Read full statement below
TOWARDS A NATIONAL REBIRTH
In the past few months and
weeks, I have played host to many concerned Nigerians who have continued to
express legitimate and patriotic worry about the state of affairs in the
country. Some of them have continued to agonize about the turn of events and expressly
worried why we have not gotten our leadership compass right as a country with
so much potential and opportunity for all. Some, out of frustration, have
elected to interrogate the leadership question and wondered aloud why it has
taken this long from independence till date to discover the right model on
account of our peculiarities. At 57, we are still a nation in search of the
right leadership to contend with the dynamics of a 21st century Nigeria.
Having been privileged to
preside over this great country, interacted with all categories of persons,
dissected all shades of opinions, understudied different ethnic groupings; I
can rightfully conclude that our strength lies in our diversity. But exploring
and exploiting that diversity as a huge potential has remained a hard nut to
crack, not because we have not made efforts, but building a consensus on any
national issue often has to go through the incinerator of those diverse ethnic
configurations. Opinions in Nigeria are not limited to the borders of the
political elite; in fact, every Nigerian no matter how young or old, has an
opinion on any national issue. And it is the function of discerning leadership
to understand these elemental undercurrents in the discharge of state
responsibilities.
WHERE WE ARE
There is no gainsaying the
fact that Nigeria is at a major crossroads at this moment in its history; the
choices we are going to make as a nation regarding the leadership question of
this country and the vision for our political, economic and religious future
will be largely determined by the nature or kind of change that we pursue, the
kind of change that we need and the kind of change that we get. A lot depends
on our roles both as followers and leaders in our political undertakings. As we
proceed to find the right thesis that would resolve the leadership question, we
must bear in mind a formula that could engender national development and the
undiluted commitment of our leaders to a resurgence of the moral and ethical
foundations that brought us to where we are as a pluralistic and multi-ethnic
society.
Nigeria, before now, has
been on the one hand our dear native land, where tribes and tongues may differ
but in brotherhood we stand, and on the other hand a nation that continues to
struggle with itself and in every way stumbling and willful in its quest to
become a modern state, starting from the first republic till date. With our
huge investments in the African emancipation movements and the various
contributions that were made by our leadership to extricate South Africa from
colonial grip, Nigeria became the giant of Africa during that period. But
having gone through leadership failures, we no longer possess the sobriety to
claim that status. And we all are guilty.
We have experimented with
Parliamentary and Presidential systems of government amid military interregnum
at various times of our national history. We have made some progress, but not
good enough to situate us on the pedestal we so desirously crave for. It is
little wonder therefore that we need to deliberately provoke systems and models
that will put paid to this recycling leadership experimentation to embrace new
generational leadership evolution with the essential attributes of responsive,
responsible and proactive leadership configuration to confront the several
challenges that we presently face.
In 2019 and beyond, we
should come to a national consensus that we need new breed leadership with
requisite capacity to manage our diversities and jump-start a process of
launching the country on the super highway of technology-driven leadership in
line with the dynamics of modern governance. It is short of saying enough of
this analogue system. Let’s give way for digital leadership orientation with
all the trappings of consultative, constructive, communicative, interactive and
utility-driven approach where everyone has a role to play in the process of
enthroning accountability and transparency in governance.
I am particularly enamored
that Nigerians are becoming more and more conscious of their rights; and their
ability to speak truth to power and interrogate those elected to represent them
without fear of arrest and harassment. These are part of the ennobling
principles of representative democracy. As citizens in a democracy, it is our
civic responsibility to demand accountability and transparency. Our elected
leaders owe us that simple but remarkable accountability creed. Whenever we
criticize them, it is not that we do not like their guts; it is just that as
stakeholders in the political economy of the country, we also carry certain
responsibilities.
In the past few months
also, I have taken time to reflect on a number of issues plaguing the country.
I get frightened by their dimensions. I get worried by their colourations. I
get perplexed by their gory themes. From Southern Kaduna to Taraba state, from
Benue state to Rivers, from Edo state to Zamfara, it has been a theatre of
blood with cake of crimson. In Dansadau in Zamfara state recently, North-West
of Nigeria, over 200 souls were wasted for no justifiable reason. The pogrom in
Benue state has left me wondering if truly this is the same country some of us
fought to keep together. I am alarmed by the amount of blood-letting across the
land. Nigeria is now being described as a land where blood flows like river,
where tears have refused to dry up. Almost on a daily basis, we are both
mourning and grieving, and often times left helpless by the sophistication of
crimes. The Boko Haram challenge has remained unabated even though there has
been commendable effort by government to maximally downgrade them. I will
professionally advise that the battle be taken to the inner fortress of Sambisa
Forest rather than responding to the insurgents’ ambushes from time to time.
THINKING ALOUD
In the fullness of our
present realities, we need to cooperate with President Muhammadu Buhari to
complete his term of office on May 29th, 2019 and collectively
prepare the way for new generation leaders to assume the mantle of leadership
of the country. While offering this advice, I speak as a stakeholder, former
president, concerned Nigerian and a patriot who desires to see new paradigms in
our shared commitment to get this country running. While saying this also, I do
not intend to deny President Buhari his inalienable right to vote and be voted
for, but there comes a time in the life of a nation, when personal ambition
should not override national interest. This is the time for us to reinvent the
will and tap into the resourcefulness of the younger generation, stimulate
their entrepreneurial initiatives and provoke a conduce environment to grow
national economy both at the micro and macro levels.
Contemporary leadership has
to be proactive and not reactive. It must factor in citizens’ participation.
