From Romanus Ugwu, Abuja
National Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Abdullahi Adamu, has listed choice of leadership as one of the challenges confronting the success of democracy in Nigeria.
Adamu stated this on Thursday when he received a delegation of the Savannah Centre for Democracy & Development (Council of the Wise) led by its Chairperson and former President, Court of Appeal (Rtd.), Justice Zainab Adamu Bulkachuwa at the party’s national secretariat, Abuja.
He raised fundamental issues, asking relevant questions of; “why do leaders fail? Where do you get a leader, male or female made of outstanding character of integrity and what have you? And what level of expertise does he require to meet up with the expectations of the people that will make him enjoy the confidence of the electorate?”
“The success of a democracy is multifaceted; the leadership has its roles and the followers have their roles to play.
“We need a lot of attention to address very fundamental issues that affect the success or failure of our democratic processes.
“Ours is a developing democracy as it is a developing economy and there are certain mistakes we make so much, so often that we have no excuse if we have the right leadership to withstand them.
“The success of a democracy is multifaceted; the leadership has its roles and the followers have their roles to play. One of the challenges that confront the success of democracy is the choice of leadership. Why do leaders fail?
“Where do you get a leader, male or female made of outstanding character of integrity and what have you? And what level of expertise does he require to meet up with the expectations of the people and that will make him enjoy the confidence of the electorate? There must be a meeting point.
“One thing I have noticed in course of this journey is that the spotlight has been on leadership… But let us not just address the leadership only because the leadership can succeed to the extent that the followers play according to the rules of the game.
“We must revisit the subject of followership as a country so that we know what is the minimum standard. Why do we keep on talking about corruption and we still have it?
“We must ensure that if we are going to make laws, we ourselves must be sure we are not offenders. For if there is no buyer there will be no seller. Each time I talk about corruption in this country, this keeps coming to my mind that the more we preach against it, the more people keep on doing that. Why?
“I want to call on your council to help us, we are today the chosen leaders of ruling party of the Federal Government of Nigeria. We want to correct as much as we can some of these weaknesses that are identifiable not only now but many of them before we came to power but we want to make the difference.
“We invite you to be our partner in seeking for that difference. We want to assure you that under our National Working Committee, we will work with you because we know that you will deliver. You can invite us to any of your retreats and seminars and you will find us as partners,” he appealed.
Earlier in her remarks, Justice Bulkachuwa stated that for Nigeria to develop, there must be stable good governance, which could best be put in place through free, fair and transparent elections.
“Let me on behalf the Council appeal to the leadership of party to always abide by the party’s Codes of Conduct and Constitution and to ensure internal democracy: inclusive participation, equity and fairness in the running of your Party.
“We also wish to advice that the leadership should also take steps to compel their members, candidates and officials to fully comply with the electoral laws and guidelines issued by the electoral umpire (INEC), in order to develop a culture of integrity and trust.
“It is also the responsibility of the party to ensure that the Political Campaigns are devoid of rancour hate speech, inflammatory and unguided utterances capable of instigating violence. Nigeria deserves peaceful, transparent 2023 elections.
“The Council wishes to remind the Party’s leadership that for Nigeria to develop, there must be stable good governance, which could best be put in place through free, fair and transparent elections.
“In general, Mr. Chairman, the Council believes that the ability of Nigerians to once more prove the prophets of doom and our detractors wrong, largely depends on the conduct of the Parties during the forthcoming 2023 elections. They owe it a duty to the Nigerian people to improve upon and consolidate the democratic successes so far achieved in Nigeria.
“The Council will continue to be reminding all the stakeholders to always listen to their own wise counsel before acting,” he said.