Excuse Me, Mr. President!

Your Excellency Sir! Nigerians continue to be bewildered by your unique, novel and different style and way and method of doing everything, nothing and anything. As citizens of this potentially-great country, we are not a people of patience, we are not a people of gradualism, we are not a people of the long term – […]

Your Excellency Sir!

Nigerians continue to be bewildered by your unique, novel and different style and way and method of doing everything, nothing and anything. As citizens of this potentially-great country, we are not a people of patience, we are not a people of gradualism, we are not a people of the long term – we are generally (and you were a General too) people of the here and now and today.
The media – social and traditional – are awash with laments and wails and complaints; reason being that the big elephant (read ‘Nigeria’) has been felled, plenty meat is imminent, everyone has brought out their knives, well sharpened, for carving, waiting…salivating…waiting…starving…waiting…but you, the Chief Butcher, seem to have your hands akimbo, saying even the big cannibals have to wait till September. What lament! What wails!
Yes, there are cries and laments! In fact, because they fear all this meat will “rot and go to waste”, they are calling you Baba-Go-Slow! And you continue to add to their misery by jumping from Germany to Niger and from Chad to America and only God knows where next. They say the meat is here, not at G7 or Niamey! Start carving and sharing! Wayyo!
And then the other hundreds of thousands (who have their own little knives out and are also waiting to feast on the remaining bones and crumbs after the big guns have taken their share) are crying even louder because even the seniors have not yet started tasting “dividends of democracy”. When will it come to the small fishes, they tearfully ask? So Sir, they want you to hurry up: any day or week or month that passes means a reduction in the calculation of a cumulative four-year dividend.
And the social media are doing “your” work Sir – the other day, they said you had sent a list of 36 ministerial nominees to the security agencies to vet and abet – a nominee per state. Gist on the social media said thirty three names have been returned to you, Sir, that they are not fit for office, as they have questions of ‘stealing’ (if not ‘corruption’) to answer. Even though this may not be true at all, it is an excellent opportunity for you – since you are for all and none! Citizens want you to nominate and submit those names, especially those that are milling around you in the Villa, have them vetted and rejected, and no one will blame you ever!
And one other thing – in your Inaugural Speech you promised not to go after anyone. Now that ‘someones’ are being gone after, Nigerians are very happy. In fact, Sir, Nigerians are used to politicians breaking their promises, but in your case you are forgiven before the commission and after the omission. Your people want you to go after those that need to be “aftered” (and they would rather have them ‘aftered’ and ‘neutered’). In Loving Memory! You know. A la China!
Now, having updated you on what is out and about in town and in cyberspace, let me on a very serious note draw your attention to a very important book you should give each individual political appointee you appoint, starting from you and the learned professor whom the citizens appointed to appoint, ab initio. This book is PRINCIPLES OF LEADERSHIP (ACCORDING TO THE FOUNDING FATHERS OF THE SOKOTO CALIPHATE) which we discussed several months ago on these pages.
The founding fathers of the Sokoto Caliphate are, of course, Shaykh Uthman ibn Foduye (Usman Danfodio), Shaykh Abdullah ibn Foduye (Mallam Abdullahi Danfodio) and Shaykh Muhammad Bello ibn Uthman ibn Foduye (Sarkin Musulmi Bello, or simply Sultan Bello). The book was edited by senior academician Dr. Hamid Bobboyi, Director of the Centre for Regional Integration and Development, CRID, Abuja, and published the Sultan of Sokoto Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar, grandson of the Shehu.
In his Foreword to the book, the Sultan states, among other things, that “These ideas [topics covered in the chapters] were relevant then as they are patently relevant today, to enable us fathom the responsibilities of leadership…I strongly recommend Principles of Leadership to all those charged with authority at all levels of state and society and indeed to all others, in public and private life, who nurture the noble dream of building a better society.”
So, Your Excellency, as you swear in each political appointee, give them this book (which the Sultan can gladly provide) as part of the instruments of office. Sir, hear what the writers say in Chapter Two ‘Qualities of Leadership’ (Shunning the Love of Power, at page 16): “Know…that most of the evil that befalls the state comes from the appointment of officers who are anxious to have the appointment; because none would be keen on such but a thief in the garb of a hermit, and a fox in the guise of a pious worshipper, someone who is keen in the collection of money, sacrificing for such his religion and integrity…”
Doesn’t this sound so familiar Sir? Yet this was penned by Sultan Bello 200 years ago in his ‘Ghayth al-Shu’bub.’ And woe unto us if what the Caliph said two centuries ago would ring so true today.
Further, at page 17 which discusses Personal Qualities Required of a Leader, Bello’s father, the Shehu, lists many, including Wisdom: “A wise man is guided aright by his wisdom and fortified by his sound judgement, so what he says is sound and what he does is commendable, while an ignorant man is caused to go astray as a result of his ignorance; so what he says is unsound and what he does is objectionable…(‘Bayan Wujub al Hijra’)
Do we wonder why we are so afflicted with the leaders that we have? Listen to what Mallam Abdullahi states in ‘Diya’ al-Siyasat’ (quoted in Chapter Three of the Principles under Knowledge and Governance at page 50): “The advocate of truth is nowadays exposed to danger because of the extinction of the learned and the triumph of ignorance…knowledge survives only on paper but is absent from the hearts of men. [Hence] the ignorant are allowed to rule…”
Still in ‘Bayan Wujub’ (at page 27 in Principles), while describing The Animal in Us, the Shehu says “God has confirmed the similarity between us and all other creatures…in behaviour…So when you find someone departing from normal human behaviour, see which animal resembles him in this and class him with it…The Monkey (when you find a man with a tendency to steal furtively, class him with the monkey…); The Fly (When you find a man hunting for other people’s faults, class him with the family of flies)…”
Again, on the matter of Assets Declaration (which advocates of modern good governance would claim ownership), Mallam Abdullahi, in his ‘Diya al-Hukkam’ of 200 years ago (quoted in Principles at page 91) stats that: “[The leader] must be motivated by his desire to find out the true state of affairs on the basis of piety, and not by malice and greed. This applies to matters connected with his employees, by seeking to know about them, by counting their wealth before their appointment, and by looking from time to time into their works. He shall rebuke anyone who fails in his duty; dismiss those who transgress; and replace any person against whom many complaints were made. Whoever is found to have wealth above what he earns from his work, the leader shall confiscate and restore it to the treasury…”
Your Excellency Sir, on this matter of Assets Declaration, many Nigerians are so very worried they do not know yet know how many cows you own, or how many cassocks the learned pastor has in his closet. Liability! Excuse me Sir!