PRESIDENT JOHN MAHAMA'S CONCESSION SPEECH AS A PRACTICAL LESSON TO LEADERS IN SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA:
BY SIR DON UBANI: KSC, JP
OKWUBUNKA OF ASA
11TH DECEMBER, 2016.
Man is one creature that is endowed with intelligence but, in most circumstances, refuses to learn.
An intelligent man that is deficient in wisdom, finds it difficult to take maximum advantage of his intelligence.
A wise man does not wait to be taught bitter lessons of life through his own mistakes and failures.
He rather learns from the mistakes and misfortunes of others. A rare combination of intelligence and wisdom makes him learn fast.
With my experience in government and governance, I have, over the years, drawn some conclusions, one of which is that a President, Governor, Minister, Commissioner or even a local government council chairman is an administrative cum social prisoner.
Some critics may quickly misunderstand me or inject extraneous interpretations to my assertion which, however, would not, in any way, vitiate the veracity of my stand.
A Governor, for instance, is strictly guided by protocol. There are well trained and remunerated government officials whose duty is to cautiously lead him on a slippery rope of dos and donts.
Strict adherence to protocol brings about limitations in interaction between the Governor and the governed.
Even if the Governor is so liberally disposed that he would want access to be given to whoever desires to see him, his protocol officers, knowing that if any thing untoward results out of the visit they are the ones to be held accountable, would throw spanner into the wheel.
The aftermath of this protocol essentialism is that the Governor or President becomes withdrawn from the masses. Even though he may not be described as a recluse or hermit, the fact remains that he has lost his former and cherished close contact with his erstwhile friends.
However, being determined to live up-to his electioneering promises, he clings almost dependently to the retinue of his aides and confidants.
These aides automatically become his ears and eyes. Whatever piece of information they bring to him is what he takes to be real.
If they tell him that the masses are full of praises for him, whether it is true or even the opposite, that is what the President or Governor would take.
Unfortunately, 85%, if not more, of his coterie are not given to altruism. They are there to amass wealth and massage their personal ego.
They are not even bothered whether their Principal would be able to make a second tenure. Their interest only lies in what they can make in the Governor's first tenure.
In order to get the Governor or President emotionally attached to them, they become sycophants, flattering him in such a manner that others who do not do same are perceived as enemies.
Just to make sure their boss is properly caged in their prison, they employ the weapon of gossip and character assassination against persons they think, if allowed close, could tell the Governor or President the true picture of things as perceived by the commoners out there.
Even friends of the helmsman who assisted in his struggle to get to his present position are deliberately painted black and dangerously portrayed as potential enemies.
The Veranda boys, as Genevieve Kanu in her book, Nkrumah, The Man, would call these abnormally voracious aides, would do any thing to detach their employer from sensibilities of the people.
Ironically and interestingly, these fair weather friends are usually the first to abandon the man they succeeded in holding hostage.
President John Mahama of Ghana is the latest self-discovered prisoner of aides and confidants.
As an incumbent President, he had, on 7th December, 2016 contested for a second tenure on the platform of his Party; National Democratic Congress.
Nana Akufo-Addo, on his own, sought for his country's Presidency, riding on New Patriotic Party.
Unknown to President Mahama, the Ghanaian electorate had lost confidence in his administration and were only praying to manage to be alive to prove to Mr President that he can not have his cake and eat it.
He failed woefully in the election while Nana Akufo-Addo emerged victorious.
In his concession speech, he congratulated his victorious opponent. He accepted responsibility of his Party's failure and attributed his misfortune to his failure to choose men and women who could have guided him through the path of truth and reality instead of surrounding himself with mere opportunists and sycophants.
It is my wish that African leaders can quickly learn from John Mahama's experience.
Getting people who have the capacity to criticize proposals internally and strongly but respectfully draw attention to lapses in an administration could have served as an elixir to President John Mahama.
Okwubunka of Asa.

Buhari should prepare one for 2019!