Servant Leadership Through Democratic Stakeholderism E-Book

Bolaji Oladejo

• Herausgeber: WS
• Kategorie: Geisteswissenschaft
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 263

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

This book believes that Nigeria’s party democracy has been enriching party politicians and their collaborators but has been yielding disappointing dividends of democracy for ordinary stakeholders. With the goal of building, by 2035, a progressive society of servant leaders expanding good governance with rule of law, inclusivity, transparency, accountability, integrity, equity, merit, effectiveness, and efficiency, the book proposes restructuring of the country’s governance systems at all levels. This includes introduction of stakeholder groups and assemblies to replace political parties, diffusion of powers, devolution of powers, fiscal federalism, part-time legislature, establishment of Council of Presidents comprising six zonally-elected vice presidents who will rotate power as president, election of a prime minister who will share power with the president, and corresponding reforms at the sub-national levels. The book uses some light poetic style in some of its sections to motivate stakeholders to arise and collaborate within extant laws to actualize the desired developmental change.

Leseprobe

SERVANT LEADERSHIP THROUGH DEMOCRATIC STAKEHOLDERISM:Arise, O Stakeholders of Nigeria! Please, Begin to Assemble for Naija Republic

Bolaji Oladejo

Copyright © 2024 by Bolaji Oladejo

SERVANT LEADERSHIP THROUGH DEMOCRATIC STAKEHOLDERISM:Arise, O Stakeholders of Nigeria! Please, Begin to Assemble for Naija Republic

No part of this publication may be produced in any form or by any means, electronic, or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the author

ISBN: 978-978-767-142-9 (paperback)ISBN: 978-978-767-123-8 (e-book)ISBN: 978-978-767-152-8 (audiobook)

Author’s Contact InformationPhone: 234-803-705-2524WhatsApp: [phone]E-mail: [email protected]

DEDICATION

To the Almighty God: Lord of power and rule

EPIGRAPH

“As partisans practise democracy with partisanship, stakeholders must practise democracy with stakeholderism.” – Bolaji Oladejo

PREFACE

It is heartwarming for me to see that the ideas expressed in this book, which I have been putting down little by little, have now been completed to the glory of God. This work would have been completed before now but my simultaneous writing on a couple of other subjects and the demands of my erstwhile full-time job gave me only little time to concentrate, update, and put the bits and pieces together for final publication.

I must state that it is a matter of coincidence that the book is being published at this auspicious period of transition from one government to another in Nigeria. For avoidance of doubts, the book is not specifically directed against the current or any other government in the country. It is meant to raise a motion and a movement against the unwholesome practices of the party system and not particularly against politically-exposed persons and public personalities.

An important part of its main proposition is the introduction of stakeholder groups and assemblies as replacements for political parties as well as the restructuring and strengthening of public leadership and governance systems. However, conscious of the fact that membership of a political party is a constitutional requirement to contest for public offices in the country, and in order to achieve the desired reform in a law-abiding, peaceful, and non-violent manner, the book recognizes political party as the platform for participating in elections. This is with the understanding that stakeholders will only take this as a stopgap measure to win political power from the partisans with a view to institutionalizing social, political, economic, and legal reforms that will henceforth break the barriers of Nigeria’s limiting Constitution and extend the frontiers of democracy and development.

Using some light poetic style in some of its sections, the book reawakens the consciousness of stakeholders of the Federal Republic of Nigeria to the stark realities of the country’s socio-economic and political situations and motivates them towards taking legitimate remedial actions within the framework of the law as law-abiding agents of change.

The target audience of this book includes and goes beyond adult citizens and legal residents of Nigeria. Youths at home and in the diaspora are particularly a crucial segment of the target audience. It is my candid expectation that high school teachers, lecturers, education stakeholders, and education authorities will consider recommending or approving the book as a supplementary reading material in relevant subjects or courses to sensitize the young ones about our developmental challenges and to galvanize them towards thinking about potential solutions. This is based on the fact that the youths of today have more than one reason to work towards creating and having a better Nigeria of their dream. It will also be exciting to see individuals, professional associations / bodies, civil society organizations, and private establishments not only buying the book but reading it and buying copies for or on behalf of their associates, members, stakeholders, and interested readers.

