In the entire history of the world, the world has never existed without challenges and it would never. At every phase of human history, leadership is required to change the world; authentic, visionary, assertive, creative, transformative, sincere and disruptive leaders are required to fix and forge their societies forward. At the peak of public leadership in any country is the presidential leadership, either a president, prime minister, or a monarch, every nation looks up to the Head of State to provide hope, optimism and shared social possibilities. To lead a country in a time of chaos and complex crisis, the…
Author: Sanusi Muhammad
In our Nigeria of today, several Nigerians are stuck with zero experience of what it means to live in a decently administered society with robust leadership. The unfortunate situation of these days, quickly reminds me of the past. In my school days, bars of soap and school uniforms were given out to pupils, free from primary – secondary schools. In Government College Keffi (GCK) for instance, even toilet paper were given out to students for free accompanied with weekly stipend while the school food was superb and rich. The college’s sick bay was stocked with medicines and positioned to admit…
After decades of cooling in the lurch, by divine intervention came for Nigeria’s Pearl of Tourism State, Bauchi when, in 2019, majority of the people elected what came close to their idea of a people’s government. A democratic government focused in leadership, courageous in execution of policies and with uncompromising posture against mago-mago, wuru-wuru and other vices inimical to development. The election of Sen. Bala Muhammed lifted the people’s moral and the governor, aware of the heavy burden on his shoulders, literally hit the ground running when he assumed office. He has not buckled under the burden since he started.…
Retired Military General Muhammadu Buhari deserves no blame for the kind of leadership he gives Nigerians because he never begged anyone to be dragged into partisan politics. He was living in the comfort of his retirement when he was dragged into politics based on a very wrong rating of his performance as a former ruthless military head of state. One of those that threw an honest invitation for the interest of Nigerian Nation to the retired general was Ahmadu Adamu Mu’azu, then governor of Bauchi State in 2021 during an official visit to the state for commissioning exercise of some…
I deem it most appropriate at this period to share my objective assessment of the performance of the president of my country, retired Army General, Muhammadu Buhari GCFR for posterity to judge not minding the political party he belongs or the consequences of my assessment from lap and attack dogs in desperation for recognition as the vogue these days. Retired General Buhari as president right from the start of his model of governance cornered two important and strategic portfolios that carry along with them considerable executive powers for the past seven years since he was sworn-in on May 29, 2015,…
At the heat of persistent banditry attacks in parts of Wase Local Government Area in Plateau State, during an interface meeting with selected members of the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), in his ancestral home of Bashar, the member representing Wase Federal Constituency and Deputy Speaker of the Federal House of Representatives, Rt. Hon. Ahmed Idris Wase, made a categorical statement of hope. He sounded a word of warning to all those involved in the murderous act to either repent or be prepared to face the music. “Let me assure you all that are here even if it’s my…
Politicians and political leaders in general and elected officials in particular, get blamed for any and all national headaches—–unemployment, poverty, insecurity, corruption, underdevelopment etc. Blame is justified because leaders ask to lead, and blame for lapses comes with the territory that leaders occupy. Not a few will argue that if political leaders voted into office by the electorate are not prepared for the heat, they should not get into the kitchen of politics. However, I argue here that followers also share in the blame of bad governance that creates national headaches. Followership blame may come at two levels. First is…
To some, I may sound an atheist or a pagan while some, may have a better rating of my opinion from deep understanding of issues raised. Whichever way, I stand by the points painstakingly raised in this essay. It was in 2004, a British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) world report noted that Nigeria was the most religious country on planet earth. “Over 90% of Nigerians say to be believers in God (Allah), pray regularly more than any other venture and can even die for their beliefs justifiably or through ignorance”. A year earlier in 2003, a study carried out in more…
Mob action has been part of our national politics from time immemorial. We can recall the infamous wild west rioting of the 1950s, Onitsha market women’s rioting and the 2011 post-election violence in Bauchi and other northern states. Mobs destroy and scarcely create. Be it as wild savages or unthinking herds, it has always been the pre-occupation of the mob to tear and destroy. Take the Nigerian mob for instance by its impulsiveness, lack of forethought and restrain, want of personal and societal ethics it expedites the destruction of everything and anything—-like an unpopular policy or worn-out civilization. Whether concrete…
Youth are in most cases touted as leaders of tomorrow by their elders and leaders but are not sincerely prepared to be the leaders as claimed. The elders are not ready to vacate the scene into retirement for the youth to takeover peacefully. The elders and leaders are the albatross of the youths in politics. Since the return of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, there has been an increase in the clamor and agitation for a change of political gladiators in the leadership structure of Nigeria from ward–local government–state and the federal level. These agitations were born out of the…
