I haven’t blogged for a while so it feels good to be back. Today my thoughts are centered on the kind of leadership we have in our country and what needs to be done to change that kind of leadership. It would be interesting if a survey could be done wherein Nigeria Leaders; those who hold critical public positions could be interviewed to determine what their views of leadership are, and why they have chosen to run for office. We are not new to the “do or die” mentally of many of these so called politicians who would go great lengths to get into office. Do they love their country so much? Do they love their people so much? Why are they so desperate to get into office?
It is time for us Nigerians to begin to question who and who gets elected into office. A party is as good as the candidates it chooses to represent it in elections. Becoming a public leader tends to morph from a lifelong career. Simply put a public leader cannot just appear from nowhere without any proven track record. This is the sort of thing that has been happening in our nation. Is it a wonder that things are the way they are today? We as citizens do have a responsibility. We must ask questions about every candidate running for office. We must ask who this person is. What is his track record? Has he previously held any public position? What was his performance?
Leadership is everything. A nation with bad leadership is doomed, and this has been the bane of Nigeria since independence. On the one hand we see peace loving, hardworking, enterprising Nigerians who want to succeed in everything they do. And on the other hand we see a lazy, cowardly, un-enterprising, kleptomaniac leadership, with no clear cut vision and no grasp of what leadership is all about, the role of a leader, and the deep and far reaching consequences of bad leadership. The primary motivation of these kinds of people who run for office is self enrichment, and they do this so callously at the expense of their own people. We as Nigerians citizens have a role to play, we must say no to this kind of thing. We must not allow people without a proven track record, or people with a proven track record of bad leadership get to office.
How are elections won? Elections are supposed to be won on the bases of performance. If you want to get elected you must deliver to the people, you must perform, plain simple. If you are performing, there would be no need to rig elections. PDP as a party has had almost 12 years to deliver people oriented services and but has failed in doing so. It has failed because it has allowed its dirty internal politics to supersede people oriented politics and ideology. In choosing its candidates to run for office be it at the ward, local government, gubernatorial, senatorial or presidential level, it failed to choose solid candidates who have an impeccable track record, trusted candidates who would deliver services to the people. Elections are won are a promise. A covenant to protect the people’s interest at all times and to do what is best for the people. If you keep that covenant you build trust and confidence in the people. If you break the covenant the people lose confidence in you, and there is mistrust. This simple concept is the bases for free and fair completion in the polls. Any party that is not delivering to the people is doomed to fail at some point, in a democratic dispensation. Elections cannot be manipulated indefinitely; you cannot bribe every single person and you should know that people are not stupid.
It is time for us Nigerians to begin to question who and who gets elected into office. A party is as good as the candidates it chooses to represent it in elections. Becoming a public leader tends to morph from a lifelong career. Simply put a public leader cannot just appear from nowhere without any proven track record. This is the sort of thing that has been happening in our nation. Is it a wonder that things are the way they are today? We as citizens do have a responsibility. We must ask questions about every candidate running for office. We must ask who this person is. What is his track record? Has he previously held any public position? What was his performance?
Leadership is everything. A nation with bad leadership is doomed, and this has been the bane of Nigeria since independence. On the one hand we see peace loving, hardworking, enterprising Nigerians who want to succeed in everything they do. And on the other hand we see a lazy, cowardly, un-enterprising, kleptomaniac leadership, with no clear cut vision and no grasp of what leadership is all about, the role of a leader, and the deep and far reaching consequences of bad leadership. The primary motivation of these kinds of people who run for office is self enrichment, and they do this so callously at the expense of their own people. We as Nigerians citizens have a role to play, we must say no to this kind of thing. We must not allow people without a proven track record, or people with a proven track record of bad leadership get to office.
How are elections won? Elections are supposed to be won on the bases of performance. If you want to get elected you must deliver to the people, you must perform, plain simple. If you are performing, there would be no need to rig elections. PDP as a party has had almost 12 years to deliver people oriented services and but has failed in doing so. It has failed because it has allowed its dirty internal politics to supersede people oriented politics and ideology. In choosing its candidates to run for office be it at the ward, local government, gubernatorial, senatorial or presidential level, it failed to choose solid candidates who have an impeccable track record, trusted candidates who would deliver services to the people. Elections are won are a promise. A covenant to protect the people’s interest at all times and to do what is best for the people. If you keep that covenant you build trust and confidence in the people. If you break the covenant the people lose confidence in you, and there is mistrust. This simple concept is the bases for free and fair completion in the polls. Any party that is not delivering to the people is doomed to fail at some point, in a democratic dispensation. Elections cannot be manipulated indefinitely; you cannot bribe every single person and you should know that people are not stupid.
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