By Sunny Ikhioya

IT’S not about an indivdual.  It’s about foundation,  about systems and structures, that will be sustainable for generations to come. Are we laying that foundation? Ex president Olusegun Obasanjo was in the vanguard for change and the people got change, now that the change has come, and the gentleman found out that the change he desired has turned out to be a mirage, he recounted and gunned for another change. It is almost three years now and those who have labelled him a navigator and statesman and the conscience of the nation are now gunning for his scalp, is that the way   democracy practiced?

Former president Olusengun Obasanjo

We hoped for change and we got change. We criticised, went to court, set up inquiries to exhume malpractices  that brought in  Governor Ayo Fayose to power in Ekiti state, we even had serving force men dismissed or retired for the role  they played in the entire saga. Another election has just taken place three years after the change, have we learnt anything? The account of the last election has even surpassed, by far, what happened in Ekiti in 2014. The question then is; who is fooling who?

When Obasanjo was attacked President Goodluck Jonathan and all leaders before him, those who found it convenient  hailed him and Abeokuta rock house villa became the  political destination for all who wanted his endorsement. Now that he is humming a new tune,  he has now become the villain.

Why will it take this regime all of three years to discover that Obasanjo is not the saint he claims to be? Can our politics not be fairness and truthful? All those in opposition in the past and now running the affairs of the country should pause and think if this is the democracy they dreamn’t of. We fought the Babangidas, Abachas, Obasanjos, Jonathans to get this, what an irony!

The past INEC chairman Professor Attahiru Jega  was quoted in a news report as saying  that ex-president Jonathan never interfered with INEC operations during the 2015 elections. Can we  in  all honesty say, that is the case today? We are beginning to see a pattern of harassment of individuals, who are poised to go against those in authority, some former friends  who are  now strange bed fellows, being arrested and put in detention for offences committed for some unknown reasons.

We must not be deceived by the mob reaction, the present people in position of authority are intolerant of opposition, pure  and simple. That is why all those who  contributed to the defeat of the People’s Democratic Party, PDP,  crossed over to the APC party. But see what the out come is! A crying shame!

The EFCC is pretending to fight corruption with the coordinated attack of people in the opposition, while petitions against those in the ruling party remain under investigation perpetually. It is important for us to note that without a vibrant opposition, this country can never move forward. This attempt to muzzle the opposition in the name of fighting corruption is not in the interest of this nation, the end result will only be failure of the cause and  that is what’s happening now.  The first lesson in leadership is the ability to take responsibility. The ability to take a decision and see it  through. So, a leader who fails to accept responsibility for his actions, is not a good leader.

Governance is a continuum. One government cannot finish all the tasks that it has set for itself and when a new one comes in, it takes over from where the old one has stopped, with all the baggages and “what not”. It is no longer news that the PDP ruled for 16 years, without any meaningful progress. That was why the people decided to go for  a change that the APC party  offered and promised.

The corruption, the waste, insecurity, religious and ethnic crises, insurgency, settlers-indigenes/herdsmen crises and other elements of a potentially failed state were present and the people needed a change, at least a semblance of it. Instead, we have gone deeper into the rot, people have said that if you keep doing the same thing, under the same circumstances and conditions, you will get the same result.

There is nothing different in the manner the APC has governed this country in  the last three years that is essential  different from what  the PDP.  For the avoidance of doubt, no one should even begin to mention . We can re fresh our memories with Nuhu Ribadu’s EFCC under the Obasanjo presidency,. What the EFCC is doing now is no different from what the agency did then. A one sided war on corruption can never achieve result unless it is holistic.

Anything  half measures cannot yield the desired result.  So, because  politicians know that our people are gullible, they just come up with lies and fabrications to cover up their failures. That is why the APC government has not been able to take us out of the rot. They have refused to take responsibility and are looking for excuses and attributing everything to the past, that is a very bad way to govern.

Excuses do not give results, excuses only end you failures because it is an escapist way of solving problems, it beclouds your reasoning, analytical and objective mind and replaces it with sentiments, which does not have a place in societies that aspire to make progress and where rational thoughts are upheld.

The people in government should take a look in the mirror and they will discover that the cause of the stagnation or retrogression in the present state of Nigeria is the person they  see in the mirror. When you take responsibility for your actions, you will see what you have done wrong.  From then on, you strive to take decisions based solely on merit, it will make you grow above sentiments and above all, take decisions for the general good of the people.

The rot in government, the economy, especially the oil sector, the social dislocations in many parts of the country, our inability to achieve unity and build a strong nation are all products of bad leadership. Let us have leaders who can openly  admit their  failure and that of their team, then table it for rational minds to proffer solutions and the country will move forward.

Let us have a leader that will be open to suggestions from all  irrespective of religion, ethnicity or party. Let us have leaders who will pursue the values that will bring unity to this country rather than divide. Let us have a leader who will take responsibility, one who would lay down structures and systems that will push this nation forward, not one who fools the people and does not realise that not all the people  are fools.