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Democracy has never been so
ill-defined anywhere in the world than in Nigeria. By this, I mean,
democracy is defined by Nigerians themselves (citizens) as government of the
“BIGMEN/WOMEN” for BIGMEN/WOMEN and unto to BIGMEN/WOMEN with only minimum
interest for ordinary citizens.
Granted, democracy, any democracy for
that matter, even that of the United States of America is work in progress but
democracy cannot be and must not be set on stop and start system as it seems to
be in Nigeria. If the Nigerian type of government is to test who can best
make mistakes, then our current sojourn into democracy can be considered
successful. Only those that are taking advantage of our common misery
will consider our democracy a success. What exactly was the purpose of
the current president when he ran for the position? Was he to change the
mind set of Nigeria from “what can I take from Nigeria” or how best can I serve
Nigeria? This is a fundamental question to ask leaders in a participatory
democracy.
A leadership that augments poverty,
destroys educational system, disenfranchises common sensibilities, morality,
destroys the infrastructures (roads, energy, aviation, education, morality),
destroys the common bond amongst us, which is trust; protects thieves without
listening to the cries of the heavily laden citizens is a far cry from decent
leadership. This cannot be a form of government but a cultic system where
a few enjoy at the expense of the majority and don’t give a damn about feelings
of the majority.
But, I still believe in a democracy
that: generates life abundantly for average Nigerian;
creates faith and responsible citizens not fraudulent ones; produces monumental
changes on which future citizens can build upon; frightens the fraudulent and
the 419 amongst us to seek platforms on which to vent their aggression in a
positive manner without co-opting fellow citizens to rottenness.
Furthermore, the democracy we practice in Nigeria, more than any other in the
world, must be compassionate; produce political and effective miracles; heal
hurting citizens, build character of our nation, transform our common
circumstances, and impart joy beyond the false claim that “Nigerians are the
happiest citizens in the world.” Moreover, our democracy must cause
citizens to overcome almost all known adversities; defeat spiritual, moral and
physical temptations, and more importantly, infuse hope, release power to the
people, change the minds of the doubting Thomases while guaranteeing hope of
our promised tomorrow.
Our democracy is a
warped democracy. It is a democracy in which an individual is held up
high even while he/she is destroying humanity and the system that gave him
opportunity to serve. A case in point is on the learned senators who are
not serving us but sharing our common resources amongst themselves. How
on earth could Senator Ibrahim Saminu Turaki make a case for term elongation
for a president who is still finding his feet and who in-spite of knowing that Nigerian problems are so colossal and
demand almost instant and thoughtful solutions think of invoking the dead ghost
of term elongation? This
senator must have half a brain. It is not surprising that these same
Senator was once a Governor of a State in Nigeria. How do we choose our
leaders to begin with? In case for term elongation, Senator Turaki expressed
that Yar ‘Adua’s tenure should be extended because he, Yar ‘Adua, is the first
graduate and has a plan that he cannot fully execute within two terms.
What a deranged Senator who refuses to learn from past mistakes of OBJ 3rd
term agenda. If the likes of Senator Turaki are the best Nigerian states
can produce as leaders, Nigeria is in deep pile of dung. Nigeria is still
in her embryonic state because 47 years after Independence, Nigeria’s
leadership is still immature and selfish to the core. Someone once said
most of our leaders are 419ners, fraudulent and unpatriotic citizens who are
ready to sell Nigeria to anyone willing to buyer her. Of all the
shortcomings, I hope the servant leader is not part of this group.
Who dare us talk
negatively about what President Yar ‘Adua achieved or not achieved in the past
year? For one thing, how can Afenifere say that “For the last one year,
Yar ‘Adua’s administration has been that of "inertia, lack of focus,
policy reversals, ruse of law, underdevelopment and breakdown in
governance," where was Afenifere when one of theirs, OBJ was stuffing Yar
‘Adua in our throats? What any reasonable Nigeria can say is that Yar
‘Adua has performed to the level of his ability, competence and managerial skills.
What exactly do we expect to get from him? No one can plant okra and
expect to get yam. For MYU to succeed, he must get all hands on deck
because of the complexity of the self inflicting problems we created.
Leave the president to map out his plans for Nigeria slowly, may be we’ll get
results some day before the next generation passes to the great beyond.
One be fooled, Alhaji
Musa Yar ‘Adua knew before his forcibly entrance to competing for the
presidency of Nigeria that Nigeria’s problems predated all Administrations. That the problems of Nigeria predate
every administration including the present administration is a fact but how a
leader finds solutions to such problems is the actual test of leadership.
If being a graduate is a panacea for good leadership, our first graduate should
have shown better handle at resolving the nagging Nigerian problems. All
we are getting from the leaders is that someone or a group of people are
working against them from achieving their goals – kindergarten reasoning if I
may say. OBJ after spending billions of Naira on Power finally told us
that the bogie man did not allow him succeed. What will MYU tell us after
taking us through a rudderless four years? If MYA has a plans for
Nigeria, he must be keeping them to his chest or they are stealth plans that no
Nigerian is allowed to know about. Yet everything around the president
such as education, health, energy, so-called “rule of law” are not helping the
nation. So far, no one is seriously prosecuted for bad acts for consciously
defrauding the nation and or encouraging lawlessness. A year latter,
where has our captain taken Nigeria, where is he driving the ship of state to?
I have no doubt that MYA
is a nice and decent man but personal nicety, though worth it, but takes a
nation nowhere if not combined with the vision and common purpose that are
capable of moving a nation forward.
