Our pre-colonial politicians made us very proud. Even in the face of political turmoil, adversity and imbroglio, their public utterances were seasoned with intellectual prowess, dexterity and aptitude. Their speeches came out clean though with some lapses in between the lines.

The likes of late Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe (the great Zik of Africa), Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Alvan Ikoku, Herbert Macauley, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Mbonu Ojike, etc, were astute wordsmiths of no mean repute who not only succeeded in bailing Nigeria out from imperialism, but dazzled those white imperialists with spell-binding rhetoric(s). This hastened the speedy attainment of self-determination and Nigeria’s independence.

This  was in just about 51 years ago when Nigerian politicians were worth their onions in terms of scholastic public speaking and speech delivery. It was also a period of learning for them. Regrettably, these days what we have is a hog wash of misapplied syntax and muffled phonology and incredible phonemics.

Good public speaking is a timeless asset. It is indeed crucial to achieving the ideals of democracy and a capitalist society. The ability of an individual, organisation or group (through their media representatives) in contemporary society to argue effectively in public, to think and speak persuasively, to debate logically and to form sound ethical judgments, are essential skills for becoming not just a better citizen, but a better leader of global reckoning.

Rhetoric is the art of influencing an audience through words. It dates back many centuries with its roots in the Greek and Roman periods of history. Before 500B.C.E, a teacher and his student, Corax and Tisias, began rhetoric when they taught common citizens of the island of Sicily how to argue effectively for themselves in public forum. This humble work of Corax and Tisias actually inspired several people and led to the early tradition of rhetoric in ancient Greece.

In 481 B.C.E, a group of Greek Philosophers emerged. They called themselves Sophists and began to teach about thinking and speaking persuasively. Though other Greek writers challenged the technicality of these Sophists, arguing that they concentrated more on technique and not on the content of speech, the historical reality proved that they were pioneer speech makers, foremost of who is Protagoras who has been widely acclaimed till date as the father of debate. This protagorian hypothesis birthed seasoned orators who were groomed on a variety of subjects, who also formed political, social and ethical judgements as statesmen and eloquent public speakers.

Plato, one of the most famous Greek writers and philosophers, advocated dialectic, which is a question and answer process used to examine all sides of an issue in quest or search of the truth.

Aristotle also saw logic as essential to understanding any subject. It was him who described systematically a type of persuasion for Western culture based on logic emotion, and speaking credibility.

The Roman period was not left out. In the 2nd century B.C.E, Cicero combined rhetoric and philosophy in his writings about public speaking. He so much believed like the Greek, that good speakers needed a well-rounded education.

The last gubernatorial and presidential campaigns in Nigeria were fraught with unpalatable utterances and untrained nuances. If by reason of caption I am asked to tag them, I will simply say they were full of empty rhetorics. Some of the frontline campaigners or politicians were full of certain unguarded   words against their political opponents which would not have been the case if they were trained public speakers. Remember the gaffe (or is it outburst?) of a presidential candidate that “… the entire South West is too important, too sophisticated and too educated to be left in the hands of rascals.” What about the rhetoric blunder of a governorship candidate in Rivers State, who, in his bid to convince the electorate of his readiness to secure their lives and property, said Rivers people would begin to sleep with their two eyes open as soon as he assumed office? And what would you say about the emotional outburst of an elder statesman and an opposition candidate who threatened the government in power that, “he who makes peaceful change impossible makes violent change inevitable?”

We should note that in all circumstances, unguarded words are never for the good of the public. They are usually selfish and anachronistically evil in all intention. Several speeches were made out of stern ambitions. At some point, some of the speeches were like rhapsodies of ambiguities and a plethora of inconceivable, and high-fluting words. Such unseemly, grandiose, high-flown and snobbish words on campaign grounds betray emptiness and low intelligence.

Our politicians should strive to out-do their pre-colonial counterparts who had a powerful literary aura and intellectual command which gave them undeniable access and victory during national and international conferences with the whites. We should be going away from the circumference of empty rhetoric and safe-landing on the pedestal of successful public speaking.

Ojogwu resides in Port Harcourt.

Felix Ojogwu