*******KEYNOTE ADDRESS ON
IMPERATIVE OF PROPER POLITICAL LEADERSHIP RECRUITMENT
FOR GOOD GOVERNANCE
Delivered By
CHRIS O. O. BIOSE (ODE-URI),
CEO, BOLD PUBLISHERS LTD., ASABA, DELTA STATE, NIGERIA
Organised By
NIGERIAN UNION OF JOURNALISTS (NUJ), DELTA STATE COUNCIL, ASABA, DELTA STATE
Holding At
NUJ PRESS CENTRE, MARYAM BABANGIDA WAY, ASABA, DELTA STATE
ON
MONDAY, DECEMBER 30, 2024, AT 11.00AM
Protocols
“Authority stealing pass armed robbery.”
- Fela Anikulapo Kuti (1938 – -1997)
(1) Introduction
I thank the Chairman and Members of Council of the Nigerian Union of Journalists, Delta State, for inviting me to speak on this important occasion of the NUJ Delta State Council 2024 Press Week. The role of the media is central in any social democracy and the theme of this Press Week is most apt, bearing in mind the leadership challenges that plague our dear country.
(2) Perspective of This Presentation
In addressing the challenge of leadership recruitment in Nigeria, it is necessary to understand its root causes. Towards this objective, this presentation adopts a historical approach and attempts to periodise notable political developments in Nigeria and their interaction with private biography of individuals.
Most Nigerian youths are not aware of the root cause of the social and security challenges posed by ethnic and religious politics that turn their lives upside down. It is instructive to take a glance back in time and understand that the present is an outgrowth of the past as well as it portends the future.
(3) Role of Political Parties in Leadership Recruitment
A political party is an organised group of people, united by common interest or ideology and who engage themselves in power struggle for the purpose of controlling the personnel, policies and machinery of government. A viable party system is the foundational basis of sustainable social democracy.
Political parties are the most efficient and effective means of articulating and aggregating the wide diversity of interests in a given society. It is also the principal mechanism for recruitment of political leaders and the platform on which its members stand to access government.
The political party is the principal source of choice of political heads of government departments, The quality of political party leadership therefore informs administrative capacity to formulate, implement and monitor socio-economic policies.
Efficient party organisation solidifies consensus of minds on fundamental issues. The party is then better able to fulfill its function of awakening and sustaining political consciousness among the people, thereby helping to build a virile political culture.
(4) Credible Elections and Proper Leadership Recruitment
The critical issue in a democracy is not whether a person is in power but the manner of coming to power. Elections are institutionalised procedures for choosing office holders by members of a group.
Election constitutes the primary method of recruiting political leaders. It is regarded as the best procedure for setting up new governments and ensuring orderly succession of governments. In a functional social democracy, power resides in the electorate.
Free and fair election means that all registered voters who are able and willing to vote have unfettered opportunities to cast their votes without let or hindrance or undue obstacles placed on their way. The electorate is organised to choose its preferred representatives from nomination of party candidates to the general election.
A government that emerges from a free and fair election is regarded as legitimate. This refers to exercise of powers by a government which possesses the right to govern and where the governed recognize that right.
(5) Post-Independence Leadership (1960-1966)
As a teenager in 1960, I shared the general euphoria of Nigeria gaining political independence on October 1, 1960. Most developed countries were organised as nation-state and it was hoped that Nigeria too would gain the benefit of state organisation as an independent country. Post-independence administration was expected to build indigenous institutions that serve the citizens rather than foreign interests.
The relationship between the Nigerian state and the citizens was put to test soon after independence resulting in a series of crises. Notable among these were the Tiv crisis, the Census Crisis of 1962, repeated in 1963 without being resolved, the Action Group crisis 1962 and the Western Region Parliamentary Election Crisis of 1965. These events precipitated military take over on January 15, 1966 and the Nigeria-Biafra war, which was followed by strings of military coups.
(6) Leadership Recruitment Under Military Rule (1966-1979 and 1984-1999)
Men of the Nigerian Army overthrew the civilian government on January 15, 1966 and introduced a new concept of leadership recruitment based on undisguised violence and treachery.
In a system of military rule, there is no room for debates or rhetorics. One must obey the boss. This period of Nigerian history left the following imprint on the Nigerian national psyche:
• Bloodshed was regularly advertised in the public space;
• Freedom of speech was suspended and this occasioned closure of media houses and imprisonment of journalists without trial;
• Introduction of religion into Nigerian politics vide enrolment of the country as Full Member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) in January 1986. This emboldened some Muslims to started asking for full Sharia in the country;
• Destruction of the economic base of the country through imposition of Structural Adjustment Programme (SAP) and imprisonment of those who opposed it;
• Brazen annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election, adjudged by local and international observers as the freest and fairest election in Nigerian history;
• Retroactive penal Decrees (e.g. Decree 4, 1984);
• Lawlessness as a way of life of the military ruling Professionals and intellectuals were routinely recruited to paint lawless acts of military tyrants with aura of intellectual prestige.
