What is loyalty? Loyalty is the state or quality of being loyal; faithfulness to commitments or obligations. Now the question is Who or what are you supposed to be loyal to? This is a question most critical thinkers are pondering.
Mark Twain suggests loyalty to the country in his quote.
Loyalty to the country always. Loyalty to the government when it deserves it.
M. Twain
Mario Puzo author of “The Godfather” suggests loyalty to family.
The strength of a family, like the strength of an army, is in its loyalty to each other.
M. Puzo
American Novelist Veronica Roth believes loyalty to the ones you love is the way.
I belong to the people I love; and they belong to me. However, the love and loyalty I give them; form my identity far more than any word or group ever could.
V. Roth
There are different arguments to the premise, “who should I be loyal to?”. An ethical analysis of the question will bring some ideas to light. People have different foci of loyalty. These various layers may comprise:- loyalty to country, loyalty to friends, loyalty to family or even loyalty to oneself. In cases of conflict of these different loyalties, one needs to weigh the strength of each. Morality, laws and personal convictions can serve as a criterion used to weigh these conflicting loyalties.
In Nigeria, loyalty has many faces in the political sphere. There is “loyalty to nation”, “loyalty to party” and “loyalty to thy godfather”. Which face is ethically supreme? That’s a personal question you should answer.
Loyalty to country.
Our dedication to the cause of ensuring that our nation remains a united entity worthy of respect and capable of functioning as a viable and credible part of the international community dictated the need to arrest the situation.
IBB
This is a line from the speech of Gen Ibrahim Babangida on August 27, 1985, after His coup. Patriotism is misconstrued as love for Nation by many coup planners. Violation of the constitution with action remains unlawful, irrespective of the potential reason. An ethical question would arise; ” Should the Army stay put in the barracks and watch the nation they defend fall?”.
Loyalty to Party.
It is not news about the regular wave of defections that hit the media. Statesmen justify their actions citing love and loyalty to the country as a reason for the defection. It begs the question; Bola Tinubu (AC, APC), Muhammadu Buhari (CPC, APC), Alex Ekweme (PDP) are these politicians unpatriotic? Section 68 subsection 1(g) of the 1999 constitution stipulates that.
The question is which is more important “the party” or “the nation”?
Loyalty to Godfather.
The third dimension to the issue of ethical loyalty. A political mentor defects, should the mentee defect as well? This is debatable question. If the answer is “yes”; the Late Aisha Alhassan (Mama Taraba) not defecting to PDP with Atiku Abubakar is wrong. If your answer is “No”; Hon Nkeiruka Onyejeocha was out of line for defecting to the APC with Senator Orji Uzor Kalu. This is a personal dilemma that requires adequate introspecting.
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