By Ignatius C. Olisemeka

On popular demand we reproduce an opinion written
by Ambassador Olisemeka which we published on
February 7. It may help you have a better picture of
the President-elect. Enjoy your reading:
Without ever knowing or meeting me, Buhari gave
me a chance. As I now write, I have never met him
one-on-one. We have never spoken to each other. It
is an extraordinary experience of an unusual man.
I was sitting on my desk in the Ministry of External
Affairs, 40 Marina Lagos in 1984, when I received a
letter appointing me Ambassador to the United
States of America. My place of origin did not matter.
Incidentally, I am from Ibusa, a famous town now in
Delta State; then, in Bendel State. My religion did not
matter either. I had no worthwhile contacts with Dodan barracks.

All I knew, and had always known, was to work hard
and to express my views as candidly and as
courageously as I could, regardless of the
consequences; provided I was convinced they were
right. It was never easy or smooth-sailing. Of course,
that had its bitter consequences; but at the end, now
at 83, looking back, it worked out just right.
Of all the Nigerian leaders, with the possible
exception of Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe and Alhaji Tafawa
Balewa, Buhari has been the one that has most
approximated my dream of what a Nigerian leader
should be. Without any attempt at self-
advertisement, but simply as a matter of fact, I knew
and had worked and interacted with most, if not all of
our leaders.
I worked with Sir James Robertson, the last colonial
Governor-General of Nigeria, after graduating from
the University College, Ibadan in 1957. I served as
Clerk to the Privy Council and as Assistant Secretary
(Administrative Officer) in charge of Security. I
worked up to my immediate boss, Mr. C. O. Lawson,
the then respected Secretary to the Cabinet in the
Governor-General’s office. As part of my schedule of
duties as officer in charge of security, I had the
privilege and honour of being a member of a 3-man-
panel, two of them British, which interviewed and
recruited the first batch of Nigerian military officers
into the Nigerian army in 1958. This batch included
Olusegun Obasanjo.
In 1958, I transferred to the Ministry of External
Affairs, making a career in the Diplomatic Service
which lasted forty-two (42) years, from where I
eventually rose as Foreign Minister, having served as
Ambassador in Nine (9) countries, a few with
concurrent accreditation, including Kenya under
Jomo Kenyatta, Botswana under Sir Seretse Khama,
Lesotho under King Moshoeshoe I, Spain, The Holy
See under three Popes, (John Paul VI, John Paul I and
John Paul II), the United States of America, Canada
and, lastly, in Israel for six (6) years, a mission I
established and rose to be Doyen of the Diplomatic
Corps. In between, I was Chief of Protocol of the
Federation to Zik and Balewa, Permanent Secretary,
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, as well as Directing Staff
in the National Institute of Policy and Strategic
Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, for two years (1988/1989).
I am now a retired pensioner, carefully minding my
own business and tending my personal affairs. I do
not belong to any political party and have never
belonged to any. In the best tradition of the colonial
public service of my days, I have remained strictly
anonymous and aloof; occasionally, making my views
and opinion privately known to the appropriate
authorities of the day on any issue I feel strongly
about. I seek no office and no financial or material
favours. All I am doing is to put on public record my
private opinion, views and experience, which may not
be available and known to many Nigerians.
Major General Muhammadu Buhari not only gave me
the opportunity to serve Nigeria as Ambassador in
the United States, he did even more than that. He
entrusted to me the care and welfare of his family;
still without our knowing or meeting each other. He
sent his wife and two children to me in Washington
D.C. for medical treatment.
He took his chance and dealt with me strictly on a
professional basis. His family were with me in
Washington D.C. when the General was overthrown in
a coup d’etat. We did the best we could and sent
them back home safely under the trying and
traumatic circumstances they found themselves- still,
never a word from this unusual person. In 1988 after
I returned as Ambassador from Washington D.C., I
was assigned as a punitive measure as Directing Staff
to the National Institute of Policy and Strategic
Studies (NIPSS), Kuru, for two years.
The subject of our research in that year led the
Syndicate I headed to visit Buhari’s State of origin.
With the approval of government, members of the
Syndicate visited Buhari who was then under house
arrest in his home town, Daura. This most extra-
ordinary man received us with warmth and courtesy.
We found him living in a modest, sparsely furnished
three or four bed-room bungalow which was his
house. He still did not know who I was; nor did I
disclose my identity to him. It was unbelievable,
even in those days, that a former General in the
Nigerian Army and a former Head of State could live
in such a modest, spartan abode. What further struck
me was a complete lack of bitterness; unless the
Fulani in him, concealed and dissembled it!
What do all these tell me about this man, Buhari?
Others may have a different opinion of him. I
absolutely concede to them the right to hold their
views. As far as I am personally concerned, four short
phrases summarise my overall impression and
opinion of Buhari. An incorruptible man. A patriotic
