By Frederick Nwabufo Why do we seek angels in the realm of humans? There are no messiahs, angels or a Doctor Strange to magic our problems away. We are all humans – fatally flawed but blessed species. Politics is not a game of piety and leadership is beyond moral sanctimony. We have to get down to brass tacks and deal with the real issues of leadership as regards the personalities we throw up for elective office. The real issues of leadership as it concerns Nigeria are the capacity to bring about positive change in the system; initiate structural growth and development; build citizens’ confidence through transparency in governance; foster unity by inclusion and sensitivity to diversity; showing empathy; knowing the right things to say on the right occasions; understanding the economy; having the gravitas to take tough decisions; personal sacrifice and a sufficiency of character and patriotism. As I have always said, Nigeria needs a unifier and healer as president in 2023. It also needs a sanitiser, a vacuumer; one who is not afraid to dare the undared. It needs a dauntless leader who is not afraid to be unpopular reforming the country. The good news is we do not have people of such constitution in short supply here. They abound. No single government can fix all of Nigeria’s problems. We have to be realistic and measure our expectations. What we need is successive corrective leadership. One government addresses some fundamental challenges, and the next comes to build on the successes of the other as well as solve some prevailing problems. Governance should be a progressive continuum. The Buhari administration like all other administrations before it has its failings, but it will be thoughtless to say the government has done nothing for the country. Clearly, there are some accomplishments in the area of infrastructure. The government did not abandon the projects of the previous administration; rather it completed them and initiated more developmental projects. Today, Nigerians can travel from Lagos to Ibadan by rail within a few minutes; they can now travel through the once tortuous Enugu-Onitsha Expressway; the second Niger Bridge is nearing completion – as well as many other infrastructural projects. Are Bola Ahmed Tinubu and Vice-President Yemi Osinbajo defective leadership specimens? Well, their antecedents say otherwise. At the risk of lending myself to hagiography, Tinubu as Lagos governor showed his mettle. He worked out a roadmap for the state; had a diverse cabinet; in fact, he is reputed to be one of the few governors who appointed non-natives, including Igbo citizens, in their cabinet at the time. Against a federal government allocation blockade, he governed Lagos with internally-generated revenues and was able to steer the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to dominance in the south-west and then midwifing a merger with the Congress for Progressive Change and the All Nigeria Peoples Party for the parturition of the All Progressives Congress. We cannot ignore Tinubu. For what it is worth he has shown an uncanny ability to build consensus and mobilise consciences towards a cause. Osinbajo is a fine gentlemen; a refined politician. He is brilliant, temperate, expansive, renascent and disciplined. He is an example of what the avant-garde Nigerian politician should be. Against all odds, he has remained loyal to his boss – a rare quality in these parts. Osinbajo appears to have the right words for every occasion, and he has a copious understanding of the issues of governance. People with the capacity for governance are not in short supply here. But if we are seeking some flawless individuals or celestial beings to turn Nigeria around we will only be chasing a will-o-the-wisp. Again, we have to be realistic and measure our expectations. In the phylum of Nigerians with proven capacity for governance, we have Kayode Fayemi, governor of Ekiti state, who has been rumoured to be interested in running for presidential office in 2023; Akinwumi Adesina, Buba Marwa, and many other distinguished Nigerians. Fayemi is perhaps one politician whose integrity and character has remained unsullied over the years. Adesina, president of the African Development of Bank (AfDB), was first elected as the Bank’s president in 2015 and re-elected in 2020. He is an astounding economist. He graduated with a bachelor’s degree (first class) in agricultural economics from the University of Ife in 1981. He went on to earn a PhD in agricultural economics from Purdue University in the US. He has won many awards, and received global recognition and appointments. He also has sterling records on integrity and leadership. He came into the reckoning of most Nigerians when he was appointed as the minister of agriculture in 2011 by former President Goodluck Jonathan. He was named Forbes ‘African Man of the Year’ for his reforms in the agricultural sector. But in practical terms, Tinubu, Osinbajo and Fayemi are in a better political stead for the top job. They should run. All should run. Run Tinubu! Run Osinbajo! By Fredrick Nwabufo; Nwabufo aka Mr OneNigeria is a writer and journalist. Facebook/Instagram/Twitter: @FredrickNwabufo

