BE THE CANDLE: BANJI ALABI CHARGES LEADERS TO LIGHT UP OTHER LIVES

BE THE CANDLE: BANJI ALABI CHARGES LEADERS TO LIGHT UP OTHER LIVES

THE CANDLE LIGHT SPEECH: NOBODY SUCCEEDS ALONE

Let me tell you the truth they don’t teach in motivational books.

SUCCESS IS GIVEN.

Nobody succeeds alone. Behind every man you call self-made, there is a sponsor.

Behind every woman you call successful, there is a hand that lifted her.

Someone paid your school fees. Someone recommended you. Someone opened a door. Someone forgave your mistake. Someone believed in you when you had nothing.

So I ask you today: WHY THEN ARE YOU BOASTFUL?

Why are you looking down on others as if you are smarter and better than them?

If those same people you look down on received the same help and sponsorship that you received, many of them would be BETTER than you. If they were born into the royalties you were born into, they would be KINGS.

So from today onwards, please note this: NONE OF US IS HIGH UP ENOUGH TO LOOK DOWN ON ANYONE.

The only time you should look down is to lift someone up.

AND NOW TO YOU IN POLITICAL OFFICE AND INFLUENCE, LISTEN TO ME:

This one is for you — Governors, Senators, Chairmen, DGs, CEOs, Permanent Secretaries, Special Advisers, Board Members, and all of you sitting on power and influence.

Power is not for oppression. Power is for RAISING PEOPLE.

You are not in that office to intimidate your classmates. You are in that office to ELEVATE your generation.

Let me tell you the secret of enduring power: KINDNESS IS THE ONLY INVESTMENT THAT NEVER FAILS.

Do you know what a candle does? A CANDLE LOSES NOTHING BY LIGHTING UP ANOTHER CANDLE.

In fact, the more candles you light, the brighter the whole room becomes. One single candle can light up one hundred candles and still remain a candle. It does not become smaller. It becomes more respected.

That is what you must do with your influence!

RAISE PEOPLE!

Let someone get a JOB because of you.

Let someone get ADMISSION because of you.

Let someone get a CONTRACT because of you.

Let someone get HEALED because you paid the bill.

Let someone get a VISA, get PROMOTED, get STARTED because your name was mentioned.

Raise as many people as possible.

Build as many people as possible. Because that is the only thing that will speak for you when the office is gone.

Let me tell you what happens when you raise people:

1. You build an army of loyalty that no money can buy. The people you raise will stand by you when EFCC comes, when elections come, when sickness comes.

2. You extend your reign beyond your tenure. The man who raises nobody dies immediately after his tenure ends.

The man who raises people continues to reign through the lives he touched.

1. You please God. And when you please God, God will fight your battles you cannot fight.

Now let me tell you about you who stopped picking calls.

Today you are in office, you changed your number. You blocked your friends. Your old classmates are now too local for you.

You forgot that tenure has an expiry date. You forgot that the siren will one day stop.

And then suddenly, tenure ends. And you find yourself in the net of the anti-graft agency, desperately looking for who will pick your call. And you now remember me.

You now start calling me desperately.

And YES, I WILL ANSWER YOUR CALL.

Not because of you. But because of GOD. And because I know that an eye for an eye will only bring more blindness. I will not repay evil with evil.

I will answer because I refuse to become like you. I will answer because I understand that the greatest revenge is to show you how you should have acted.

So go home with this:

Be the candle. Light other candles. Raise people shamelessly, help people tirelessly.

Because at the end of your life, God will not ask you how many houses you built. He will ask you, HOW MANY PEOPLE DID YOU RAISE?

Now Go and Raise People: Go wipe out tears from the faces of the less privileged and the poor

You Will Succeed

Banji Alabi Esq

About the Author

Banji Alabi Esq. is a Lagos-based legal practitioner, change agent, carrier of good news, incurable optimist , Follower of Jesus Christ of Nazareth with the mission to spread positivity and spark meaningful change.