Nigerian devoid of any trace of ethnicism and
parochialism. A deeply religious man. Above all, a
stern disciplinarian.
We so often talk glibly of the giant strides Asian
Tigers have taken to leap from the state of
underdevelopment to developed nations. We refer
tirelessly to the achievements of men like Lee Kuan
Yew. I have, personally, met Lee Kuan Yew in
Singapore. I did so in the company of General Yakubu
Gowon when he returned from exile from the United
Kingdom.
Little do we know or appreciate the agonizing
hardship, pains and sufferings all Singaporeans,
Chinese, Malays, Indians and other ethnic
nationalities, had to endure for Singapore to attain its
present height as a respected nation. Gold must be
smelted in hot burning furnaces before unleashing its
shine and purity. Lee Kuan Yew was a benevolent
democratic autocrat. He subjected his people to a
good dose of rigorous healthy discipline. No country
makes that type of progress Singapore made without
an unwavering sense of disciplined direction.
Moreover, Lee Kuan Yew was an inspirational leader
of his people. He governed by example.
It is not just the question of the number of
kilometres of roads you build that elevates a nation.
It is not a matter of the megawatts of power you
generate nor the number of buildings you erect for
the populace. Not even the refineries you build or
the volume of agricultural products produced and
exported. These are important. Any leader
surrounded by brilliant experts, excellent technocrats
and loyal advisers can achieve those basic and
essential needs. Leadership calls for much greater
attributes than the performance of those feats. A
leader must have a strong, solid, moral and
disciplined background, the inspirational ability to
galvanize his people to higher, lofty and common
purpose.
These are not ordinary attributes available to every
man. They are uncommon gifts and talents dispensed
and bestowed only to a few. This makes the
difference between one man and the other; one
woman and the other. It is not often we have a
Ghandi or a Mandela; an Ataturk, or a Winston
Churchill, a Charles de Gaulle, or a Konrad Adenauer,
who became one of the most respected Chancellors
of Federal Republic of Germany at the ripe age of 81,
a Margaret Thatcher, or even our own often quoted
Obama. Nearer home, with all their imperfections,
considering that a prophet is without honour in his
own country, we must reckon with Azikiwe, the
Sardauna, Awolowo, Aminu Kano and J.S. Tarka, the
real and genuine ‘founding fathers’ of our nation.
Buhari, in my view, belongs to the last and passing
generation of this group of Nigerian leaders. It was a
pity that fate thrust him into leadership limelight at a
period in time when military revolution and coups d’
etats were in vogue and held sway. In a democratic
setting, as we now have, I believe that the real worth
and essence of this man, encapsulated in an
exemplary and enigmatic personal life, will blaze
through and shine forth. It will soon be clear that
those of his followers of questionable and dubious
pedigree who think they can latch on to the
reputation of this rare Nigerian would be the first to
be highly disappointed.
I also believe that what is badly needed at this stage
of our national life is a leadership that will turn the
country around; and rescue us from the depth of
chronic indiscipline, disorder and decadence we have,
over the years, gradually descended and slided into.
What I believe we need is a strong hand at the helm,
with the support of our people, who will instil in us a
much needed sense of order and discipline; inspire
us into patriotic zeal and sacrifice; bring out the best
in each one of us; and encourage in us the love of
nation.
The nation’s sense of indiscipline and disorder is
evident and all pervasive even in very simple things
and matters of the day and moment. A road-side
mechanic claims to be an Engineer (Engr) and insists
on being so styled. A traditional herbalist insists he
must be called and respected as a professional
medical Doctor (Dr) and, indeed, hugs the
appellation. An ordinary traditional village
community leader who flamboyantly styles himself a
Chief and clownishly attired in a self-designed robe,
is addressed not only as “Your Highness”, but takes
offence if he is not properly addressed as “Your Royal
Highness”.
A number of respected Kabiyesis no longer have
regard for their beautiful traditional titles, unless we,
their ‘subjects’, address them as “Your Majesty” or
worse still, “Your Royal Majesty” The same applies to
the ‘Ran kadades’, most of our Emirs and prominent
men in authority revel in when interacting with the
poor subservient so-called talakawas. May I also
observe that the awkward title of ‘His Eminence’ is a
misnomer which should be revisited and
reconsidered.
Members of our legislative houses feel incomplete
and uncomfortable until they are addressed as
‘Honourables’ or ‘Distinguished Senators’. They are no
longer plain ‘Mister’ or ‘Madam’.
I believe it is time we became a little more creative
and find suitable traditional and local substitutes for
these foreign appellations which portray us as
caricatures and ridicule us as people and nation in
the outside world. What a pride and beauty to have
one of the foremost traditional rulers of the land
being regaled with the title Omo N’Oba N’Edo Uku
Akpolokpolo Oba Erediauwa! Why can we not start
emulating and adopting this practice in most of our
national institutions? It will give us a sense of pride
and self-worth.
Ambitious pseudo-intellectual self-publicists cleverly
thrust their mediocrity and opinions on us and flaunt
