By Abdul-Azeez Suleiman
We are already very frustrated after having just renewed the tenancy for some of you and brought in new tenants in other cases. We voted for you and our collective resources pay your wages. We are those you are working for. We vote for you and pay for your leadership.
We are hoping for leadership in health and in education, in economy, in employment and infrastructure. Maybe above all that, or at least as a huge priority, we are looking for your leadership in security and reconciliation.
Your predecessors, and indeed some of you, brought us out of a bloody and heinous civil conflict several years ago. We long for that to be consolidated and moved forward so that the next generations might not suffer what we had to for so long.
We have just been through a fresh round of general elections. We see everything stalled and our leaders seemingly playing a Kindergarten Debate with each other. We feel that you are living up to some television comedy: “Don’t blame yourselves… blame each other.”
As we watch our news today and look up to you in the hope that peace and prosperity would trickle down, we are disappointed, even angry. The people of this country are asking for more from you. We want progress. Dare we say it, we want compromise, so that peace and prosperity might flood down.
Deflate the egos, cease bickering, demonstrate leadership and govern with integrity as all our people deserve peace and prosperity. The idea at the centre of this, that we would urge you to bring into play, is the “common good”.
We know that you are frightened of losing your vote, your seat, your piece of the power. But leadership that will be remembered has to climb outside that self obsession and do what needs to be done for the common good of the entire population whether they voted for you or not, whether they are perceived as your ally or your enemy.
So, go on, make history. Be leaders that this country will talk about for centuries to come and not just argue about after the licking of the fifth finger in the evening, or at market stalls or on some morning radio programme.
Please step outside your comfort zone for the sake of our children and grandchildren and the future of our country. We are already wondering if you have the vision or the courage. Show us you do. Do the job. NOW!
Abdul-Azeez wrote from Abuja, Nigeria.
Abuja Business News Blog 