Between Jonathan and Kwankwaso
Who will make a better president between Goodluck Jonathan and Musa
Kwankwaso? This question is of the essence. It calls for a deep
reflection because these two men may end up as presidential candidates in
the 2015 general election. What qualities do we need in a president
given our present
condition as a nation? We really need someone who has the capacity to
pull us out of economic doldrums. Somebody who can energize the masses
and make us have faith in Nigeria. At the moment, Nigeria has scant
resemblance to anything like an emerging power. This is a country where
democratic institutions remain weakly rooted. God has blessed us so much
with human and material resources that we have no business being poor.
But the poverty in the land is ungodly. A vast majority of Nigerians are
wallowing in abject poverty and lack. We need someone who can change
this narrative.
The job of a president is a potent one. The politics of it is so
vicious precisely because the stakes are so high. The job is not an easy
one so we need a man who has what it takes to govern such a complex
country as ours. Who is going to be the potent architect of a new
Nigeria? Who is going to be our transformational leader? A
transformational leader has to be sure of what he wants to happen and
extraordinarily strong-willed in seeing that it does. For the sake of
clarification, leaders are not always in the right. Students of
history will recall that Winston Churchill was just as clear in his mind
and just as strong willed when he was wrong about the Indian Empire Act
and the retention of Edward VIII on the throne of England as when he
was fatefully so right about Hitler and the significance of radar.
Leaders that make impact are those who identify the needful and work
towards its realization. There is a very big difference between what is
desirable and what is necessary. In Nigeria today what is necessary is
the reduction of corruption. It is a cancer that has eaten into the
vitals of the nation. It is either we reduce it or the vicious cycle
continues. Who can fight corruption between these two men?
President Goodluck Jonathan is obviously a humble and amiable man.
These are good qualities that a leader should have. I admire his
humility and simplicity a lot. But can our dear President confront
corruption? Can he do the necessary instead of the desirable? The answer
is plain for everybody to see. Jonathan does not have it in his makeup
to fight corruption. He may not be corrupt but he doesn't have the
courage to stop his lieutenants from fleecing the nation. There is no
way we can make progress without confronting this monstrous evil.
Fighting corruption is the necessary thing we need to do. Determining
what is necessary as distinct from what is desirable is a lot harder
than it sounds. Newt Gingrich has this to say: 'One of the things I
love to do is read the documents left behind by the historical figures
who one way or another shaped our world: General Eisenhower, George
Marshall, Churchill, and so on. The first thing that strikes one in all
of their papers is how briefly and with what clarity each of these men
was able to communicate his intentions and instructions. One
particularly striking document is a memo written by Eisenhower rather
early on in World War II, in which he sternly insisted that those
responsible for the conduct of the war keep in mind the distinction
between the necessary and the desirable. Our President is spending his
energy only on the desirable.
Can Musa Kwankwaso do the necessary? Does he have the firmness of
character to confront this monster? The governor of Kano State has the
gift of wisdom and courage. His strength and eloquence as a role model
to the young people have won him many admirers. What he did in the area
of stopping the sponsorship of pilgrims to Mecca is commendable. He
regarded it as a waste of public fund and he went on to stop it. The
money that is tagged Security Vote he has channeled into the development
of the
state. To him, that money encourages corruption and theft. Kwankwaso has
brought sanity on Kano roads. He said: 'The Kano State Traffic Road
Agency, KAROTA, was set up to restore sanity in the state. Many
residents of Kano fear them more than any other thing because I gave
them instruction to arrest anyone, no matter their position once they
flout traffic laws. I told them also that if you arrest any commissioner
or top government officials for contravening traffic rule and they dare
mention my name that they should double their penalties.†This is the
kind of discipline that is needed in the governance of this country.
Kwankwaso also revealed that he has done a lot of things to strengthen
the government house and other places in the state and promote peace.
'All these things we have done without borrowing money. The state
government has done them without borrowing from within or outside
Nigeria. It is our policy not to borrow money. In fact, even the N77
billion we inherited as debt, we have only N20 billion outstanding.â€
That is the direction that Nigeria needs to go.
But there is an obstacle that Kwankwaso needs to surmount if he has to
govern this country. He has to prove to the Southern Christians that he
loves them. Love means so much to those of us who are Christians because
that is the central message of our Lord and Saviour Jesus the Christ.
As one writer puts it, 'Christ taught the purest and sublimest ethics
which throws the moral precepts and maxims of the wisest men of
antiquity into the shade'. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount is the most
superlative teaching of human ethics ever uttered by an individual. All
these messages center on love. So, Christians know what love blows and
smells like. That is the fuel we need. Can Kwankwaso be a partner in our
thoughts, cares and feelings? I do not think he will alienate us but
it is only Kwankwaso who can answer this question satisfactorily.
By Ikechukwu Orji.
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