I sympathise with President Muhammadu Buhari. His is a tough job. He is just a few weeks on the job, but the daily buffets of criticisms have made it look as if he has been there for years.
Harangued for being “slow”, he is expected to clear a 16-year mess in days. I disagree. Isn’t this a marathon and not a speedster’s 100 metres dash?
But, to be sincere, the President gave room for some of the recriminations. For instance, he is blamed for allowing the National Assembly crisis to fester after claiming rather incredulously that he had no interest in who runs the show. By the time he realised that it was in his interest to show interest in the matter, the renegades had dug in so deep they could not be stopped.
All Buhari could do was to scream “party supremacy” and tell the recalcitrant lawmakers to “pocket their ambitions”, ambitions that are already too big for their deep pockets. But that, to the small assemblage of draculas, buccaneers and barracudas of National Assembly politics who do not take hostages, is a mere slap on the wrist. In fact, Yakubu Dogara, the House Speaker, in a petulant manner, launched into an academic exertion on the etymology of “party supremacy”, insisting that it is no match for “people’s supremacy”. Insolence? More like it.
If Buhari really believes in party supremacy, what has he done to enforce it? Or does he believe –this thought I shudder to harbour – as some people with little or no knowledge of the issues that the revolt in the National Assembly is a mortification of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu? No. Never. It is rather the humiliation of the party –what some pundits have described as a game of party politics versus politics of the party, a foreshadow of the party’s destruction. Will Buhari allow this to happen?
The President has, in fairness, acknowledged the fact that the battle has been won but the war could be lost. So, when will he move to clear the clouds and avert the threatening deluge?
The lesson of it all: a leader must not prevaricate and procrastinate. No ambiguities. Say what you mean, mean what you say and insist on it. Never speak to impress – your subordinates may latch onto this to misbehave. Be swift as an arrow once you are sure of what you want. Be firm and stay firm. This is called principle. Those saying ankali, ankali do not necessarily get it right all the time. Do they?
Now, those critics – gourmands, I swear – who say Buhari, because of his slim-and-trim diet-frame (they ascribe this to his ascetic culinary taste, as if they are familiar with the intricacies of presidential meals-preparation) will lack compassion for starving workers are now eating their word. States have N713.7b for workers’ long overdue salaries and there is joy in the land.
Even before she quit the stage, among her fans governors could not be counted. She was no fan of theirs either. She kept on saying the economy was in fine fettle even as the cash coming from the treasury was in trickles. Pressed to explain why there was always little to share, she blamed it all on oil theft. When the then Central Bank Governor, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who is now the Emir of Kano, alleged that some $20b oil earnings were not remitted to the treasury by the Nigerian National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC), he was surreptitiously fired. She set up a panel that said only $10b was missing and that there was, in fact, no need to worry as a thorough check of the troubled oil giant’s books will clear the air. Accounting experts PriceWaterCoopers couldn’t resolve the matter as it got no co-operation from the officials. It issued a report that raised more questions than it set out to resolve about the NNPC’s integrity.
As the drama continued, Dr Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, two-time Finance minister – she bagged the foreign portfolio in-between – and former Co-ordinating minister for the Economy, pulled another trick that got them all excited. Enter rebasing. She caused deployment of some figures – jumbled, some people mumbled – and announced with the excitement of a royal birth that Nigeria’s economy had become Africa’s number one, ahead of South Africa and the others. Ah! The wonders of figures.
Many Nigerians couldn’t understand why this could not reflect on their living conditions. Salaries were slow where they came at all, the infrastructure deficit was alarming and poverty remained a monster.
Okonjo wahala, governors have alleged, once said the Excess Crude Account had over $4b. When they discovered that it had, in fact, as low as $2.1b, the former minister washed her hands of it. “Go ask your commissioners,” she told the governors.
The commissioners have said they never agreed that the cash should be shared. Madam has said she never told us that the Federal Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) agreed to share the money. Now, a panel of governors is probing what happened to the money. I wish them good luck.
The lesson for leaders: No obfuscation. Be consistent. You must be open, especially when you are dealing with facts and figures. Otherwise, you will be called a liar and, if you do not move fast, you will be called a thief. Gone, remember, are the days of debates on the difference between stealing and corruption. In other words, the elite, the class to which you are fortunate to belong, will call you corrupt. To the blunt man in the street, you are just a thief. No elegance. No euphemism. The truth: neither is good.
Poor Stephen Okechukwu Keshi. I can bet the former Super Eagles coach never knew it would all end this way. He was fired for alleged disloyalty, among other reasons, which I won’t like to touch because he has taken his case to court. His is a typical hero-to-zero story which, you must note dear reader, is yet to end. Against all odds, he led the Eagles to win the 2013 African Cup of Nations in South Africa. The joy of the feat was great at home and overseas where many Nigerians jumped for joy that the giant of Africa had taken his rightful place.
Unfortunately, the excitement was short – like Nigeria’s electricity supply. Right there in South Africa, Keshi announced his resignation on a radio programme. Nigerians were shocked. Many said it was all blackmail. Were they right? Debatable. The coach graciously rescinded his decision when Dr Goodluck Jonathan, the former President, stepped in to stop the man of the moment from dumping our dear country after taking it to the apogee of its gains in the round leather game, winning a title that had eluded us for 19 years, despite our army of stars.
Keshi, the man with the egotistic nickname, “Big Boss”, plodded the hubristic path. He became uncontrollable; his employers were helpless. At a time, he boasted that six countries were scrambling to sign him on.
Then, fate supervened. The team’s fortune crashed, like the naira in the forex market. The defending champion missed the next edition of the Cup of Nations. The soccer world was perplexed. The Super Eagles were derided as big-for-nothing Super Chickens. The team became the subject of beer parlour jokes, such as this:
“A judge in a divorce suit asked the child, a little boy, who he would like to stay with. “You want to stay with your dad?” Son: No sir; he always beats me. Judge: Will you then stay with your mum? Son: No sir; she also beats me.
Judge: Who then will you stay with?” The boy replied: “Super Eagles.”
Surprised, the judge asked: “Why?” and the boy replied: “They don’t beat anybody.”
But Keshi, being Keshi, would neither be humbled nor hobbled by it all. He was accused of flirting with Cote d’Ivoire even as the Nigeria Football Federation (NFF) was battling to rebuild the team. Unable to take it anymore, the NFF rediscovered itself and became courageous. Keshi got the boot. Fired.
The lesson: A leader must know when to quit – when the ovation is loudest, they say. Pride, say the age-old adage, goes before a fall. No self-conceit. Humility pays. Loyalty is key; your loyalty must never be questionable. Besides, be patriotic and keep your tongue in check; no loose words.
President Buhari drew the ire of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) when he appointed Mrs Amina Zakari as acting chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). The opposition party alleged that Mrs Zakari’s appointment was influenced by “personal relationship with the Presidency and a governor in the Northwest”. PDP spokesman Olisa Metuh should have given more facts to sound convincing. I trust Femi Fani-Kayode, the one who is now known and addressed as Femi Olukayode after he got off the hook in a money laundering case, would have done better.
Anyway, Prof. Attahiru Jega has left INEC amid praises for a great job. He left us some lessons. Integrity is a must possession ; it is the only foundation upon which a solid tenure can be erected. A leader must have a strong chin for blows. He or she must be cool and calm in the face of clear threats – remember the Elder Godsday Orubebe hysteria? He must be sober as a judge and, above all, a leader must be transparent and be seen to be so.
Isn’t that the difference between a leader and a boss?