After 30 years of military rule, a generation of Nigerians who were born and nurtured within the context of military dictatorship had been socialized to believe that force makes right and saw military dictatorship as normal. They did not see anything wrong with autocratic leadership – barking orders, brigandage and violence, including official and unofficial murders and assassinations which became practical means of gaining political power. One gains the benefit of his heinous crime as long as there was no one more powerful to hold him to account.
(7) Upsurge of Pro-Democracy Activism in Nigeria
One of the significant but unanticipated consequences of sustained high-handedness of the Babangida and Abacha military juntas was the emergence of pro-democracy and human rights movements that sprang up to protest continued military dictatorship. The extreme brutalities of military juntas had the unforeseen consequence of conscientising and radicalising a large crop of young lawyers as manifested in the explosion of civil rights groups and non-governmental organisations from the Babangida era onwards.
Prominent among these were Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Campaign for Democracy (CD), Committee for Defence of Human Rights (CDHR), Constitutional Rights Project (CRP), CP, NCP, National Association of Democratic Lawyers (NADL). and National Democratic Coalition (NADECO).
I joined the pro-democracy movement in Nigeria shortly after the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.
(8) My Initiation Into Partisan Politics in 1979
By the end of the first stanza of military rule, I came to the conclusion that while building a knowledge-based society was fundamental to nation-building and development, the most critical factor at that point in time was deploying knowledge to bring about political and economic transformation of a backward society.
Based on my reading of the manifestoes of the five registered political parties at that time (NPN, GNPP, NPP, PRP and UPN), as well as their leadership and organisational structure at that time, I enlisted in political party struggle to build a great Nigerian nation-state under the platform of the Unity Party of Nigeria (UPN).
(9) Beginning of Imposed Leadership in 1983
The 1983 General Election marked the beginning of imposition of governors and heads of state on Nigerian citizens under the pretense of conducting democratic elections. Prior to the election, opposition political parties were in control of the capitals of old regions, Ibadan, Kaduna, Benin City, Enugu. The ruling party at the national level, NPN, wanted to demonstrate that it was indeed national and mapped out definite plan to acquire control of those states by rigging the elections. The party carried out the plan but the social consequence proved to be extremely costly, not only for the party but for the country and generations to come.
For example, at the end of the gubernatorial election held in old Ondo State on August 13, 1983, the candidate of the NPN, Chief Akin Omoboriowo scored 703,792 votes but the then Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) changed his score to 1,228,981. The electoral body also reduced the scores of Governor Michael Adekunle Ajasin from 1,563,377 to 1,015,385. This enabled the Federal Government to falsely declare Omoboriowo as winner of the election and Governor-elect on the platform of the then ruling NPN.
Since neither the Federal Electoral Commission (FEDECO) that perpetrated the electoral fraud nor the Sunday Adewus-led Nigeria Police Force that aided the massive rigging could be relied upon to exercise their duties in accordance with the laws of the land, the masses took the law into their own hands.
On August 16, 1983, wide spread civil disorder broke out in Ondo State following the announcement of Chief Akin Omoboriowo’s name as Governor-elect of the State when the people actually voted for Chief Adekunle Ajasin.
Unable to withstand the violent protests, Omoboriowo fled Ondo State in disguise to Lagos while the returning officer for the election was escorted away to his home in a military armoured tank.
In the ensuing riots, scores of high and low perished as human beings were burnt along with property. Notable personalities killed during the riot included a popular member of the House of Representatives, Olaiya Fagbamigbe, Akure NPN leader, Agbayewa and member of House of Assembly, Barrister Tunde Agunbiade who started celebrating the electoral robbery openly and was decapitated by the irate mob. The rioters razed FEDECO office on Oba Adesida Road, Akure.
The rigging of the 1965 parliamentary election in Western Region angered some idealistic soldiers that staged the January 1966 military coup. In the same manner, the widespread rigging of the 1983 general election instigated the military coup on the night of December 31, 198 that brought Major General Muhammadu Buhari to power as Nigeria’s 5th Military Dictator.
Summarising the 1983 electoral fraud, Alhaji Ahmed Kurfi, who was the Chief Electoral Officer of FEDECO for the 1979 federal election stated:
“All sorts of strategies and stratagems including manipulation of the ballot or “rigging” were employed in order to win elections. Each of the opposition parties used its local power of incumbency to retain power and/or to improve its position vis-à-vis other contenders. However, federal might was used to dislodge state governors in Anambra, Oyo, Kaduna, Gongola and Borno states, thus raising NPN’s tally of governorships from seven to twelve.” (1983 election (Ahmed Kurfi, On strategies and strategems of rigging, 2005,97)
(10) Obnoxious Military Constitution
The document entitled Constitution of the Federal Republic of Nigeria (Promulgation) 1999, Decree No. 24, which serves as the Nigerian constitution is a consolidation of the treachery that defines Nigeria.
