Distinguished panel of Judges, Guests, audience, and friends
I write to oppose the motion which classifies “Nigerian Leaders as Politicians and not Sick Patients” with these very few but convincing points of mine:
Going back in retrospect to adjudge Nigeria’s nascent democracy, it is clear beyond doubts that since 1999, Nigeria has not had an outright leader who is free from narcissism both at the federal, state and local levels of governance. To proceed, I need to bring the meaning of the word ‘narcissism’ to limelight.
WHAT IS NARCISSISM?
Simply put, Narcissism is the pursuit of gratification from vanity. Worthy of note here also is that is has a direct meaning with vanity – ‘vain glory’ or ‘futility’. Narcissism is a concept of Greek origin used in psychoanalytic theory. Psychoanalysis is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as “A therapeutic method, originated by Sigmud Freud, for treating mental disorders by investigating the interaction of conscious and unconscious elements in the patient’s mind and bringing repressed fears and conflicts into the conscious mind, using techniques such as dream interpretation and free association”.
Narcissism is also considered a social or cultural problem. It is a factor in trait theory. It is one of the three dark triadic personality traits; the others being Psychopathy (a personality disorder characterized by persistent antisocial behavior, impaired empathy and remorse, and bold, disinhibited egoistical traits.) and Machiavellianism (one of the dark triad personalities characterized by a duplicitous interpersonal style, a cynical disregard for morality and a focus on self-interest and personal gain.). As far back as the 16th century, Machiavellianism was seen as a foreign plague infecting northern European politics, originating in Italy and having first affected France.
Healthy self-love should, however, not be mistaken for Narcissism. A person who practices narcissism is called a Narcissist. On this note, Thomas David in his book on power hungry narcissist, Narcissism: Behind the Mask (2012) suggested that narcissists typically display most, and sometimes all, of the following traits:
- An obvious self-focus in interpersonal exchanges
- Problems in sustaining satisfying relationships
- A lack of psychological awareness
- Difficulty with empathy
- Problems distinguishing the self from others
- Hypersensitivity to any insults or imagined insults
- Vulnerability to shame rather than guilt
- Haughty body language
- Flattery towards people who admire and affirm them
- Detesting those who do not admire them
- Using other people without considering the cost of doing so
- Pretending to be more important than they actually are
- Bragging (subtly but persistently) and exaggerating their achievements
- Claiming to be an “expert” at many things
- Inability to view the world from the perspective of other people
- Denial of remorse and gratitude.
These criteria enumerated above are common or everyday features of Nigerian politicians without any significance exception.
Furthermore, Hotchkiss Sandy in her publication: Why Is it Always about You? (2003) identified what she called the seven deadly sins of narcissism. They include the following:
- Shamelessness: Shame is the feeling that lurks beneath all unhealthy narcissism and the inability to process shame in healthy ways.
- Magical thinking: Narcissists see themselves as perfect, using distortion and illusion known as magical thinking. They also use projection to “dump” shame onto others.
- Arrogance: A narcissist who is feeling deflated may “reflate” their sense of self-importance by diminishing, debasing, or degrading somebody else.
- Envy: A narcissist may secure a sense of superiority in the face of another person’s ability by using contempt to minimize the other person or their achievements.
- Entitlement: Narcissists hold unreasonable expectations of particularly favorable treatment and automatic compliance because they consider themselves special. Failure to comply is considered an attack on their superiority (100% typical of an average Nigerian politician in the corridors of power), and the perpetrator is considered an “awkward” or “difficult” person. Defiance of their will is a narcissistic injury that can trigger narcissistic rage.
- Exploitation: Can take many forms but always involves the exploitation of others without regard for their feelings or interests. Often, the other person is in a subservient position where resistance would be difficult or even impossible. Sometimes, the subservience is not so much real as assumed.
- Bad boundaries: Narcissists do not recognize that they have boundaries and that others are separate and are not extensions of them. Others either exist to meet their needs or may as well not exist at all. Those who provide narcissistic supply to the narcissist are treated as if they are part of the narcissists and are expected to live up to those expectations. In the mind of a narcissist, there is no boundary between self and other.
Generally, narcissists suffer from a health condition known as NPD – Narcissistic Personality Disorder. NPD is a long-term pattern of abnormal behavior characterized by exaggerated feelings of self-importance, an excessive need for admiration, and a lack of understanding of others’ feelings. People affected by it often spend a lot of time thinking about achieving power or success, or about their appearance. They often take advantage of the people around them. The behavior typically begins by early adulthood, and occurs across a variety of situations.
The cause of narcissistic personality disorder is unknown. It is a personality disorder classified within cluster B by the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
Treatments have not been well studied. Therapy is often difficult as people frequently do not consider themselves to have such a problem. The personality was first described in 1925 by Robert Waelder while the current name for the condition came into use in 1968. About one percent of people are believed to be affected at some point in their lives. It appears to occur more often in males than females and affects young people more than older people. Let me be quick to point out here that due to the very conducive atmosphere in Nigeria, NPD strives excellently in the old and the young as well as men and women alike.
To finally buttress my points and tender my submissions, judging by the aforementioned seven deadly sins of narcissism, and the characteristics of people with Narcissistic Personality Disorder, it is crystal clear that Nigerian political leaders and men in authority are critically ill and need urgent medical attention. There is otherwise no logical defense to wanting to buy different houses in different cities in which you may never live in (vain-glory), amassing large sums of hard currency which could have been injected into the economy to boost and better the lives of poor masses and stacking same in toilet pits; victimizing a poor citizen who decided to name his dog “probably” after his late father’s friend’s name for the simple reason that such a name coincidentally happens to be the name of a political office holder in authority.
What else could be a better defense than that of a sick person suffering from NPD for a people who rather than learn and take corrections from criticisms would prefer to witch-hunt and victimize you? Leaders who will over tax the masses, enforce strict tax laws but will never feel guilty for owing workers for a duration of over half a year; those who would rather spend outrageous sums to buy cars with standard shock absorbers than fix small pot holes on the roads that they thoroughfare on daily basis; who can’t spend 60 seconds without electricity in their homes and offices but don’t care that masses live for weeks in darkness.
Enlighten me on the best term to use in describing a people who have no respect for veterans: would neither honor them nor show gratitude to their deceased families. A people who would rather use tax payers money to fly first class and go and flirt; who have no conscience and will comfortably loot funds meant to cater for victims of war and natural disasters; who prefer to steal from their country and invest in foreign countries thereby developing such countries and leaving theirs barren and unproductive; who are scared of harnessing the rich potentials of her youth. The list goes on exhaustively.
My distinguished audience, over time we have not gotten it right because we failed to call it what it actually is. It isn’t just corruption; it is a condition, a medical condition called NPD – whose therapy is often difficult as people frequently do not consider themselves to have such a problem.
To get it right, we need to search deep; we need to search for past antecedents and proven track records; not empty political promises. Narcissists are deceptive; they have fooled us since time immemorial. We definitely would not allow them to deceive us again.
With these few points of mine, I hope you are convinced beyond any iota of doubt that Nigerian public office holders, people in authority and occupiers of leadership positions are all patients and not politicians.
Written By:ANNE IWUESE IBAISHWA (Department of Political Science – ABU, Zaria) and ABOH ROBERT LUBEM (Social Activist)