The eagle is one terrific creature in the
avian family whose creativity, tenacity, brilliance and ultimate
capacity to weather the storms of living are awesome. This lovely sky
wizard is popularly venerated, among men, as an impressive symbol of
focus, vision, courage, honour, pride, independence and incurable
determination. The eagle is a carnivorous bird dwelling mostly in
mountainous areas and on the trunks of tall trees standing far flung in
the recesses of our forests. At rest and in flight, the eagle is a
magnificent and breath- taking splendour to behold. This carnivorous
bird feeds from the daily harvest of its opportunistic killer operations
in which it swoops down from the sky like a thunderbolt, ceasing its
prey and escaping almost always unhurt. The eagle is an exceedingly
efficient hunter, wonderful mother, profound trainer and a first class
survivalist of all times. When the eagle attains the advance age of
about 30 years, it loses its hunting bites, vigour and dexterity. At
this stage, its plumage, beak and talons become worn out, rendering the
eagle old, too weak and incapable of helping itself.
In the circumstance, one would expect
that the eagle would withdraw quietly into retirement to wait for
imminent death. But, no! For the eagle, “never say die” is the name of
the game. To tackle this terminal challenge, the eagle flies into a life
of seclusion around any reliable oasis at the mountain top. Here, the
bird camps for roughly four to five months and subjects itself to
excruciatingly enervating pains in a rebirth process in which it plucks
out its old plumage, talons and beaks, thus creating enablers for a new
life. So, at graduation from “the rebirth school”, the eagle comes out
renewed, rewired, reloaded and re-energised with brand new plumage,
talons and beaks to resume her killer operations in yet another chapter
of life, capable of lasting for many more decades.
These sterling lessons inherent in the
eagle’s most distinguished life, as recorded above, are both instructive
and germane in the life of man and indeed a nation. Nigeria, very
obviously, has a lot to learn and assimilate from the eagle’s life and
rebirth template. Our leaders must learn to lead by examples, walk their
talk on the campaign podia and sincerely commit to applying the
resources of the land to uplift the lives of the citizenry. Nigeria
needs a game changing leader who will effectively and efficiently
personify the incorruptible penchant and passion of Muhammadu Buhari,
the stoic courage and daringness of Babatunde Idiabgon, the clear vision
and economic wizardry of Obafemi Awolowo and the disarming oratory of
Nnamdi Azikiwe. The eagle, by every worthy index of assessment,
deservedly occupies a leadership position among birds. Nigeria, in the
same analysis, must learn to very strictly engage her ‘first eleven’ on
her leadership corridor. The captain must, as a matter of rule, be
knowledgeable, deep in thinking, selfless, passionate, organised, bold,
irrepressible, visionary, humane, sincere, willing, methodical and
ruthlessly determined to effect a paradigm shift.
We must commit totally to a national
rebirth fashioned after the eagle’s model in which we completely tear
down the host of our national malaise and the relics of our numerous
fruitless national programmes and policies in order to pave the way for a
more scientific, result focused and progress compliant society. We must
learn to never again, look away from a thief. Where ever and whenever
we find one, in our national life, we owe it a compelling duty to shout;
Oolee!!Barawo!! Then, hunt him down and deal with him dispassionately,
within the confines of our relevant laws and without fear or favour. We
must stop the retrogressive culture of power corridors sycophancy,
blind avarice, double standard, sentiment whipping, divide and rule,
lying, denials, political thuggery, election rigging, winner take it
all, losers tear it down and our popular mad rush to live above our
individuals means.
The princes and royalties amongst us must
learn to eat the pie of humility and obey the laws. And those whose
kernels were broken by divine benevolence must remember also to be
humble when they get upstairs. Let’s go the eagle way today. Nigeria can
actually attain the great heights of the eagle in the sky if we
collectively subscribe to its rugged determination to excel with honour
dignity and pride.
•Rowland Adebola Lagos, 2348022659632
Culled from PUNCH NEWS
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