There are two public figures who still tell truth to power, irrespective of insults by government hirelings. One is former President Olusegun Obasanjo. We've written quite a bit about him of recent. When Obasanjo speaks, many of his critics ignore the message and attack the messenger. That's fair game. He occupied our lives for eleven years and seven months.
The other is Matthew Hassan Kukah, Bishop of the Sokoto Catholic Diocesan circuit. Kukah, an intellectual man mountain, shot into national prominence in 1993 when he authored his bestseller: Religion, Politics and Power in Northern Nigeria (Spectrum Books, 1993). He later served as the Secretary of the Human Rights Violations Investigation Commission (The Oputa Panel) and went on to write his 519-page insider's experience: Witness to Justice (2011). It is not an accident that Kukah tends the Lord's vineyard right inside the maws of the Sokoto Caliphate. He is respected and pragmatic enough to operate smoothly at the watershed of Nigeria's oft-violent Islamic order. When Kukah speaks, you cannot say: "forget the messenger, focus on the message".
Among Nigeria's clerics, Bishop Kukah is the only man standing. He is not like all these mushroom pastors who chase tithes like church rats but couldn't care a hoot about how life is treating humanity around them. He is unlike that one who drinks tea with "God" every morning, gets "God" to change the weather so he can visit America, joins in protests against a performing president and leads prayers to stop the Naira from collapsing to N10,000 to the US Dollar just because his preferred president is in power. Kukah is also not like the other Catholic preacher who "predicts" victory for politicians that generously donate to his commune and prophesies failure for the stingy ones.
For that matter, Kukah is far away from clerics of the opposite religion whose stock in trade is to fuel jihadist terrorism, indulge in political religion and send mobs against those who allegedly "blaspheme" against their religion. Kukah is the man of God in the image of Prophet Elijah and others in the Bible who stood in righteousness against powerful kings, unafraid of the potential costs to themselves. This was probably why, when Kukah called Muhammadu Buhari, Bola Tinubu and others "accidental leaders", Tinubu's mouthpiece, Bayo Onanuga, could not summon his usual vitriol to pour on him.
According to Kukah at a lecture in Abuja over the weekend: "If we are to start from the beginning, you will find out that every leader who came to power in Nigeria did so as a result of one accident or the other". In my recent two-parts serial: 'A Tale of Two Puppets', I essentially said the same thing with different words. Most of our leaders never knew they were going to lead. Rather, they were imposed on us by superior powers - the British colonialists in cahoots with their local agents, the Sokoto Caliphate Establishment, and lately, political godfathers.
Prime Minister Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, a teacher and parliamentarian, was imposed on us by the departing British rulers in connivance with Sir Ahmadu Bello. Bello plotted for leadership but chose to stay back as Northern Premier while sending his Deputy to Lagos. Also, General Yakubu Gowon had the leadership of Nigeria thrust on his lap by powers bigger than him. He lacked experience, and had to rely mainly on his sponsors and top bureaucrats for direction.
Murtala Mohammed, a civil war principal actor, plotted for power but was killed within seven months of his accession. His Deputy, Obasanjo never knew he was going to be Head of State, but when the power was handed to him, he competently executed the transition programme to the satisfaction of his sponsors. President Shehu Shagari wanted to go to the Senate but was, like President Umaru Yar' Adua years later, forced to run for president. Even when Obasanjo came back as an elected President in 1998/1999, it was an unexpected gift by the North, delivered to him in Yola Prisons. President Goodluck Jonathan inherited the presidency when his boss, Yar' Adua, died.
However, Military President, Ibrahim Babangida, meticulously plotted for power, got it, ruled for exactly eight years and handed over amid crises. Gen Sani Abacha also plotted for power, grabbed it but died suddenly.
It is totally erroneous to call All Progressives Congress, APC, presidents, Muhammadu Buhari and Bola Tinubu "accidental leaders". Buhari ran for president four times before achieving his ambition. Tinubu methodically plotted his way, navigating through crises, creating alliances and mergers, deploying his "bottomless" pocket with reckless abandon and braving the headwinds despite his obviously compromised health, and eventually bagged the presidency. Tinubu consigned many conventional wisdoms about Nigerian politics to the dustbin on his way to Aso Rock.
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Buhari and Tinubu were hungry for the presidency. They worked tirelessly for it, and fortune smiled on them at last. This is the subject matter of my book: Buhari:Tinubu - How They Snatched, Shared Power (Amazon Books, August 2023). What, however, shocked many watchers of Buhari and Tinubu was their spectacular incompetence, cluelessness and mindless splurging of our economic commonwealth.
Despite their long, tedious journeys to Aso Rock, Buhari and Tinubu had no plans of action to lead. It took Buhari six months to constitute his cabinet. With over 60 days to his inauguration, US President-elect, Donald Trump's cabinet is ready, and the world is automatically recalibrating even before he is sworn-in. We've never produced a leader with such impact. Tinubu is still forming new ministries and scrapping some old ones. Buhari had no economic plan. He simply borrowed and spent as he liked, unleashing his kinsmen and cronies everywhere. Tinubu is going same.
Obasanjo was an accidental leader, BUT HE EFFECTIVELY LED. Buhari and Tinubu plotted for power but became clueless when they got it.