The document opens with the following words:
“WE, THE PEOPLE of the Federal Republic of Nigeria;
“HAVING firmly and solemnly resolved;
“TO LIVE in unity and harmony as one indivisible and indisolluble sovereign Nation under God….
“DO HEREBY MAKE AND GIVE TO OURSELVES the following Constitution.”
The claim in the above-quoted opening words of the Decree that “We, the people of the Federal Republic of Nigeria…firmly and solemnly resolved” to make that Constitution is absolutely false. At no time did the people of Nigeria or their accredited representatives make or approve that Decree as their Constitution.
The document was signed by the country’s 8th and last Military Dictator, General Abdulsalami Abubakar (retd.), two weeks before he handed power to a former military dictator of Nigeria, General Olusegun Obasanjo (retd.) as a civilian President of Nigeria on May 29, 1999. The document has never been ratified by the Nigerian people through a referendum.
Whatever the extent of patch-work or serial amendments. It remains a Military Decree. What is germane to the constitution of a country is not the title but the process that goes into its making. A head of government may conceivably ask a professor or assemble a number of professors in a University and ask them to write a beautiful document and call it the constitution of a country. If citizens of the country concerned are not consulted, did not participate in making the document and did not ratify it in a referendum, the document may represent an excellent academic exercise but cannot reasonably be regarded by citizens as their constitution The constitution of a democratic state must derive from citizens of the country concerned and that cannot be said of Decree 24, 1999.
(11) Leadership Recruitment in Post-Military Nigeria
The out-going military junta in 1999 had a vested interest in foisting a former military dictator as President. Anyone who has any doubt about how the 1999 presidential election was rigged may wish to read Final Report of the Carter Center on the 1999 Election in Nigeria.
Shortly after assuming office, former President Obasanjo quickly shoved off the civilian National Chairman of his party, Chief Solomon Lar, and installed a retired colonel of the Nigerian Army, Col. Ahmadu Alli (retd.), as Chairman of the ruling party. This set the tone for instability of political party structures and executive control of political parties in post-military rule in Nigeria.
The patriotism of General Olusegun Obasanjo (retd) was never in doubt but his brash authoritarianism was equally indisputable.
The 2003 general election was the most comprehensively rigged in Nigeria’s electoral history.
It was followed by the 2007 election when the Professor Maurice Iwu-led INEC simply wrote results without regard to voting. Till date, detailed results of the election have not been published. In the Report which it submitted to late President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on December 11, 2008, the Chairman of the Electoral Reform Commission (ERC), Hon. Justice Mohammed Uwais described it as “the worst since the first elections in Nigeria in 1923”.
The 2011 general elections were relatively free and fair due mainly to the personality of the then President, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan, not due to change in the behaviour of the political class.
(12) Undemocratic Political Parties Since 1999
Political parties formed in Nigeria before independence in 1960 and up to the end of the First Republic, defined their objectives and tactics in clear terms. However, since the beginning of the Fourth Republic in 1999, political parties were formed primarily to access political power, not to achieve clearly defined national objectives.
The two political parties that controlled the Federal Government of Nigeria since May 1999 (PDP and APC) are two sides of the same coin. They lack political ideology. Both are committed to protection of feudal privileges.
They both failed to perform functions of political parties as earlier enunciated in this presentation.
They failed to take principled positions on burning issues of the day, let alone, educate their members on such issues and the factual or rational basis of party positions. They only wait for election time to print posters to deface the environment, disturb the peace of the communities with riotous rallies and share ill-gotten money to corrupt the electorate.
Rather than consolidating democratic culture, Nigeria steadily degenerated into a neo-feudal society where a small set of individuals determine who would contest election or get what elective position. It started with the idea of power shift in 1999. It deteriorated with doctrine of zoning political positions to ethnic or geographical areas in advance of voting.
Nigeria became a place where unscrupulous men impose themselves as mouthpiece of their clans, local government areas and states or champions of their ethnic and religious groups.
Consequently, Nigeria in 2024 is politically in a far worse and more precarious position than it was at independence. In 1960, the ruling Northern People Congress (NPC) did not mince words about its Northernisation agenda. It held proudly and tenaciously to its slogan of “One North, One Constitution, One Destiny”. It did not even bother to field candidates to contest elections in other Regions of the country. In contrast, the Opposition Action Group took every opportunity to parade its socialist credentials and programmes.
During the 4-years Shagari inter-regnum (1979-1983) that punctuated about 30 years of military dictatorship (1966-1999), the ruling NPN (a reincarnation of the NPC) was unrepentantly conservative. The Opposition UPN on the other hand was core democratic socialist in ideology and its famous “4-Cardinal Programmes” was a model in ideological packaging.