Its language of discourse must be persuasive not agitated and abusive. It must
give room for confidence building. It must build consensus and form aggregate
opinion on any issue to reflect the wishes of the people across the country. It
must gauge the mood of the country at every point in time in order to send the
right message. It must share in their aspirations and give them cause to have
confidence in the system. Modern leadership is not just about “fighting”
corruption, it is about plugging the leakages and building systems that will militate
against corruption. Accountability in leadership should flow from copious
examples. It goes beyond mere sloganeering. My support for a new breed
leadership derives from the understanding that it will show a marked departure
from recycled leadership to creating new paradigms that will breathe fresh air
into our present polluted leadership actuality.
My intervention in the
governance process of Nigeria wasn’t an accident of history. Even as a military
government, we had a clear-cut policy agenda on what we needed to achieve. We
recruited some of the best brains and introduced policies that remain some of
the best in our effort to re-engineer our polity and nation. We saw the future
of Nigeria but lack of continuity in government and of policies killed some of
our intentions and initiatives. Even though we did not provide answers to all
the developmental challenges that confronted us as at that time, we were not
short of taking decisions whenever the need arose.
GROWING INSECURITY ON OUR
HANDS
The unchecked activities of
the herdsmen have continued to raise doubt on the capacity of this government
to handle with dispatch, security concerns that continue to threaten our dear
nation; suicide bombings, kidnappings, armed banditry, ethnic clashes and other
divisive tendencies. We need to bring different actors to the roundtable.
Government must generate platform to interact and dialogue on the issues with a
view to finding permanent solutions to the crises. The festering nature of this
crisis is an inelegant testimony to the sharp divisions and polarizations that
exist across the country. For example, this is not the first time herdsmen
engage in pastoral nomadism but the anger in the land is suggestive of the
absence of mutual love and togetherness that once defined our nationality. We
must collectively rise up to the occasion and do something urgently to arrest
this drift. If left unchecked, it portends danger to our collective existence
as one nation bound by common destiny; and may snowball into another internecine
warfare that would not be good for nation-building.
We have to reorient the
minds of the herdsmen or gun-men to embrace ranching as a new and modern way to
herd cattle. We also need to expand the capacity of the Nigeria Police, the
Nigeria Army, the Navy and Air Force to provide the necessary security for all.
We need to catch up with modern sophistication in crime detection and crime
fighting. Due to the peculiarity of our country, we must begin community
policing to close the gaps that presently exist in our policing system. We
cannot continue to use old methods and expect new results. We just have to
constructively engage the people from time to time through platforms that would
help them ventilate their opinions and viewpoints.
THE CHANGE MANTRA
When the ruling party
campaigned with the change mantra, I had thought they would device new methods,
provoke new initiatives and proffer new ways to addressing some of our
developmental problems. By now, in line with her manifesto, one would have
thought that the APC will give fillip to the idea of devolution of powers and
tinker with processes that would strengthen and reform the various sectors of
the economy. Like I did state in my previous statement late last year,
devolution of power or restructuring is an idea whose time has come if we must
be honest with ourselves. We need to critically address the issue and take
informed positions based on the expectations of the people on how to make the
union work better. Political parties should not exploit this as a decoy to woo
voters because election time is here. We need to begin the process of
restructuring both in the letter and spirit of it.
For example, I still cannot
reconcile why my state government would not be allowed to fix the Minna-Suleja
road, simply because it is called Federal Government road, or why state
governments cannot run their own policing system to support the Federal Police.
We are still experiencing huge infrastructural deficit across the country and
one had thought the APC-led Federal Government would behave differently from
their counterparts in previous administrations. I am hesitant to ask; where is
the promised change?
LOOKING AHEAD
At this point of our
national history, we must take some rather useful decisions that would lead to
real development and promote peaceful co-existence among all the nationalities.
We must be unanimous in what we desire for our country; new generation
leadership, result-driven leadership, sound political foundation,
demonetization of our politics, enhanced internal democracy, elimination of
impunity in our politics, inclusiveness in decision-making, and promotion of
citizens’ participation in our democratic process. The search for that new
breed leadership must start now as we prepare for 2019 election.
I get worried when
politicians visit to inform me about their aspirations and what you hear in
terms of budgetary allocations for electoral contest does not cover voters’
education but very ridiculous sub-heads. A typical aspirant in Nigeria draws up
budget to cover INEC, Police, Army and men and officers of the Civil Defense,
instead of talking of voters’ education, mobilization and sensitization. Even
where benchmarks are set for electoral expenditure, monitoring and compliance
are always difficult to adhere to. We truly need to reform the political
system. And we must deliberately get fresh hands involved for improved
participation.
We need new ways and new
approaches in our political order. We need a national rebirth. We need a
rebranded Nigeria and rebranded politics. It is not so much for the people, but
for the institutions that are put in place to promote our political
engagements. We must strengthen the one man one vote mantra. It is often
ridiculous for me when people use smaller countries in our West Africa
sub-region as handy references of how democracy should be. It beggars our giant
of Africa status.
The next election in 2019
therefore presents us a unique opportunity to reinvent the will and provoke
fresh leadership that would immediately begin the process of healing the wounds
in the land and ensuring that the wishes and aspirations of the people are
realized in building and sustaining national cohesion and consensus. I pray the
Almighty Allah grant us the gift of good life to witness that glorious dawn in
2019. Amen. I have not written an open letter to the President, I have just
shared my thoughts with fellow compatriots on the need to enthrone younger
blood into the mainstream of our political leadership starting from 2019.
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