Nigeria Plagued By Clueless, Selfish And Greedy Leaders – Jega

Former Chairman of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), Prof. Attahiru Jega has lamented that poor leadership problem is one of the major challenges facing Nigeria as a country.

This is as he hit the country’s current crop of leaders describing them as power-drunk and greedy individuals who are only after their selfish interests.

Speaking virtually during the first memorial lecture in honour of the first Civilian Governor of Lagos, the late Alhaji Lateef Jakande, organised by Federal Social Democrats, (FSD) with the theme, “Selfless Leadership and Good Governance: Jakande as an exemplar,” Jega submitted that the lack of visionary leadership has negatively affected the growth and development of Nigeria.

The former INEC boss who described the late Jakande as a true leader with great foresight submitted that leaders in the mold of the former Lagos state governor are needed to drive the development of the country.

He said, “We must first and foremost acknowledge that Nigeria has been afflicted by the misfortune of having characters in governance who are neither selfless nor visionary, who are rather greedy whether for power or money who are essentially clueless about matters of governance and reckless in the way they handle governmental affairs and consolidators of bad democratic governance.

“One of the major challenges of good democratic governance in Nigeria is that of having selfless, patriotic, inclusive and effective leadership in order to drive Nigeria national affairs and the development of the political economy towards the goal of democratic governance. Getting things right would require selfless and visionary leadership.”

Speaking about Jakande, Jega described him as “a leader with great foresight, he was impactful. One can say he touched lives and indeed one can say he was focused in implementing policies, his legacies and his memory lives forever.”

Also speaking during the event, interim Chairman of FSD, Mr Olutola Mobolurin, noted that Jakande was a man of integrity who fulfilled the campaign promises he made to Lagosians.

“During his electioneering campaign for the governorship of Lagos State, he promised as his party manifesto free education at both the primary and secondary school levels, books inclusive. From his first day in office, he fulfilled his promises, his real world was a world of integrity,” he said.

Meanwhile, the Coalition of Northern Groups (CNG) has asked President Muhammadu Buhari to allow the people of the South East to have Biafra.

In a letter signed by the chairman of its Board of Trustees, Nastura Shariff, on Sunday, the coalition asked the Igbo to have their way to avert a civil war and bloodshed.

The coalition also urged northern leaders to get the Nigerian state and other critical stakeholders to accept the reality.

It alleged that the Igbo had, for decades, intermittently used the agitation for Biafra to destabilize Nigeria and deny peace to other components of the country.