The Arewa Consultative Forum (ACF) has averred that political leaders are fuelling insecurity for political gains at the detriment of the poor masses.
The Forum also noted that after the First Republic, Nigeria could no longer boast of selfless leaders, leaving the country in the hands of selfish and visionless leaders for many decades.
This was contained in a statement by the ACF chairman, Chief Gabriel Yakubu Aduku in commemoration of the World Day of Peace.
It would be recalled that globally, the International Day of Peace (IDP) is observed on 21 September, each year. It was established in 1981 by the United Nations General Assembly.
“As a member of the United Nations, Nigeria is a signatory to the UN Convention on World Peace. Sadly, peace appears to be elusive in the country. A number of factors revolving around political, socio-economic and leadership crises have literally conspired to hold the nation down and the consequences are enormous, indeed. These factors include the leadership question, insecurity, poverty, unemployment and marginalization, to mention but a few.
“With the exception of a few set of First Republic leaders, almost all other Nigerian past and present leaders are instrumental leaders. The main concern of the instrumental leader is how he can use his office to achieve personal objectives. He may not be lacking in social/community commitments but in practice, more considerations are given to the self over the interests of the society which he governs.
“Nigeria is a land literally flowing with the proverbial milk and honey. Nigeria is the envy of many nations because of her enormous human and material resources. Sadly however, despite Nigeria’s humongous endowments, the country is unarguably one of the least developed in the world. A major problem associated with Nigeria is the nature of the leaders that have ruled the country, be they civilian or military. Chinua Achebe, one of Nigeria’s iconic and celebrated literary giants acknowledged this much. Chinua Achebe (1983, P.1) in one of his delectable books aptly titled the “The Trouble with Nigeria”, declared that, “The trouble with Nigeria is simply and squarely, a failure of leadership”.
The ACF boss said, there is nothing basically wrong with the Nigerian character. There is nothing wrong with the Nigerian land or climate or water or air or anything else. The Nigerian problem is the unwillingness or inability of its leaders to rise to the responsibility, to the challenge of personal example which are the hallmarks of true leadership.
He said, it is surprising that no President or Head of state has ever resigned voluntarily because he has failed to serve the people right in Nigeria stressing that Nelson Mandela, former President of post-Apartheid South Africa was a shining example of a societal leader, who refused to run for a second term, even when he was prodded by the people and even as the constitution allowed it.
The ACF chairman added that, “Related to the foregoing is the way and manner the political class in Nigeria has deployed politics as a tool for personal, class, family and close family aggrandizement rather than using it to altruistically serve humanity. While democracy holds the promise of ensuring collective involvement in governance, the brand of politics practiced in Nigeria is seemingly exclusivist and characterized by a winner-takes-all mentality such that only a few persons have access to the spoils of office and political patronage while the majority are often left in the lurch.
He said the road to political office is often fouled by intrigues, subterfuge, violence and exclusion, which in the end, makes peaceful and credible elections mere wishful thinking.
