The exercise of leadership is premised on the ability to serve the served with care, empathy and humility. Political leadership is not about serving the interest of those entrusted into leadership positions but to serve the interest of the lowly, the nearly lowly and every member of the society. Sometimes I wonder if members of the political class in Nigeria are aware of this side of the leadership maxim because most of our leaders act as if they were not served the average dose of humility served on all children at birth. The corridors of political power in our nation are peopled by ‘wannabe-leaders’ with over bloated egos. Sadly, the exhibition of these large egos is at the root of most of the challenges we face as a nation. How can we get out of this ‘ego madness’? Humility is the positive outcome of humiliation, and sometimes the best thing that can happen to a leader, particularly a leader with an oversized ego, is to suffer through an embarrassing failure (Kathy Caprino, 2017).

I once stumbled on a story about the origin of the position of the Aide De Camp (ADC or A De C). It was said that in the medieval Roman Empire, a Military Officer of the Rank of Lt. Col was assigned to work with the Emperor to hold a ceremonial position as the aide de camp. The officer so appointed was armed with a sword and is expected to always move around with the Emperor to attend public and ceremonial functions. The main duties of the ADC were twofold. The first was to always caution the Emperor against allowing the adulation of the citizens from intoxicating him into thinking that he has become a god. So at public functions, the ADC was expected to approach and remind the Emperor that he is human and should not get carried away by the praise singing of the citizens. The second duty was to use the official sword assigned to him to decapitate the head of the Emperor whenever the Emperor begins to appropriate unto himself the glory of the gods.

Though the story appears to be a fable, I am persuaded to think that Nigeria could do with such position at this time in its history. What is the essence of having all these armed military and police officers stand behind our leaders if they cannot serve the public good? If the alleged role of the ADC in medieval Roman Empire appears too far-fetched for our modern inclinations, perhaps we can decree into our constitution the role of a Chief Ego Deflator (CED)? The CED would be of equal status as the Attorney General but would be elected by the citizens (the same way the Attorney General of States are elected in the USA) to enable him focus on the public interest. The functions of the CED would include the following:

1. Help to always keep the egos of our leaders in check to that it doesn’t inflate from over pampering
2. Serve as a conscience to the leaders to remind them that they were elected to serve the common good and not their egos
3. Keep the leaders from getting caught up in themselves and their selfish interests
4. Ensure that whenever the leaders take a position it is focused on the people

It wasn’t too long ago that parents could chastise their adult children and wards whenever they notice unusual display of arrogance through words like ‘this your swollen head would soon burst from pride’ or ‘what have you achieved that hasn’t been done by someone else’? Such admonitions have a way of always cutting ballooning egos to size. I am therefore of the view that all our leaders need someone with the appropriate authority devoid of the inhibition of an appointee to keep inflating egos in check.

Our countrymen and women irrespective of ethnic, religious or political persuasion are facing severe stress from several quarters on account of the errors of our leaders. At a time like this when leaders should be focused on rubbing soothing balm on the aching bodies of the citizenry, some of these leaders are still so focused on their egos that they fail to realize that most of the people they govern are on life-support. This is a call to all of us who have access to people in positions of leadership. If we take it upon ourselves to be the conscience of the leaders we follow, reminding them that they are mere mortals whenever they start assuming the status of deities, perhaps we can bring them all back to earth to attend to the needs of earthly beings. Lets do this together, one follower to one leader, setting aside our political differences, one day at a time.