By CHIEDU UCHE OKOYE

Nigeria is a sinking ship whose occupants are swimming to safety on the pieces of lifebuoy thrown to them. Are Nigerians not leaving in droves for foreign countries? And, are they not serving as food to the famished sharks and whales in foreign seas?

The fact is that Nigeria, a well-endowed country, has become an unlivable geographical space from which her citizens are fleeing. Daily, in Nigeria, hundreds of people are needlessly killed by bandits, terrorists, kidnappers, and the killer-herdsmen. The nightmarish security challenges in our country seem to be unending. And millions of Nigerians, who have been reduced to sub-humans through our political leaders' mismanagement of our economy, are living below the breadline, now.

Nigeria's sad and bad condition is attributable to the leadership crisis, which has been the lot of the country over the years. Since our country's attainment of political sovereignty in 1960, good political leadership has continued to elude her. Until 1999, dictatorial military regimes, which alternated with corrupt political leaderships, stunted our economic development, stymied our technological advancement, worsened our infrastructural rot and deficit, and caused the deepening of our religious and ethnic fissures.

In 1960, six years after we had achieved political emancipation, the Nigeria-Biafra civil war raged with its calamitous and disastrous effects. The fratricidal civil war caused the depredation of our economy, destruction of our national infrastructure, and the decimation of our population. Thereafter, we experienced a military interregnum, which culminated in the birth of the second republic in 1979.

The second republic was truncated by the coup d'etat executed by Mohammadu Buhari. It took place on December 31, 1983. Before the execution of the coup by the beret boys, Alhaji Shehu Shagari, a political dark horse, had piloted the affairs of Nigeria from 1979 to 1983. His government was toppled because it was alleged to be corrupt.

And between 1983 and 1998, save the brief period when Chief Ernest Shonekan held the reins of power, military officers took turns to rule Nigeria. While Mohammadu Buhari, who was known for his spartan lifestyle, enacted draconian and retroactive decrees to rule Nigeria, Ibrahim Babangida institutionalized corruption in the country. And he took Nigeria on a transition to civilian rule rigmarole that landed us in a political cul-de-sac.

But in the midst of the political quagmire into which Nigeria was thrown owing to the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election, the vampiric Sani Abacha shoved aside the interim government of Ernest Shonekan to enter into the saddle of power. Sani Abacha was a blend of thieving tendencies and sanguinary proclivities. Not only did he steal Nigeria blind, but also he liquidated some democracy activists, who were agitating for the revalidation of the late MKO Abiola's stolen political mandate.

Happily, Nigeria transitioned to democratic rule upon Sani Abacha's demise in 1998. And since 1999 and until now, we have enjoyed twenty-six years of unbroken democratic governance with one political leader handing over political power to another political leader without the country descending into an anarchic situation. That in itself is a milestone achievement considering Nigeria's deep-seated disunity, which is caused by the existence of ethnic animosity and religious intolerance among Nigerians.

However, the fact is that the elections that produced our past successive national leaders in the fourth republic were marred and marked by election malpractices. For example, in 1999, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo was helped to become the president of Nigeria so as to placate the indignant Yoruba people regarding the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election. Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar'Adua, who succeeded Chief Obasanjo as the president of Nigeria, confessed that the election that brought him to office was deeply flawed. And the declaration of Ahmed Bola Tinubu as the president-elect in 2023 was hotly contested in the court, then.

It is a known fact that when the electoral processes that bring a politician to power are flawed, the political will and choices of the people will be subverted. And that situation negates the political axiom, which says that political sovereignty belongs to the people. And a national leader, who enters the saddle of power via electoral malpractice, will not be accountable to the people.

So, not surprisingly, corrupt political leadership has become endemic and pervasive in our country. Now, our political leaders who hold sway at different governmental strata perceive their occupation of exalted political offices as opportunities for them to acquire money by dipping their fingers into our exchequer.

Consequently, our country's economy oscillates between slipping into recession and exiting from it. So millions of young Nigerian graduates pound the streets, daily, in search of the non-existent white and blue collar jobs. And innumerable Nigerian workers, who are not paid living wages, live below the breadline. They scrounge for food, which they will eat, sacrificing their dignity in the process.

Again, Nigeria suffers from infrastructural deficit and rot. Long stretches of some federal roads have fallen into a state of disrepair. And the healthcare delivery system in Nigeria is comatose. Consequently, rich Nigerians, who are ailing, embark on health tourism in foreign countries for the treatment of their various health conditions. And the dysfunctionality of our educational system, which is caused by decades of governmental neglect, is at the root of our universities' production of unemployable graduates, who are found wanting in character and learning.

Worst still, Nigeria is ravaged by grave security challenges, which have returned her to the Hobbesian state of nature where life is short, brutish, and nasty. Is the north not still in the firm grip of Boko Haram insurgency, terrorism, banditry, and the killer-herdsmen menace? And in the southern part of Nigeria, kidnapping rich people for ransom has become a lucrative business venture for kidnappers.

Nigeria, as she is now, is a rudderless ship cut adrift on the tempestuous sea of political, technological, economical, and educational uncertainties. As it is on autopilot, it is being tossed about on the choppy water by the pitiless currents.

But the solution to our many hydra-headed problems lies in our electing patriotic leaders, who possess probity and leadership qualities. It is only they, who can fix our national problems and entrench unity among us. And it is only they, who can give Nigeria a people's constitution, which will transform Nigeria to a true federal state.

•Chiedu Uche Okoye, a poet, writes from Uruowulu-Obosi, Anambra State. He can be reached via 08062220654 and 09125204141