POWER: A MENACE TO STUDENTS’ AFFAIRS

• By: Tunde Jr., Ade

From timely memorial, there has always been the idea that the world would exist in a balance. That when you look into the evening you see the setting sun, the rising moon and all the other celestial bodies are existing harmoniously in perfect balance.

But of course, that’s far from the truth. That is just a piece of fallacy, an optical illusion caused by our bias as human judging from what we have seen. The sun, in its magnificence is several million times larger than the moon, and there is no perfect balance about their existence in comparison. Comparing them together is like relating a young King Henry of England and a young African slave boy in the sixteen century.

The world is not fair, and we know it. You either be the oppressed or the oppressor. And somehow, the human mind would always choose the latter. Knowing this, the mind would spare no expenses to ensure this protection. Go extra miles in search of power. Because power is protection, power is power. And every time, the end justifies the means.

Nowadays, power is easily accessible if you are willing to sell your soul to the devil. Nepotism, corruption and all other vices are now rampant in the world, and with the right connection, you might just find the fate of millions in your hands despite being a quack.

Delving into the world politics is like opening a Pandora Box. So, the focus of this piece is just to scale the edges, that is, the power play on campus – The Polytechnic, Ibadan.

Politics as far as anyone is concerned, is only a tertiary objective of all students in any institution. The primary and secondary being academics and social experiences respectively. Academic excellence should be our major concern, but unfortunately, this is no more the case, as we are more concerned with the sense of belonginess that being an executive brings.

Perhaps, it’s out of unexplainable compulsion, perhaps not. The pattern at which its done is just appalling. While it is understandable that being an executive brings an amount of credibility and experience, and responsibilities to an individual. But one could also argue that majority would resist such responsibilities, yet latch onto the benefits of power.

Less than 10% of the individual who delve into school politics, do so for the service to humanity. It just comes as a thought, and they follow the feeling because it feels right. Why? Because they feel that they are ripe for whichever roles of their choices.

But even that isn’t the worst. Some go there not because of two things than embezzlement. Corruption have eaten deeply into our marrows like a cancer. Covetousness, ego complexes, narcissism and corruption are the major reasons we rush into politics on campus.

As a Nigerian student, I see this closely. I’ve met my fair share of campus executives and aspirants. And verily, I can say that many of them do not warrant such post. Why? They simply lack the average intelligence required to hold such a position. I’ve seen an aspirant who cannot even construct a single sentence in English language vying vigorously for a post that would require eloquence. But who am I to discourage a made up mind. After all, English shouldn’t be a criterion for capability.

We are in the season of election now, and all manner of strange things have been happening. Just last month, at a Faculty congress for aspirants, an observer, seeing as they were rarely any competition in that faculty, it was a really boring affair. Then suddenly, the contrary occurred. Out of nowhere a viscous black egg-looking substance appeared. It was fetish to say the least, and it looked like the visual representation of evil.

It sat by the side of a young man. To say he was shocked would be an understatement. On spotting it, he went pale in lifeless horror. Then the observer wondered, is this a bad attempt at joke or an actual bid to bewitch a fellow student. If one could go to such extent at students’ level, then what would he do if he was in a federal level? Nuke a city!?

And all these for what? A year of discorded respect by people who don’t love you but care about what they might benefit from you. Power play on campus can be the cause of chaos. Students fighting each other over a preferred candidate. A meltdown in relationship isn’t good for everyone in the corner of this school.

Motives differs; for some its ego complex. A lady could run for a post because she doesn’t want to be looked down upon. To have some sense of exaltedness, to be classy. Inferiority complex is her main drive to run for office. Another is superiority complex, this is when you want to show the world you are in command, to believe you are better that everyone else. They age to become dictators later on. And you see them dress lavishly in hopes to oppress their comrades and those with low self-esteem.

With such a caustic mind-set, one like this would only cause unnecessary rancour with his comrades as he would be arrogant and harsh occasionally.

Ironically, some are only there as a figurehead. In my opinion, this are the worst sort the ones who have nothing upstairs, but only a zombie placed there by equally zero-minded opportunist who stylised themselves as godfathers. This case is driven by nepotism and quickly births corruption.

This case is the most rampant on campus. And candidly, we have more figureheads on campus. And in lieu of this, most comrades are deficient in properly executing their duties effectively. Mainly because, it can be in contrast to the command given by the shadow sponsors. And there you have it; a government of cabals, by the cabals and for the cabals.

Corruption is a virus that has eaten deeply into our minds. And the only way for it to function properly is to push towards power. Simply because power is the only weapon that works effectively with little constraints.

Power is an enticing subject, true. But we all know that power corrupts, and absolute power corrupts absolutely. This is not to say trying to rule is bad, but it becomes so the moment you think of yourself as a leader rather than a servant. It is after all, a call to serve the people.

I for one do not know what the inner mind wants, and in my state of limbo, I shall stay away from the corruption called power. If you are unsure, you probably should too.