Fred Nwaozor 
Hamad International Airport (DOH) and Dubai International Airport (DXB) have each ascended seven positions since May 2019, firmly establishing themselves among the world’s top 10 airports. Two Middle East airports have climbed up the ranks on OAG’s Busiest International Airports ranking since before the pandemic, the glob- al travel data provider revealed. According to OAG’s latest data, Hamad International Airport (DOH) and Dubai International Air- port (DXB) have each ascended seven positions since May 2019, firmly establishing themselves among the world’s top 10 airports. DOH has made an impressive leap from the 16th spot to the 9th, with 2,257,065 seats. Meanwhile, DXB has risen from the 8th spot to the coveted first place on the list, outperforming all other contenders with 4,706,659 seats scheduled this month. While the Top Ten Busiest Inter- national Airports list was largely dominated by European airports, the UK’s busiest airport, London Heathrow (LHR has now slipped to the second position after holding the top spot in 2019. usually struggle to take pleasure at the suffering of those who incur the wrath of any ongoing bad governance. In most occasions, they are likely to be more unfriendly or cruel than the master.
This set of sycophants would always make effort to defend the interest of the boss regardless of the situation at hand. On the contrary, the mercenary ones are dangerous to the leader, unknowingly to him, and they often play a very vital role in the day-to-day running of the affected administration. They equally possess the ability to play the ‘happy slaves’ role suc- cessfully, appear to demean themselves, pretend not to possess minds of their own, and unabatedly wear a happy physiognomy façade while sulking internally. A fake sycophant is no doubt skillful in warming his/her way into the bosom of the boss by studying closely the weaknesses of the system and that of the master. Such an individual or so-called ally has no scruples; rather, he/she is Machiavellian. He definitely knows how to acquire access to power by ingratiating himself with the leader via grant of an assortment of bribery or gratification to the right people, flatteries, organized accusations against well-meaning followers or citizens as well as unconditional shedding of crocodile tears. Furthermore, a mercenary sycophant is relentlessly very intelligent and clever in playing victim and shifting blames.
He is so skilled in manufacturing cum painting of misleading services that the leader is often bamboozled by his purported loyalty. Suchlike follower capitalizes any oppor- tunity to betray the trust and overthrow the leader. In other words, as such follower car- ries out or discharges his duties on a daily basis, he endlessly looks forward to discov- ering or creating a loophole that would serve as an advantage to his sinister motive. The paramount challenge to any leader who wishes to have sycophants is to dis- tinguish between genuine and fake ones. However, the bone of contention remains that harbouring sycophants is even more detrimental to the leader in question than to the teeming followers, irrespective of the circumstance.
Hence, there’s no gain reiterating that any sycophant, if discovered, deserves to be discarded by the master without much ado, simply because they are all useless. On most occasions, you would notice these sycophants are allies who usually ap- pear to be extremely hardworking and cre- ative, but realistically they are doing virtu- ally nothing. They often use noisemaking or exaggeration to create awareness, thereby luring unsuspecting followers into their net.
It’s noteworthy sycophancy or undue praise-singing, which is arguably the willing undertaker of any country’s socio-political lost glory, seems to be taking an institutional presence or recognition in Nigeria at large, particularly on the country’s political plat- form. Isn’t it preposterous to see able-bodied citizens, even the old, singing and dancing in praise of somebody who has only succeeded in impoverishing his followers in the name of ‘leadership’ or consorting people’s aspira- tions to chisel his/her self aggrandizement? In Nigeria today, such manner of nau- seous lifestyle takes place with an embar- rassing frequency, yet nobody ostensibly cares to even acknowledge the colossal men- ace let alone discussing it. Funnily enough, most leaders have the impetus to gloat about the unsavoury and inglorious idiosyncrasy, even in a public sphere. This endemic wave of sycophancy sweep- ing across the lengths and breadth of our political space with uncontrollable rage of inferno, prosecuting our god-sent democra- cy and fueling several political movements, unarguably needs to be thoroughly consid- ered as well as checkmated by any leader that bears ‘decency and transparency’ as his watchwords. Think about it!