But from 1999, the country came to be ruled by a disparate collection of military apologists, nominees of political potentates (illegitimate products of zoning), religious fanatics and ethnic jingoists masquerading as Representatives, Senators, Governors and Presidents. The country is held to ransom by an incongruous collection of political misfits and celebrated crooks, most of who are neither responsible nor accountable to society but to faceless cliques. Under this condition, corruption, greed and infighting sap national energies and deprived the country of national character.
(13) Leadership Recruitment Pattern Since 2015
The 2015 general election brought to the fore a new social force in the electoral process in the form of explicit religiously loaded campaign as well as systematic enforcement or denial of voting. While voting was based on accreditation in most Southern states, there was free thumb printing by adults and children alike in areas favourable to the APC presidential candidate. The result of the election showed that there were far more unaccredited voters than those accredited to vote. (See How 2015 election was rigged in the North by Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, available online). The 2019 election was militarized and lack credibility.
The most outstanding feature of 8 years of the tenure of former President Muhammadu Buhari (2015 to 2023) is revitalization of Fulani Jihad (1804-1809), this time through the Jihadist movement and armed Fulani herdsmen that physically took large swath of the Middle Belt and Southern Nigeria by means of unchecked violence.
(14) Religionisation of Political Leadership Recruitment in Nigeria
One of the underlying and unspoken factors in leadership recruitment in Nigeria is religion. The religionisation of the Nigerian political space which started with enrolment of Nigeria as Full Member of the Organisation of Islamic Conference (OIC) in 1986, came to full maturity in 2011, when over 800 citizens were killed in post-election riots by religious fanatics in North-East Nigeria. In 2015, religion became a visible factor in federal election as religious fanatics openly stopped some citizens from voting in their areas of influence.
Totally frustrated with the abject failure of former President Buhari to fulfil his major electoral promises (security, economy and devolution of power) as well as heightened insecurity across the country, veteran Northern politician and one of the strongest opponents of President Goodluck Jonathan in the 2011 and 2015 presidential elections, Alhaji Tanko Yakasai, let the cat out of the bag and publicly described how the 2015 presidential election was rigged in the Northern Area. (Akin Alofetekun, How 2015 poll was rigged in North – Tanko Yakassai, THE GUARDIAN, April 16, 2018).
The religious forces that brought former President Muhammadu Buhari to power in 2015 and sustained his inglorious 8-years of misrule was intensified to ensure continuation of Muslim rule in 2023. In furtherance of its religious empire building design laid by the Buhari presidency, the leadership of the APC decided at the end of President Buhari’s second term of office in 2023, to foist a Muslim President and Muslim Vice President on the country.
From this time, community mission in the Republic became increasingly missing. Politics was no more about competing ideas to foster public good. It was about how a feudal-theocratic hegemony shared the wealth of the country.
At the present time, all arms of government, including agencies such as the security services, police and judiciary that are expected to protect public interest are actually deployed to serve the interest of the supreme feudal ruler who pretends to be serving the interests of the masses.
(15) Commercialisation of Voting as Leadership Recruitment
The next stage of the bastardisation of leadership recruitment in Nigeria is commercialisation of the electoral process from nomination of party candidates to general election. Where these fail, the electoral body is known to engage in outright writing and announcement of fake results that have no bearing with voting as recorded in several parts of the country over the years. (See Judgement of the Court of Appeal, Hon. Justice Monica Dongban-Mensah in the case cited as Chief Great Ovedje Ogboru and Anor v Dr. Emmanuel Ewetan Uduaghan & Ors CA/B/EPT/38/10)
Ultimately, the judiciary is available to award judgment for the highest bidder in what notable eminent constitutional lawyer and human right activist, Mike Ozechome, SAN, described as “judocracy”. (Steve Oko, Nigerian Practices “Judocracy” and not Democracy, Vanguard Online, December 15, 2024).
One of the most bizarre examples of this pernicious manner of recruiting political leaders in Nigeria took place during the Ondo State governorship election held on November 16, 2024. It was an open rehearsal of vote buying and selling. Prince Adewole Adebayo, presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the 2023 presidential election who is from Ondo State and who participated in the election as a voter, told Seun Okinbaloye of Channels Television on Monday, November 19, 2023 (POLITICS TODAY) that some candidates collected account numbers of voters for the purpose of paying them for votes. There was open haggling for price of votes. The candidate of one of the main parties was paying only N10,000 per vote and voters openly shunned that party and opted for the party that was paying N25,000 for one vote. Apparently, the highest bidder for votes purchased the election.
(16) President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Administration
It is impossible to speak of leadership recruitment in Nigeria without commenting on the current state of leadership in the country.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu succeeded the most divisive Nigerian leader ever, far worse than late General Abacha whose wickedness was mainly restricted to Ogoni nationality and his military constituency.
