A popular poster bearing the words of Bob Marley has continued to circulate widely among Nigerians in WhatsApp platforms and other social media platforms for a while. It says: “You will never find justice in a world where criminals make the law.”
It is a powerful statement. A painful truth. And for many, a fitting summary of the Nigerian condition. But like all truths, it demands understanding—not just repetition.
It demands understanding because if we engage it deeply, we may discover the contradiction. We may find out that many of those who share it most passionately and those who excitedly make comments about it may also be part of the problem the statement condemns.
That statement is like a double edged sword. It has an equally important corollary which is the missing half of the truth. As you will never find justice in a world where criminals make the law, criminals will always emerge as lawmakers in a society where crookedness is tolerated as a way of life. This is where the conversation must shift—from them to us or from the leaders versus the people.
In Nigeria today, many citizens are quick to condemn corruption in high places, yet the same people justify it and practice it in small places. They are perfectly at home with cutting corners in business, offering or accepting bribes in hidden and open places, manipulating systems for personal gain and normalizing dishonesty in everyday life. They see the failures of government clearly—but remain blind to their own compromises.
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Without doubt, it is the duty of leaders to move a nation forward. But when the generations of leaders fail to understand their purpose and live up to it, it will be self defeating for members of the society to see themselves as helpless and to remain fixated on placing their hopes on the same stock of leaders
THE PARABLE OF THE FARMER AND THE BAKER
The parable of the farmer and the baker speaks to Nigeria’s quagmire. The society shares similar characteristics with the farmers and the bakers. Like the both, the society makes things happen.
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A nation is like a farm. The society is the farmer.
The nation is the farmland.
The leaders are the crops. What the farmer plants—and how the farmer tends the soil—determines the harvest.
When the harvest is bitter, the farmer must ask: What did I plant? How did I nurture it?
If criminals emerge as lawmakers and leaders, it is not accidental. It reflects deeper realities within the society. The realities can come in three dimensions:
1. The Majority Problem
The “bad eggs” may simply be in the majority. This empowers them to shape outcomes in their own image.
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2. The Silence of the Good
The silence of the good means that good people are many in the society, but instead of making their impact felt, they are disengaged, fearful, indifferent, or self-absorbed.
3. The Energy Gap
The bad people in the society are active, organized, and strategic.
The good people are passive, scattered, detached and divided. Their efforts always come short because not truly committed to making change happen.
The third category seems to represent the case of Nigeria. In such a system, outcomes are predictable.
THE SOCIETY AS A BAKER
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The society is also like a baker. It has the power to make great things happen. A lot depends on the baker.
• The society is the baker
• The leaders are the cake
• The political system is the oven
The baker mixes the ingredients and places the cake in the oven.
If the cake comes out burnt, distorted, or unfit for consumption, can the baker blame the oven? No! The baker must take full responsibility for the outcome of her efforts.
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The oven only reveals what was prepared.
In the same way, politics does not create bad leaders. It only amplifies what society produces.
EVADING THE OBVIOUS
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Many Nigerians hate to hear any argument that places the responsibility of fixing politics and leadership on the doorstep of the citizens.
Across the country, this pattern persists.
Citizens blame government. Voices of conscience call for self-examination from the citizens. Society resists, insisting only the leaders are the problem. It is easier to protest than to reflect. It is easier to accuse than to change. The inconvenient truth is no nation rises above the character of its people. And no nation changes by the citizens embracing the ministry of complaining.
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BREAKING THE VICIOUS CYCLE
Nigerians have evaded the obvious for decades playing the blame game. Where then will the change come from? Is there any way forward?
There is always a way forward when the people are truly ready for change.
The road to redemption for Nigeria lies in the hands of her citizens. The citizens constitute the society.
The way to go are as follows:
1. Personal Transformation.
National change begins with individual integrity. Until honesty becomes a personal conviction—not a public performance—the system will remain compromised.
2. Collective Awakening of the Good.
Good people must rise up to take leadership in birthing the desired change in Nigeria. They must move from silence to voice. They must rise from apathy to action. They must break free from isolation to organization.
It is not enough to be good. Goodness must become active, visible, and influential.
3. Engagement with the System.
If the gateway to leadership is politics, then abandoning politics guarantees bad leadership. Good people must join political parties, participate in candidate selection, support credible leaders and contest for elective offices where necessary. You cannot change a system you refuse to enter.
4. Cultural Reorientation.
Society must redefine success and respect. When wealth without integrity is celebrated, corruption becomes aspirational.
Values must shift towards amplifying character over cash, service over self and truth over convenience
5. Raising a New Generation.
Sustainable change is generational. Families, schools, and institutions must strategically and deliberately commit to raise citizens who understand responsibility, value integrity and reject corruption at every level.
OUR WAKE-UP CALL
Bob Marley’s words remain true. But they are not just an accusation against leaders—they are a mirror to society.
If criminals are making the laws, then society must ask: Who empowered them? Who tolerated them? Who ignored the process that produced them?
Change will not come from outrage alone. It will not come from social media posts. Neither will it come from emotional reactions.
Change will come when individuals become upright, when good people become active and when society takes responsibility for the leaders it produces. Until then, the cycle will continue.
The society and its leaders are like the laundryman and the dirty clothes. The laundryman can only be at the mercy of the cloth for a while. The laundry man engages the cleaning process and transformation occurs.
The moment society decides to genuinely change; the quality of leadership will change with it.
A nation does not get the leaders it wishes for; it gets the leaders it prepares for.
Osho is a communication specialist, management consultant, passionate advocate for development, pastor and SDP Candidate for the FCT Senatorial seat in 2023 elections. He is the Publisher of The Regulators Magazine.b