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Okonjo-Iweala For President In 2007. Part 2 By Dr. Wunmi Akintide
You
can take what I am doing as a one man campaign. I am doing it out of
conviction, and because I love my country. My readers should now consider
my first article on this subject as my part one, as I am now determined to
do a series on this article based on the very positive and encouraging
responses I have received on the first article from Nigerians from all
walks of life, and from individuals of different political views and
persuasion, who think like me, that what a man can do, some women can do
better, if given the chance. Since that article has been posted on so many
web sites and more importantly on the widely read "Africans Abroad"
published for the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut,
my home phone has been ringing off the hook, and my E-mail box has
been bombarded with commentaries and rejoinders from readers around the
world. Many of those E-mail rejoinders are anonymous but a good many of
them had put their names. I am referring to the very generous comments
by Mr. Adebayo Adejare and Dr. Gabriel Otiko. Their own comments seem to
stand out. There is no way, I will be able to respond to each rejoinder,
but since 99.999% percent of those comments were all in support of the
President Obasanjo grooming a woman as a successor in 2007, and 95% of
them were also rooting for Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, like me, I think I only
need to send a generic reply or comment, because there seems to be a
meeting of minds on why we all think that Mrs. Okonjo-Iweala deserves some
consideration.
In
making my initial suggestion, I am aware that Okonjo-Iweala is not a
politician, and is also not a card-carrying member of the Ruling Majority
Party, the PDP in Nigeria which has already assumed it is going to win
again regardless of what the voters may think. That assumption, in of
itself, is a tragedy in a pluralistic country like ours. The reasons why
elections are held every four years, in most democratic countries, is to
give the voters a chance to re-evaluate the ruling Party, and to say
whether or not they want them back in power. A one Party state is a recipe
for Dictatorship, and it is not the type of ideal that President Obasanjo
as a pace setter and a front-running horse in our political experiment
should be gunning for, if he wants a legacy that may well outlive him. If
we compare what Jerry Rawlings did in returning Democracy to Ghana, we
all have cause to think again. If Jerry Rawlings had set out with a mind
set of creating a one Party system in Ghana, he had all the power at the
time to so influence the elections to ensure that only candidates favored
by him and the party he openly sponsored and supported are allowed to
contest for President. The young man did not do that. That was how the
current President, John Agyekum Kufuor was able to emerge the clear
winner. Although the same Jerry Rawlings may have had cause to regret
taking that position today, it was the right thing for Ghana, all things
considered, and I commend Jerry Rawlings for taking the bull by the horn,
and putting his nation's interest before his own for once.
Grooming a qualified and competent successor is very critical in the
volatile and fragile Democracies that are currently emerging in our
continent, and in a situation similar to the one we had in South Africa,
where it was very clear, the ANC was going to win and win big, no matter
what. Madiba Nelson Mandela had seen that coming, and he knew he had to be
very careful and deliberate in grooming a successor in Thabo Mbeki. It was
a very successful experiment, because Mbeki had turned out to be a great
successor to Mandela. The stability and progress, we all have witnessed in
South Africa today, are all due, in large part, to the vision and wisdom
of Nelson Mandela. I believe Thabo Mbeki wants to carry on the Mandela
magic and legacy by quickly moving to groom a successor once Mr. Jacob
Zuma, the much talked-about "Heir Apparent" in South Africa, had found
himself in some troubled waters, following the indictment and the
conviction of one of his top advisers, in a shady business deal that could
have come back to taint the fine legacies and reputation that both Mbeki
and Mandela had worked so hard to build for South Africa.
Who
has Mbeki picked? It was a woman technocrat, a former Minister of Mines
and Energy, Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka, (49 year old) who was neither a
career politician just like Okonjo-Iweala, nor a Party ideologue like the
discredited South African Deputy President whom many had anticipated was
the clear front runner for Mbeki's job. Mrs. Mlambo Ngcuka had obtained a
bachelor of Arts degree in social sciences and education in 1980. She had
become a teacher in 1981. In 1984, she was appointed Director of an
International Program at the Young Women's Christian Association's head
office in Geneva. She had returned to South Africa in 1987, and had worked
as a Management Consultant until 1994 when she had won a seat in
Parliament. She was finally appointed a Minister in 1996, and now a Deputy
President in 2005. If you don't try a person, you cannot predetermine what
she can, or cannot do. I have gone back to study, in some great detail,
the profiles of the new lady Deputy President of South Africa, and I have
tried to compare her profiles with those of our own Okonjo-Iweala, and I
am persuaded that Okonjo is in no way inferior to the new Deputy
President who may well become the next President of South Africa..
As a
matter of fact, I would rate Okonjo as superior in certain areas of
consideration which I am not going to get into in this write-up. Part of
the reasons, Okonjo's pedigree is so attractive to me, is the fact that
she is not a career politician like IBB and Atiku. She says what she means
and she means what she says. That, in of itself, is an attribute we so
much need in any new leader of our country. We don't need a master
dribbler or a Maradona, We need a straight talker who will tell it like it
is, and would be prepared to do what it takes to get our country out of
the cul-de-sac, we have found ourselves for too long.
