ICHEOKU says in choosing the next Nigeria's president, preparedness for the office should be key and in fact the only single most important requirement of anyone running for the office. It should be made paramount and it should be made a mandatory prerequisite. Any candidate seeking the office must display his or her readiness to hit the ground running from Day 1 Readiness for the office and the ability to hit the ground running following swearing in ceremony, should be the only crucial, most important requirement of any candidate seeking the office. Every other consideration should be an addition, but should never be allowed to cluster and/or trump this foundational requirement.
Lack of this imperative is the bane of the Nigeria society; as lack of preparedness for the office has been the Achilles heel of all the emergent or rather imposed past presidents of Nigeria. Presidents who were literary, randomly handpicked and imposed on the country by powers that be and who did not prepare for the office; nor had no clear vision on how they wanted to drive the ball of the county and where they indeed wanted to take the country to. As a result, they fumble their presidency and fail to motivate the diverse polity that make up Nigeria into doing great things and achieving greatness for the country's overall wellness. Like a deer under the glare of a high beam, these accidental presidents end up staggering along through their presidency, with a lot of fits and starts, hits and misses, as they trudge on and make it up as they went. This caused Nigeria to stagnate, lost in the woods of nationhood confusion and mired in economic malaise. Lacking vision and with no clear blue print on how to direct the affairs of the country, it becomes one faulty step after another, and you wonder why anyone still feigns ignorance about the root-cause of the backward movement of the country.
What Nigeria needs going forward in 2019 is to correct this anomaly by choosing and electing a president who has a vision and who has an idea of the direction where he wants to take the country to. Time for a confused president is over and only a person who has demonstrated a clear directional purpose should be privileged with election into the office. In 2019, Nigerians need to elect a president who is smart, bold and somewhat brash; someone who has a world exposure and who is reasonably educated to appreciate both macro and micro economic analysis; as well as some other jargons and legalese associated with both local and international relationships. Nigeria needs a person who has a killer instinct and who has desirable judgment calls, including the innate ability to spot talents and judiciously use them in governing of the country.
Thus far, it has been established beyond any reasonable doubt that a PhD and/or a Generalship of the Army is not necessary an indicator of fine presidency as the failed Goodluck Jonathan and the now abysmally failed Muhammadu Buhari have shown. As a result, Nigerians do not need to pigeonhole their search for the next president on people with this two distinct backgrounds. They need to pivot and broaden their horizon to other areas as they search for who to bestow the honor of their next president come 2019. Having tried a PhD president who turned out to be mediocre, timid, unexposed and clueless; and one who lacked in every leadership test including the ability to inspire the people, the argument of a PhD president is thus defeated. Nigeria is also currently trying an illiterate Army General, who has proved himself to be grossly incompetent and the worst thing to ever happen to Nigeria since the counter-coup of 1966 which sent Nigeria barreling down and into its current ditch of perdition.
While the flopped PHD presidential experiment shows that studious students, who usually take it all the way up to earn their PhD, do not necessarily make good leaders; the woeful despotic General presidential experiment is also showing that certain promotions across the Nigerian security apparatus were not based on merit nor were they rightly earned. Therefore having conclusively established that parading a PHD in one's resume or rising to the top of the Nigeria Army is not evidence of presidential leadership, neither of this two professional achievements should be the imperative in choosing and electing who becomes the next Nigeria's president in 2019.
Nigeria needs someone who has a proven leadership ability and one who has actually accomplished something provable in life; which essentially establishes his or her bona fides as an achiever and a leader. A leader who will drive the ball of the country and who will point to the direction where he or she wants the motivated polity to go and motivate them to go there. A leader who shall be a shepard to the Nigerian flock and who like an NFL Quarterback will marshall out and motivate his team to touchdowns. A social recluse who was holed inside a library during his university days, who never socialized, nor mixed and mingled; who did not belong to any students' associations, talkless of leading them, cannot suddenly be foist to a leadership position and expected to do well. He lacks the basic fundamentals, does not know how and was not prepared for the sudden challenge. Ditto, an uneducated soldier, who merely rode the ladder of cronyism to the top, who knows only how to bark orders, but deficient in the art of schmoozing, which is a necessary requirement to carrying people along in a democracy and motivating them to doing great things for the country.
