Good day Nairalanders.

This piece is motivated by the recent events in our politics. From my observations, there are three major areas a politician must be versatile in to be successful in our politics. Without waste of time let me discuss these areas.

1.) Public image: This area is the most reckoned with by the Nigeria citizen. This is simply how a politician is viewed by his/her people. Since this is the major attribute questioned by most Nigerians, most of our politicians try to boost their public images. This is the reason why some politicians eat roasted corn, take bike, dress in school uniform, etc during election periods just to portray themselves as an humble servant of the people. But sadly this is not suppose to be a major criteria as we will see in the second point.

2.) Delivery proficiency: For obvious reasons, this is the most important attribute a politician can possess because it affect the masses directly, but sadly this is the least considered in my beloved country. This negligence result to bitter lamentation of the people after few years of their favorite political icon on seat, hence clamour for change in administration. It is high time we knew that eating of roasted corn is not tantamount to increase in agriculture sector, dressing in school uniform is not same as improvement in our educational system and being a good man is not similar 2 ability 2 deliver to your people.
Let's take foreign politicians as examples; Obama agreed to an allegation of once taking marijuana, which is being fought against, but that didn't stop him from becoming the first black president of USA, Donald Trump had sexual scandal allegation and do render undiluted social comments, yet he became an unprecedented US president that has never held a public office before being elected, another example is Putin, who the Americans always complain of his methods, nevertheless that didn't stop him from being elected to office four times.

3.) Politicking prowess: It is good to love your country, have great ideas and how it can be implemented, be of good moral standard, but if you don't understand and know how to play the game of politics, then you are best as the head of the family. In fact a good politician owe it to his people to repay the trust they have in him by securing the seat of power.
An obvious example of this is the case of the outgoing governor of Lagos, who is the first governor in Nigeria not to win his gubernatorial primary. Another example is the Osun gubernatorial election. Although the people of Osun state earnestly seeked a change of administration but the outwitting politics of APC, ensured that didn't happen.

These are some illustrations to buttress my points:

1.) 2015 election saw d ousting of an incumbent president which as never occurred, hence the question, "what went wrong?"
Studying Jonathan, it is obvious he is a compassionate, humble and wise leader, but the problem is that his delivery proficiency is low, so how are people going to benefit from his great ideas? Incase you don't know it was GEJ that brought the idea of BVN and TSA but it was properly implemented by PMB and hence he took the shine.
He was international recognized for his peaceful transition of power, which is not common in Africa, definitely he his a good man, but that doesn't bring food to the table.

2.) In the just concluded election, a sitting senate president couldn't win a return ticket to senate. That is also unprecedented. I must confess, I like Dr. Saraki's politicking but he lost the support of his people, he lost his public image and he fell down flat. This is just like a river that forgot it's source, it should prepare to run dry.

In my own opinion, a political icon that posses to a significant level these properties is the former president, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo, and you may ask why? So these are my reasons:

1.) I know there is hardly any leader that won't receive his/her criticism, but to me Chief Olusegun Obasanjo is one of the few president that saw and treated Nigeria as Nigeria and not through a bias goggle of ethnic diversity, and this made him more president-like.
Also he is the first military leader to transit power to a civilian rule peacefully, you will understand this better if you know what a power, a sitting military head-of-state is sacrificing. He was also bold enough to tackle Abacha's infamous regime despite knowing its consequences.

3.) If there is any one to be thanked for the democratic stability of this third republic it should be Obasanjo, he took various actions such as compulsory retirement of military officers that have held political post, to ensure that the incessant interruption of our democratic system is stopped. Nigeria had a working economy, international reputation and a level of security during his tenure.

3.) Well I don't really need to explain this. If politics is a game of football Obasanjo will be Messi .

This is my humble opinion, let me hear yours with reasons.