their borrowed, half-baked, ill-digested ideas,
concepts, jargons and clichés. Pages of our national
newspapers are replete with lavishly self-serving
advertisements of obituaries, weddings and birthday
celebrations. Why not severely tax those who place
these wasteful advertisements to rake in and release
funds to charities or other good causes such as
sporting and educational development of the
country.
Hitherto decent, pretty, confident young ladies on
our television sets in order to make themselves
more attractive and acceptable, bleach their skin to
pale sickening white, with their veins thinly exposed;
their bare knuckles and elbows still looking jet black.
They should be reassigned to the back room offices,
decorated with mirrors, left to rue their new look
which has become an eyesore to many viewers. Our
television channels have suddenly become a babel
and cacophony of crude and embarrassing noise
makers, reflecting the values of a sick society, drunk
with democratic excesses.
Honorary degrees are sold, bought and conferred on
undeserving personalities by many of our
Universities and these personalities shamelessly
parade them at will. A few prominent church leaders
have relocated their pulpits from their churches to
the seats of secular power while a number of Imams
have not been able to teach their adherents the
purity of their religion which preaches respect for
human lives.
Our youths need impeccable high level connections
before gaining employment at any level, both decent
or menial. Impunity freely reigns in the land more
than ever before. The temples of justice are daily
being desecrated. The Lady now has her eyes wide
open; seductively beckoning and soliciting for
favours.
More painful still, is the near-absolute control of our
entire being and lives as a people by others. We
appear helpless to cast off that yoke and burden even
though we claim to be independent; helpless to
govern ourselves with any modicum of self-respect
and dignity and take our destiny into our hands.
The list is endless. Am I a part of this messy order?
Certainly, yes. None of us can pretend not to be part
of it, in one way or the other, in differing roles. Only
that some exacerbate it more than others. This
situation calls for a man who, by personal example,
can firmly and fearlessly put an end to these
vulgarities and inanities.
This is one side of the coin. There is another side of
the coin to our national life for which we can proudly
hold our heads very high. This is the side no other
single country in the world I know can ever match.
The list is inexhaustive and much longer than our
shortcomings. We do not, however, necessarily need
to dwell on them or spell them out here, as we
search for positive measures and values that will
enhance and edify our nation.
Buhari represents, in my opinion, the last
opportunity we have to get things reasonably right
before the baton passes permanently on to the next
and coming generation. After him, the generation of
the ‘founding fathers’ would have faded away; with
their legacies, left behind, hopefully for good. He
should be given the chance to restore and
consolidate the disappearing values of that ‘golden
age’ so sadly disrupted by the military, to which
paradoxically and tragically, he and those in that
generation, and that before him, were willy-nilly
pressed into being a part of.
He carries on his frail, ageing but reliable shoulders a
historic responsibility and burden of getting it right.
He has a bounden duty to realign the nation towards
achieving its manifest destiny. He has no excuses for
failure. Otherwise, why should he be seeking power
at his age? It makes absolutely no sense. Why not
take a comfortable and relaxed back seat like most of
us. History will judge him very harshly should he fail.
The immediate challenge before him, I feel
convinced, is how to curb the excesses of the teaming
mass of followers who, undoubtedly, adore him. The
next, is to rein in the display of empty, hollow
pompousness and offensive arrogance by a few of his
elitist, lazy patronage-seeking associates; who, if
victorious, will flock to him without discrimination. I
had always instinctively recognised and resented this
feeling at first hand, even from a distance.
I believe it is time for us to begin anew. Let us begin
to lead our lives as normal human beings; and not in
self-delusion and self-deceit. This is the real
transformation needed. This is the revolution we
yearn for at this point in time in our national life. I
can now start understanding what drove past Chinese
leaders into staging the “Cultural Revolution”. Nigeria
is ripe; indeed, over ripe for a non-violent revolution
which will shake us all up like a volcanic eruption
from our present national stupor. Who will sweep out
the quacks and charlatans in our midst? Who will
guarantee us enduring values? Who will cleanse the
cobwebs from our national home?
All said, let no one forget there is no better country
than Nigeria in the whole world. I feel happiest when
I am in Nigeria; despite the agonizing frustrations;
despite the infuriating hardship; and even when I am
being driven daily to the brink of desperation.

Ambassador Ignatius C. Olisemeka, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs.


www.vanguardngr.com/2015/04/what-ambassador-olisemeka-said-about-buhari-before-his-election-victory/

You have said it all sir.I pray we will have the courage to redeem this great nation Nigeria.

Seun, Lalasticlala FP pls



Signed,
Sakwoto Michaels
P.A to President Buhari on Nairaland Matters & tatafo industry


Allah wabude!
Naxo I take get politiko appointment oo!
#Na Godwin