Former President Goodluck Jonathan has a PhD but was definitely not a leader. He proved himself a very incompetent president, who was neither respected nor feared; and was not loved either. Any leadership deprived of either respect or fear is moribund and dead on arrival and cannot take flight; the reason his presidency was lackluster and to a great extent a bungled opportunity to shine and showcase education as an indispensable imperative to governance. He did not and failed to represent persons from the high ivory towers and no Nigerian would ever be sold a presidential candidate solely on his PhD. President Muhammadu Buhari on the other hand, although he is not loved, but he is still a leader; he is at least feared and he leaves no one in doubt about who is indeed in charge of affairs in the country. This is the reason he gets away with so many unimaginable things including his lopsided appointments, which would have been considered sacrilegious with other past presidents. But unfortunately, he lacks education and exposure, the reason for the crass mediocrity which has since become his presidency.
ICHEOKU is emphatic that presidential leadership requires broader abilities beyond just memorizing written texts and writing and defending a dissertation. Such honed-in academia like Jonathan Goodluck are best suited for the classrooms, laboratories, research centers, think-thanks groups; and other such places where the transfer and acquisition of knowledge is the foundational focus. They also could make good departmental heads of certain government agencies when assigned to manage a micro area where their specialization is fundamentally essential. ICHEOKU is convinced that Goodluck Jonathan would have performed brilliantly well if he was heading an animal science laboratory or a zoological sciences center or even a geneticist science center dealing with animals more than he did in the presidency. He was not fit for purpose and the result showed as he timidly went about, messing up his presidential opportunity. Being the president of Nigeria was definitely outside Goodluck Jonathan's comfort zone and it left him confused and fidgety and it affected everything he did during his time in Aso Rock. This is an avoidable mistake which must be avoided at all cost come 2019.
ICHEOKU is not by this suggesting in anyway that having a president who has a PhD is wrong; but that having a PhD must not be the only qualification for choosing a president. Having a PhD by itself without more is not and should not be sufficient to make one eminently qualified for the office of president. Jonathan Goodluck is a PhD but he was not a leader. He was meek and compassionate but lacked the verve to be great. He pandered and kowtowed to every dick, tom and harry in Nigeria, without being firmly in charge of his presidency and he was not decisive. He preached that no blood of a Nigerian is worth shedding for his office, but forgot the incredibly difficult and obstinate society which he was called upon to lead. He forgot the peculiarity of the Nigerian society, a people who only listens when pressured or when their skin is completely lacerated and bleeding. Yes, ICHEOKU says that Goodluck Jonathan should have been a little tougher, firmer and more decisive; but he was not and that was what took him down and out of power and subsequently stretched him out of Aso Rock.
So as Nigerians ready and politicians jockey for position in the forthcoming 2019 presidential election, it is important to revisit the process which springs up Nigeria's presidents. Why do they not usually succeed in office and how can amends be made to affect a change in the outcome. How can Nigerians defeat the jinx of bad presidents and elect a president who will in fact succeed and do great things for the country. Why are these presidents not always well prepared or well enough for the office; and ready for its challenges, both foreseeable and unforeseeable ones? Why do they not have the mental fortitude to do the job required of the office and rise up to be the best president they can be. What relevant backgrounds and experiences are they armed with and bringing to bear on their new presidential gig. What have they accomplished in their lives previously which relevant experiences they are bringing along with them to the new office; and what is their level of interactions with people of diverse backgrounds which political governance is all about.
But unfortunately, Nigerians never have the opportunity to find out some of these fundamentals of a successful president. A process which debates and press conferences are made for, but which opportunities are always denied them because candidates refuse to debate or grant press interviews. In Nigeria, candidates for office often stonewall and out rightly refuse to engage in debates or grant press conferences, afraid of unraveling before millions of Nigerians who would tune in and be watching. They know that they are grossly incompetent and unprepared for the office, and afraid of letting the mask of Zorro fall off too early, would refuse to engage in debates or give press conferences, to answer some insightful questions about the office and their preparedness for it.
Obasanjo did not debate or rather refused to debate. Umaru Yar'Adua did not debate or rather refused to debate. Jonathan did not debate or rather refused to debate. President Muhammadu Buhari did not debate or rather also refused to debate. So Nigerians always end up being forced to pull the trigger for a candidate based on other mundane considerations and not because they determined them to be most qualified for the office from conducted debates and interviews. Without having such necessary insight into the person's ability, qualification and competence for the office, which debates usually make possible, a joker who pulled other parochial strings for support usually ends up becoming president; and the endless vicious circle continues till today.
This makes the Nigerian presidency the only job in the world where someone is hired for a job without first going through the interview process and without establishing their suitability and qualification for the job. The process of hiring Nigeria's presidents is grossly faulty and it cascades into the mediocrity of each successive president; who lack in performance and cannot inspire anyone into doing greater things in order to help make Nigeria great. Olusegun Obasanjo was a failure, although he excelled when compared to other subsequent presidents following after him. Yar'Adua failed as well; ditto did Jonathan and of course the nightmare in Elms Street that is the Dracula of Daura, President Muhammadu Buhari.