Even though Democratic Stakeholderism zeroes in on Nigeria, I believe that some of the central ideas advanced are useful and adaptable to other countries, especially developing countries that are struggling to resolve the rat race for power among party politicians, reorganize public leadership and governance systems, improve democratic participation, inject professionalism, competence, and ethics in leadership and governance, build unity out of diversity, and make progress towards good governance, sustainable peace, security, and welfare.

I hereby commend this book to the stimulating reading experience of my target audience and other interested readers, and to vibrant follow-up discussions and actions of all well-meaning stakeholders of ‘Project Nigeria’.

Many thanks and God bless.

Bolaji Oladejo

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

I would like to register my deep sense of gratitude to my late parents for their lifetime support, loving kindness, and prayers that formed the solid foundation of my life and progress. Let me also thankfully recognize the fact that a number of institutions such as University of Ilorin, Obafemi Awolowo University, London School of Economics & Political Science, and Federal Ministry of Health, Nigeria have contributed positively towards making me who I am. My days in all the schools, workplaces, and other places that I’ve had the opportunity of passing through have given me significant exposures to invaluable learning opportunities that have broadened my horizon and have shaped and sharpened my mind.

I am especially grateful to some former workplace personalities whose names I do not want to mention here for strategic reasons and because they know themselves. Their roles as bosses, brothers, and benefactors are unforgettable. May God reward them abundantly!

I want to use this medium to appreciate the hospitality and special words of encouragement, support, and inspiration given to me by Mr. Halid Amin and Bro. Shadeed with whom I sojourned as a visiting research student at the University of Michigan, Ann Arbor. I also appreciate the inspirational words of Dr. Ali Wassil with whom I had brief but memorable moments of interaction while living in London House, Mecklenburgh Square.

Many thanks to authors, stakeholders, and opinion leaders whose quotations or views are cited in this book. I would like to thank friends, colleagues, and associates who assisted in validating or correcting some of the few words or phrases that are rendered in indigenous languages in the book.

The King James Version and Abdullah Yusuf Ali’s translation are thankfully acknowledged as the sources of Biblical and Qur’anic quotations in this book respectively. May God honour and bless His words!

Finally, and above all, all well-deserved gratitude, praise, and glory belong to the Almighty God for the inspired commencement, faithful sustenance, and successful completion of this work. May the good Lord grant all of us as stakeholders the necessary knowledge, wisdom, understanding, and strength to implement the proposed stakeholder democratic system!

Bolaji Oladejo

WAKE UP! TAKE BACK YOUR SOVEREIGNTY!

As it dawns on you that you must restructure your country in your own interest:

“You must set forth at dawn.” – Wole Soyinka

Good morning, great people and friends of Nigeria! At whatever time you are reading this piece, be it morning, afternoon, evening, or night, I say to you: Good morning, dear compatriots and well-wishers. You and I have been sleeping, snoring, and dreaming: dreaming that the undesirable realities that were with us before we slept have disappeared overnight like a miracle. Lo and behold, the realities are still with us as we awake into the world of reality. If you are awake like many other people, you will hear, you will see, and you will feel the unwanted realities that were with us, and are still with us, and will continue to be with us until we do something. As for me:

I hear, I see, and I feel the undesirable realities

I hear, I see, and I feel the agony of the multitudeThe multitude of expectant mothers in pregnancy and in labourAs they groan and die trying to become mothers of their babiesThe multitude of infants in their babyhoodAs they cry out in vain for care and survivalAnd the multitude of children in their early yearsAs they struggle with avoidable morbidity and mortality

I hear, I see, and I feel the anger of the multitudeThe multitude of consumersAs they suffer for electricity and potable waterAnd as they get billed for units they never consumedThe multitude of commutersAs they face dangers of poor road and transport infrastructuresAnd as they face burdens of fuel scarcity and Naira scarcity

I hear, I see, and I feel the frustration of the multitudeThe multitude of local manufacturersAs they battle high costs, multiple taxation, and dumpingThe multitude of trained professionalsAs poor incentives and conditions push them to brain drainAnd the multitude of pensionersAs they wait endlessly for their retirement benefits

I hear, I see, and I feel the disappointment of the multitudeThe multitude of students and youthsAs they grapple with unmet needs for higher educationAnd as they spend extra years in school due to strike actionsThe multitude of jobless graduates and under-employed workersAs they desperately move to check out of the countryAnd as they look for greener pastures abroad

I hear, I see, and I feel the helplessness of the multitudeThe multitude of farmers and fishermen in their homelandsAs their land, water, and air get trespassed and degradedThe multitude of poor masses in their daily toilsAs they labour with beads of sweat and drops of tearsAnd the multitude of people in their homes and sanctuariesAs they live and worship under insecurity and fear

And as I hear, and see, and feel the unwanted realitiesI wonder and ponder: Oh My God!Are your blessings exclusive to people in other lands?And there came His swift response from the book of wisdom:“The bounties of thy Lord are not closed to anyone”So, when then will the multitude wake up to unblock their access?When will they bring down Jericho walls blocking their success?

