By Zik Gbemre

It is no news that majority of Nigerian politicians who are in Government, do not understand what it means to lead as Public officers. While some of them are there for the wrong selfish reasons, others were scripted or dragged to occupy sensitive political leadership positions they were never ‘PREPARED’ to handle, or even understand fully, how to carry out the responsibilities thrust on their shoulders. At the end of the day, what we have on our hands over the years, are leaders who have no iota of idea of what it truly means to lead a people, manage the enormous collective resources/wealth under their offices for the benefit of the people, and eventually leave great legacies behind for generations to come. This has been the lacuna, the missing link/gap in Nigeria’s political governance.

Notwithstanding, we have had exceptional leaders in the past in Nigeria’s developmental history, whose legacies still stand out from the crowd. Though, there are others, but Three stands out for me in this regard. These are: Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Sir Ahmadu Bello and Chief Mukoro Mowoe.

For Obafemi Awolowo, one of the reasons I respect him till today is the fact that he remains one of the foremost leaders of the South-West (Yoruba) people, who selflessly took the entire South-West as his own Constituency, without giving more preference and attention to his own native town of Ikenne, in the present Ogun State. Awolowo did not take the then University of Ife, now known as Obafemi Awolowo University, to his Ikenne town, like we have seen done by many of our past and recent political leaders who started and continued sowing this seed of nepotism and favouritism. But for Obafemi Awolowo, he was able to use the cocoa revenues during his time to astonishingly develop the South West (Yoruba Land) without the so-called Federal Allocations. Awolowo was able to establish the first Radio Station, the first Television Station, the popular Liberty Stadium, and also built the Cocoa high-rise building. But he did not take any of this to his home town Ikenne. It was because of Awolowo that Nigeria had a Television Station before most countries in the Asia and Africa. He also did not take the Headquarters of the Western region to Ikenne. He was indeed a True Leader of his people – the Yoruba nation.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo, who was the first Premier of the defunct Western Region (now divided into Delta, Edo, Ekiti, Lagos, Ondo, Ogun, Osun and Oyo States), once said that the first requirement for good leadership “is the capacity to think.” He called it “MENTAL MAGNITUDE.” We have no doubt that our current political leaders have the ability to think. The problem is what exactly are they thinking about? Are they thinking about the future of Nigeria and how to improve the lives of its people, or are they thinking and planning to rig the next election?

For Sir Ahmadu Bello, he was indeed a great leader of the then entire Northern region. Though, his loyal boy, Sir Tafawa Belewa, became the First Prime Minister of Nigeria, Ahmadu Bello, who was from Rabah town in the present Sokoto State, was one whose selfless service to his people and the nation still outlived him. For instance, the Ahmadu Bello University was sited in Zaria. He did not influence the Nigerian Defense Academy (NDA) to be sited in Rabah, Sokoto, his home town. He also did not influence the Kaduna Polytechnic to be sited in his home town, despite being the most influential leader in the entire Northern region of Nigeria then in the 1950s, down to the 1960s. Rather, he saw himself as a leader of the entire Northern region. He also groomed a lot of people from the different tribes in the North.

The third great leader on the list, is Chief Mukoro Mowoe, who was the member for Warri Province of the Western (regional) House of Assembly. Though, he lived (1890-1948) before the eras of Awolowo and Ahmadu Bello, Mowoe took the entire Urhobo as his own Constituency. He did not drag the then Headquarters of the Eastern Urhobo Native Administration from Ughelli to Evwreni town, his native home. Mowoe was actually the First, and Foundation President General (PG) of the Urhobo Progress Union (UPU). He initiated the famous URHOBO COLLEGE and had it built in Effurun, instead of his Evwreni home town. The Government College, which he influenced to be located in Ughelli and not his home town, is another example of his selflessness.

Mukoro Mowoe practically laid the foundation for the modern Urhobo nation because he took the entire Urhobo nation as his own. Our great Chief Mukoro Mowoe did quite very much for the Urhobo nation and mentored most of the young Urhobos then. According to Prof. Obaro Ikime, one of the foremost Nigerian Historians, “Mowoe was the greatest name of the Province at the time, and was a leading Nigerian figure in the Warri Province of the 1940s.” Mukoro Mowoe had a vision for the Urhobos, and he was not ruled by ‘selfishness’ or ‘personal greed’ – by selling his Urhobo tribe for a plate of rice, just like the present crop of some Urhobo elites. During the era of Mukoro Mowoe, down to Dr. Federick Esiri, the Urhobo nation was well respected both home and abroad, and was given its due place in the affairs of Nigeria. Sadly, as of today, what we have amongst us are people who are driven more by sheer ‘GREED’ and selfishness.

The point here is that these past leaders, were, though tribal leaders, but they took the whole of their constituencies as one entity to govern. Unlike the present crop of leaders, we have now, who will take everything to their home towns. Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe, though also a great leader/Africanist/Nationalist, but did not fall into this category of leaders because he influenced the siting of the University of Nigeria to his mother’s home town of Nsuka, instead of Owerri or Aba, or even Enugu.
Zik Gbemre.
December 3, 2019

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