But, what are Mr.
President’s achievements after a year in office, reasonable, and patriotic
Nigerians would like to know? I hope someone excluding Mr. Olusegun
Adeniyi, the president’s point man can tell the nation in a succinct way.
Mr. Adeniyi tells us that “In spite of the overwhelming pressure for instant
“democracy dividends”, President Yar ’Adua continues to follow his sincere
conviction that meaningful development does not just happen, but is a product
of careful planning and proper implementation.” Nigerians, by no means,
are not looking for big bang development rather, they are seeking for
incremental and measurable developments. Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, even the
simple development is lacking within the 365 days of this administration’s
existence. All these issues that you brought up here are theoretical in
nature. They do not bring food to table; they provide no electricity;
they do not build our common psyche; and do not help Nigeria move forward along
all measurable human matrices. We need to know what Mr. President’s plans
are so that we can have a check list of his real not imagined
achievements. Sir, you don’t have to tell the nation about the
President’s achievements, if they exist, even non graduate Nigerians would have
felt them and pronounced them to high heaven.
The idea of giving away
the presidency of Nigeria by someone who does not own Nigeria has to stop
because Nigerians have been pronounced by the world to be full of smart
thinking citizens. It is my believe that it is time for Nigerians to
elect a president based on past performance, ability to reason properly,
ability to show patriotism and build leadership on citizens that believe in
Nigeria more than they believe in patronizing China, Japan, Jamaica, France,
US, Germany and/or UK.
We are not asking the
president to predicate Nigerian’s salvation on short cuts or populist
quick-fixes. All we are asking for is a president who can show the nation
where his “diligent planning and execution” will lead Nigeria in the short and
long terms. I don’t think that Nigerians are so daft not to know if there
is a plan or if there is none and if a plan is working or not. Mr.
President doesn’t seem to have a plan and if he does no one knows it. Mr.
Olusegun Adeniyi, where is Mr. President Yar ‘Adua on health issues, a service
he needs more than anyone else (the plan cannot be for everyone to dash to
Germany for headache or fever)?
Where is Mr. President’s
plan on education – none? Where is Mr. President’s plan for energy – the
backbone of any nation’s industrial development? Is it that he is
comfortable for everyone using noisy generators and polluting the air?
Where is Mr. President’s plan on the nation’s aviation infrastructural
improvement? Where are we heading, Mr. President? I thought you
said you had seven point plans for Nigeria which OBJ sold to the disgustingly
accepting Nigerians because he was protecting himself through the person who
was least likely to have the courage to probe him?
Mr. Adeniyi, please tell
your boss that the state of the nation, I wanted to say Union (no union but
disjointed tribes) is not sound. Even OBJ who is not a graduate gave us a
plan, even though his plans were mostly plans to sell Nigeria parastatals to
himself through surrogates. Nonetheless, he was courageous enough to have
a plan and to execute some of his plans so effectively. We need to know
right now and then what your plans are and if you don’t have one, we may as
well give the presidency to a kindergarten student because a kindergarten
student will do no worse. Even if a leader does not have a clue,
surrounding himself with professionals from all walks of life can make leading
very effective. Your ministers are ineffective because one cannot point
to any policy matters they have been able to come up with to make you look
good. You must recognize that it is not the zone that a minister comes
from that is important but his ability to render effective professional advice
to you in a timely manner. Mr. President, this has to be your next
priority such that majority of our citizens benefit from your citizen-oriented
policies.
Good leaders are made not born. If
anyone has the desire and willpower, he/she can become an effective leader. In
fact, good leaders develop through a never ending process of self-study,
education, training, and experience. Furthermore, a good leader must not
define the aggregate of their success in office, only history and the lead will
have 20/20 hindsight to define the success and failure of your
administration. So far, the general consensus is that you are getting
close to a “D” grade for lack of openness to defining and providing your plans
for the nation.
All able potential leaders must have
an honest understanding of who they are, what they know, and what they are
capable of doing. It is actually the followers, not the leader who
determines if a leader is successful. So, Mr. Olusegun Adeniyi, stop your
efforts in confusing Nigerians about your boss’s performance. If the
followers (Nigerians) do not trust or lack confidence in your boss, definitely,
they will be uninspired. To be successful, you must advise President Yar
‘Adua to convince Nigerians, not himself or his sycophants, that he is worthy
of being followed.
It is more than 365 days now and we
cannot point to what you have achieved as a leader. It is not that we are
questioning your credibility as a leader but that you have not done effective
communicating of your plans with your constituents, the Nigerians. We
cannot find a way of measuring your Ministers’ performance. Mr. Adeniyi
can defend the servant leader as much as he wants, all Nigerians need are
measurable results whether it is obtained with a snail or with jet speed, at
the end of the day where is the result.
Mr. President, you are probably
enjoying the benevolence of Nigerians who reluctantly accepted the rigged
election and has not thrown you out on your head because they thought
that in-spite of it all, your education will make you behave differently from
some of our power-hungry, low self-esteemed, mansion building and treasury
looting leaders of the past. Mr. President, be a good student of
history. Should you decide to follow the footsteps of these past leaders,
the risk Nigerians took on you will not be worth it and none-violent
revolution may come Nigeria's way. I wish the “servant leader” well in terms
of health, improved leadership, and in all aspects of quality life.
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Authors 
Posted by Robot| 29.05.2008 21:44