As you wake up, please wake up the slumbering ones. For those who have woken up, please ask yourself if the thought of a change for better times and abundant life has ever crossed your beautiful mind. If so, have you thought of how early you want the change to happen? Yes, a new era can happen very soon in our lifetime, if we work for it, and if we support and take part in positive change actions from now. But if we do nothing other than complaining, the transformation we want will elude us and we will become a wasted generation and a liability to our offspring. As the darkness of the night gets consumed in its twilight and the dawn heralds the beginning of a new day, we seek help, guidance, wisdom, protection, and victory from the Almighty creator and witness of every dawn of a new day.

So, once again, I say to you: Good morning, brothers, sisters, and friends. Wake up from your slumber! Wake up! Take back your sovereignty! It’s time to begin the journey of sovereignty withdrawal. The trustees of our sovereignty have always wanted us to remain disunited and docile in action while they do their thing. But when the need arises, we can be united and action-oriented beyond imagination. The need has indeed arisen for us to unite and begin to take patriotic action, just as we’ve always done for sports, especially football. But, before we begin the journey of recovery, let us further justify and situate our action by asking ourselves: How can one describe the unfortunate twists of events that have been characterizing our public governance space in contemporary times and in times past? It’s simply an irony!

The irony of a rich country with poor people

Governments are borrowing,People are sorrowing.Politics is booming,Business is dooming.Politicians are gaining,People are waning.

Appointed and elected bods are thriving in luxury and opulence,Disappointed electorate are striving in penury and hopelessness.Trustees of power are lavishing money on 3-course meals,Owners of the power are flashing hope on 3-square meals.Public officials and their cronies are wining and dining,Members of the public are whining and dying.

Wriggling out of waging with willpower,Worried weaklings are wishing and waiting for wonders.Without weighing in with their wherewithal:Wary and wakeful ways of work,Witty and wonderful words of wisdom,Weighty and worthful wallets of wealth.

Arise, therefore, O people of Nigeria!Arise, O friends of Nigeria!Arise, O stakeholders of Nigeria!Please, begin to assemble to take back your sovereigntyAnd to build Naija RepublicFor the benediction of the people and to the glory of God.

Nigeria needs people of good faith and goodwill, and you are one of them. Each and every one of us who are yearning for real change must bring something to the table. We must embark on our ways of work, voice out our words of wisdom, and support with our wallets of wealth. The best gift that we, as a people, can give to ourselves is to join hands through constitutional means to withdraw our sovereign mandate which has for long been misused by the selfish rulers. The best charity that we, as stakeholders, can do to ourselves is to proclaim, reclaim, and hold on to our stakes which they have been holding in trust for us.

We recognize that the Nigerian political arena consists not only of bad politicians but also good ones, and so politicians cannot all be tarred with the same brush. The political sacs of chaffs are not all about chaffs but there are some grains in them. However, the truth is that the grains are not many and they are typically constrained within the boundaries of extreme partisanship and electoral survival to the extent that we have only few political leaders in the true sense of good leadership. We have always had rulers who have been given sufficiently long rope to pull but, having misruled and mistaken the people’s patience for stupidity, the people are declaring loud and clear to the political class and their collaborators: No! Not anymore!! Enough is enough!!! Besides, the point has to be made that, all over the world, and with particular reference to highly under-performing countries such as Nigeria, the idea of a partisan political class of people who call themselves party politicians, pursue politics as a profession or career, and selfishly rule over the affairs of the society, is getting moribund. As it was with the royal, colonial, and military class, the ruling class of party politicians will, in the near future, become inconsequential and relegated to the backwaters of public governance.

Over the years, corrupt leaders and their associates and subordinates at all levels have developed primitive culture of misappropriating to themselves the common patrimony of the people. They’ve been feeding fat on the people’s common wealth. They’ve always had so much to eat and drink and have indeed eaten and drank so much that they are no longer awake to the realities of the common man and the society as a whole. As the poor majority yawn in hunger, starvation, and hopelessness, the opportunists help themselves to the public treasury while using ethnicity, religion, and other sentiments to pull the wool over the people’s eyes.

