Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto, Matthew Hassan-Kukah, has said that in the 62-year history of Nigeria, spanning democratic and military governments, no president or head of state was ready to hit the ground running.
The bishop pondered Nigeria’s need for leadership resulting from individuals taking the time to understand the problems of Nigeria and planning accordingly.
“You can go all the way down in Nigeria, you’re not going to find one single person who has been president or head of state in Nigeria that came prepared for the job,” Kukah said during an appearance on Channels Television’s Roadmap 2023.
Since attaining independence on October 1, 1960, Nigeria has had 16 leaders – eight civilian presidents/prime ministers and eight military heads of state.
The civilian leaders include late Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa (1960-1966), and presidents Nnamdi Azikiwe (1963-1966), Shehu Shagari (1979-1983), Ernest Shonekan (Aug.-Nov. 1993), Olusegun Obasanjo (1999-2007), Umaru Yar’Adua (2007-2010), Goodluck Jonathan (2010-2015), and Muhammadu Buhari (2015-date).
Meanwhile, previous military heads of state include Major-General Aguiyi Ironsi (Jan.-Jul. 1966), General Yakubu Gowon (1966-1975), General Murtala Muhammed (1975-1976), and General Olusegun Obasanjo (1976-1979).
Others are Major-General Muhammadu Buhari (1983-1985), General Ibrahim Babangida (1985-1993), General Sani Abacha (1993-1998), and General Abdulsalami Abubakar (1998-1999).
Kukah used the analogy of a bad marriage to explain the relationship between Nigeria and its political leaders.
“I always say to people as a priest that the solution to a bad marriage is not a new marriage. It’s often an attempt to look at what has gone wrong. And if you jump to a new marriage very quickly, after some time, you become nostalgic about the first marriage.
“Metaphorically, you can say the same thing about Nigeria. A lot of these changes that we have seen in Nigeria are largely unprogrammed.”
According to the clergyman, going back as far as the 1960s running through the entire leadership history from prime minister or president to beneficiairies of military coups, there has been no “linearity”.
“There’s been nothing linear,” he explained. “In the sense that military coups by themselves that stretch over a 20-year period were just glorified banditry and armed robbery because you pull the gun and became a head of state.”
Giving a snapshot of Nigeria’s recent political history, Kukah argued that the country has yet to produce an executive head who is prepared for office.
According to the clergyman, going back as far as the 1960s running through the entire leadership history from prime minister or president to beneficiairies of military coups, there has been no “linearity”.
“There’s been nothing linear,” he explained. “In the sense that military coups by themselves that stretch over a 20-year period were just glorified banditry and armed robbery because you pull the gun and became a head of state.”
Giving a snapshot of Nigeria’s recent political history, Kukah argued that the country has yet to produce an executive head who is prepared for office.
Source: channelstv.com