“Within the traditional council, we have carefully studied the policy thrusts of Governor Simon Bako Lalong of Plateau State towards poverty eradication and sustainable economic growth of the state. We are convinced that his policies are tailored to the economic viability of the state. His stewardship is adding credence to his policies”……….. Alh (Dr) Muhammad Sambo Haruna, Emir of Wase Poverty has been one of the forces militating against the socio-economic development of Nigeria and a threat to national security overtime. The level of poverty in Nigeria is astronomically potent and politically embarrassing, considering the enormous human and mineral resources…
The video clips of the gruesome murder, maiming, torture and other forms of punishments of several innocent persons by Boko Haram insurgents, kidnappers and bandits are revealing and worrisome. It gives several people sleepless nights and made others to regret born as Nigerians and to have lived all these years to witness the present situation we have found ourselves courtesy of cluelessness, corrupt and ineptitude leadership at various levels of government. One pauses to ponder the pains and trauma of Nigerians who have become widows, widowers, cripples, orphans and incurred other forms of disabilities as well as those whose means…
Who should we trust again with the leadership of our dear country with glaring failure staring President Buhari and his drowning All Progressives Congress (APC) that trumpeted competence and sincerity for trust in 2015? In 2015, the three major campaign promises of Muhammadu Buhari of the APC were on security, economy and anti-corruption. Despite several setbacks in his war against insurgency, history may not be too harsh on Buhari because outright defeat of insurgency is near impossible. Although Nigeria’s stakeholders including Obasanjo, who had warned President Buhari not to treat killer herdsmen with kid gloves but as terrorists at a…
“The man dies in him who keeps silence in the face of tyranny”…….Wole Soyinka Nigeria, the once peaceful and economically buoyant country with united and happy people is steadily heading to disintegration courtesy of bad governance and nonchalant attitudes of the citizenry coupled with unabated corrupt practices and mal-functional system piloted by half-illiterates and poorly exposed politicians with low morals. Looking back into past security challenges, the blood thirsty squad that invaded Federal Government College, Buni Yadi in Yobe state on February 25, 2014, comprised adolescent boys. Moving in deathly herds, they invaded the high school like a storm cloud…
Some deployed deceitful mechanisms and were mistakenly voted to elective offices, but if carefully rescreened with their sordid past and present cases of malfeasance, are not better than street urchins, armed robbers and rogues who later transformed to full scale banditry in their localities that the larger society is compelled to battle but are in leadership shielding their field commanders in crime with official cover. In some few cases, those classified by the society as miscreants seems more intelligent, educated, vibrant, exposed and patriotic than those in elective offices primarily for personal aggrandizement, ego and sustenance of heinous crimes against…
Since creation, Nigerians have never had it this bad according to history. I’m talking about the reality of terrible oddities in our lives. Strange acts wrought by people who seem ordinary from wretched homes but sophisticated in wickedness and barbarism while leadership. Men rape their daughters. Other ones and their sons take turns in raping minors who they put in family ways. Claimed religious leaders, rape physically challenged ladies in places of worship and flee. Boys go after girls’ under wears for money ritual. Human waste becomes edible in a money making ritual. Boys rape their grandmothers. Men sleep with…
Active citizenship demands that we interrogate the terms and buzzwords that overtly and subliminally shape public opinion. In Nigeria, since the 1990s, politicians and the media are fond of using racialist concepts in discussing politics and ethnic relations. It is now commonplace to read or listen to pundits trumpeting the supposed virtues and interests of the “Yoruba race” or the “Igbo race”. However, the description of an ethnic group as a “race” is a misnomer. In 1992, the late veteran politician and elder statesman, Yusuf Maitama Sule (Dan masanin Kano) said in a speech delivered at Mumbaya House, Kano that:…
Wonders shall never end. Whatever befalls Nigerians from the governing style of the ruling party APC deserves no sympathy because it was what was planned by the imposers and bargained by Nigerians. A dog was given a bad name in order to hang it. The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), rode to power in 2015 on the heroic, almost superhuman feats of its doting, fanatical supporters, and on the unprecedented seismic political and electoral shifts never before felt in these parts. Now, the seismic shifts seem fated to unravel via similar but destructive superhuman feats of its spurned and disillusioned…
Nigeria is a country that has been on the reverse gear within comity of civilized nations where the extant law believes and encourages selective justice. It is a country that worships sentiments and subscribes to hypocrisy. It is a country that thieves, looters, drug barons and even scientific pimps are worshipped for what they can offer. It is a country where the rich are above the law because administrators of the law are friends and sponsors of those in power. Nigeria is a country where a stark illiterate can easily access power and encouraged to abuse such power for personal…
We all know the existence of threatening poverty and unemployment courtesy of ineptitude of those in leadership. We are aware of what is expected from those in authority and those close to those on the corridors of power. We have been witnessing several Kannywood drama series on how leaders, trade unrefined lies just to deceive the people to believing falsehood. We have seen how community leadership claimants misuse their trusted positions to shortchange their ignorant followers. We are witnesses to how leaders build empires with public funds and expect same shortchanged followers to remain loyal to their whims and caprices…