Over the years, corrupt leaders and their associates and subordinates at all levels have amassed tremendous strength so much that they have become too strong for the poor, the weak, the vulnerable, and even the strong. Almighty father and hearer, you are the marvellous hearer of all audible and inaudible voices. Answer, Oh Lord, the calls of helpless callers, and deliver the oppressed from their oppressors.

Over the years, corrupt leaders and their associates and subordinates at all levels have captured power and have openly and secretly transgressed citizens’ rights, usurped people’s privileges, and upturned resource blessing into resource curse. But the Lord of power and rule sees everything in the minutest details. In the nick of time, He will use His divine power and wisdom to stop the opportunists among the ruling class from continuing to clone, recycle, and prolong themselves in power. He will graciously elevate to power and honour authentic leaders from among the people who will protect the poor, the weak, and the vulnerable, and serve the interest of all segments of the society including the rich.

Over the years, corrupt leaders and their associates and subordinates at all levels have traversed the public space like lions in a grassland. It has been such an endangered grassland where the lush green grass is losing its greenness; a grassland where good governance is gripped with the claws of the lions; a grassland where opportunities rot on the ground like rotten fruits; a grassland where many nightingales cannot sing sweet melodies; a grassland where many elephants live like ants. Meanwhile, the lions have assumed the role of the kings of their various territories, roaring in their dens, preying on weaker animals, and having no milk of human kindness. But when their time is up, who really are the lions of wild territories in the presence of the Lion of the tribe of Judah? Who are the kings and queens of men, and the lords of the Manor House, in the presence of the King of kings, and Lord of lords? Who are the controllers of some territories and some era in the presence of Al-Waasi: the all-encompassing, the boundless? Who are the powerful rulers in the presence of Maalik-al-mulk: the Lord of power and rule?

If the different ethnic nationalities of the country unite with faith in God against unscrupulous politicians, who indeed are the little mortal gods of politics in the presence of Hausa and Jama’a Arewa’s Ubangiji, Allah; Yoruba’s Olorun, Olodumare; Igbo’s Chineke, Chukwu; Kanuri’s Kamande; Efik, Ibibio, and Annang’s Abasi; Ijaw’s Tamara; Fulani’s Jomirao; Tiv’s Aondo; Idoma’s Owoicho; Nupe’s Sokwo; Bini’s Osanobua; Itsekiri’s Oritse; Igala’s Ojo Ochamachala; Ebira’s Ohomorihi; Esan’s Osenobula; Etsako’s Oghena; Berom’s Dagwi; Ikwerre’s Ali; Urhobo and Isoko’s Oghene; Gbagyi’s Shekwo; Shuwa Arab’s Rabbi; Owan’s Oselebua; Mumuye’s Kpanti Laa; Kalabari’s Tamuno; Ogoni’s Bari; Jukun’s Shidon; Eggon’s Ahogben; and other people’s supreme beings and deities?

On our own part as faithful workers in the vineyard of the Lord and not ordinary laid-back prayer warriors, we the people must realize that we need to wake up and cooperate with God who, by His compassion and grace, will not withhold His help from above. We must wake up as suffering sovereigns to use the instrumentality of the party system or any new constitutional provision to take our sovereignty back, not to hand it over to another set of rulers, but to carry our cross with great sense of collective responsibility and seriousness of purpose. As it was with Ezra and Nehemiah who got many people of different persuasions and callings involved in rebuilding the temple and the walls of Jerusalem respectively, we must all join hands together to rebuild our society.

Our hopes of a better tomorrow for Nigeria are very realistic. However, we must make no mistake of placing our hopes of a better and a new Nigeria on unpatriotic skeptics among Nigerians who will work against the progressive actions of change agents. In order to birth the Naija of our dream, what we need is our familiar ‘can do’ spirit, the Naija spirit which has always worked for us. You can call it ‘Naijamania’ if you like:

Naijamania: The Naija Spirit of Naijas

They bitterly argue, quarrel, and break their ranksThey selfishly collude, command, and controlUnited in personal gains, divided in common goodThey are party politiciansCitizens of the Federal Republic of Nigeria

