By Innocent Okon
Chinua Achebe, the late writer and literary laureate from Nigeria’s South Eastern political bloc, once posited that the trouble with Nigeria was (and is) leadership.
He came to this unassailable submission after a thorough analysis of cyclical socio-economic and political deficiencies that had remained malignant in our national polity since our independence from our colonial masters in 1960!
In that treatise which he poignantly entitled: THE TROUBLE WITH NIGERIA, Achebe identified absence of visionary, detribalised, altruistic and knowledge-driven leadership as the bane of quality leadership in Nigeria after the political exit of British rule in 1960.
In order to make his readers know that he was not offering another fiction using elegant prose, Achebe mentioned Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe as post-independent leaders in Nigeria who saw national leadership as “pension and gratuity” for certain services and sacrifices they made to facilitate the political independence of Nigeria!
Decades now, that book may not enjoy revised editions or reprints by popular demand, but the truth it encapsulated has remained constant as Shakespeare’s Northern star. Subject it to any analytical appraisal by any political school of thought, the truth remains that the life of any political creation rises and falls with the presence or absence of effective and quality leadership.
Another “Trouble with Nigeria” which Achebe never diagnosed was the quality of leadership within the component political units called states and local governments within the matrix of the nation state. Largely due to the dysfunctional Federalism where national resources are custodied at the centre, only very few bother to ask probing questions on the process of leadership recruitment at the state and local government tiers of governance!
As drums are rolled out to celebrate the 37th birthday of Akwa Ibom state, it is apt to take more than a passing glance at the leadership recruitment process in the state since September 23, 1987.
For a clinical visceral peregrination, years of military rule in the governance of the state should be excluded since such leaders where appointed and not elected. The concern here is primarily on the way and manner elected Governors secured democratic eligibility to mount the saddle of leadership.
It is on record that since civil governance birthed, only three of the five elected Governors of this state actually declared, worked and used resources outside public coffers to actualise their gubernatorial ambition!
The first elected Governor of Akwa Ibom, Obong Akpan Isemin came to power without any support from a sitting Governor. He worked with like political minds to secure his tickets both at intra-Party and inter-Party elections! He relocated from Lagos to Akwa Ibom to execute this political project.
In 1999, Obong Victor Attah was elected. He had to relocate from Kaduna and suspended his professional practice as an architect of note to pursue his political ambition. He mobilised his friends and private resources to prosecute his election. His emergence at the Party level may not have been democratic, but was a confirmation of a confident and independent man who wanted a job he needed no mentorship! Another Governor that came solo in 2007 was Chief Godswill Obot Akpabio. He wanted the job and worked for it with his vast network of both old and young friends. Unfortunately, it was the same Akpabio that institutionalised the “anointing” of successors to exiting Governors in the state!
From the blues, he ‘imported’ Mr. Udom Emmanuel, a banker who was little known in the political space of the state, first as the Secretary to the State Government, an office that provided him the quantum leap to the Gubernatorial seat in 2015.
Many in the state still believe that without the generous deployment of state resources in that election, the table would have turned against the ruling PDP.
Like cyclical epidemic, the penchant for choice of successor became palpable in 2023 when the state was under the watch of Governor Udom Emmanuel. He never concealed his desire to choose and work for his successor! Needless to say that he succeeded after many battles in the political field and courts.
Though some people have eulogised the stability this seamless transition of ‘anointed’ successors have achieved in the last two experiments, it is high time we took more than a cursory look at the flipside of this political master card!
It’s no issue that leaders do emerge by consensus in most matured political economies. But personal preparation fueled by conviction to lead and serve must be expressed and exhibited by the aspirant!
A sitting Governor should no longer seize the resources placed at his disposal by virtue of his office to impose his choice on the rest of us! At 37, the traditional rulers and elders in all the geo-political blocs of Akwa Ibom should resolve to present a common position on the need for incumbent Governors to serve and exit power without overt interference in the process of emergence of his successor, particularly at the intra -Party level! There is no birthday gift that will be better than the resolve to discourage and stop further custody of the choice for the highest office in the state by only one elected but imperial public office holder!
The destiny of this state may not crystallize if the highest political office is periodically captured, slaughtered and shared among few like a stolen he goat! God bless Akwa Ibom @37.
Okon, a journalist and lawyer, lives in Uyo