Let me start by making reference to the scripture where it was stated that once upon a time, there reigned a King in Israel who was given a blank cheque by the Almighty to request for whatever he wanted. That King was so loved and blessed, that even, what he did not request was given to him. That King was Solomon (Prophet Solomon) whose wisdom was rated higher than normal. Yet, he was led down to the path of destruction by praise singers. Same fate befell his son Rehoboam who had the greatest opportunity to rebuild the battered image of…
As the 2023 general election approaches fast, All Progressives Congress (APC) as the ruling party seems to have lost direction and the idea of how to confront those challenges of the strongest opposition party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the coming general elections. APC was created by power mongers who were hungry and so desperate to wrest power from the performing PDP that was tolerant and more democratic in governance. Instead of the APC to conduct credible internal primary elections, in the absence of credible aspirants, it hurriedly opted to imposition and claimed consensus. For instance in one of…
When the idea was mooted for a mega party to confront the alleged ‘atrocities’ of the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, Nigerians were skeptical of the sincerity involved but subscribed to the hokum while praying for the reality to surface. Those who thought nothing good could come out of the mega-merger have since realized that their perception was not a foolery while some are due for mental equilibrium examination for believing in the trumpeted CHANGE now at the grave yard waiting for un-ceremonial burial in 2023. At its registration, All Progressives Congress (APC) pretended to be nationalistic with its anti-corruption stance…
The large piece of land referred to as Northern Nigeria occupies about 2/3 of the entire land space of Nigeria and despite all distortions houses over 60 percent of the entire population of the country, Nigeria. At the inception of colonial domination, ‘the British adventurers found already in place similar or even more sophisticated culture of learning, government, administration and flourishing commerce in Northern Nigeria. It was therefore, not difficult after the conquest with the defeat of His Eminence Sultan Attahiru of Sokoto Caliphate in the early 1960s that a system of indirect rule was foisted over the region. The…
We erroneously thought at its inception, the outgoing 9th National Assembly was going to be better in stewardship than the 8th Assembly piloted by Sen. Bukola Saraki and Yakubu Dogara in robust legislation. Alas! We were damn wrong forgetting that its principal officers were party loyalists and sycophants of the executive handpicked and hoisted on the Assembly for business as usual to fester. Honorable Gudaji Kazaure said it all in his several unguided public statements and body language. What we have today, are contractors rather than legislators more occupied with how to win government contracts than how to checkmate the…
What now remains for President Muhammadu Buhari and his 2014/15 hurriedly cobbled political party through a gang-up, All Progressives Congress (APC), is to insert corrupt practices in our Constitution as legitimate practice even if dictated. All those languishing in jails should be freed, celebrated and honored by the Buhari administration for their deployed expertise and courage in stealing public funds through different guises budgeted for development and the good of the people. First to be exonerated from any allegation of corruption should be our national lawmakers who have mustered the art of monetizing constituency projects through their companies and in…
As the 2023 general election year is fast approaching, the better for the anti-corruption agencies to start early preparations against the excesses of moneybags that deny average Nigerians with legitimate finance to access elective offices for the good of all. The anti-corruption agencies should be fully prepared to reach out to the 774 local governments in the country to monitor campaigns and elections. Trained Ad-hoc staff through the Election Monitoring Teams can be of tremendous assistance for the success of the operation for the good of all. No doubt, politics cannot be played without finance. But a situation where money…
One cannot claim being one of those ‘professional’ Prophets predicting the future, neither can one claim being a soothsayer, fortune teller or Babalawo with the oracle. But unfolding events associated with the governing styles of the ruling party, APC at all levels, are enough reasons to position one to predict the future of the party in the coming 2023 elections. APC harvested victory on the perceived credibility of its 2015 presidential candidate, a retired Nigerian Army General, Muhammadu Buhari. He gathered support to access power across the political divide in anticipation for good governance tailored to the Unity and Progress…
From this moment to the early part of next year, the polity will be charged by serious and masquerading politicians in aspiration for elective positions and their supporters. Deceitful games and unquantifiable lies will occupy the centre stage of the campaigns. Those seeking tenure renewal, will rely on the strength of their stewardship while the corrupt and those suffering from credibility crisis will play money and dirty politics to perfect their mischievous plans. Suffice it to when former president Obasanjo completed his two constitutionally terms in 2007 there was no controversy as which of the regions was to produce the…
Its recorded casualty at the 2015 presidential and some gubernatorial elections in major states, was a devastating blow to the solar plexus of the former ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). And despite its organizational fragility and lack of cohesion having been hurriedly cobbled together for the polls as an election winning machine, the All Progressives Congress (APC) moved with lightening speed to attempt putting a seal of finality on PDP’s coffin of electoral mummification in 2015. The party found most handy in this regard the alleged reckless looting of humongous amounts of public funds by assorted leaders of…
