Today's literary crisis is – Leadership and Power.

One of the reasons I find The Leader and the Led so fascinating is that it does not discuss leadership through politicians, governments, or public office.

Niyi defamiliarized the entities surrounding leadership and power with animals to pass His message.

Should leadership belong to the loudest voice?

The strongest figure?

The most feared person?

Or the one most capable of service?

What qualities should qualify someone to lead?

The tragedy of our society began when people start seeking power for themselves instead of seeking responsibility for followers.

That is the gap between the leader and the led.

And history has repeatedly shown us that when that gap becomes too wide, everybody eventually pays the price.

(N/B: this is going to be long)

* * * 

THE LEADER AND THE LED

The Lion stakes his claim

To the leadership of the pack

But the Antelopes remember

The ferocious pounce of his paws

The hyena says the crown is made for him

But the Impalas shudder at his lethal appetite

The Giraffe craves a place in the front

But his eyes are too far from the ground

When the Zebra says it’s his right to lead

The pack points to the duplicity of his stripes

The Elephant trudges into the power tussle

But its colleagues dread his trampling feet

The warthog is too ugly

The rhino too riotous

And the pack thrashes around

Like a snake without a head

“Our need calls for a hybrid of habits”,

Proclaims the Forest Sage,

“A little bit of a Lion

A little bit of a Lamb

Tough like a tiger, compassionate like a doe

Transparent like a river, mysterious like a lake

A leader who knows how to follow

Followers mindful of their right to lead” © Niyi Osundare

What stands out in this poem is that Osundare is not only asking “Who should lead?”

He is asking a more harder question:

“Is just one person sufficient to lead?”

Every candidate possessed a quality that makes them powerful and a flaw that discredits them.

The Lion has strength, but strength can become oppression.

The has ambition, but ambition can become greed.

The Giraffe has vision, but vision can lead to detachment.

The Zebra appears attractive, but appearance can conceal inconsistency.

The Elephant has influence, but influence easily invites intimidation.

The Rhino has force, but force can make one use violence.

None of them escaped one flaw hit or the other.

Then the writer made an important statement:

“Our need calls for a hybrid of habits”

The Forest Sage is simply saying that leadership cannot survive on a single virtue.

A nation cannot be led by strength alone. It cannot be led by intelligence alone. It cannot be led by popularity alone. It cannot be led by force alone.

The Ow came in with this in my favorite section:

"A little bit of a Lion

A little bit of a Lamb" 

This is a paradoxical line.

The leader must be strong enough to act, but gentle enough to listen.

“Tough like a tiger, compassionate like a doe”

Now, the ultimate balance.

Leadership is not choosing between strength and compassion.

It is knowing when each is required.

Finally Niyi Osundare  concluded with the best line in the entire poem:

"A leader who knows how to follow, Followers mindful of their right to lead"

He shifted the attention away from leaders and to the followers.

This is where many discussions about Nigeria, Africa, and leadership become surface uneasily.

We discuss bad leaders. We discuss corruption. We discuss abuse of power. We discuss failed promises.

But Niyi Osundare implies that leadership is only half the story.

Followership is just as important.

A passive population can sustain bad leadership. 

A fearful population can sustain bad leadership. 

An uninformed population can sustain bad leadership.

This poem criticizes both sides –

The leader who refuses accountability.

And the followers who excuses responsibility.

The Leader and The Led is not really about lions, zebras, hyenas, or elephants.

It is about societies searching for leadership while simultaneously struggling to define what leadership should look like, we “...thrash around like a snake without a head”

Our communities, institutions, organizations, and nation moving without direction.

People full of potential, but unable to agree on the kind of leadership we truly need.

We have to establish the kind of leadership standards we value, reward, and demand.

A society needs leaders who have balanced virtues.

But it also needs followers who understand that leadership is too important to be left to leaders alone.

Princess Ella ⚜️