They mutually understand, tolerate, and uniteThey selflessly consult, cooperate, and collaborate Sacrificing in personal gains, working for common goodThey are stakeholder democratsCitizens of the Federal Republic of Naija

Filled with Naijamania: the Naija spiritThey believe in their positive ‘can do’ spiritAnd are awake to their responsibilitiesThey are stakeholder democratsCitizens of the Federal Republic of Naija

They allow their minds to be renewed with faith, hope, and loveThey are positive change agents for the societyWilling, able, and ready to work for the societyThey are stakeholder democratsCitizens of the Federal Republic of Naija

The typical Naija is a great asset to Naija Republic. She is the one who can answer the call, and he is the one who can show up to be counted, when people say: ‘Naija get sense well-well’. Naija men and women! Naija youths and elders! Please wake up with your great sense to take back your sovereignty from party politicians!

DEMOCRATIC STAKEHOLDERISM AS A WIN-WIN RESTRUCTURING OPTION

"The pessimist complains about the wind; the optimist expects it to change; the realist adjusts the sails.” – William Arthur Ward

2.1 Context for Democratic Reform

There exists in a beautiful corner of the world an enigmatic woman of great destiny in a land of great destiny. This woman also has a number of destiny sisters in neighbouring and nearby territories. She is presently over 60 years old but past and prevailing circumstances would not allow her and her sisters to grow healthy, strong, and rich enough to live abundant life. Some greedy guardians, supported by their friends and collaborators on the home front and in some distant lands, have been hijacking her legitimate legacies and assets since childhood. As a result, she has been going through years of dispossession, rights denial, scarcity in the midst of plenty, hard labour, starvation, sickness, stunted growth, and imminence of avoidable death. This woman is an enigma of a creature like the night visitant whose brilliant light may be obscured for a while but its piercing brightness shows up through the darkness of the darkest night. This helpless but hopeful woman is known by all as Nigeria but her pet name, which she loves so much, is Naija.

The treatments meted out to Mother Naija by our leaders as guardians have polluted her land, water, and atmosphere, and have killed her public schools, hospitals, housing, public infrastructures, industries, jobs, and security of lives and properties. Considering her poor performance over the years in the various global goals and development indices such as the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), and Human Development Index (HDI), Nigeria has been measuring far below expectation by global, continental, sub-regional, and national standards.

Fellow Nigerians and well-meaning people of the world, would you rather join forces to save Nigeria from the greedy hands of her guardians and conspirators or allow them to continue milking her to death? Are you willing, able, and ready to change the status quo or you want her people and residents to continue suffering in silence? As for me, I am willing, able, and ready to join hands with others to salvage her, to help her to help ourselves, our children, our future generations, and our world. What about you?

Here is a clarion call to selfless stakeholders who will checkmate greedy guardians!

We have strengths and opportunities to re-discover our country as a country of many nations and to exponentially recover years of initial poor growth like a Chinese bamboo tree, but we have to take necessary actions. We have greater potential more than we can imagine to bring about rapid transformative change. And just a few of us at the beginning are sufficient to get many others to contribute towards achieving that feat. It all takes vision, unity, seriousness and sincerity of purpose, and determination to succeed in this regard. If men are dragging their feet, women must catch the action bug because women have been getting the short end of the stick. If oldies are playing ostrich, youths must play ball because the future of youths is more at stake.

Here is a clarion call to vibrant youths and caring women who will checkmate patriarchal partisans!

Time has come for us to be more conscious, more active, and more united. It is imperative for us to reject the status quo and move against the prevailing dysfunctional system. We must mobilize, organize, and strategize against the political machines of politicians. We need a disruptive system that activates the reset button of our public governance system. What is essentially required is concerted actions in addition to our prayers. We must bear in mind an instructive lesson from Isaac Newton’s law of motion that, unless and until we react appropriately, the oppressors' functional political machines will always continue in their exploitative state of motion against us. And the status quo will forever continue to remain the way it is.

Here is a clarion call to stakeholder democrats who will checkmate partisan autocrats!

Politicians are the same everywhere, although Africa seems to have an unfair share of the worst brand of this unwholesome product that the politician is generally considered to be. Like most countries of the world, public leadership and governance systems in Nigeria are based on party democracy. Advanced democracies in America, Europe, and other regions have achieved relatively perfect results from the imperfect party system. Even though these developed countries have managed to make lemonade out of the lemon of party politics, concerns, dissatisfactions, and oppositions have been – and are still being – expressed by citizens and experts who believe that the party is over for the party system because of the failings and the moribund state of the system. Some change agents in countries like Iceland have actually been working for a complete shift from party-based representative democracy to direct democracy devoid of political parties or any other intermediary between the people and governance entities.

