By Tony Agbons
I have always reflected on the complaints of generations of Nigerians about ‘we nor get good leaders day in, day out, week in, week out, and years in, years out.
Growing up as a young boy, I always heard screams of “Yakubu Gowon is not good, Shagari is bad, IBB is a schemer, Obasanjo is a bully, Jonathan is too soft and now Buhari is not it”. This has always been our template.
The Almighty God himself is not happy with us. Has God not birthed great sons and daughters to lead us? Without any political bias, did we as a people accept and wholly support them to lead?
Did God not give us the gem, Obafemi Awolowo? Intellect Nnamdi Azikiwe, hard worker, Dr. S.O Ogbemudia? The Fiery Lawyer, Gani Fawehinmi contested elections several times. Did Nigerians troupe to his NCF party to hand Chief Gani Fawehinmi victory?
In the recent time, didn’t we have credible personalities to lead and change the paradigm? Didn’t we have Prof. Dora Akinyuli? How come our system is unable to throw up the best of our best.
In other climes, one of these names will easily be President. In Liberia, ex footballer George Oppong Weah is President. In Ukraine, a comedian is President as we speak. Can such happen in Nigeria?
Must we always vote for the so called big political parties? Yes they rig elections. But you and I know that there’s a way people rush out to vote for a popular candidate and it can’t be rigged.
Again, 2023 is coming and this is the time to wake up to reality. We can’t be doing the same thing and expect a different result.
Tony Agbons, PhD is a researcher based in the United Kingdom