The Crisis Of Leadership Recruitment In the South-West -By Bámidélé Adémólá-Olátéjú

The success of liberal democracy depends on servant leaders who are willing to work on matters of common concern to their fellow citizens. It is the reason why political recruitment should present electable persons who reflect the social background of the voters they represent. Where and when there have been deviations in social background between politicians and the voters they represent, such deviations are indicative of the openness of the political system, and the norms being promoted.

To what extent are politicians representative of the citizens they represent? The emergence of Gboyega Oyetola of the All Progressives Party (APC) and Ademola Adeleke of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), from their respective primaries in the State of Osun, goes beyond background and party affiliation. Truly, leaders are a reflection of their times. In the last few years, the quality of candidates jostling for elective positions is indicative of a fault line among the Yoruba, which has to be corrected. In the State of Osun, on one hand is Oyetola. Warts and all, he is a proven technocrat who, apart from solid intellectual preparation, has worked his way up, through defined corporate structures and frameworks. On another hand is Adeleke, who defeated Akin Ogunbiyi by seven votes in the PDP gubernatorial primary election. That the PDP chose Adeleke over Ogunbiyi is a pointer to what we have become. Adeleke, like Fayose, is an indication of what has gone amiss in our method of political recruitment and selection. Adeleke’s “educational qualifications” are suspect. He is just another rich man, with a sense of entitlement, and whose only political credential is the tragic loss of his brother, who he replaced. The Yoruba deserve a better deal. The State of Osun, like other states, is hobbled by a defective quasi-federalism in an uncertain economic climate in which the central government clearly does not have a coherent economic policy thrust. The State needs a proven technocrat who can read, interpret a balance sheet and put together an equitable medium-term economic framework that will be of “benefit to the many and not a few” (due acknowledgement to the British Labour party).

Adeleke, like Fayose, is just a mendacious mountebank who will be hard put to understand a balance sheet, let alone put together a coherent policy thrust. Vacuous postulations and crass populist showmanship cannot develop a people. That this is what the PDP is offering Osun State reveals a clear contempt for the people of the State. That this is happening in the South-West is profoundly disturbing. From the emergence of Christopher Alexander Sapara Williams as Nigeria’s first lawyer in 1886 and the founder of its first political movement, the Yoruba have always fielded their first eleven. All the key pre-independence figures, like Chief Bode Thomas, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Chief S. L Akintola, Rotimi Williams, Adegoke Adelabu, H.O. Davies, Kola Balogun, Onabamiro, etc., internationally represented the best of a generation and, some will argue, of any generation. For the Yoruba to now descend into the cesspit of crass infantilism indicates a problem clearly in need of clinical attention.

Our choice of leaders has defined us and will continue to define us. Whether we like it or not, the decade ahead, between 2020 and 2030, will be make or break for Nigeria because of the alarming demographic time bomb. We need leaders who will understand the gorge we are in and appreciate that this is not the time to mess around. Today, now, is the time for deep, strategic imperatives. The time is now, for the power elite to forget about the self and empire building, and go back to fielding Yoruba’s first eleven in the mould of Bode Thomas, who was described by the Times of London as mercurial and “frightfully clever”; like Remi Fani-Kayode, who was the best graduating student in the England and Wales Bar examination of 1944; like Adegoke Adelabu who got nine A’s in the school certificate examination at Government College Ibadan; not to miss out the brilliant, innovative scientist and inventor, Sanya Onabamiro who had a bevy of internationally registered patents to his name. Many men and women in the same category are in our precincts today. Sidelined!

The urgency of now demands leaders who will rise to answer the call of the hour. We need leaders who will take on the challenge of our suffering out of strong moral conviction. We want leaders who will understand that failing to act under current events and circumstances has colossal implications capable of changing the course of history, for worse. Certainly, we are facing unprecedented national problems. Our people are living in fear, poverty and despair. Violent extremism is spreading and ethnic clashes are becoming normal. We need courageous and purposeful leaders who are not numb to the gathering storm, hoping it will blow away on its own and we will be spared of its lingering aftermath.

We had it before. We can get it back. What we need at this critical juncture are visionary leaders who are realists, courageous leaders who are not reckless, problem solvers who are unfazed by obstacles and creative long range thinkers who are not oblivious of short-term solutions. The echoes of bold leadership reverberates to the young through their phones via the social media. Without opportunity for gainful work and social mobility, the young are restless. Also, the old are in despair, while the best and brightest, are aloof, not want to swim in murky political waters. History beckons!The times are too perilous for messing around.

Bámidélé Adémólá-Olátéjú a farmer, youth advocate and political analyst writes this weekly column, “Bamidele Upfront” for PREMIUM TIMES. Follow me on Twitter @olufunmilayo