Obasanjo, state of the nation and Nigeria’s leadership choices

With Nigeria’s economic recession now official, and the harsh realities already biting hard on many families who have to contend with increasing high commodity prices amidst decreasing income, and a national currency whose value continues to depreciate almost every other day, aside other ills plaguing our country, the state of the nation today seriously calls for sober reflections.

Even to the most ardent supporters of the Buhari administration, I believe Nigeria’s current state is not one they would have fathomed in their wildest imagination when this administration was voted into power over a year ago.
We are at that stage of our national life when we need to tell ourselves some bitter truths as a country whether we are leaders or followers. We are equally at that juncture where we must put our heads together to think on the best way forward. This is necessary if we don’t want generations that will come after us to say to hell with us for not being able to salvage our country from the sorry state it has been for decades and particularly at a time like this when promises of change have since transformed to changed promises.

Like I wrote few weeks back in my article, “Vacancy: Visionary leaders wanted here”, had we been blessed with visionary leaders who truly understood what governance is all about, and recognised the sheer power they have in transforming this country, changing the lives of millions, and writing their own names in gold because of their indelible legacies, we will not be grappling with many of the challenges we yet face in Nigeria today.
But that, I will admit, cannot be disconnected from the leadership choices we’ve also been making as a people over the years. The current state of our country is obviously a result of the decisions we have made over the years through our leaders.

Meanwhile, one man who has particularly played a key role especially in the democratic leaders we have had at the national level since he left power in 2007 is no other than Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and that is why the matter I’m raising today concerns him significantly.

Of all our country’s former Presidents, Chief Obasanjo is one man I pay special attention to. He appears to be an uncommon man. He ended the civil war, terminated military rule and handed power to a democratically-elected President and also didn’t mind putting himself at the risk of arrest and even death even despite being briefed while he was outside the country that the junta of Gen Sani Abacha wanted to get rid of him for his outspokenness and antagonism against the regime.

Obasanjo is also intellectually-deep, widely exposed, far more intelligent and calculative than many of his opponents, and can hold his own indeed among other world Presidents. The former President can be a patient listener when necessary or be impulsive and unpredictable at other occasions.
While he is no doubt intensely passionate about Nigeria and even carries on as if he is more Nigerian than everyone else, one of Obasanjo’s major shortcomings, however, is his penchant for taking care of his personal interests in whatever agenda he is pushing forward under the guise of it being the best for our country at any particular point in time.

Let me illustrate the point I’m trying to make.
It was Baba Iyabo who foisted an Umaru Musa Yar’Adua on the country even when he knew that simple man, God bless his departed soul, was not medically fit enough to withstand the rigours of the office.

It was Ebora Owu who sought out Goodluck Jonathan, the humble husband of Patience from Otuoke, as Vice President and worked for his emergence as President even when he could have gotten someone better from the South-South in his desire to pacify the Niger Delta because of Nigeria’s injustice to it despite its oil wealth being the country’s economic mainstay.

Of course, Obasanjo also played a key role in the repackaging and eventual emergence of our current President; Muhammadu Buhari, after the old General had tried unsuccessfully on three previous attempts.

Therefore, even if Obasanjo still continues his support for President Buhari as one of his sponsors and godfathers and can’t yet see that a single term for President Buhari is better for Nigeria in the long run, while someone like him should not be suggesting that the President can contest in 2019 despite the constitutionality of it when younger and more capable leaders can be saddled with such responsibility, what is clear is that if a nationwide poll is done today, Nigerians will most likely express their disappointment in President Buhari’s handling of the economy. This is aside the fact that many have also concluded that his party, the APC, was obviously more interested in grabbing power than adequately preparing for what it would do with it.

That is why even if all the noticeable shortcomings of the Buhari administration are set aside, the inability of the government in getting Nigeria’s best hands irrespective of wherever they may be on the face of the earth to serve the country, is unpardonable. I believe no leader has the right to waste a country’s time like President Buhari did because the economic consequences is part of what we suffer today.

With due respect to every one of the ministers he eventually appointed after keeping Nigerians within and outside the country in suspense following eight months of becoming President-elect and five months of being sworn in, I believe they are certainly not the best our country has to offer or the best the President could have gotten.
So, when a President fails to live up to expectation in picking a quality team that will help him deliver his campaign promises –obviously the simplest in the myriad of challenges confronting us as a country- we certainly don’t need any prophet or soothsayer to predict that such administration may not eventually live up to expectation at the end of the day more so when the government still keeps blaming the PDP for the country’s woes instead of effectively communicating its roadmap in leading the country out of the current quagmire.

This fact must be clear: A President is in position to lead and make critical decisions for the good of his people and the best interest of his country. That is his job as the Chief Executive. On a daily basis, tens, if not hundreds of decisions need to be made by the President for the good of the country and delay could be dangerous in some situations. President Buhari has not demonstrated he is a chief executive we can trust in being prompt when it comes to taking important national decisions.

