I’m only halfway through Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s book and my mind having been conditioned a bit by analysis from others who read it before me like @afrispheric, I can’t help a feeling of irritation towards her and other technocrats who often exhibit naïveté towards politics.

If it is true (and it is) that leadership in many countries is always determined by politics, why do technocrats maintain this attitude of neutrality, hoping that both sides will see them as neutral, only to end up getting shot at from both sides with neither side defending them?

Why is it that people often first approach leadership with ignorance, then feign shock at the level to which others may go in the pursuit of leadership (which to them means power)?

I don’t understood this thing and I don’t think I ever can because I’ve lost that innocence.

There are always sides in every issue and there is little middle-ground - people need to understand this as clearly as Jesus put it:

“He who is not for us is against us”

Simple.

“Sometimes I agree with this, sometimes I agree with that” - they’ll kill you last last.

I’ve seen people killed because of students union politics at the national level, limbs and heads broken at university level - but some assume that they can approach power and leadership with casualness - it’s an ignorance that this generation must shed off and embrace knowledge.

So NOI was surprised that Oshiomhole used the media to play dirty with her because she refused to influence the Debt Mgt. Office to let him borrow money - of course Oshiomhole’s dirty tactics are condemnable but “I didn’t know a war was going on” isn’t an excuse when bullets fly.

The Donald Duke visit should have been her first alert that her appointment wasn’t palatable to some forces but I guess she was hoping that her good intentions will see her through - big mistake because the only thing that makes some people back down is Strength, not Goodness.

And you see this with many folks too: even in offices, even in religious houses: you’ll go and have dinner with someone higher up and come under fire from his or her enemies then wonder how you managed to get caught up in a crossfire when you didn’t even know they were shooting.

The problem is that those who want to do evil are more determined in their determination to do evil than those who want to do good.

And it’s because evil towards others is usually for selfish interest while good is for the larger interest - and selfish interest is about survival

I’ve said this one before from the Bible:

“...if the goodman of the house had known in what watch the thief would come, he would have watched, and would not have suffered his house to be broken up.”

He was a good man, but he was naive and was therefore plundered.

But in another place, it talks of another man:

“No man can enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the strong man; and then he will spoil his house”

This man was strong and to be plundered, they first had to bind him before doing it.

One weakness of GEJ’s cabinet in my eyes was that he first of all wasn’t so wise about the politics all around him and then he filled his cabinets with technocrats who didn’t understand that there was always a political war going on and they were at the forefront of it.

So a Sanusi Lamido Sanusi was being investigated by one arm of Govt but nobody was anticipating that he would fight back in trying to protect himself.

And then when he fought back with an allegation, everyone started running up and down, still thinking he was only being honest.

So they all reconciled accounts and made presentations to the Senate with the oil ministry going first and presenting he reconciled figures only for SLS to go up and say that his own findings were even higher than the reconciled figures.

Another bombshell - they were surprised.

Politics at a minor stage exposes you to some kinds of human behaviour that let you understand people.

How could anyone in Govt have thought that SLS was acting in good faith and they were still bothering to reconcile figures with him, thinking everything was merry and rosy?

People are at war with you all the time, waiting for your downfall, scheming against you for the flimsiest of reasons.

You don’t develop a siege mentality and start acting paranoid but at least be conscious of it and don’t be shocked when they reveal themselves.

Sigh.

I thank God that towards the end, Egbon @paul_nwabuikwu understood the war that was going on and quickly rallied the troops and fought back.

The sad end now is that Mama has had a taste too much of the polity and doesn’t ever want to come back: another mistake.

Every time someone went into the field of confrontation in unionism and came back with tales, we used to say then that the person had been “disvirgined” - and only little could scare them about the struggle anymore.

NOI having been “disvirgined” shouldn’t run away from politics.

The correct response is to choose a side and stick to it and root for it, with the knowledge that shared common interests will make them support you if the battle gets hotter.

This is why politicians are almost paranoid about “loyalty” - you need to know who is with or against.

Some people believe humans are inherently good.
Some people believe humans are inherently evil.

Those people are inherently wrong because humans are inherently human with the power to be good or evil.

Which they choose depends on their mind which no one can know, but observe.

By observing humans for long enough, you can accurately determine how they will act under certain circumstances, especially if you’ve exposed them to similar circumstances beforehand.

Politics is always going on and you can’t avoid it: at work, in religion, everywhere.

The moment anyone tells me “Me I don’t do politics o, i don’t have any side, I say my mind whenever I feel like” - I instantly know I’m dealing with a highly skilled politician whose statements are aimed at making you lower your guard.

They know what they’re doing.