They were not products of the democratic process, but were literary imposed on Nigerians by some powers that be, hence their failure to launch and amaze. Had Nigerians produced them by making them to pass through the crucible of electioneering process, may be they would have, with hindsight of how they got there, girded up to do the job for which they were elected and passed through fire to get there. But it is not always the case, hence they are usually beholden to the powers that sprung them on Nigerians and periodically cut fat checks to them in order to stay in power and could care less whether or not they are governing well. This imbecility must end and it must end in 2019 if Nigerians dream of ever having a government they can trust and believe in to do good for them and which the can be truly proud of as their elected government.
ICHEOKU says the road to get there is simple, if only Nigerians are ready to do the heavy lifting required in choosing the right candidate for the job. Unfortunately, it is very doubtful if Nigerians are there yet as a lot of parochial tendencies usually festoon the road to electing a good president and thus suffocate that possibility. Anyway, this write up is about the future and not in any way a ruefulness about the past; but only how Nigerians can at least try to get it right come 2019.
First step is the need to find a candidate who is well qualified for the job. Nigerians have tried a PhD who ran a government of mediocrity which showed that a storied education is not a necessary sine qua non to being an effective president. ICHEOKU says this because President Goodluck Jonathan with his PhD in Animal Science/Zoology was a failed president which showed that a storied academic credentials along does not cut it. Goodluck Jonathan never had a grasp of his presidency while it lasted. He was timid, he was clueless and he did not really appreciate the seriousness of the office nor how to effectively wield powers of the office. He attended weddings and he knelt down before human beings when he is supposed to be the fealty above who there is no other Nigerian. He disrespected the office and he lost his respect among Nigerians. Any president who is neither feared nor respected cannot function and Jonathan was neither, hence the unraveling of his presidency. He was too readily available and this defeated the near solemness of the office. He lacks charisma and charm and did not inspire nor motivate anyone.
These shortcomings must be avoided in the next candidate for president, as Nigerians only need someone with a sound education, who is audacious, bold, well traveled and well exposed to the world; someone who is a good mixer and who interacts very well with people because timidity is a big deficit in running the affairs of any country which requires intermittent mixing and mingling with other world leaders. The person must be a goal getter and near maniacally, possessively driven. The person must have very little distraction and unlike the heavily distracted Abubakar Atiku with his four wives and many concubines, must make do with a single wife, if any. The person must learn to make eye contact and have the ability to eyeball wall leaders, unlike the coward of Otuoke who fidgets and looks the other way whenever in the midst of foreign leaders. President Olusegun Obasanjo excelled in many of these departments; but he was a parochial leader who was both tribal and pigeonholed and also very vindictive; otherwise he was the best among the rest.
These qualities must be determined by compelling the candidates to go through real interviews for the job. They must agree to debates and actually debate several times, at least do three debates. The candidates must agree to holding press conferences and at least hold two of them where questions must not be presented ahead of time but freely chosen for them to answer on national television with audience watching them live as well. The candidates must be made to give a clear road map blueprint answer to whatever solution they are preferring for any Nigerian problem. They must not be allowed to parry questions or give the usual one liner generic answer such as "I will fight corruption; I will create jobs and insecurity will become a thing of the past or my government will provide power to Nigeria etc.
If the candidate says I will, he or she must go forth and explain how the "I will", will come to fruition. He must explain to Nigerians' conviction, his rudimentary understanding of how things get done; how to mission accomplish set objectives. If he says will reduce unemployment, he must tell Nigerians how he plans to create jobs that will accomplish the promised. If he says he will end corruption, he must also disclose the judicial reforms he plans to embark on that will help solve the corruption problem. Therefore, no interview (debates), no hire (vote) for the presidency come 2019.
Were ICHEOKU to suggests a candidate for Nigeria's presidency come 2019, will strongly recommend the banker, Tony Elumelu, for consideration. He successfully turned around and repositioned the nearly moribund United Bank of Africa into a consortium and could do so with a comatose Nigeria. He will be much better at figuring out Nigeria's problems and finding solutions to them; unlike those two failed presidents who could hardly mix and mingle, or interact with people from other climes and backgrounds to extract what they could offer to reposition things. Such attempt often left them confused and out of their comfort zone. This is the reason a businessman or banker or lawyer always make a better president or leader, because in their normal course of doing business, they interact with people from various backgrounds and they are a good people's reader to spot the diamonds amongst them who will bring something rewarding to governance. They are also good public relations personalities and they have a killer instinct to spot talents. They are good mixers and they are courageous people too who are not afraid to say what they are thinking and break what needs to be broken in order to move the process forward.
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