THE INSIDER: Agwai fired as SURE-P chairman for preaching ‘change’ at Obasanjo’s birthday

Martin Luther Agwai, a retired general and former chief of defence staff, lost his job as the chairman of the Subsidy Reinvestment Programme (SURE-P) for talking about “change” at the 78th birthday of former President Olusegun Obasanjo, TheCable has learnt.

His removal was announced Tuesday afternoon by Reuben Abati, presidential spokesman, who did not offer any official reason.

However, a source in the know of the development has told TheCable that Agwai lost his job the day he appeared at Obasanjo’s birthday party in Abeokuta.

“General knew his job was over the moment he started getting calls from senior government officials querying his use of the word ‘change’ in his lecture at the birthday. They also questioned his fraternisation with Obasanjo,” the source said.

Agwai, 66, was appointed chief of army staff by Obasanjo in 2003, and was elevated to the rank of full-star general and chief of defence staff by him in 2006. He retired in 2009.

Not only is “change” the slogan of the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), Agwai also committed the “fatal” mistake of being seen in the company with Obasanjo, who has been openly critical of President Goodluck Jonathan ahead of the 2015 elections.

Agwai, TheCable understands, is currently out of the country but he is said be “unruffled” by the decision to sack him one year and one month after he was appointed chairman of the intervention agency following the resignation of Chris Kolade, the former chairman who quit suddenly.

The former chief of army staff was the deputy chairman until February 2014 when he was elevated to replace Kolade.

“He had been expecting the sack since last week because of the way he was antagonised over his speech. Unfortunately, change and transformation (the president’s slogan) mean essentially the same thing,” the source said.

A Kaduna politician sympathetic to Jonathan told TheCable: “The president has just worsened his case for re-election among the southern Kaduna people. You cannot treat a distinguished retired general like that. This has hurt a lot of people.”

Although his replacement, Ishaya Dare Akau, is also from southern Kaduna, “the damage has already been done”, the politician said, referring to a series of pronouncements by the president’s supporters that offended the retired military fraternity in recent times.

Agwai was deputy force commander of the United Nations Mission in Sierra Leone and force commander of the African Union-United Nations hybrid operation in Darfur.

He has a post graduate diploma in public administration with distinction from the Administrative Staff College of Nigeria (ASCON) and a master’s degree in national resource strategy from the National Defence University (NDU), Washington DC, USA.

At NDU, Agwai won the ambassador’s award for excellence in research and writing — the first foreigner to be so honoured.

WHAT HE SAID AT OBASANJO’S BIRTHDAY ON ‘CHANGE’

Leadership remains one of the most relevant aspects of an organizational context, more so, that we are in a world where the security and business climate are increasingly competitive and volatile. It is probably correct to say that leadership has been a feature of all cultures throughout history. It is difficult to imagine any country where effective leadership is more important than our country, where drum of insecurity and songs of ethnic solidarity and national disintegration are going on daily, and every day can present life and death challenges. As John Maxwell stated, “everything rises and fall on leadership” . More than anything else, leadership will determine our success or failure, and history has continued to show us frequently the impact of leadership. It is absolutely necessary that our leaders at every level should be visionary and strategic.

The world has changed and continues to do so in a very profound and disturbing way. The future is already here in the present, and for most leaders, and nations it may have come as a surprise or shock. In this new reality of chaos, uncertainty, interdependency, and opportunities, the challenges for leaders are greater and the need for a new type of skillful and competent leadership becomes more urgent. The challenges being presented to the leaders of the present and the future are greater and can be divided into 3 components -changing challenges to leadership, changing social structure and changing economic dynamics. The only constant factor in all the 3 components is ‘Change’ and that is part of what (informed me to introduce the Change Management in the Nigerian Army in 2004.) is to be addressed by the leaders of today and tomorrow.

The transformation in our national affairs should concern with creating a culture that brings out the best intelligence, patriotism and creativity in our citizen through agreed and acceptable core values. Making national learning, innovation, adapting to future challenges, tapping into its collective wisdom to solve its adaptive challenges. The Nigerian should have the global awareness and understanding of forces shaping the world and concerned with creating a sustainable global civilisation. These dimensions when added to the agreed core values will equip our citizens in future to tide over the changing scenario effectively and establish a solid change by doing things according to laid down rules and procedures for the greater benefit of all.

Citizens today do understand the implications of the changes taking place at all the strata of the society and the way the change touches them governs their behaviour. For a leader, the essence is to be alive to the governing factors of the behaviour of the people. The challenge to a political leader is how to channel this behaviour in the ever changing scenario. However, it is not that leadership has changed, but our perception of leadership. The world is now a ‘global village’ with occasions of conflict in one country having far reaching consequences beyond its borders. This transformation in world affairs has necessitated that nations take a probing look at the past in order to prepare their selves for the future. Moving into the future requires a change from the old to the new.

According to Concise Oxford dictionary, transformation is ‘a marked change in nature, form or appearance’. For a nation to have stability and development it must transform and reduce the threats to its national security by concentrating its efforts on increasing human security which encompasses human right, good governance, access to education, good healthcare and ensuring that each individual has opportunities and choices to fulfill his or her own potential; rather than just physical security, which is an anachronistic perception of what constitutes stability. There can be real security when nations concentrate on finding solutions to acute food shortages, population explosions, and low levels of productivity and per capital income, low technological development, inadequate and inefficient public utilities; and chronic unemployment as stated by McNamara. All these call for nations to have strategic and contingency plans with long-term perspectives, continuity, consistency and commitment.

To enable us have effective, competent, courageous and visionary leaders, means an early identification, grooming and mentoring of such future strategic leaders to enable them see beyond the curves. This will build knowledge and self-confidence and courage to handle difficult and challenging assignments. Such leaders will quickly identify and nip in the bud dangerous and disconcerting trend, like what is taking root in the country where the prominence of heavily armed gangs taking control of some parts of our cities and country, operating with flagrant impunity. Although ostensibly criminal in nature, the gangs are said to be an inherently political phenomenon. Powerful elites from across the political spectrum exploit the gangs as instruments of political warfare, providing them with arms, funding, and protection from arrest. Thus, they threatened not merely the inhabitants, but the national security.