Ever since I became a grown man there is one constant, ceaseless and unchanging prayer I have been hearing from my fellow compatriots who care deeply enough about the condition of our country. That prayer is always that, ‘’God should anoint and send to govern us, men and women who are God- fearing, corrupt-free, intelligent and passionate about our development’’.
It is obvious that God has not deemed it fit to answer this our prayer because he knows that he will not bring people from another place to come and govern us. That, he must necessarily bring from among us Nigerians who fit that our specification and he has not seen such amongst us seeing that we Nigerians do not hate corruption, mediocrity, incompetence and unsuitability. Rather, what we hypocritically hate is that those negative traits come from other people other than from us or our friends, relatives and acquaintances.
One of the few persons on earth who as a people hate corruption with passion is the people of South Korea. You see, since I became a man, I have seen those people deal fairly and impartially with persons who have acted corruptly. They hand-cupped without sentiment one woman president while she was still in power for corruptly favouring a woman friend. If it is here in Nigeria that would not have happened. A huge sentimental outcry would have arisen from the quarters of women libbers that ‘’the mother of the nation’’ is being witch- hunted because she was a woman who did not commit any great sin that men presidents for ages have been committing without censure.
Her tribal people would have weighed in with their own argument. They would have said that she was being looked down upon not only because she is a woman but that it was precisely because she was a woman from among their despised tribe!
Another president, a man, came into power in that South Korea. This time around, the man committed a great criminal and constitutional offence. In order to save and further his politics, the man tried to impose martial rule on his democratic country. The people became indignant and threw him out of office. No one, they reasoned, should try to subvert their constitution. Who, among our presidents here in obodo Nigeria, who has done great hurt to our constitution in furtherance of their political goals, has been roundly condemned and pushed out of office for dealing corruptly against the people of Nigeria? Nobody. Rather, they are hailed as strategists, given all kinds of cognomens and fanciful names. They would be conferred with tribal titles from their corrupt traditional rulers complimenting them on their staying powers. No, we love corruption and not hate it and therefore should not be praying for incorruptible leaders. Where will God get them from to give to us any way?
I bet that if this people of South Korea pray to God for corrupt-free men and women, my God will be compelled by his integrity to oblige them because God is a God of integrity. The Koreans truly hate corruption and what is the best for their country which is why even as this people do not have huge natural resources, God has given them wisdom and the power to make wealth and they are among the most wealthy nations of the world today. I like this people’s model of development and if I were a president, this is the people I will like to copy in my nation’s strive for development.
Who I think in my limited knowledge we should earnestly be praying for are: competent, focused and result-oriented men and women who may know a thing or two about corruption; people who, simply, have a knack or the grace of God for getting things done.
I yearn for this type of prayer for my country because I have seen that as a people, we love to put in power people who do not have the grace for getting things done. The day we learn this trick and get on board people who have what it takes to get things done, we shall cease praying that unchanging prayer. It looks to me that there are some people who are born with the grace to be great achievers. King David of the Bible was not a small sinner but he was born with this grace that is why he achieved so much.
In the company of other true believers I believe that our country has not gone completely down the drain because we pray so passionately, even if mistakenly, about many things. We, for instance, believe that our greatest enemy is this corruption that has become a way of life among all of us. While corruption is no doubt the greatest hindrance against our moving forward, there is something that is also equally a great hindrance against our progress.
And that thing, I humbly submit, is nothing but our love to get into big and influential offices people who do not have a knack for getting things done. I want to again humbly submit that if over the years we have been putting in sensitive offices people who in simple words have a knack for getting things done well and right, we would have made some substantial progress in spite of our legendary love for corruption, mediocrity, inanities and myopia. But we have taken a bizarre delight in getting into sensitive places people who do not know what to do. This, I dare to emphasize here, is the reason for our great retardation.
Among the First Republic politicians, the post- Independence leaders Awo was way ahead of them in knowing what to do. He had a knack for getting things done and he got a lot of things done and people could feel his leadership because things which needed to be done were done at the right time when they were supposed to be done. He had so many enemies, as such people tend to have, but none could condemn him as a failure. Rather, he was a roaring success story. And his fame has endured till today nearly a century after his reign.
In the second Republic, Alhaji Lateef Jakande, who was once described as too bush by TY Danjuma, was way ahead of his compees in development because he had the knack for getting things done. He was, amazingly,adjudged for corruption by the self righteous Buhari government that overthrew his set of leaders but uptill date, Jakande is still held as a beacon of light because he had this mysterious thing that I call a knack for getting things done which many of his kind were not reckoned to have had.
There was also an era in the life of our country that there came a man called Babatunde Raji Fashola, a lawyer and politician. He was also a south paw, one among a class of men and women who are more comfortable and effective in writing with their left hand. They are said to be naturally very talented and intelligent people. Former USA President Bill Clinton is a member of their tribe.
But I do not think his separation from the company of his peers that time laid in his being a south paw. But this man distinguished himself among his compeers at that time. He was able to achieve infrastructural achievements in his domain that set him apart from his competitors.
At another point in our national life, there came a man called Nasir el Rufai. In his time, he also demonstrated what convinced a lot of people that he has this knack of mine for getting things done. In the face rabid corruption, incompetence and mediocrity, these men achieved against all odds and left their names in gold.
We now come to this era which seems to represent our years in political wilderness of no unstated competition and no distinction. Men and women in the political space seem to be completely bereft of ideas of doing something distinctive and salutary. The competition seems now about how to outdo one another in infamy. If one actor wakes up one morning to lead a team in one defection bandwagon from one party to another, another will wake up the next morning to lead another trainload of touts on a similar mission.
Why is that this time around, we seem to be bad lucked by eminent men and women who have not a knack for getting things done? Which gods have we offended that we may spend some time in praying to God to forgive us and help us to get such direly needed men like el- Rufai and others?
Is not really lamentable that in the First Republic, we had a glorious history of if one regional government led in doing the biggest and largest university in West Africa, the next year another will come out with the best planned university in Sub- Saharan Africa. The next year, the next region will come out with one that tries to surpass earlier ones in academic contents and scope. Unless our present history is written by the current performers by themselves, our history of this era will read like a horror book!
In my earlier and younger years in my public intellectualism work, I had made a frightening prophecy that the further we get away from our colonial past and mentorship by the White folks the more we shall be liable to suffer from progressive degeneration in our political leadership as we shall be further away from integrity, merit and a huge premium placed on competence and suitability.
