“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.
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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 Promee01@yahoo.com; X: @drpee4
