EVERY Easter, like the one celebrated this week, Nigerian leaders send messages to Nigerians, exhorting them to be good citizens. Yet, if the leaders examine themselves, they would realise they are the ones who need exhortations: to be good leaders. Indeed, few people need the redemption and renewal that the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ brought to humanity more than Nigerian leaders!

LAST week, most Nigerian newspapers were awash with stories about the International Monetary Fund’s 2019 Article IV Consultation with the country. This is an annual process in which the IMF scrutinises a country’s economic management and reports its findings.

ALL nations were once poor and chaotic, but several have successfully transited from poverty to prosperity, from anarchy to order and stability. Some are, however, still stuck in extreme poverty and chaos. A modern example of the former is China. In 1951, China was an impoverished backwater, today it’s an economic superpower. Nigeria, sadly, is an acute example of the latter – still stuck in extreme poverty and chaos.

EMINENT statesmen from the North and South of Nigeria publicly endorsed the candidature of Alhaji Atiku Abubakar in this year’s presidential election. Leaders of the Pan-Niger Delta Forum, the Northern Elders Forum, the Middle Belt Forum, Afenifere and Ohanaeze Ndigbo came together under the umbrella of the Leaders and Elders Forum of Nigeria and gave their collective backing to the presidential candidate of the Peoples Democratic Party. They said Atiku “demonstrated the deep understanding of the critical needs of the country at this time and possesses the capacity to proffer clear solutions in that respect.” The former vice president, the elders concluded, was the only candidate who could “retool Nigeria on the path of development as a true federal entity”.

LAST year,  Ibrahim Mantu, a former  Deputy Senate President, told Channel TV how he helped rig elections. Apparently incredulous, the interviewer, Esther Ogun-Yusuf, repeated what she heard. “Can I just clarify one thing”, she said, “Did I hear you say you helped to rig elections before now?” Mantu replied: “Yes, I did, I am now confessing the truth”, adding he was now a “born-again politician”. The rigging, he explained, didn’t always involve tampering with ballot boxes, but “giving  money to INEC boys to help if they can see any chance that they can favour you  and  providing  money to security agencies”.