By Daniel Kanu
Valentine Ozigbo is a business leader, an inspirational politician and multiple-award- winning CEO of the Transcorp Group. He was the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) governorship candidate in Anambra State in the 2021 election. He later resigned from the PDP and threw his weight behind Peter Obi, the candidate of the Labour Party (LP) in the 2023 presidential election.
In this chat with Sunday Sun, he speaks on the challenge of leadership and followership, and the need to ensure that right individuals are put in place of leadership for maximum result. Excerpt:
At the recent Niche Lecture at the Nigerian Institute of International Relations, NIIA, in Lagos where you were part of the discussants on the theme: Why we stride and slip: Leadership, Nationalism and the Nigerian Condition, you disagreed with the Guest Speaker, Rt. Hon. Chibuike Amaechi who submitted that followership remains the country’s biggest problem and should be blamed for failures in our development?
Well, that is his view and he has a right to his views, but for me, I tend to disagree a bit and the reason is not far-fetched. This is a very important discussion, it is about nation-building, it is about looking at our past and asking the question: How did we get here and from there you examine your mistakes and know what should be done to get the right result. This is a topic we have debated over and over for a long time. It is an issue we have rehearsed over and over. Some of us have since stopped discussing it. It is not that we should not go back to the past to know where the problem started, but because the issues are well documented and well-spoken about. What we now need is people accepting responsibilities for their own errors, whether you are a leader, whether you are a citizen and doing the needful, including playing your own part in changing the story. So, leaders are to be blamed and followers have their own share of the blame, but if we want to deal with the issue, focus on leadership because the way it is in life you can’t deal with the whole world at the same time, you deal with the few and those are the leaders. They are the ones that give direction, influence and shape the future, then followers will now follow, that is why it is followership, leading and followership. So, from the literary meaning anybody making the debate against it is totally out of it. The truth is that both are to be blamed, but leaders should even be blamed more because the responsibility to correct is in their hand. What we now need to do as citizens is to stop being idiots, and when I say idiots, I am quoting the Greek word to describe people who are self-centered. For instance, when they are writing an exam they are cheating, when they are in the office they are stealing, and their dealings are only on transactional basis, such people need orientation, they need training and we need enforcement, there has to be consequences, then let them migrate to becoming citizens, not just about their tribe, let’s go beyond tribe, not just people who think only of their tribe, ethnic sentiment, we must go beyond that to being nationalists. When we are doing such, that is when any of us becomes leader or gets the opportunity to lead you with a national interest not tribal. You become a national leader and then all others who are followers can actually hold those people responsible and accountable and stop being passive. When things go wrong let us shout, let’s speak the truth, when these things are done the stories will change. When you have good, quality leaders who lead with sincerity and total commitment to service for the good of all, followership will key into their vision.
What is your take on the coming November election in Imo State, especially on the preparation of your party, the Labour Party in getting victory?
Sincerely speaking, on the Imo election, obviously, all that we always ask for is let the level-playing field be there. We just need a level-playing field and I am certain that the Labour Party will defeat any other party in Imo State, that I am sure. The Imo State people are yearning, and desiring for a change and they see that positive change coming from the Labour Party and their candidate. LP has the best candidate in Imo and that is who the people want. Just ensure that there is a level playing field on the election day and you will see the choice Imolites will make. The Imo people need a good change for the better and they see such quality replacement coming from the LP. LP will defeat any other political party in the state if a level playing field is assured, that I can confidently tell you. Labour Party is the party to beat today as far as Imo State is concerned and the evidence is there for everybody to see.
Still on the issue of leadership, why is it that most politicians distance themselves from the people who voted them into office to represent them and how do we rectify such?
It is because you choose a wrong person. When you have the right person who emerged through a right process, a person that has capacity, track record and who made the right promises, you will get the right person. In the first place, the candidate will deliver and will always make himself or herself available for the people. The person will not have any reason to distance himself from the people when he is fulfilling campaign promises and even going beyond the promise to do more.
Your support for Peter Obi was massive during the presidential campaign till date…?
(Cuts in) It was borne out of the conviction that he has all it takes to lead our great country and as I had said at various fora, Mr Peter Obi is a Nigerian politician I have great and utmost respect for. Having worked with him closely, during my governorship campaign in 2021, I can attest that he is a thoughtful, kind and very generous leader who seeks excellence in all that he does. As I have always said spending many months working with him, you will realise he is a phenomenal personality and I am convinced that he has an abiding love for the country and Nigeria will benefit from his leadership if given the opportunity. He has the right vision for the country, the temperance, capacity, credibility, and experience to take Nigeria out of the woods to join the comity of other nations on the wings of growth and progress. You can’t but acknowledge the brilliance of Peter Obi and his humility to serve the nation. As a governor, eight years in office in Anambra, he transformed the leadership culture of the state with his style of down-to-earth grassroots engagement and prudential management of resources. You can see the massive support he got from all parts of the country and the calculated manipulations done with the outcome of the election. You can see for yourself that Nigerians are not happy today. So sad.