The most vital need of the country today is to try to commence the process of building one nation-state out of hundreds of disparate and antagonistic groups that constitute the country. President Tinubu seems to have completely ignored this fundamental responsibility of leadership.
The global scenario of conflict of cultures depicted by the American political scientist, Samuel Huttington in his book entitled Clash of Civilizations and The Remaking of World Order (2011) is playing out gruesomely in Africa’s most populous country, Nigeria where Islam and Christianity are distributed in almost equal proportion in the population. This results in two opposed, almost irreconcilable religiously-based world-views about what the world and the country should be.
Unlike the balance of military power between Western and Islamic nations, the balance in Nigeria seems to favour the Muslims due mainly to their domination of the armed forces. The desire of political leaders to maintain this advantage is also at the root of seeming inability of some leaders to address security issues squarely. The perceived nepotism encountered in recruitment and posting of military personnel in turn plague the security apparatus of the state and impinges on its effectiveness.
Education is a key factor in nation building and leadership. Chief Obafemi Awolowo and his Action Group colleagues established Universal Primary Education (UPE) in Western Region (present-day Lagos, Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Ondo, Ekiti, Edo and Delta states) in 1955. As Nigeria’s 4th Military dictator, General Olusegun Obasanjo extended UPE to the entire country in 1976. He returned as civilian President to extended universal education to cover nine years of basic education for all Nigerian children from 2004 onwards. Northern leaders refused to implement the scheme. It fell to former President Goodluck Jonathan to reinvigorate the programme and extend it to almajirai children in 2012 but again former President Buhari’s administration crashed it. The question is: what has President Tinubu done to encourage universal basic education of Nigerian children.
Another critical issue is security of life and property. President Tinubu has so far failed to address the issue of violent seizure of ancestral land by Fulani herdsmen during the tenure of former President Buhari, particularly in the Middle Belt.
Speaking to Seun Okinbaloye of Channels TV on Friday, April 12, 2024, the Speaker of the Plateau State House of Assembly, Rt. Hon. Gabriel Dewan described continued killings in the Plateau as “ethnic cleansing” and “conspiracy against the people” of Plateau State.
As at June 2024, indigenous youth groups in Plateau State revealed that 151 villages had been forcibly occupied and renamed by armed Fulani herdsmen. The original owners of these communities are left to roam.
The Middle Belt is one of the chief suppliers of crop produce in Nigeria. Hundreds of thousands of these people have been displaced for years, aggravating the hunger crisis in the country.
Does the Tinubu administration mean that the victims of violent land grabbing have lost their ancestral land for ever to the invaders?
The environmental degradation of the Niger Delta by international oil companies in collaboration with the Federal Government has not received any mention by the President.
Nigeria has not been able to produce an accurate census of the number of people living in its territory due to moral morbidity of its political and bureaucratic elite. It is not even in the 2025 budget.
The almagiri phenomenon in Northern Nigeria is a classic case of the deliberate pauperisation of a class of Nigerian citizens by the Nigerian ruling class. These are children who live in the streets abandoned by their families and their governments.
They have no homes, no parental protection, no access to education and health services and no technological or marketable skills. There is no social security and no safety nets. All doors of social mobility are closed against them.
Not only has President Tinubu failed to address the social problems posed by the social system that produces this class of citizens, the policies of his administration has resulted in increasing almagirisation of the entire Nigerian populace. During the Christmas celebration last week, social media was awash with beggars, reminiscent of almagiri, flooding the streets near Boudillon residence of President Tinubu. The pauperisation of the Nigerian population is a danger signal.
Two sharply opposed classes, oppressor and oppressed, have become clearly visible in contemporary Nigeria. The interest of oppressor and oppressed are totally irreconcilable. The oppressor is totally divorced from citizens and procures fake support of his victims through purchase of votes, intimidation, manipulation and fraud.
Of all basic problems facing Nigeria, the only one currently in the works is decentralisation of policing, through introduction of state and community policing. Even then, the debilitating and self-destructive level of corruption, indiscipline and lawlessness of the Nigeria Police Force is such that if it is not addressed, a larger number of police personnel will only increase the misery of Nigerians.
From the above, it is abundantly clear that President Tinubu has not demonstrated the requisite level of leadership expected from a caring president of this country.
Suffice it to say that the attitude of the current leadership to pressing national issues is not an aberration. It is a natural product of the social forces that propel the country. Therefore, the actions and inactions of the current administration is a reflection of that reality.
(17) Non-Punishment for Electoral Offences
Electoral malfeasors are at the root of poor leadership recruitment in Nigeria. They continue to dominate the Nigerian political space because of the country’s weak law enforcement mechanism. The Nigeria Police Force and judiciary are in the pockets of politicians that appoint them.
