It all started when Nigerians woke up one
recent fictional morning to find the
newspapers full of adverts by a group that
called itself the Sensible Nigeria Coalition. The
adverts called for a citizen-led National
Conference at which Nigerians would debate
and determine the most important qualities
needed in the “Ideal Candidate” for the
Presidency of their country.
According to the advert, “As the election
season approaches, we are convinced that
there are few things more critical at this time
than subjecting the bumpy road to the
Nigerian Presidency to a painstaking stress
test. Surely, there must be a better way of
travelling that road than what we have been
subjected to by the government-endorsed
antics of the powerful group of shameless
jokers known as ‘Transformation Ambassadors’
– who should more accurately be labelled
‘Sycophants Earnestly Ask for Goodluck.” (It of
course wasn’t lost on many that SEAG,
pronounced as a word, becomes “siege.” )
It continued: “It also hasn’t helped that the so-
called ‘Opposition’ is itself being neither
sensible nor strategic in the way it carries on
with its business of presenting an alternative
road to the presidential villa. An opposition
party that knee-jerks a response to every
national conundrum hardly inspires much
confidence.”
The advert ended by highlighting the fact that
the Sensible Nigeria Coalition is a resolutely
non-partisan group, and banned mentions of
names of political parties in its proposed
conference.
When the conference finally kicked off, the
first idea for deliberation revolved around
presidential ambition. How important is it for
Nigeria to have a President who really wants to
be President, and understands, before getting
into office, what it may mean to be President;
as opposed to an “accidental” President?
One delegate took the time to repeat the
popular narrative about how no elected
President of Nigeria started out really wanting
to be President – apart from M.K.O. Abiola.
Shehu Shagari had his eyes on the Senate;
Olusegun Obasanjo just wanted to enjoy his
status as an ex-prisoner; Umaru Yar’Adua
looked forward to enjoying political retirement
and attending to his health, and all Goodluck
Jonathan really wanted to be when he was
drafted to be Vice-President, was Governor.
Even with the military leaders, apart from a
few exceptions, most had no ambitions to be
Head of State, and benefited from coup d’états
conceived and carried out by other persons.
(But of course when all these persons got into
office, quitting honourably always became a
problem.)
Hardly had that delegate finished his thesis
than dissenting voices commenced a shouting
down. “Ambition is overrated!” they argued.
“Babangida and Abacha spent much of their
careers wanting to rule Nigeria. See what they
did to us!”
The conference deliberated on that point for a
while, and failed to reach an agreement on the
how the section relating to presidential
ambition should be worded. What they all
wasted no time agreeing upon was the
proposal that anybody who claims to be
waiting on God for a decision as to whether to
run for public office should automatically be
disqualified and shown the way to a seminary
or “madrasah” with alacrity. “God certainly
needs such a person more than Nigeria does,”
someone quipped.
After that, it was time to move on to the
specific personality and character traits,
beyond ambition, that would be needed in the
Ideal Nigerian President. The conversation
went as follows:
Someone with Muhammadu Buhari’s much-
touted incorruptibility. It was agreed that
while there are no saints in Nigeria, Buhari
stood out for the way he had managed to earn
a reputation for honesty and integrity in a
country where elite banditry is a way of life.
“Buhari does seem like a man who would have
no qualms taking unpopular decisions in the
fight against corruption,” someone said. “And
under him Big Man Bandits will not get the
kind of overt presidential protection they’re
currently getting, and which they also got
under Obasanjo and Yar’Adua.”
Someone with Obasanjo’s energy and
decisiveness. As the proponent of this idea
explained, during the Obasanjo Presidency,
there was hardly ever any doubt that Obasanjo
was in power; the man on whose table the
buck stopped. Of course, Obasanjo often took
that decisiveness too far, so that he often
believed it was his duty to have the final say in
matters that were none of his business – like
the choices of Senate President and Speaker.
