Among the most hack
neyed expressions ever used in English language is “to be fore-warned, is to be fore-armed”. This expression has been proven beyond reasonable doubt.
Everywhere there is a semblance of a constituted authority, it has become fashionable for such authority to silence attempts to fore-warn, even when such fore-warning is for the general good.
In fact, it’s Nigerian for any attempt to fore-warn an authority to be viewed as worse than treason, hence such fore-warner is more likely to attract the wrath of the authority, often energised by selfish allies or sympathisers. Only few, see such fore-warning for what it truly is.
The reason is that beyond what those who propounded politics rightly anticipate, politics in developing climes like Nigeria is seen more as a lucrative business than an opportunity to serve.
Consequently, any perceived attempt by a fore-warner, in the perspective of the authority, is first seen as an intent, or ploy, to negatively affect the business, rather than improve the lot of the people.
This explains why virtually everybody who has tasted power or authority finds it difficult to let go totally: the person would rather wish to either continue in power directly, or indirectly by dictating who ascends the position, for selfish reasons.
For several reasons,  Nelson Mandela will never be forgotten globally. As far as South Africa is concerned, he has pegged the minimum standard for leadership in the country.
Subsequent leaders in the country, therefore, do not have any option than to improve on the standard, based on the exigencies of the moment, or as dictated by modernism in South Africa’s perculiar circumstance.
From his pre-imprisonment struggles and aspirations that saw him sacrifice everything leaders of today would do anything to protect, including his family, through his imprisonment that lasted 27 years, to his release from prison and subsequent ascension as the first elected President of South Africa, Mandela stood for equal rights and justice.
In obvious fulfilment of the lyrics of the song made popular by the late reggae maestro, Peter Tosh, titled “Equal Rights and Justice”, Mandela opted out of a second tenure bid, even when virtually every South African wanted him back.
The most reasonable interpretation of his uniquely uncommon decision is the fact that he knew the standard and pace for his country to develop has been set. He realised that having come thus far, he had given his best, hence the need to let go and create room for genuine fresh ideas.
He realised that the leadership standard he has set, not just within the four years period of his tenure as President, but also going back to his leadership roles and every incidence that preceded his ascension, had set the pace, backed by necessary legal framework, for subsequent leaders to follow.
Madiba, as Mandela was fondly called, did not require any fore-warner to remind him of doomsday should he cease to be the leader his people had known him to be. He never lost touch of his struggle or fight against injustice.
He never forgot, from his travails, that it is only the privileged few that would choose to advocate for peace when all it requires for peace to reign is to accord the under-privileged majority equal rights and justice. This realisation was his fore-warner. It is what earned him the respect of the civilized world.
Any attempt to see the role of a fore-warner in any light different from being a reminder or refresher, and hence targeted at avoiding an unpleasant consequence, therefore, is questionable. In what form the fore-warner manifests may not be an issue, as long as the message is clear.
The irony of fore-warning is that most people, particularly those who see themselves as privileged, hardly take it serious. They always feel “on top of the situation”, mostly because at the time of the fore-warning they feel very secure.
Erstwhile Burkina Faso’s President, Blaise Campoare, may have saved himself and country from an inevitable bloodshed, comparable to that of Liberia following the overthrow of Samuel Doe, by his decision to surrender power after reactions of the people he had led for 27 years fore-warned him of an impending doomsday should he prolong his rulership any further as he had planned.
Former Nigeria’s President, Olusegun Obasanjo, also got the same fore-warning when he attempted to institute his own 3rd term as President in 2007. He knew that the writing on the wall was too clear to be blurred, hence he took the fore-warning seriously enough to rescind his decision.
It is in this light that the recent fore-warning by former security chief of the State Security Service (SSS), Albert  K. Horsfall, over the gubernatorial pursuit of Chief Nyesom Wike, which he said is capable of taking Rivers State back to the era of insecurity, should not be taken lightly.
This is because for all it is worth, it’s only an outrightly selfish motivation that can make a person want to suddenly change that which a group had successfully used as a guide for peaceful co-existence for years.
The fore-warning, for the sake of Rivers people, who would ultimately bear the brunt of any avariciousness, should be rightly seen as going beyond the elligibility of the person of the former  Minister State for Education. It is about the safety of the lives and properties of the people to be led.
Politics may be a game of interest, but it is no less based on conscience, selfless conscience, for it to be played aright. For, every interest, no matter how seemingly insignificant, will come to roost. How and when this will occur may not be easily or rightly fathomable.
But when it finally does, it comes like a whirlwind. Nobody can prognosticate the level of damage, the extent it will go, or who it will affect.

Soibi Max-Alalibo