‘Positive leadership panacea for development’
Buhari’s leadership style
Because a leader is one who must be seen to be leading the congregation, once he is of a rotten character, all his followers would adopt the same characteristic. Buhari came on board at the time when Nigeria was in dire need of a driver who can drive everyone to the ‘promised land.’ At the time he was declared winner of last year’s presidential election, the exchange rate of US Dollar dropped and long queues at filling stations in the country totally disappeared. Electricity supply improved and people with skeletons in their cupboard became naturally jittery.
Let me tell you one thing that is indisputable, no matter how one hates Buhari, you cannot call him a thief. That is a special treasure he was endowed with and there is no doubt about it. Every human being has his own peculiar weaknesses and Buhari is no exception and even people like Obasanjo who allegedly wreaked havoc on the nation had attested to the fact that Buhari is honest, prudent and trustworthy.
Even General Ibrahim Badamasi Babangida (rtd.) once disclosed in an interview with The Guardian that he can attest to the fact there is no way Buhari can be a party to any illicit arrangement. On coming on board he introduced a unique paradigm shift on how appointment should be done. Governors who had in the past selected a person of their choice no longer had a field day in doing what they wanted.
What he did in appointing his ministers was in line with the leverage accorded him by the constitution without the governors calling the shots. He had effectively utilized the opportunity to appoint ministers by himself and all the ministers are under his tutelage. Every minister is afraid to misbehave knowing that he can be booted out unlike in the past when the system was cumbersome. A situation whereby a minister was a younger brother to a governor and in time of conflict the governor can be used to oust a minister from his seat is no longer here. The situation has changed considerably and Buhari has effected a positive change.
Every Nigerian is now fully convinced that he has a leader in the saddle of leadership who can be called a leader under whatever guise. Even the International Community had given him a clean bill of health on the issue of credible leadership while his avowed foes know that they have a leader in power. The white men accept one as a leader when his people cherished him. That is what made Buhari to draw support from the outside world.
The recent presidential media chat
The presidential media chat was for the president to come out and clarify some thorny issues that every Nigerian was really eager to hear from him. He is one always ready to rub minds with the press. For over a period of forty years he had been known to be listening to the media for him to comprehend knotty issues at hand. Even on the battlefield during the Nigerian Civil war, he was known to have kept a constant tab on what was happening in the media in wartime knowing that it is only through the media that the issue of democracy could be made to succeed and reach fruition.
The media chat was really a swift and apt response to the pressure mounted by those who were desperate to know what was happening in the country regarding his policy thrust. He felt the compelling need to address the nation by himself without even assigning his senior aides to handle the task. This is a president who was voted by fifteen million Nigerians. He felt that there was the need for him to explain the situation of the country by himself so that people could hear from the horse’s mouth.
It was even good that the people heard from him and he had made it explicitly clear to everyone that all he has been doing was for the sake of the common man and national interest. This is what every Nigerian is supposed to understand. Everyone knows that he graciously apologized to the nation for the lapses so far. He is the only Nigerian President who had ever apologized to the nation in the face of certain hardships.
People should consider the fact that a lot of damage has been inflicted on the nation that require the firm determination of a firm leader to tackle. Ups and downs in running a government are inevitable and he had made many to understand his major blueprint. The presidential chat was a huge success.
Allegations of arms funds diversion
Let me take you down the memory lane. During his presidential campaign and shortly after he was sworn into office, Buhari promised to give top priority to three areas namely; security, employment and fighting bribery and corruption. He had really succeeded largely on the two and still waiting to see how the other one can be captured. We just had the national budget in place.
Let me start with the issue of security. Since he came on board, what he met on ground can be said to be a catch-22 situation as far as the issue of security is concerned. He had really succeeded in nipping the spate of insurgency in the bud. On the issue of employment, one cannot precisely say that he had succeeded because the issue of employment was encapsulated in the 2016 budgetary proposal.
On the issue of fighting corruption, Buhari had proven his mettle in that regard. Fighting corruption was a promise he made and he had no reason to renege. He must ensure that he has taken all the necessary steps to call the bluff of those who had soiled their hands in the treasury of the state. So the arms scam probe was part of his crusade to stamp out the cabal of corruption and their lackeys wherever they are.
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1 Comments
They say show me your friends/associates and I will tell who you are. How pure Buhari is a function of that of his associates. Oil and water don’t mix. Why is oil and water mixing in Buhari’s case?. $25 billion in PTF missed, over $2Billion when he was Minister of Petroleum and others missed under St Buhari. Why is he not asked to return the cars he collected from Dasuki?. Where we dey go far! I know say na job you dey look for but not at the expense of our emotion. Otherwise dis na another form of corruption.
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