By Godson Moneke

NOBODY wants the truth but only the truth can set you free. Everybody hates to be called a tribalist but our utterances expose the innermost contents of our minds. When people accuse the current APC administration at the federal level of being nepotistic in the allocation of resources and patronage some people from the North feign ignorance as if it does not exist.

Some even go to the extent of defending such uncharitable and obnoxious actions of the Federal Government. They pretend as if others do not understand what is fair and equitable. In the current administration, for example, most of the political appointments influenced by the vice president, unarguably one of the most educated and exposed vice presidents that this country has produced, are often from either his native state of Ogun or the RCCG, the Christian pentecostal sect to which he belongs.

Such cronyism should be deprecated by all men and women of goodwill. Those of us who are educated and exposed should set the example for others to follow, otherwise our education will come to naught because we fail to show the difference.

This wrong practice is pervasive in the public sector and we expect the president and his vice to bring about sanity in the system; but how can they call their subordinates to order when they are also guilty of the same wrongdoing. I know that the temptation is high, especially with people close to you before your elevation feeling entitled to favours arising from your current position.

But unease lies the head that wears the crown. That is why the standards set for leaders are always higher than the average standards. Leaders should make conscious efforts to ensure that in a multi-ethnic country like ours, favours are equitably distributed. This is because these appointments are national appointments which should transcend such myopic chauvinism.

When one serves in a position of public trust like at the federal level, one is expected to see the big picture and take the whole country as his constituency because the resources belong to all. To use what belongs to all to do as it pleases you or to satiate your personal interests leaving out a significant section of the owners of the resources is flatly wrong.

It is called nepotism and a form of corruption. Yours sincerely can trace much of the crises and instability in the country to such unconscionable acts. We need to build national cohesion and this requires treating everybody equally without any form of discrimination. The other day, I listened to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu address APC delegates from Ogun State in furtherance of his presidential ambition wherein he thundered that it was the turn of the Yorubas to produce the president of Nigeria in 2023.

My immediate reaction was to ask which Yorubas was he referring to? The Yorubas mostly belong to the South-West geopolitical zone of the country. I have nothing against the Yorubas, after all, I believe that this country should do away with ethnic chauvinism and allow the most competent choice of the people to prevail at all times.

If Asiwaju Tinubu was advancing the cause of the Yorubas in the North central geopolitical zone of the country where Yorubas exist in Kwara and Kogi states, his argument would have made sense to me. When we take the current democracy from 1999, it is evident that the Yorubas have held the commanding heights of leadership in this country at the federal level more than any other ethnic group in Nigeria.

Can Asiwaju Tinubu in all conscience say that the Yorubas have been marginalised or denied their dues in the leadership of this country? The first President of Nigeria in the current republic was Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, a Yoruba from Ogun State. He contested and won against Chief Olu Falae, another Yoruba from the Ondo State. The current Vice President is Professor Yemi Osinbajo, yet another Yoruba from the Ogun State.

In effect, out of the period of 23 years, the Yorubas have held the offices of the President and Vice President of Nigeria for a total of 15 good years. Where does this place the North-Central, the South-East and the North-East geopolitical zones? Are they not part of Nigeria?

Why are people like Tinubu so selfish, egocentric and self-entitled? Asiwaju was playing the ethnic card which is not expected of the national leader of the ruling political party in Nigeria. What is worse is that he is trying to rewrite history in a very dangerous way. Facts are sacred and we must not toy with facts no matter what!!!

What is wrong in working towards an all inclusive federation? I do not mind his politicking but he could still have achieved his purpose without that faux pas. I believe Asiwaju Tinubu is entitled to his aspirations like others in the presidential race, but the argument that it is the turn of the Yorubas puts me off.

There are certain words that are better not spoken or said if one aspires to be the president of Nigeria. I personally do not care where the president comes from because I belong to the school which says that the best should have it, but nepotistic tendencies by our leaders make the implementation of the ideals of this school difficult. 

A Nigerian president should be the leader of all Nigerians whether North, South, Christian, Muslim, Pagan, Atheist, Nonconformists, etc. We don’t want a regional leader, so appealing to regional sentiments is a put off. Nigerian leaders should eschew conducts which depict them as pandering to their ethnic groups in a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria.

It is political leaders that should show examples of patriotism and unity in Nigeria to the younger ones by not sowing seeds of distrust along ethnic lines. They must, by their actions, show that they believe in the unity of Nigeria and the equality of her citizens. The six geopolitical zones have been created such that no one can become the president of Nigeria without winning majority votes in at least four of the six geopolitical zones in the country.

Leaders should be conscious of this fact and appreciate why they have to treat every part of the country fairly whenever elected or appointed into positions of public trust. No one geopolitical zone can produce a Nigerian president on its own without a national platform of other geopolitical zones no matter how excited or fanatical they may be. We must learn to build bridges and not burn them. God in His infinite wisdom placed us in Nigeria, we must make it work like what we see in developed countries.

Moneke, a quantity surveyor, wrote from Lagos