As far back as 2011, Hon. Justice Mohammed Uwais Chairman of the Electoral Reform Committee (ERC), recommended the establishment of a special Electoral Offences Court to deal with electoral offences but politicians who are beneficiaries of electoral heist failed to do so. Rather, they speedily made laws to gag the media to stop citizens from exposing their crimes.
(18) The Challenge of Post-Tinubu Presidency
The first challenge facing Nigeria is that the political recruitment system that brought President Tinubu to power in 2023 is most likely to be reinforced in 2027. This foreboding is heightened by two facts. One, the President has said nothing about reforming the flawed electoral system. Next is the Second Term Syndrome whereby second term elections of incumbents tend to be far worse than that which brought them to power.
Second Term Syndrome consists of a set of anti-democratic behaviour patterns adopted by ineffective governments to subvert the electoral process in order to remain in office. In this regard, the second term election of Alhaji Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa in 1964 was the most critical in Nigerian history. It set the stage for military destabilisation of constitutional rule in Nigeria.
To borrow the words of Mr. Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Labour Party in the 2023 presidential election, the historic task of this new generation of freedom fighters is to “dismantle the present system of criminality” and establish proper democratic leadership in Nigeria.
Nigeria must return to the drawing board. Like nationalist leaders that fought for Nigerian independence in 1960, there is absolute need for a coalition of new crop of leaders.
The battle for a New Nigeria will be fought on two fronts, namely, moral rearmament of the new generation of freedom fighters and constitutional change that guarantees participatory democracy.
Leaders of the New Nigeria must build institutions that work for citizens. The most critical is political restructuring which simply means return to parliamentary system of government. Zoning of elective positions in advance of voting is abrogated.
If a good number of persons who listen to or read this message should consistently and persistently propagate the ideas within and outside your social circle, this idea will gain increasing social visibility and therefore social validity. This is one method to build a critical mass of persons, sufficiently influential to make a positive change in the society. Clearly, the media has a key role to play in building this critical mass.
(19) Qualities of A National Leader
At the present historical juncture of its development, the political elite is the pivot of political, economic and social change in Nigeria. The action or inaction of members of this class at various levels culminate in group karma that affects both the living and unborn generations.
The fact that someone occupies a top position, irrespective of the means of securing that position, and irrespective of what he does with that position, does not make him a leader.
Competence, founded on integrity, knowledge, honesty and character are indispensable qualities of a good leader. Such a person must endow himself with Vision and actionable plan for development of the country. He must be incorruptible. Age and maturity to ensure orderly social processes are also indispensable.
A national leader must combine stern discipline with a humane disposition. A leader of a potentially great country such as Nigeria must exude patriotism, commitment to stated goals and accepted norms of conduct of state affairs, fairness, vision and ability to conceive social and economic projects of lasting value. Those in authority must merit their positions in terms of temperament, trustworthiness and popular choice of the electorate in a free and fair election.
A national leader is expected to put the interest of all citizens above his personal or ethnic interest.
A leader of a multi-national and multi-cultural country like Nigeria needs capacity to build national consensus for political and economic emancipation of the masses. His goal must be to build a Nigerian nation-state, not merely a North or South ethno-religious hegemony.
It is a function of leadership to demonstrate clear understanding of basic issues and reconcile or integrate varying perceptions through continuous dialogue. In this way, a genuine spirit of nationalism could emerge.
Nationalism is like a seed planted and nurtured to maturity when it can withstand the vagaries of political, economic and social weather conditions.
A leader leads politically and ideologically. His power represents the interests of the overwhelming majority of the people of the country. His very presence is a negation of injustice, oppression, inequality and antagonistic social divisions. He does not side with his class or state or ethnic group or state of origin, either overtly or covertly. Such a leadership speaks the language of the country’s discontented masses.
Any person that occupies a position of political leadership in a multi-national, multi-cultural and multi-religious country such as Nigeria must be religiously neutral in his management of state affairs. He must restrict his religion to his private life and not foist his private religious convictions on the state.
(20) Presidential System is Unsuitable for Nigeria
After about a quarter of a century of presidential system of government in Nigeria, there is wide consensus among unbiased observers that the system has failed Nigerians.
The presidential system introduced by military rulers in 1979 is an aberration compared to the workings of the American presidential system on which it is fashioned. The Nigerian variant of the presidential system encourages executive dictatorship. The president has a misleading sense of power.
For example, on June 30, 2019, the Muhammadu Buhari presidency announced that the Federal Government had gazetted establishment of RUGA Settlements in 36 states of the country. Ruga is a Hausa word for cow settlement.
The Scheme was however firmly rejected by almost all state governments in the Middle Belt, South-East, South-South, and South-West geo-political zones Southern and Middle Belt Leaders Forum (SMBLF), Tiv Professionals and most ethnic nationalities in those zones strongly opposed Buhari’s Gazette.
