Two news stories in the last Weekend edition of this paper struck a cord in me. One was captioned: Nnamani Averts Ethnic Clashes Between Igbos and Hausas. The other was: I Want To Be A Good President-- Obasanjo. There is an organic cord that links the two stories.
The Enugu story said that the quick intervention of Governor Chimaraoke Nnamani in the violence that erupted at the Artisan Market in Enugu metropolis Thursday night prevented what could have led to ethnic clash between the Igbo and the Hausa communities in the state. The conflict which was said to have taken place at about 8.00 pm forced the Governor who had been on annual vacation to cut it short and immediately convened an emergency security meeting that lasted till the early hours of Friday. This prompt intervention by the governor was said to have nipped the trouble in the bud.
What immediately struck me about this story was that the Governor who was supposed to be on vacation was still in Enugu, on hand to quell a potential violence in his state. What is he doing in Enugu? Has he no passport or visa to travel abroad? When did Enugu become a holiday destination for Governors? As a matter of fact, when last did we read about Governor Nnamani and foreign tours? Is he not interested in shopping for foreign investors? What kind of Governor is this one?
I put a call to His Excellency Nnamani at 11:28 am (Tuesday 31 August). He was in a meeting and said he would call me back.
At 1:59 pm he called me back. Your Excellency, what are you doing in Enugu? Are you not on vacation? I all along thought you were abroad! I asked him in rapid volley because I was driving on the highway when he called. Pini where am I supposed to go to? I have a job to do here, Pini. Is it not a place I lived for many years? And when did I come back home? I have not left the shores of this country in the last three years. I would rather be among my people where I am important than go where you are just another black face in the street! As he spoke I could feel some disinterestedness in his voice, you know, that kind of there-is-no-big-deal-in-going-abroad kind of attitude.
Secondly, what Governor Nnamani did is exactly what ex-Military Administrator of Lagos state, Brigadier Buba Marwa used to do which made him the darling of the Lagos press, made him famous and now entitles him for a shot at the Presidency! When there was petrol scarcity, and people were stressed to the point of violence, Marwa showed up at a petrol station. His presence was a welcome relief. People yelled their approval and the story went round the city. When people were trapped in potholes, Marwa showed up while road workers were mending them! These little touches were enough for the people and enough to build him a storehouse of goodwill from which he is today collecting. But remember, Marwa had no political opponents to deride him and dismiss his methods as mere puffery! Nnamani has political opponents who say that giving a community water, light or road is nothing!
These reinforce two points I have always made that it takes little to please Nigerians because their demands from governments is very minimal and can easily be met. So when the masses complain, then it means that things have gone really bad. Second point is that leadership is about having the right instinct at the right moment. It took John Kennedy less than ten minutes to decide that America must put man on the moon, not whether America would compete with Russia in space!
Another thing that struck me was that Enugu where Igbo and Hausa want to go to ethnic hate-fuelled war at the slightest provocation is the same Enugu where an Umaru Altine, a Northerner, was the mayor! It is the same Enugu where a Yoruba presided as the Eastern Region Director of Information! It is the same Enugu where Sir Akanu Ibiam lived as Governor with his Yoruba wife! And this is where there is a link to the other story that quoted President Obasanjo as saying: “I want to be a good president, not a good man”. He went on: “To be a good president, I will step on toes and those toes that I will step on will not see me as a good man.” I have sometime ago expressed my concern that President Obasanjo may be measuring the efficacy of his policies by their propensity to inflict pain on the masses. Stepping on toes may not really be the mark of a “good president.”
A good presidency is measured by history, not the present. And history will be looking at legacies left behind by a leader, not rotten toes! President Obasanjo must ask himself today, how many of his policies are likely to last a year after him? Is it his much-vaunted anti-corruption crusade? How many people around him have bought into that? In his face, 19 Northern governments plus three Yoruba states have gone to the Supreme Court to overturn his “political solution” to the On-shore/Off-shore oil revenue dichotomy. Of course, if the 22 litigating governments pursue the case, the Supreme Court is likely to overturn the Act because it has no constitutional basis.
You can’t amend the constitution with an Act! These are some of the things the advocates of National Conference are saying. But the President busies himself with his self-righteousness, absolutely carried away by his own definition of greatness; a greatness rooted in sore toes!
The Hausas and the Igbos in Enugu can afford to kill one another just for being Igbo or Hausa because our political lexicon has elevated such bestiality to a national stage.
The Presidency itself is no longer a matter of the best man for the job, but of where you come from. Nigeria has been dragged into the mud of unmanageable tribalism, while we play the ostrich or preoccupy ourselves with dubious legacies and crushed toes. My wish for Obasanjo in 1998 was that he would do things in a way that he would be remembered as “the father of modern Nigeria.” That is the path of statesmen. But he chose the path of a naked politician, which has downgraded him to the ranks of the political wolves. That is why his anti-corruption crusade has not cut ice with his political associates. You can’t be among the wolves and fight them. You got to stay above the pit!
The only sign of a good president is a nation that is stable, efficient, peaceful and just. These are possible only in a restructured Nigeria that defines for itself a shared value and common citizenship, not in a Nigeria where some citizens are killed as “settlers” by those who call themselves “indigenes.” Nigeria is shedding unnecessary blood over matters that are manageable. Today Nigeria loses on the average 50 lives daily to undeclared internecine wars. The root causes of all these are ethnic envy, community rivalry and greed, suspicion and intolerance fuelled by skewed economic arrangement.
A restructured polity will create economic justice and equal opportunity for all. When people are satisfied running their lives unhindered by an unjust polity, they will find no reason to kill one another on the basis of ethnicity. Those who make the lazy argument that a National Conference will lead to the disintegration of the country must do a rethink. A nation where people kill one another on the basis of tribe or political differences without respecting their citizenship of the same country is as good as a disintegrating country! As I have said several times before, Nigeria does not need a National Conference to disintegrate! It needs a National Conference to integrate better! A good leader is one who leaves an indelible footprint on the sands of time, not a bone-crusher!