  BY IBE PASCAL AROGORN The police are the public and the public are the police; the police being only members of the public who are paid to give full time attention to duties which are incumbent on every citizen in the interests of community welfare and existence. Understand, our police officers put their lives on the line for us every single day. They’ve got a tough job to do to maintain public safety and hold accountable those who break the law. However, the Nigerian police have come under a lot of scrutiny recently because of poor performance. From issues that require policing escalating to points where full blown military intervention is needed, to plain incompetence on the parts of police officers and cases where it is quite clear that the people do not trust those who are meant to protect them. Where did it all go wrong? As of 1960, Nigeria had 12,000 policemen. By 1979, as a result of post-war expansion, there were 80,000. Most of them poorly trained. The 1979 Constitution gave the Federal Government controlled NPF the sole-jurisdiction over the country. However, that democratic experiment was short-lived and the various military governments thereafter saw the NPF as a potential threat to their power and as a result deliberately underfunded the force. In an interview with Channels Tv on Tuesday, President Muhammadu Buhari rejected state police on grounds it is never an option for Nigeria right now. Calls for state policing have been made by several Governors as a way to solve insecurity across the country. Nigeria’s current policing system is controlled by the Federal Government. The President alluded to the propensity for Governors to abuse their powers as his argument against state police. “State police is not an option,” he said. “Find out the relationship between local government and the Governors. Are the third tier of government getting what they are supposed to get constitutionally? Are they getting it? Let the people in local government tell you the truth, the fight between local governments and the Governor.” Local solutionsCommenting on the security situation in the country, the President said traditional rulers must play a huge role in bringing peace to communities. He also advocated for more dialogue in solving the farmer-herder clashes recorded across the country. “The role of traditional rulers must not be undermined, because in their areas they know who is who, even by families, not to even talk of individuals,” he said. “So, we have to revert to that system for us to have effective security in the localities. “For example, there were two Governors that came to see me about problems – Oyo state and one other state – because the herders were in their forests but the animals were going into the neighbouring farms, and eating the crops; I said, as far as I know, the farmers and herders have been co-existing in Nigeria for generations. Let them go and ask the local leadership what has gone wrong, why the break in communication between the local leadership and the herders.” I partially agreed with Mr President on the rejection of state police not his opinion . STATE POLICE CAN BE A TOOL FOR GROSS ABUSE OF POWER As the name implies, state police can be used as a tool for intimidation/violation of rights by various govs of states. State govs having commanding power over state policing can use it as a weapon of playing “gruesome politics”. As seen on 26 December 2021, when policemen stormed a church to abduct one of the opposition in Imo state , Uchie Nwosu. With the police not establishing a single tangible reason for Nwosu’s arrest, Nigerians on various social media platforms have fingered the current Imo administration led by Hope Uzodimma in masterminding Nwosu’s abduction. Imagine when the state police eventually arrives . In other thoughts, I don’t put up blames to Nigerians who clamour for state police quickly. Owing to the high level of insecurity in Nigeria right now, one would call the emergence of state police even today. Another need, Nigerians saw the creating of state police as a balance in true federalism. At least if not for anything, let the state governors be in total of the security affairs of the state. As seen in the outrageous act by a CSP who disobeyed Babajide Sanwo-Olu when asked by the Lagos governor to withdraw the policemen attached to Magodo estate in Lagos. The CSP told Sanwo-Olu that he is acting on the orders from inspector General (IG) and Malami. He asked the Lagos governor to call him Abuja himself. Southwest govs and some Nigerians have seen this act by the police CSP as a total disrespect and which necessitate that creation of state police urgently . Like Presidentl Buhari said in his interview, Nigeria don’t need state police for now, Nigerians are divided at the moment. Some need it ,some don’t need it . But we must think of what should be meritorious to our dear country Nigeria at this point in time. Ibe Pascal Arogorn, is a journalist, writer and public affairs analyst . Writes from Asaba, Delta State Nigeria. 5/01/2022