“But in the years since Baba left office,
Nigerians have come to realise just how
important that quality is. They need a
President who is seated on the boat, bellowing
directions, not one flailing incompetently in
the water, waiting for the storm to subside by
itself.”
To balance the potential excesses of that
Obasanjo “gra-gra”, delegates agreed that
Nigeria also needs someone with the gentleness
of Goodluck. As one woman put it: “To the
man who is a General, everything is war,
including elections. Under President Jonathan,
the quality of elections in the country has
improved remarkably, because he has
refrained from the iron grip of Obasanjo. That
quality of a lamb has its place in a country
where power is almost always wielded as a tool
of oppression.”
Another person countered the gentleness
argument: “That gentleness is not good o.
Nigeria doesn’t need a lamb President. You and
I know we are animals in this country, and
deserve to be treated like that. In this jungle,
we need the King of the Jungle,” someone said,
to protests from around the hall. Before the
speaker was shouted down, he managed to
mention that it was the so-called “easygoing-
ness” of the current President that “saddled us
with a Petroleum Minister who delights in
pumping controversy and disdain the way
Nigeria’s oil wells pump crude.”
Someone with Yakubu Gowon’s sense of
nationhood and national reconciliation. Gowon
was the man upon whom it fell to prosecute a
bloody civil war that bitterly divided Nigeria.
Following the war, he launched an ambitious
reconciliation drive summed up in, “No Victor
No Vanquished” and “Go On With One Nigeria”
campaigns.
The proponent of this Gowon requirement said:
“Nigeria requires a man or woman who is
President of the entire country, and does not
involve himself in acts that divide the country
along religious or ethnic lines. President
Jonathan has done nothing to demonstrate that
he is anything other than an Ijaw President
who likes taking pictures in churches. This is a
big and diverse country, and anyone aspiring
to rule it must understand that.”
Someone with Tafawa Balewa’s eloquence. This
was a rather controversial element, judging by
the reactions that followed. Conference
participants were asked by the proponents of
this idea to listen to clips of Prime Minister
Tafawa Balewa speaking during a 1961 official
trip to the United States.
“No, we don’t want that,” someone quickly
protested. “Why should a Nigerian be speaking
as if he was born by the Queen of England. We
should be proud of our tongue.” “No, that’s
not the point,” another person said. “It’s not
how he talks, but what he says. Can you hear
the confidence and assuredness with which he
addressed a joint session of the United States
Senate and Congress? That’s what we’re talking
about!”
Before long, the Conference came to agree that
the leading politicians of the First Republic
were mostly talented public speakers, who
often said (and wrote) memorable things.
“Ahmadu Bello, Tafawa Balewa, Obafemi
Awolowo, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Ladoke Akintola –
for all their flaws, these were knowledgeable,
worldly men, who understood the world and
their place in it,” someone said.
“We have come a long way downhill,” rued
another person. “Imagine Tafawa Balewa, who
wowed America with his eloquence more than
50 years ago, coming on national TV to chant
“America will know! America will know!”
The conference concluded that while Nigeria
doesn’t need in its President the “golden voice”
of Balewa, and is not likely to get an Obama,
the country certainly needs someone whose
knowledgeable and wise and confident and
empathetic words can rally the country to
aspire to greater things.
Just before the conference ended – this was no
three-month jamboree at state expense, by the
way – someone tried to chip in something
about the kind of First Lady Nigeria needs.
But the poor fellow was quickly silenced by a
livid group of women who said: “Sit down, Mr.
Man! Why are you assuming, in 2014, that the
‘man’ Nigeria needs cannot be a woman?”

http://www.punchng.com/opinion/the-ideal-nigerian-president/

Too long for my reading this morning........ Coming back

Make I comment first

Nice writeup....just what we need

we love Jonathan. we need Jonathan. Jonathan till 2040.

Mention: Make I comment first

Comment ke!

Ukutsgp: we love Jonathan. we need Jonathan. Jonathan till 2040.

2040? i GEJ diehard!