President Tinubu appears to be indirectly reviving Buhari’s Ruga with his Ministry of Livestock Development. The Federal Government has no land anywhere in Nigeria, except the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), federal secretariats in states and barracks. One is yet to see how the Tinubu administration will undertake establishment of livestock businesses for the Fulani herders.
The presidential system is inordinately expensive. Due to huge expenditure involved in electioneering, the presidential system does not encourage grassroot political development. Many credible people cannot afford election, hence, the system is exclusionary rather than participatory.
(21) Leadership Recruitment in Parliamentary System
The parliamentary system which I advocate in my book entitled STOP ZONING: RESTRUCTURE NIGERIA, is better adapted to withstand internal crises and external political forces. There is no need for expensive governorship and presidential elections that only corrupts the electorate.
The parliamentary system entails an entirely different and more participatory system of leadership recruitment. There is no Executive Governor but simply Governor. All the 36 overbearing Executive Governors in Nigeria will be swept away, so also is the wasteful, oppressive and unproductive Presidency. There is one Representative from each Federal Constituency. The Representatives form the Federal Parliament that elects one among themselves as Prime Minister (who functions as first among equals).
As Dr. Edwin Madunagu pointed out in June 1990, the Nigerian crisis can only be resolved in the same way in which it was created, namely, by direct political action (Dr. Edwin Madunagu, Whose national conference?, THE GUARDIAN, Thursday, June 21, 1990, p 9). To free federating units in the country from the enslaving and suffocating political environment brought upon them by military dictators, military structure must be dissolved and federal system restored. This is the principal mechanism for bringing about social, economic and political justice in the country. It will be aimed at correcting the deficits that detract from the concept of a federation. The guiding objective is to devolve powers to states or regions as it was in the First Republic.
(22) Leadership Training in the Parliamentary System
Chief Obafemi Awolowo recommended that each member of the party Executive Committee should study a problem affecting a particular department so as to have first-hand grasp of the problem as it affects his or her ward, local government area, state or the country as a whole. Floor members of the party may choose or may be chosen to study a particular subject that interests him or her, study them exhaustively and deliver a discussion or a learned or policy paper on it. This is then subjected to analysis and general discussion.
In this way, the party trains and builds up men and women who are versed with the problems with which the party has to deal with from time to time, particularly if voted into power. This is an effective tool of leadership training. You build up a core of leaders in several fields with adequate knowledge and shrewd judgement of men and matters.
Whether at local, state or federal levels, the party would not be short of men of practical competence in various fields or departments of government. Based on their experience, such men and women are also able to make input into party programmes.
It also becomes easier to draw up a list of candidates for elections at various levels or make recommendations for appointment into local councils, board and departments of state. Such men are surely square pegs in square holes for prompt and efficient execution of party policies and programmes.
(23) Huge Disappointment
I am saddened to observe that majority of my fellow elders at local levels and on the national scene are failing in their duty to speak truth to the authorities and the younger generation. The most significant things in life such as telling plain truth, may actually cost less in terms of cash but lead to much gain in terms of impact.
The role of some elders that saw Nigeria when it was fairly workable is hugely disappointing. Most of the older members of the military, political, economic and judicial elite seem to be united in suppression of social justice in Nigeria. There are too few voices in support of social justice in contemporary country.
I feel ashamed that in most cases, a lot of Nigerian elders (septuagenarians, octogenarians and nonagenarians), join the oppressive ruling class, zombie generation and other rascals to encourage opaqueness in public affairs or refuse to speak out against oppression in the country.
I am however encouraged by the unwavering and steadfast support for good causes by nonegenarian, Chief Ayo Adebanjo. His robust support for Mr. Peter Obi at the 2023 presidential election is worthy of commendation. As leader of the Pan-Yoruba socio-political organisation, Afenifere, he shunned ethnicity and chose the best candidate for Nigeria. He also spoke out boldly against recent persecution of human rights lawyer Mr. Dele Farotimi, by the Nigeria Police Force.
Here in Delta State, our political elder, Chief Edwin Kiagbodo Clark, former Minister of Information in the 1970s is an irrepressible voice for truth and justice. He continues to speak out with vigour, unmistakable clarity and forthrightness against oppression of Niger Delta, Middle Belt, and other vulnerable groups in the country.
(24) Role of Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) in Leadership Change
Society is an integrated system of roles and it is impossible to isolate leadership and mark it out for change while ignoring the larger body of the society.
It is not enough that political impostors manipulate the electoral process. It takes a docile citizenry and corrupt bureaucracy to complement and bring about the leadership failure that has brought Nigeria to its knees
CSOs may be likened to change catalysts. This is a variable that causes change without itself changing. It is an agent that causes, speeds up or slows down change in a development process. Such a catalyst should have communication skills, infectious enthusiasm which leaves permanent motivation.
