Political Leadership and the Nigerian Masses

There is no gainsaying that the leadership institution in Nigeria has over the decades been bastardised to the extent that citizens have stopped nurturing the patience to appreciate even the genuine efforts of our leaders. As a result of this, all the actions of our political leaders- no matter how genuine or sincere they may be are hurriedly dismissed as callous, deceptive, or fraudulent.

Quite frankly, it is usually difficult to find sufficient good reasons to blame Nigerians for not trusting their political leaders. From whatever angle one wants to look at it, there are mountains of evidence to show that nation’s past military and political leaders did not do enough to win the confidence of the masses and the international community. This should however be a major challenge to President Goodluck Jonathan, as he attempts to lay a solid foundation for Nigeria’s economic and socio-political development.

One very rare quality of a good leader is the humility to not just listen, but also accede to popular wish. Remarkably, it takes only a sincere and humble leader to do so. Only recently, President Goodluck Jonathan responded to public opinion and withdrew the names of two nominees: Major General Abdullahi Mamman (rtd) and Ambassador Mohammed Anka to the board of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). Rather than seeing and counting this as a plus for the president, a section of the media painted Dr. Jonathan as one that has been “forced to bow to public pressure.” But for the kind of person he is- not given to pride, President Goodluck Jonathan could for the sake of pride or ego decide to stick to his guns in subsequent cases. To a very large extent, it is the society that unconsciously makes dictators out of democrats.

A marked difference between Dr. Goodluck Jonathan and many of his contemporaries is that he is hardly moved to flaunt his inner strength even when compelled by natural or human-induced circumstances. That is one strong reason why some persons have rushed to dismiss him as a weakling. Funny enough, these were the same people that complained against Chief Olusegun Obasanjo’s iron-hand and one-man-army style of leadership. We should realise that the constitution of the federal republic of Nigeria has prescribed equal amount of power for every sitting president. How raw, one uses political power clearly differentiates between democrats and mere politicians.

There is another significant lesson to learn from the events that led to the nomination and withdrawal of Mamman and Anka. In every healthy government- especially the presidential democracy; the president is not expected to make him or her self an island. Political leadership is usually a collective effort where the level of success is mostly dependent on the quality of team work. It was perhaps in this direction that both Mamman and Anka were identified and subsequently nominated by President Goodluck Jonathan. The consequent withdrawal of their nomination could as well cause the president not to have confidence in the opinions of his aides and personal staff in future. There is iron-cast evidence that one or more persons in the line of duty failed to carry out proper checks on the nominees. There were begging evidences against the nominees which the president could not have ignored. Similar developments have in the past turned listening presidents into a one-man-team. The late President Yar’Adua is a ready example. Most of his personal staff, aides, and confidants abused their privileged positions so much so that the president decided to do everything important thing by himself. This was the reason for his administration’s slow-motion. This is a huge challenge to all those directly and indirectly associated with political office holders. They must endeavour to always put the interests of the wider society ahead of parochial concerns. This will not only stimulate rapid socio-economic growth; but also help to deepen the roots of democracy and good governance. President Goodluck Jonathan has vital lessons to learn from the above narrative. It is not enough to seek the good of Nigeria. Nothing should make him undermine the old fashioned Nigerian factor. Vigilance is the word. All corrupt, unproductive, snail, and speed-breaker officials in his administration must be identified, removed, and prosecuted if the need arises.

While I agree with the argument that six months is enough to point to the direction of hope, I do not think Nigeria is healthy enough to recover in the next one year if the level of decay is anything to go by. But for the fear of being labelled an apologist, I would have mentioned right from the beginning that Nigerians should be patient with President Jonathan. These are the reasons: Nigeria’s major problem is poor leadership culture. With good leaders in power, every other thing will fall in line. The issue of poverty, corruption, moral bankruptcy, and the shameful collapse of public infrastructure will become a thing of the past if credible persons are in positions of authority. No amount of resources invested in critical sectors of the nation’s economy now will work magic because too many bad people are still in power. It is therefore wise that President Jonathan has chosen to first invest massively in the nation’s electoral system, which will in turn help flush out unpatriotic, corrupt, and inexperienced persons in government. This approach could be related to laying a very solid foundation on which the Nigeria of our collective dream would be built. This is not tangible and can hardly be counted as an achievement. Sound electoral system is the most important gift any president can give to Nigeria.

Nevertheless, the president must put in extra efforts to address the critical issues that affect the lives of every Nigerian. These include electricity, federal roads health care system, and the educational sector. More than that, the war against corruption must be fought with more vigour and dedication. Without all of these, every section of the country will join the Niger Delta militants and the traditional institution in Edo state to resort to self help. No doubt, self help is the product of discontentment. It is also a known fact that discontentment can lead to anarchy. As the 2011 election draws closer, those that benefit from crisis are warming up for opportunities to strike gold. The federal government must be wary and deny them of any such benefits.

It would also be necessary to note here that ethnicity is the major reason behind the culture of rotational presidency. It is to a very large extent erroneously believed that one has to share the same ethnic lineage with the president in order to secure a key appointment or win a big contract. This is responsible for why ethnicity is regarded far above every other factor in Nigerian politics. Frankly, ethnic-based politics can only be rife in a country where the government pay mere lip service to the culture of transparency, accountability, justice, and fair play.