Moreover, part of the challenges of governing Nigeria is giving every community, every ethnic group, minority and majority, state and geo-political zone, a sense of belonging and a stake. On this, President Buhari also scores low.
It is the tardiness of this administration in doing what it ought to do, at the appropriate time, and getting it right to a very significant level, that has brought us another sad reality on ground now. I’m talking about the latest concern about another fuel price hike looming in the horizon.

When in May, the federal government raised the pump price of petrol, claiming to have run out options; it resorted to what it termed “partial deregulation”. Painfully, we are back to the point where we would be discussing a new hike in fuel price or the reintroduction of fuel subsidy following the pseudo-deregulation of the downstream oil sector, with the suggestion over the weekend by former group managing directors of the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), that the current pump price of N145 per litre is no longer feasible because it does not correspond with the price-determining components of the commodity and the fluctuations of the foreign exchange rate.

Now, how does the government expect Nigerians to react to this? Clap for it? Cheer it on?
It is obvious that what the government is trying to do is testing the waters to know how the public would react to its plan to further increase fuel price in the days ahead. Nigerians cannot continue to bear the brunt of the ineptitude of those we put into office as leaders and pay their bills to serve us. Another increase now will only make the economic situation of poor citizens worse off. It is a no-no. The administration can’t continue to make like much more difficult for the masses. The patience and understanding of Nigerians must not be stretched to the limit.

That is why I believe our scouting for potential chief executives of our country must start without delay if we don’t want to have unwilling leaders or ill-prepared Presidents in the years and decades ahead. Even if it is being carried out in the background, the nomination/recruitment process for potential future Presidents of this country should start now. In the political science departments of our universities. And within research groups and think-tanks across and beyond our country. The Editorial Boards of Nigerian media organisations also ought to be thinking ahead for the country on this matter and setting the right agenda.

It should no longer be said that of over 170 million Nigerians, the best options available are only the candidates of the two major parties. We must have a pool of potential leaders of Nigeria who are educated, experienced, widely exposed, and whose antecedents show they are mentally, intellectually and emotionally capable of leading Nigeria as the Chief Executive.

Since he contested as the Vice Presidential candidate of Nuhu Ribadu in the 2011 elections, Fola Adeola has more or less gone on hibernation. But if personal credentials are anything to go by, I believe people like the GT Bank co-founder have a lot to offer our country.

Aliko Dangote might not have shown any interest in contesting for public office, and building his Dangote Group into a world-renowned business institution is surely his main preoccupation. However, the success he has made of his personal enterprise with vision, dedication and tenacity of purpose is an indication that someone like him should be taken seriously if he ever shows interest in being President.

As an entrepreneur, Cosmas Maduka is one of the inspiring success stories to have emerged from Nigeria with his Coscharis Group. A focused entrepreneur with no room for frivolities, Maduka’s success in business is already being taught aspiring entrepreneurs in universities. Our country can tap more from the value people like him has to offer.

Donald Duke, former Cross River state governor, who seems to be silently minding his business after his unsuccessful attempt at being PDP’s Presidential flag-bearer in 2007, also has the intellectual acumen for 21st Century governance and the passion to make a difference.

Of course, these men are no saints. But we know their antecedents. More names from different fields within and outside the country can be nominated as we continue in our quest to find capable leaders we know can help steer the ship of our country to the right destination.

Meanwhile, I must add that Nigerian youths are also getting ready and increasingly showing they can no longer be pushed aside in the scheme of things. Despite the country offering them little, they’ve shown potential and demonstrated capacity in entertainment, sports, ICT and in many other areas. They keep proving their mettle in what they are able to do while the world is already paying attention with the recent celebrated visit of Mike Zuckerberg, Facebook founder, another attestation to that fact.

Nigerian youths are now ready for the political arena. And let me serve notice on their behalf: Awon youths ti n mura lati take over. The youths are getting ready to take over. Starting from the next election cycle, Nigeria’s political space will no longer remain the same again. You can quote me on that.

Because the task to make our country great can no longer be taken lightly or handed over to those who think Nigeria’s development is a joking matter, political godfathers and influencers like Obasanjo need to make better choices as long as the system still makes them relevant because the ones they’ve made so far haven’t risen up to the occasion.

Like Obasanjo himself rightly noted in a lecture he delivered at Arewa House in Kaduna in 1995 shortly before his arrest and imprisonment by the Abacha junta over a phantom coup, for as long as our leaders and sponsors of leaders lead and sponsor for personal, ethnic, geographical, sectional, religious and purely economic interests, for so long will the problems remain with us, no matter the sophistication of our Constitution or the frequency of change.
I believe our generation has the responsibility of turning the story of Nigeria around for good. This is because a great and prosperous Nigeria that inspires hope has more to give her citizens, the West African sub-region, the African continent and indeed the whole world.

No matter our country’s current challenges, we can work our way out of economic recession and emerge the truly great country we’ve always dreamt of being. We owe it to ourselves, to our children and our children’s children. Of course, we also owe it to God, the Almighty to whom we will eventually give the accounts of our stewardship after we’ve completed our earthly assignments here. When all is said and done, the choices we make today will make or mar our tomorrow. God bless Nigeria.

Kolawole is an award-winning Nigerian journalist and author. You can follow him on twitter: @ofemigan