Many of us who were born in the 70’s, 80’s, 90’s, and some new folks who are very conversant with music history will surely know the legendary reggae musician called Bob Marley. Bob Marley’s style of music is deeply rooted with wisdom and proverbial words. Some of Bob Marley’s greatest hits are: THANK YOU LORD, STIR IT UP, ONE LOVE, and REDEMPTION SONG. Bob Marley’s songs are soul lifting.

For so many persons Bob Marley is the greatest musician ever. Some persons opined that, Bob Marley’s style of music which talks about ‘Black History’, freedom, social justice, and good government makes him the greatest musician ever. However, the materialistic school of thought is of the opinion that Bob Marley is the greatest musician of all time because he lived a life of affluence; does affluence connote greatness? It is worth noting that the legendary Bob Marley does not see affluence as a yard stick to measure greatness. In fact on his deathbed, Bob Marley's last words to his son Ziggy were: "Money can't buy life".

In other words, money is not everything, money does not connote greatness. It will interest you to know that Bob Marley even understood what greatness truly means; Bob Marley once said: "The GREATNESS of a man is not in how much wealth he acquires, but in his integrity and the ability to affect those around him positively." In our world of today, we have so many persons who consider themselves great because of wealth, power, or position - they do not define greatness when they are not used with integrity and to affect the lives of others positively. Great people in history make those around them happy. These persons pay attention to the welfare of humanity by living a life of sacrifice. Have you ever wondered why we refer to individuals like: Pope Saint John Paul II and Nelson Mandela (just to mention a few) as great men? They impacted positively on the lives of people. They used their positions for the development, growth, and common good of the society. They displayed childlike qualities of: innocence, integrity, and humility.

Femi Otedola, a Nigerian billionaire, business mogul, philanthropist, an importer of fuel products; once opened up that he has gone through four stages of happiness in life before finding true happiness. The first stage was centered on Money – the accumulation of wealth. Femi Otedola discovered that money was never giving him true happiness. The second stage was centered on accumulation of properties and valuables. He discovered that they were temporary. He was never finding true happiness in them. The third stage of life was centered on position, prestige and power; at this stage, he was getting projects – then, he was holding 95% of diesel supply in Nigeria and Africa. He was also the largest vessel owner in Africa and Asia. Even at this stage with the accomplishments, he was not finding true happiness.

However at the fourth stage, Femi Otedola opined that he found true happiness when he started giving to the needy. He said that on a particular day after giving wheelchairs to disabled children, about 200 kids; he visited the children and handed over the wheelchairs to the children by himself. He was very happy because the children were very joyful. However, one of the kids grabbed his legs tightly and started staring at him. He thought that the child was in need, and he asked the child: “Do you need something else”, the child answered him saying: "I want to remember your face so that when I meet you in heaven, I will be able to recognize you and thank you once again.” In the eyes of the child, Femi Otedola in his own little way is a great man. In fact, in the eyes of the children, to them Femi Otedola has saved them, he is great in their sight. Femi Otedola impacted positively on the lives of the children. He used his position for the common good of the disabled children.

The 2027 general election is fast approaching, as a nation we should elect great men and women into offices. It has always been the case that we elect individuals because of monetary gain, ethnic and religious sentiment. The future generation and posterity will never forgive us if we do not join hands together to remove greedy politicians from office, and, elect great men and women into offices. Presently in Nigeria, politicians have preoccupied themselves about the forth coming general election, while the economy is in shambles and the educational sector is no longer functioning adequately.

As citizens, we should start thinking of our future and the next generation. We all need to stop the habit of recycling mediocrity and start being committed to national development. In our respective positions in life, we should be committed in doing what is just and good. As Nigerians, we should not allow the labour of our heroes past to be in vain, rather, we should be committed in rescuing our nation from marauders. Nigeria can be great again if and only if, individually and collectively we elect leaders who will be committed to national development. Nigeria will not be destroyed completely by our greedy politicians, but by all of us who watch them without doing anything.