim gbim. Write about the woman who stole your heart and the man who makes you believe in forever. Let lovers read those poems and fall deeper in love.

But when the subject is leadership, put the roses away and bring the facts. Bring the figures. Bring the questions. Bring the uncomfortable truths. Because a pothole does not disappear because a governor is called visionary.

A jobless graduate does not become employed because a senator is described as exceptional. A struggling community does not become secure because a politician is celebrated as a champion of the people. A failing institution does not become successful because somebody wrote a beautiful tribute.

Nigeria does not suffer from a shortage of flattering words. It suffers from a shortage of accountability. There are enough praise singers around power; what is desperately needed are truth-tellers. There are enough people writing about how great leaders are; there should be more people asking how greatly their leadership has changed the lives of the people.

Give poems to lovebirds, not leaders. Give leaders scrutiny. Give them questions. Give them accountability. And if a leader truly deserves a poem, let the results write it.

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Ruth Achebe

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