leaders and leadership

We have seen some of our leaders  of the 40s, , and 60s discussed on these pages. A few things are always brought to the fore. From Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, to Sir Ahmadu Bello, to Chief Obafemi Awolowo straight to Dr Okpara, Alh Tafawa Balewa, not one was hailed for building houses or amassing ill gotten wealth all over the place.

Not one of these leaders had accounts strewn all over the world. Not one of them had wives who had huge egos with offices and several assistants to boot.

We had meagre resources then. But the leaders built educational facilities of quality, infrastructure that could last long. Dr Okpara built no houses but realised agriculture was the right investment to make, so he acquired some land for farming and the elite of the Eastern Region followed suit.

Sir Ahmadu Bello was the leader of the party that won the general elections in 1959. He was expected to take up position as the first Prime Minister of Nigeria.  He declined and sent  his deputy instead.  Can anybody imagine that happening today?

Whatever Sir Ahmadu Bello  may have thought for declining, greed was not one of them. If he had wanted power for the sake of it, control of federal resources and armed forces were enough grounds. How many houses did he build whilst in office?

Tafawa Balewa was the Prime Minister for at least four years and from what we hear,  he had just one house and it wasnt an estate like our present leaders gleefully build

The people have become numbed to the antics of the present crop of leaders, that they can substitute leadership for sharing and misuse of resources.

Adekunle Ajasin was the governor of Ondo State from 1979-1983,. Before then, he had worked as a school principal and founded a school in Owo called Imade College. He was even credited to have given Chiec Awolowo the blue print for the free education programme that made the Western Region what it is today.  Chief Ajasin had one house to his name. He was part of government and opposition for close to 50years.

We will bring more of these leaders to the attention of my friends so that maybe, I can begin to rethink my values.  Wrong values stuffed in me by the present class of leadership.