Stupidity In Body Politics of Nigeria From High Chief Dr MD

It may seem like an insensitive statement, but the pure hard truth is that there are a lot of stupid people in the Nigerian political space of leadership, and their stupidity presents a constant danger to us all. Some of these people are in positions of power, and some have been elected to run our country. A far greater number of them do not have positions of power, but they still have the power to vote, and the power to spread their ideas. We may have heard of “collective intelligence,” but there is also “collective stupidity,” and it is a force with equal influence on the world. It would not be a stretch to say that at this point, stupidity presents an existential threat to Nigeria because, in some religious or tribal circles, it is being celebrated.

Although the term "stupidity" may seem derogatory or insulting, it is a scientific concept that refers to a specific type of cognitive failure. It is important to realize that stupidity is not simply a lack of intelligence or knowledge, but rather a failure to use one's cognitive abilities effectively. This means that you can be “smart” while having a low IQ, or no expertise in anything. It is often said that “you can’t fix stupid,” but that is not exactly true. By becoming aware of the limitations of our natural intelligence or our ignorance, we can adjust our reasoning, behaviour, and decision-making to account for our intellectual shortcomings.

Stupidity does not mean having a low IQ alone, because there are people with higher education qualifications in the political space who express total stupidity and demonstrate a lack of critical thinking. Many Nigerian politicians and leaders exhibit a serious learning disability that affects their ability to read and correctly interpret societal pain. But it wasn’t just reading comprehension that was the problem, they also lack compassion, empathy and emotional intelligence to be in a position of leadership.

These political leaders don’t have to be traditionally intelligent or particularly knowledgeable to be successful leaders, make good decisions, have good judgment, and be a positive influence on the world. However, stupidity is a consequence of a failure to be aware of one’s limitations, hence the cognitive failure in all aspects of leadership. In other words, they are ignorant of their ignorance.

It is easy to think of examples in which failing to recognise one’s ignorance can become dangerous. Take, for example, a present senator asking a stupid question on the floor that the government should look for the organiser of the August, 1-10 2024 rally to discuss with them “to find out what they want”! Meaning, what the nation they are supposed to be governing wants!

What’s particularly disturbing about Nigerian politics is that people are attracted to these confidently stupid corrupt politicians as leaders. As such politicians are incentivized to be overconfident in their beliefs and opinions and to overstate their expertise in stupidity. 

It’s bad enough that many Nigerian politicians like those “selected into power by INEC, don’t recognise their ignorance and fail to exercise the appropriate amount of caution when making claims that can affect the public mental state of mind (Tinunbu media person Adenuga) but what is disturbing is that they are being celebrated for their overconfidence (i.e., stupidity).

It is less surprising that politicians who regularly exhibit this “stupidity effect” are being elected or selected by INEC to office. When one realises that they are being voted in by people who also display the same cognitive level of the stupidity effect. At this point we just have hope and pray that this too shall pass.

This new theory of stupidity I have proposed here is that stupidity is not a lack of intelligence or knowledge alone, but a lack of awareness of the limits of one’s intelligence or knowledge is more important right now than ever before. What we are dealing with here is an epidemic of stupidity that will only get worse as we carry on allowing this set of political leaders, this stupidity will continue to increase. 

This should motivate all of us to do what we can to ease the political stupidity. When we can see the social factors that are causing people to become increasingly stupid, our anger and hatred toward them should not dissipate. We do not have much control over their level of intelligence or ignorance, because the ignorance we accept is our ignorance. Hence, we must start with voters' proper education and promoting candidates beyond our tribal, religious nor party affiliations. We must support a candidate that reflects a principle beyond stupidity.

But this does not mean that we should accept stupidity as the result of deterministic forces that are beyond our control. After gaining a deeper awareness of our cognitive limitations and limited knowledge base, we should do what we can to instil this higher awareness in our politicians of choice. We must not just educate the public and our youth; we must teach them to become aware of their own ignorance, and give them the skills they need to search for more knowledge and to detect when they or others are overestimating their knowledge or competency.

We are all victims of this “stupidity effect” to some degree. An inability to accurately assess our competency and wisdom is something we see in all Nigerians. While being more educated typically decreases our stupidity tendencies, it does not eliminate them. That takes constant cognitive effort in the form of self-awareness, continual curiosity, and a healthy amount of scepticism. By cultivating this type of awareness in ourselves, and making an effort to spread it to others, we can fight back against the stupidity crisis that threatens our nation.

We have good reason to be optimistic and that this is possible. In this Edo election, we have a choice that must transcend beyond electing a candidate who has the pedigree of higher qualification alone over someone with emotional intelligence and empathy.

A Man of Grace epitomizes the essence of this season, a sentiment echoed by the entire populace of Edo state. His profound love and compassionate demeanour towards humanity serve as a beacon for all to follow, distinguishing him as one of the rare politicians untarnished by any blemish.

By 

Chief MD