All
our past Leaders and Presidents are people who go to learn on the job,
starting from our very first Prime Minister, Tafawa Balewa who was a
teacher, and probably a minister in the old North, before being railroaded
by his boss, Sardauna Bello, to go lead the whole country.. So was Aguiyi
Ironsi, Yakubu Gowon, Murtala Mohammed, Shehu Shagari, Mohammadu Buhari,
Ibrahim Babangida, Ernest Shonekan, Sanni Abacha, Many of the military
men, out of them, have all emerged as leaders from a successful Coup with
little or no experience at all on how to lead a country. Most of them with
the exception of Aguiyi Ironsi,, Yakubu Gowon , Shehu Shagari, and
Shonekan and Abdulsalam Abubakar in that order ,were all picked after
successful coups, because what they did were pure illegality to begin
with. The only exceptions, in that respect, were Abdulsalam Abubakar who
was picked to succeed Abacha, and Obasanjo who was picked to succeed
Murtala Mohammed by consensus, and who was eventually elected a civilian
President in 1999, when his election was based, more on expediency
rather than popularity or merit per se. Okonjo-Iweala becoming President
after a stint at the World Bank and Harvard, and four years as Finance
Minister, should really be seen as a first in our country. She would be
the first leader in our country to be so well prepared , educationally and
professionally to lead our country, if you can accept that.. She would
be more or less following the track record of Margaret Thatcher who
had attended Oxford before becoming Prime Minister of Great Britain. So
the few Nigerians who still argue that Ngozi has no experience, just
don't know what they are talking about. If Lieutenant Colonels, and
Generals who never fought a single war before their promotion, can justify
their elevation to the leadership of our country, so can Okonjo-Iweala,
if you are familiar with her resume.
I am
not unaware that Nigeria may be far more difficult and complex to govern
than South Africa, because of our multi ethnic cultures and religious
divide, and more so because of our "Tower of Babel" in the so many
languages or dialects we speak, more than 252 at my last count. I know
we are completely different from South Africa because the White
supremacists, in spite of their evils of Apartheid, had succeeded in
laying a sound foundation, and providing crucial and
basic infrastructures in the urban centers of South Africa, if not
in Soweto and the ghettoes, just like Ian Smith and his white cousins had
done in Rhodesia now renamed Zimbabwe. I submit, however, that Nigeria
of today is no more the Nigeria of the 60s and 70s. Education is a
powerful force to reckon with in our country today. There are more
graduates today in the North than there ever was when Nigeria first became
independent. Every State in the North today, including the old Sardauna
Province with headquarters in Mubi, talk less of the South, can boast of
so many graduates, in all fields of discipline, hence it is now easy for
Obasanjo to reshuffle his Cabinet as often as he wants. I briefly met one
Professor Yadudu and one Dr. Maxwell Gidado from Maiduguri at a symposium
on Nigeria at CUNY (City University of New York) three years back. The
Nobel Peace Laureate, Wole Soyinka, himself, had also come to address the
same gathering.
The
two individuals were part of the Federal Government Delegation at the
symposium. They had both made a huge impression on all of us. I told
myself a huge wind of change had blown through our country and those who
still believe that the North is still what it used to be, had to be living
in another planet. Those who also argue that Nigeria is just too difficult
to govern, probably forgot it was the same country that Murtala Mohammed
had governed in 200 days of dynamism, never before seen in our country. I
don't agree with those who argue that a woman cannot govern Nigeria. Why
not? What a man can do , a woman can do better, if you give her the chance
The instrument of governance is the Constitution. There is no abracadabra
about it. If you can read and write, and if you are ready to do justice,
and articulate what is it you are doing, and be fair to all, to the
extent guaranteed by the Constitution, you, sure can govern Nigeria. Our
leaders who complain that Nigeria is difficult to govern are mainly those
who have hidden agendas, or those who have sold their conscience and have
compromised their free will through infinite "quid pro quo" and secret and
ungodly contracts with a cross section of Nigeria that they dare not
reveal to the rank and file of our people. Okonjo-Iweala does not carry
such baggage, or have such hidden agenda or track record. If it were so,
she would not have risen to be Vice President at the World Bank on her own
merit. She has got to be doing something right to have risen that high at
the World Bank, is what I am saying. If Okonjo-Iweala is not good enough,
what of Emeka Ayanoku, the former Secretary to the Commonwealth. There
are many qualified people in the South East or South/South or the Middle
Belt who can succeed Obasanjo without any doubt. But my personal choice
is Okonjo-Iweala because I think a woman would serve Nigeria better, at
this point in time.
Okonjo-Iweala is a straight shooter who was bold enough to tell Obasanjo
under which conditions, she would agree to leave her job at the World Bank
to go work for Nigeria. And when Obasanjo suddenly started to move the
goal post, after her taking the job, She Okonjo did not bury her head in
the sand. Obasanjo had, all of a sudden, broken up her Ministry into two
or three units, making the Minister a talking head with little or no clout
to change anything. Okonjo-Iweala has had the courage of her conviction
to politely tell Mr. President she would resign, if the President would
not keep his own side of the bargain. I know many in Nigeria who can kill
to be named a Minister, and who will kiss the President's ass just to get
a ministerial appointment. Okonjo-Iweala is not that kind of Nigerian, and
that is part of what will make her a great President, if given a chance.
