Lately, the leaders of the Ibadan socio-cultural group, Central Council of Ibadan Indigenes, appealed to the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari , to appoint Ibadan descendants as the Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ibadan and the Chief Medical Director of University College Hospital when these positions become vacant.
No matter what anyone thinks and feels about this blatant nepotistic canvassing by the CCII, I still want to salute their boldness in eschewing the lie that there is much to upward mobility in Nigeria than nepotism. We like to tout competence when it comes to appointing people to public posts and we have never quite acknowledged that identity politics has already been institutionalised as a form of competence as well. People are qualified by the sheer fact of which identity card they wield.
The issues around how people get qualified for public positions are not limited to socio-cultural groups like the CCII. Some years ago, the Mbaise people of Imo State rejected a Catholic Bishop because he is from Anambra State. Last year, I was at a programme in the South-West when a high-ranking religious leader mentioned that they had lobbied the governor to appoint someone of their church denomination as chairperson of the pilgrims’ board.
Even the national symbols, myths, and histories that could bind us are devoid of meaning. They lack the inherent force to instigate the love of the country in us. We are all too cynical, and we are mutually distrustful of one another. Our perennially clueless and corrupt leaders have not made social relations better. People like ex-governor Dickson think that they can force a sense of collective identity on Nigerians through appointments into elite positions.
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