North’s leaders’ve failed, says Sultan

The Sultan of Sokoto, Alhaji Sa’ad Abubakar III, delivered yesterday a damning verdict on the North’s political leaders. They have failed, he said.

He spoke at the 10th annual lecture in honour of the late Premier of the defunct Northern Nigeria, Sir Ahmadu Bello, who was killed in the 1966 military coup.

The President, Dr Goodluck Jonathan, also spoke. He said the level of honesty and sincerity in the public service has nosedived to less than 20 per cent.

His words: “Unless we tell ourselves the truth, we will not come out of this shame and we will continue to deceive ourselves and deceive the likes of Sardauna of blessed memory.”

Represented by the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, Alhaji Yayale Ahmed, the President said the late Sardauna was known as a democrat who avoided unilateral decisions, but worked for good governance.

Jonathan said: “Those who worked with him testified that he always consulted his colleagues and relevant public officers in all official matters. For the efficacy of public service, he promoted good working relationship between his ministers and the civil servants and was known to emphasise the need to advise the civil servants on technical, professionals and ethical matters.

“These are the sanities that were used those years and are still relevant today, particularly in our quest for credible leadership, sustainable growth and development. These qualities, I can testify, are no longer available in the civil service. What we have is lack of sincerity, which is below 20 per cent now, greed and quest for wealth, lust, irresponsibility and, of course, intolerance of other people’s view whether religious or otherwise.

“Unless as the chairman of this occasion observed, we continue to tell ourselves the truth, we will not come out of this shame and we will continue to deceive ourselves and deceive the likes of the Sardauna of blessed memories.”

In his lecture entitled: Dynamics of the global economy and challenges of the Nigerian polity, Sanusi said that free and fair elections are meaningless if they result in producing incompetent leaders.

He said: “The tragedy of this country at all levels is that we produce leaders who think they can learn how to be leaders after they get to positions of leadership.”

Sanusi said: “leadership requires training and preparation from our homes, families, cultures, schools and our earliest experience”.

He said: “Until we begin to make sure that only those who are trained adequately and equipped with the leadership skills contest for leadership positions, this country will not move forward.

“The debate as to whether we need strong institutions or strong individuals is meaningless. Strong institutions and processes are only as good as the individuals managing them. We need strong institutions, we need strong processes but we need strong leaders like Sardauna to manage those institutions. We should endeavour that we have a process that make sure that in the end, the end-products are worth all the efforts.”

Sultan Abubakar said although many Northern leaders had their political tutelage under the late Northern Premier, they have betrayed the ideals the late politician stood for.

He lamented that the North, which the late Bello laboured to build, has been disintegrating.

Bello was the Sardauna of Sokoto in the First Republic. He was killed during the first military coup of 1966.

Sultan Abubakar urged Northern leaders to return to the ideals of the late Premier, saying Bello made a lot of sacrifices for the unity of the region.

The Sultan lamented the collapse of the leadership virtues and policies which Bello bequeathed to the younger generation and queried what happened to the legacies of the late Premier.

He urged the present leaders to return to those policies to return the region’s lost glory, adding that greed, deceit, treasury looting and poverty have become prevalent in the North.

Niger State Governor Babangida Aliyu said most Northern leaders got to their present positions because of Sarduana’s human development policies.

Represented by the his deputy, Ahmed Musa Ibeto, Aliyu said Bello “gave us qualitative education; indeed, some of us recall that we were not only paid to go to school, but even paid to remain in school”.

He added that the region could “actually re-enact these fortunes in all spheres of development”.

To get out of the present predicament, the governor urged Nigerians to elect credible, honest, committed and God-fearing people who understand leadership as a means of serving humanity.

Kaduna State Governor Patrick Yakowa said the legacies of the late Sarduana were the guiding principles for the region’s political and social lives.

He said the late Premier provided purposeful leadership that managed the present 19 Northern states and the Federal Capital Territory (FCT).

Yakowa said: “Sardauna laid the foundation for our nation’s unity in diversity that has now become an indispensable asset in our quest for peaceful co-existence, management of religious and inter-group relations that have become absolutely necessary for our national development.

“Indeed, Northern Nigeria was, and still is, a theatre of cultural pluralism that presents serious challenges to leadership and social relations among the diverse ethnic groups. Yet, the Premier was able to build and maintain a sustainable peaceful co-existence, through important values of mutual trust, tolerance, accommodation, honesty and commitment to good governance that was based on the principle of faith, worship, hard work and understanding of the project called Nigeria.”