In many countries, including Britain, USA, and other parts of the developed world, there are cries and concerns of the majority being shut out of the arena of public governance to the advantage of a few. The majority out of power do not trust the few that are in power. Public trust in political leaders is generally low. This will continue to be so as long as the party system continues to be the overarching political order. A survey published on 26th November 2019 by Ipsos MORI (now simply Ipsos), a UK global market research and public opinion specialist, revealed that, of the 1,020 British adults who took part in face-to-face interviews, only 14% would trust politicians to tell the truth and that politicians were the least trusted of the 25 listed professions. The report added that trust in politicians had never been especially high. Similarly, the UK Trust in Government Survey conducted in March 2022 by the Office for National Statistics as a part of an international study commissioned and coordinated by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) showed that only 20% of the UK population reported trust in the political parties. Furthermore, according to the report of a survey covering 8,000 people published in June 2023 by Focaldata for the Institute for Public Policy Research, just 6% of UK public had full trust in the political system while 89% supported democratic and constitutional reforms.

The above developments bring to mind George Washington’s warning against “the baneful effects of the spirit of party” and the fact that the early democratic years of the USA, which is the bastion of democracy, were not based on the party system. George Washington, the 1st president of the USA, actually governed without political parties. The USA does not have political parties specifically mentioned in its Constitution, although their activities enjoy significant protection under the 1st Amendment and they play an important role in government. George Washington had also warned that the party system, like fire, can warm or can consume. I believe that it may have warmed the USA and other developed countries to a relatively large extent but, in the case of Nigeria and most parts of Africa, it has been consuming the socio-political and economic fabrics like bonfire and we need to quench the fire with alacrity.

John Adams, the 2nd president of the USA, expressed the belief that democracies do "commit suicide". Indeed, because of the way our party politicians have been practising it, the Nigerian democracy has long committed suicide. It has actually killed itself like a suicide bomber that also got many others killed and maimed in the process. This has left a big vacuum and there is an urgent need for a credible replacement. Moreover, the party system has been viewed by analysts and citizens as not being the best for a developing country such as Nigeria with its plurality of ethnicity, sensitivity of religion, low level of literacy, and high levels of poverty and corruption. Apart from the challenges of the variant of democracy and partisan politics that we practise, there are also challenges with our system and structure of public governance which, unlike developed democracies, do not fully align with the demographic, social, political, and economic realities of the country.

If citizens of countries that are doing relatively well are refusing to be complacent and are demanding for reforms, why would those who are suffering continue to smile and keep silent? Why would we wait until when people in other lands, who often recognize their place in national and global affairs, lock the gate and throw the key of party politics into the Atlantic Ocean before we begin to do our usual ‘follow-follow’?

Here is a clarion call to democratic assemblies and groups of stakeholders who will checkmate partisan cliques of political parties!

Taking a trip down memory lane, we recall that we have practised both parliamentary and presidential systems of party democracy with relative successes and failures. Many personalities, ethnic nationalities, organizations, and groups have been calling for restructuring of Nigeria which they argue is being run since the collapse of the first republic on 15th January 1966 as a unitary rather than a federal republic. Moreover, beyond the failure of our democratic system and structure of governance, the sets of leaders that Nigeria and many African countries have had have largely contributed in no small measure to the bitter democratic experiences of the people. In general terms, the much-expected dividends of democracy have been eluding the people due to leadership failure and bad governance, leading to declining trust in politicians, waning interest in the democratic process, and voter apathy

Our experiences over the years have shown that political leaders have been acting like masters and taking advantage of systemic, structural, demographic, and socio-economic weaknesses to misuse power for their own benefit and at the detriment of the people. The result of this is poor governance outcomes across all sectors of the national economy. Nigeria has generally not been doing well on almost all sectoral, socio-economic, and development indices. This is not attributable solely to any particular leader, era, party, tier, or branch of government. It has been an almost general consistent failure of leadership and governance from previous generations. We salute the visionary, dynamic, and selfless leadership of pre-independence and early post-independence leaders and some contemporary leaders who have left indelible marks of progress in their own times for future generations.

Here is a clarion call to servant leaders who will checkmate master rulers!