Nigeria, June 5 -- In times of national crisis, history teaches us to look for three pillars of moral authority: the prophet who speaks for justice, the elder statesman who values country above party, and the traditional ruler whose stool is older than the constitution. These are the voices that have pulled nations back from the brink, not with armies or wealth, but with the unvarnished truth. Yet today, as our nation drifts toward dangerous waters, we are met not by courageous voices but by a deafening, almost complicit silence. Where have they gone? And more importantly, why have we stopped demanding their return?

Consider first the prophet. The prophet is not a soothsayer or a fortune-teller; he is a disturber of the peace, a splinte...