The Ecology of a Vegetarian Wolf, by Tony Osakpamwan Agbons

No man is an island is a common axiom that defines the innate relational necessity of all humans. Interpersonal relationship is an essential currency between individuals, groups and communities. It is therefore within the ambience of this notion that I met up with a few friends recently uptown for some nibbles and drink. As we reminisced about the days yore, it dawned on us that the era in focus, which was the catalyst for our reflection was that time and space that was no respecter of persons. Collectively, our thoughts also dwelled on a few friends in the `brotherhood and friendhood` who passed away to Zion. May their kind souls continue to rest in Elysium. For us at that point, we suddenly came to the realisation that every day counts and the fond memories we share are forever stamped in the inner recess of our being. Meetings of `old boys` are never complete without recall of escapades of all sorts, near misses and great fits.

In the animal Kingdom, scientist propound that majority of species live communally. Elephants are social and intelligent animals that always live in herds. If a member of the herd is lost, the others will try to find it. Deer travel in herds, which are often led by a dominant male. Cattle are herd animals that often synchronize activities like eating, lying down, and ruminating. Horses prefer to live in groups and move across large open areas. They bond with each other through mutual grooming and develop a herd hierarchy. They are often seen moving quickly through dense brush, especially during feeding times. So, like humans, the desire to live together is engrained in these hooved grazing mammals. Different terms are used for similar groupings in other species; in the case of birds, for example, the word is flocking, but flock may also be used for mammals, particularly sheep or goats. Large groups of carnivores (meat-eating mammals) are usually called packs, and in nature, a herd is classically subject to predation from pack hunters. This brings us to the order of animals known as Canidae. The canid family animals are known for their long muzzles, upright ears, teeth adapted for cracking bones and slicing flesh, long legs, and bushy tails. This family includes but are not limited only to foxes, wolves, dogs, coyotes and jackals. Wolves are the largest members of the canid family. They are known to roam large distances, perhaps 19 kilometres(12 miles) in a single day. According to www.nationalgeographic.com, they live and hunt in packs of around six to ten animals. They are dangerous carnivores.

My dear readers, are you wondering where all these talks of reflections, packs, herds and everything in-between is leading? Ponder no more. This is because, we can draw a parallel that just like wolves that move in packs for survival in the wild, politicians work together to survive in the murky `wild waters` of politics. They coalesce into herds and packs as ‘the flow may lead’ to survive; fighting off being eaten or to eat up others as the case may be.  To do this, they associate with other bed fellows – of `like minds` and `unlike minds` to sell their ideas to citizens who give up their sovereignty during elections. This has been the practice since the advent of democracy globally. According to www.history.comthe last tyrannos, or tyrant, to rule Athens was Hippias, who fled the city when Sparta invaded in 510 B.C. Two or three years later, an Athenian aristocrat named Cleisthenes helped introduce political reforms called demokratia(demos, “the people,” and kratos, “rule”).Over the next several decades, subsequent reforms expanded this political system. The Greek city-state of Athens began to lay the foundations for this new political system. This demokratia, was a direct democracy that gave political power to free male Athenian citizens rather than a ruling aristocratic class or dictator, which had largely been the norm in Athens for several hundred years before. Athens’ demokratia, which lasted until 322 B.C inspired similar political systems in other Greek city-states as well as the ancient Roman Republic. The Roman Republic took the idea of direct democracy and amended it to create a representative democracy – a form of government that the Europeans and European colonist became interested in several centuries later.

In the last 25 years, the Nigerian political ecosystem has witnessed unbroken democracy (first in the nation’s history). We have had seven consecutive general elections and peaceful transitions of power. There has also been the added benefit to the value chain of a successful handover of power from a rival political party to another. In 2015, then incumbent President Goodluck Jonathan conceded defeat to former President Muhammadu Buhari. For majority of Nigerian people, the advent of democracy has apparently not brought about improvements in the standard of living and quality of life. Many Nigerian citizens are of the opinion that our democracy has only produced a new bunch of stupendously rich men and women. They contend that just a handful of the political and business elites are enjoying the God-given resources of the land and decimating our collective patrimony. They question why these elites are `living large` while the majority of citizens are languishing in poverty which can be likened to near death experiences can be gleaned from the ‘herd and pack’ phenomenon. While many Nigerians are not convinced about the competence of the electoral body and sanctity of the electoral process, they are miffed that the value of democratic returns have not matched expectations.

These unmet expectations have further accentuated the frustration of majority of ordinary citizens. In the last 25 years, politicians across all the political parties have been high on election promises but not forthcoming on actual deliverables. Available data show a gradual erosion of the trust currency between various government at the federal, state and local government levels. Every four years (during the election cycle), politicians are often seen campaigning in prose, but they end up governing in poetry. They are quick to tell the people what the people want to hear. These politicians promise so much and yet do so little to change the lives of the people. In the last 2023 general elections, previous campaign posters and jingles from 1993, 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011, 2015 and 2019 were all over social media. It was the same storyline about electricity which has never materialised. Ditto provision of affordable housing, quality education, revamping the economy, moving away from a monolithic oil-dependent economy amongst others. The political class (with the exception of a few) across all the political parties have been feasting on `the national flesh` of Nigeria for a long time. They have become dangerous carnivores devouring our commonwealth and patrimony. These politicians are like wolves speaking to a flock of sheep and telling them; “once elected, I will be vegetarian”. Legendary Greek philosophers, Socrates and Plato understood that human beings are plagued by folly, until they are redeemed and reformed by philosophy – a path only few pursue. As long as most people are foolish, unwise and self-deluded, it is hard to see how any form of government will succeed. In supporting candidates for elective positions in Nigeria, we must be switched on, check their antecedents and track records before they decided to contest for office, and do due diligence on them. Truth is a `wolf` cannot and will never become a `vegetarian` if elected. A leopard never changes its spots. Reflecting on the last 8 years of Edo State in Nigeria, you tell me – have the packs had enough pounds of flesh from the herds? Or do we want them to continue for another 8 years? Who are the packs? Who are the herds? Pray my dear reader, you tell me…

Dr Agbons is Lead, Institute of Leadership and Good Governance @www.twin2.org