She is more than qualified than any of the major candidates today running
for the office, and I know she will do the nation proud.. She is not going
there to do Boxing. She is not going there to dribble and play soccer. She
is going there to use her brain power and powerful connections with the
international community to get Nigeria the best deal possible. She is
going there to manage our economy and to formulate policies in conjunction
with the National Assembly to make Nigeria the true leader of our
continent and to improve the lot of our people. She is not going there
because of bottom power or the alluring power of "Ndomi" that makes some
Nigerian women yearn so much for breast implant, in an effort to look
good. She is going there to do serious business that would make our
country proud all over the world. If Obasanjo would, because of her,
change the rule and agree to pay her in dollars, he Obasanjo must have
seen something special in her. If that is so, why is Obasanjo canvassing
for a man whose policies he used to seriously criticize for the few years
he was in retirement at Otta? What has changed, except the "quid pro quo"
arrangement I have alluded to in my part one of this article? All I know about Okonjo-Iweala is all I have read about her and the good work she has done as a honest and dependable public servant. She is a good Minister of Finance and can be a good President, if given the chance. Those who argue she has a fierce temperament are only saying that to blackmail her. Can her temperament be worse than that of her boss who got so angry, one time, that he took the whip from a Police man, and publicly whipped another police man, he believed to have been overzealous in doing his job? Could she be more temperamental than Obasanjo who had shredded the nomination paper of the first Olowu-elect, because the king makers had refused to dance to his tune? Could he be more temperamental than his boss who had told off Kabiyesi, Oba Adejugbe, the Ewi of Ado Ekiti, before Television cameras saying "if you ever see my feet in your Palace again, cut them" My point is that a bad temper is not necessarily a disqualifier for anybody to be President.
I once
worked for the great Murtala Mohammed in the Ministry of Defense at
Republic Building, Lagos. He, Mohammed, was not only temperamental, he was
also very impatient. Did that stop him from becoming the most effective
and benevolent leader in all of our History? No. The man had a job to do,
and he just would not tolerate any distractions. That is what it was. I
recall Pierre Trudeau, arguably one of the best Prime Ministers of Canada,
a black belt champion in Karate who would openly defend himself, if he
needed to, even while he was Prime Minister. Check it out.. Ronald Reagan
for all his charisma, was known to have a very bad temper. Did that stop
him from being a successful President? No. As a Governor of California and
Presidential candidate, Ronald Reagan once argued with a moderator, in a
televised debate, telling him on screen, he had a right to the microphone,
because he had paid for it. Temperament, as long as it is not overdone or
overblown, is not, necessarily, a disqualifier for any one who would be
President. I think we even need such an attribute in all of our leaders
when you consider how some of our public officials openly rape or abuse
our country. I recall Obasanjo shouting "Tafa, Tafa, Tafa", in a flurry of
rage when Tafa Balogun, defending the indefensible, would not let the
President complete his sentence. That kind of rage and temperament in a
leader, is understandable because that is what makes them human. Those who
expect our leaders to be saints are not being practical. I recall Jesus
Himself cursing the fig tree for not bringing forth fruits or Jesus
driving out of the temple those who have turned His father's house into a
market place. What do you call that? Appeasement or what?
I am
told the President of the World Bank had once told Obasanjo that he would
gladly welcome Okonjo-Iweala back to the World Bank, if for any reason,
her contract with Nigeria, does not work out. For any white-dominated
Institution to say that about a black woman, is about the greatest
testimonial any black person can ever get.. If Okonjo-Iweala is good for
the world Bank, she evidently has to be good for our country. It is about
time we stop re-circling the men in uniform, be it Navy or Army or Air
Force or Customs or Police uniform.. They are all the same thing. Let us,
for once, make a clean break from the past. Let us make way for a pure
civilian to lead our nation for once,, and let that civilian be a woman
for a change. I am all for Okonjo-Iweala. Getting her to run on a PDP
platform should not be such a big problem, if the President is serious
about his plan to change Nigeria for good.. Wasn't Obasanjo himself
brought out from prison to run as a candidate in 1999, because somebody
had argued his leadership was urgently needed at the time? Obasanjo should
forget whatever promises he has made to handover to Babangida The nation
is not fooled. Eight years. in the governance of Nigeria is enough for a
man who always thinks he is above the Law. Let us settle for a non-career
politician a woman who can truly lead our country and truly convince the
Igbos and the other minorities. in our midst that they are all part of us,
and that merit trumps all other considerations for people aspiring to lead
our nation. Gone are those days when Obasanjo used to tell the Nation the
best candidate does not have to win. In a hotly contested soccer match you
pray for the better team to win. When a leader prays for the worse man to
win, as Obasanjo is now openly doing for IBB, he makes a mockery of his
sincerity and his ultimate goal and his real intentions for our country.
I rest
my case.
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