Of traditional leaders and nation building
The 2012 edition of Obafemi Awolowo memorial lecture was what brought these leaders together. It was organized by the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation which propagates the legacies and memory of the late nationalist. The latest edition had an addition. This time, the Foundation unveiled the Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize. The prize will be awarded to Nigerians […]
The 2012 edition of Obafemi Awolowo memorial lecture was what brought these leaders together. It was organized by the Obafemi Awolowo Foundation which propagates the legacies and memory of the late nationalist. The latest edition had an addition. This time, the Foundation unveiled the Obafemi Awolowo Leadership Prize. The prize will be awarded to Nigerians who have demonstrated excellence in leadership and good governance within the country or abroad, within the public sector, or civil society. The prize will be awarded every two years, and where no suitable candidate is found in the year of award, the selection will take place in the immediate successive year.
An award set up to recognize leadership on a continent that suffers dearth of excellent leadership is commendable, but the calibre of people it attracted has bigger implication beyond both the award and the annual memorial lecture. This is a season when the country seems polarized in some rather threatening way. A call for an eye for an eye has been heard in certain circles. It is a season when elements under the guise of religion visit violence on innocent Nigerians that are nearest to them. Some noise has been made about the likelihood of the death of a Southerner in the North being reciprocated in the South, and vice versa. Inflammatory statements in the public space have not helped matters, and noise from up the Niger River and down has increased over revenue sharing formula too, leading to some making fantastic claims in defence of funds that accrue to their states but which they don’t even know how their leaders utilize. Doomsayers also predict an end to a federation that has lasted more than half a century, and that, on the basis of positions they take on issues over which they have no educated grasp. It is a season of concern for those that care however. And those that care have said they are for one indivisible, just and equitable Nigeria. Such are stable voices in times when hot-headedness appears fashionable.
If any set of people has made comments and gestures that are targeted at calming nerves and curtailing circumstances that can lead this nation to the brink of troubled waters, traditional leaders have been that and much more. It must be given to them, especially in the North, for how much voice of stability they have been under the present situation in which the nation finds itself. Only a person that never crossed from one side of the Niger to the other side would not understand that. Sultan of Sokoto, for instance, as the leader of Muslims in the country has come out several times to state that Muslims have no design of hatred against Christians. The government has invited him to Aso Villa for consultation over issues that have to do with the peace of the North, and the country as a whole. The Emir of Kano evoked tears from those who paid close attention when people in his domain – Northerners and Southerners – were killed in a series of violent bomb attacks in Kano not long ago. And no one can take it away from the Emir of Zazzau in helping to keep his subjects calm, preventing outbreak of violence in the sometimes volatile Kaduna environment. In fact, efforts of these leaders have helped in a way to prevent more violent attacks from terrorists groups in places such as Sokoto, Kano and Kaduna. While these leaders are essentially unobtrusive, they do a lot to contribute to the maintenance of peace in the nation, and the government knows it.
The fact that it is under this trying circumstances that the four eminent leaders showed up in Lagos, to be part of a programme in memory of Chief Awolowo, is worth pointing out. This is because images matter and the role of making them count when it is important for the peace of this nation is equally important. While some make fantastic calls and give expression to claims that may essentially be a figment of their imagination, traditional leaders do as much as they can to mend fences. When Sultan sat on the high table at the memorial lecture, with the Oni of Ife, Oba Okunade Sijuade -and with other traditional leaders such as Obi of Onitsha, Igwe Nnaemeka Achebe; Emir of Ilorin, Alhaji Sulu Gambari; King Edmund Daukoru Amyanabo on Nembe; King Dandeson Douglas Jaja Amayanabo of Opobo; King Mujakpero Orodje of Okpe – whoever saw that image would know that the whole of Nigeria was present, and a united front was presented. Such as this speaks more than words; more than a thousand words. It tells that there is still a segment of the nation that silently goes about the task of upholding its unity, of ensuring that the country is stable, that separatist elements do not ‘carry the day’, and that peace loving Nigerians have those to look up to in these leaders that cast their vote for the peace and unity of the nation.
These are the kind of images that should be seen across the land, the kind of images that should be encouraged to be seen more often. For they give the masses confidence that there is hope for the nation when leaders put heads together, and occupy the nation for peace, for celebration of ideals that bind rather than what leads to confusion and benefits no one ultimately.
Ajibade wrote from Abuja