The most outstanding CSOs that joined the struggle for social justice in Nigeria include the Nigerian Press, the Labour Movement, professional associations, notably the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA), civil rights groups notably the CLO, pro-democracy movements, non-governmental associations Yiaga Africa and pressure groups.
Every country needs a vibrant civil society as a counter balance to government. Even in a democratic setting, empowerment of the masses is the ultimate check to authoritarianism.
The critical custodians of democracy, economic development and fundamental human freedoms in the New Nigeria will be an empowered civil society, not the President and his ministers, not even parliament or party chiefs.
Through their actions, they set the tone for the wider society, particularly the youths who are ever more patriotic, altruistic and impressionistic.
In established democracies such as UK and USA, civil society organisations act as watchdog of social, economic, political and judicial system.
An important section of civil society is student organisation, particularly those in tertiary institutions. For decades, they remained highly patriotic.
No country attains greatness without going through challenges.
(25) Historic Role of Nigerian Journalists in Leadership Recruitment
The principal role of journalists is to keep journal or record of information in the society. They educate, inform, entertain and set values and agenda for public discourse and action. In this way, they wield social and political influence and positively impact public decisions and policy. This is why you are recognised as the Fourth estate of the realm.
Journalists played key role in the anti-colonial struggle that led to freedom from colonial rule in October 1960. Notable among this class were Nnamdi Azikiwe and his West African Pilot newspaper, Obafemi Awolowo and Anthony Enahoro.
Other prominent journalists in the Nigerian national life were Isa Kaita, Dan Agbase, Usifoh Ovie-Wiskey, Chris Okolie, Chris Anyawu, Bayo Ohu, Bayo Onauga, to mention but a few
The Nigerian press bore the brunt of brutal repression during the most trying years of Buhari, Babangida and Abacha dictatorships. According to a report published by the Constitutional Rights Project (CRP) titled “The Crisis of Press Freedom in Nigeria”, the period also “marked the darkest period in Nigerian journalism”.
During this period, some Nigerian journalists paid the supreme price in pursuit of truth and social justice. Notable among these are Dele Giwa of Newswatch Magazine and Bagauda Kaltho, ace reporter of TheNews Magazine who disappeared after being arrested by security operatives during the Abacha regime.
(26) My Humble Request From Delta State NUJ
I wish to take this opportunity to make two requests from NUJ, Delta State Council, which I believe is one of the most vibrant, sophisticated and patriotic branches of the union in Nigeria today.
I would like the Delta State Council of the NUJ to take more robust steps to build up its Library to international standards. You can take the lead in storing important or historic documents in Nigeria. Your service may also be made available online as time goes on.
Secondly, I wish to ask the Nigerian Union of Journalists to conduct thorough investigation or research and publish comprehensive and unbiased report of Okuama Tragedy in Ughelli South Local Government Area which took place in March 2024.
(27) Salute to Courage and Patriotism
In concluding this address, I wish to take this opportunity to pay public tribute to shining lights of the human rights community in Nigeria – professionals, academics, lawyers, journalists, student leaders, all those who have been in the forefront of the crusade of social justice in Nigeria. These are the true heroes of our country, not thieves that parade as leaders.
It is important to understand that the wicked souls are moral and spiritual cowards. They fear the light of truth and that is why they draw their swords against innocent and patriotic citizens whose only offence is that they bear the light. Patriots must remain courageous and steadfast in the battle for a Better Nigeria by continuing to shine the light of truth brilliantly on the society.
I salute the memory of indefatigable Gani Fawehinmi, SAN, Dr. Beko Ransome Kuti and all those who fought the good fight for a Better Nigeria.
I salute my erstwhile leaders in the Civil Liberties Organisation (CLO), Dr. Olisa Agbakoba, SAN, Arc. Nimo Bassey, Oronto Douglas and others.
I doff my hat for Senator Shehu Sani, Femi Falana, SAN and Mike Ozekhome, SAN. I thank the young human rights lawyer, Effiong Inibehe who stood by the children arrested and detained in inhuman conditions in August this year and later charged with treason by IGP Egbetokun.
I solemnly pray that the Grand Architect of the Universe, Grant the Nigerian Union of Journalist (NUJ), Delta State Council and all Nigerian journalists, the inspiration to continue to propagate ideas that will conduce to proper leadership recruitment for good governance in Nigeria.
Distinguished Senators, Honourable Representatives, Your Royal Majesty, Distinguished Ladies and Gentlemen, Thank you very much for listening to me.
REFERENCES
Awolowo, Obafemi (1960). AWO: The Autobiography of Chief Obafemi Awolowo: Cambridge University Press.
Biose, Chris O. O. (2023). STOP ZONING: RESTRUCTURE NIGERIA, BOLD Publishers Limited, Lagos.