… Middle Belt boycotts Lecture

By Luka Binniyat

KADUNA – President Goodluck Jonathan and the Sultan of Sokoto, Alh. Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III Thursday, in a rare show of despondency over the plight of Northern Nigeria, publicly upbraided current leadership of the North.

This happened  at 10th Annual Memorial Lecture of  the late Premier of Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, the late Sardauna Sokoto,  at Arewa House Kaduna.

But, in what may appear as a discernable crack in the “One North in Diversity” ideology of the late Sardauna, aside from Gen (rtd)  Theophilus Danjuma , a Jukun from Taraba state  –  former Minister of Defence – not a single traditional ruler from  the Middle Belt , nor any  of its prominent person was in attendance at the Lecture hall full of Emirs and prominent Hausa/Fulani  public figures.

The Sultan, President Jonathan and Sanusi

The Senate President, seen as the leading political figure of the Middle Belt, did not attend, and did not send a representative.

The Sardauna of Sokoto observed that contrary to the exemplary  leadership exhibited by the late Sardauna, those who came after him, displayed greed and massively looted the treasury leading to mass poverty in the society.

The Governor of the Central Bank, Mallam Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who was the Guest lecturer, also echoed the same view after delivering his paper, entitled: Dynamics of Global Economy and Challenges on the Nigerian Polity”

“The Sardauna Sokoto was a leader who lived for his people;  worked for his people and died for his people living behind neither personal wealth nor mansion nor estate for his own immediate family”, the President said in his speech read by Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alh. Yayale Ahmed. “ This can be testified to by the Sultan of Sokoto”, he said.

“ It is this outstanding quality that has made the Sardauna an objective mentor either in the public or in the private sector in this country Nigeria”, he added.`

“In his official conduct to public affairs, the late premier was well known to be a great democrat who avoided taking unilateral decisions; he believed in practicality, worked within pragmatic of governments. Those who worked with him testified that he always consulted his colleagues and the relevant public officers in all official matters. For the efficacy of public service, he promoted good working relationship between his ministers and the civil servants. He was known to emphasise the need to advice the civil servants on technical professionals and ethical matters”, said the President.

“These are the sanities that were used those years and are still relevant today particularly in our quest for credible leadership, sustainable growth and development.

“These qualities I can testify are no longer available in the civil service”, he went on.

“ what we have is lack of sincerity –  which is below 20% now –  greed and quest for wealth, lust, irresponsibility and of course intolerance of other people view whether on religious or on ethnicity”, he added.

“ Unless we continue to tell ourselves the truth, we will not come out of this shame and we will continue to deceive ourselves and deceives the likes of Sardauna of blessed memory”, he said.

The Sultan was rhetorical in his castigation of modern leaders of the north?

“When we celebrate the life of the late Sardauna, we celebrate excellence in all its ramification”, he said.

“ In Sardauna, we see leadership in action. We see leadership with a clear mission and vision in which he was able to galvanise the people into actions that led to sustainable development of the North.

“Sardauna of blessed memory dedicated his life to the service of his people. He worked for effective participation of the body polity. He worked for the economic upliftment of the North. “He sacrificed his live pursuing the ideals as a nation.

“One may then ask how we were not able to maintain the part of honour and rectitude that Sardauna and his peers had left for us?”

“ How did it happen that the selfless,  purposeful and visionary  leadership that Sardauna left for us is replaced by selfishness and greed; deceit and delusion, and much worse, the seeming madness for the accumulation of ill-gotten wealth.

“ How did it become that Public Service became self-serving? And the ethos of probity  accountability and the common good had given way to unmitigated plunder of treasury and, indeed, what looks like a blind pursuit of the improvement of our societies?

“ What has happen to the legacies of Sir Ahmadu Bello, like the groundnut pyramids and other agricultural commodities that were raw material for our industries?”

“ What has happened to our textile industry to the infrastructure that Sardauna built?”, he asked If there is one lesson that we have to learn from the late Premier of the North is that free and fair elections are meaningless if the produce incompetent leadership.

On the part of the CBN governor, “the tragedy of this North, and indeed this country is avoidable”, said Sanusi.

“ The sad thing about this country is that we produce leaders who are not prepared for leadership, but become leaders so that they can learn about leadership  in position of leadership.

“Leadership requires  training learning and experience, begin from our families, from our Schools and from our cultures. Until we make sure that the we vote for those who are trained, and are ready for leadership, this country cannot move forward”, he said.

“The Sultan and the Oba here have all spoken.

“ To me the idea of whether we need strong institutions or strong leaders is meaningless

“ The institutions you have are only as useful as those who manage them. Therefore we need strong institutions with strong leaders to run them, like the late Sardauna of Sokoto.

Those in attendance are: Governor Patrick Yakowa of Kaduna state; Governor Mua’zu Babangida Aliyu, Chairman of Northern Governors’ Forum; the Emir of Zuru, Gen, (rtd) Sani Sami. The Oba of Lagos, Ahl. Rilwan Akiolu among others.