OUR PRESIDENT HAD GONE MAD AGAIN I find it very # Unpresidential of PMB to say that # CHANGE_begins_WITH_me . Imagine! PMB uses 11 Jets, N4b for his Cars, N1.7b just for his Feeding: N200m just for his Hair cut and he thinks Change begins with me. How ...... Am I the person that promised Change? Was I the one that Corruptly appointed my relations into CBN and FIRS? Am I the one getting Forex at official rate from CBN to sell at Black Market? Am I the one that appointed Inexperienced and Directionless Ministers? Am I the one that Padded the Budget? Am I part of those in NASS paying themselves Extravagant Allowances? Am I part of those Stealing Money in the TSA? Am I the one Appointing my Incompetent village people into Key Positions? Am I the Saint President whose "over wise" policies brought Economic Recession? Am I the one who Chased out Investors by declaring Nigerians Criminals? Am I the one that Authorised the Slaughter of 1000 Shiite Muslims and Peaceful IPOB members? Am I the one protecting the Blood sucking Herdsmen? Am I the one that increased Price of Fuel? Am I the one whose Policies left 4.58m people unemployed? Am I the one that made Foodstuffs and everything expensive? .... Please your Excellency, President Mohamadu Buhari, please, can your excellence, kindly explain how the change you promised with your own mouth should begin with me?! Your Excellency Sir, Change starts with you........... ______________________________ Change was your idea not ours. Change was your manifesto, we do not have a manifesto Change was your mantra, not ours Change was your magic word Change starts with you. We did not vote us into power... We voted you into power because we bought into your Change mantra. Change you sold. Change we bought. And Change we want. Change we can touch, Change we can feel, Change we can relate with, and Change that has a human face. And we want it from you. Show the light, we will find the way. In 1937, when the Great Dr. Nnamdi Azikiwe( Owelle Osowanya Onitsha) launched The West African Pilot newspaper. He chose a very special motto for it. "Show the light and the people will find the way". Zik knew leadership is everything. The very idea that 'Change' starts with the led and not the leadership can be best described as an abdication of responsibility by the leadership. That was the utopia Carl Marx preached, but as he also found out, it took the intervention of the ruling class in the person of Frederick Engels for his ideas to be heard. There is no known historical precedent where the people led the change paradigm without the leadership. I have ruminated through my books on political and economic history. There is no known reference. The closest was the French Revolution of 1789, and if you take a closer look, it was not even started by the Proletarian class. Danton and Robespierre were not ''the masses''. Every dramatic, and drastic change witnessed from the 19th to 20th century across the globe has been top down. Nnamdi Azikiwe studied it quite well in his Renascent Africa, and came to the conclusion that "Show the Light, and the people will find the way"... Chairman Mao failed woefully in China because he believed change could come from the people that was why he launched the Cultural Revolution. But it took Deng Xiaoping to show that leadership is everything when he manipulated the ''unseen finger'' that has pulled over 600 million out of poverty in the last 30 years.That is leadership! Cuba withstood the world's blockade, suffered all sorts of indignities, yet gave their people one of the best education and health care services in the world. It took the leadership of Fidel Castro.... General Park knew this quite well when he set out the policies that encouraged the Chaebols in South Korea.You can describe him as a dictator, but he laid the foundation for the take off of a prosperous Korea. Today I am writing this with a mobile device thanks to the foresight of General Park, hose daughter incidentally is the present President of South Korea. Lee Kuan Yew is an evident testimony that change can only be effectively and efficiently launched top down. He enumerated everything succinctly in his well received book, From the Third World, to the First World. Singapore today is a living testimony to that. Mahathir Mohammad pointed out that principles can be replicated. He learnt from what happened in neighbouring Singapore, and helped steer Malaysia in same pathway. Can we take a loot at what leadership caused in Chile, that is today well referenced as the Chile Miracle? The bringing in of the Chicago Boys who helped drew the economic blue print that led to the emergence of the first rich society in South America? This too is a well documented case study. What of Dubai? Was it the poor people of Dubai that caused the change or the Sheikh who pursued his dreams inspite of contrary views from 'knowledgeable folks'....today, the Dubai experience has been duplicated in Qatar, Oman, Bahrain etc etc...and in each case, it took leadership. Brazil already has an economic growth template initiated by President Cardoso while he was the Minister of Finance. But it took Lula Da Silva to take Brazil to global prominence... Now let us come home to Africa. Botswana has always been described as an oasis in the midst of poor leadership, mismanagement and chaos. Was it the Batswana people that engineered the change process or the leadership of Ketumile Masire who followed in the footsteps of the first President of the country Sir Seretse Khama. He mentored Festus Magae, reputed as Africa's incorruptible leader. Is Botswana today not regarded as Africa's most stable country, with the continent's longest continuous multi-party democracy. It is relatively free of corruption and has a good human rights record. Look at Rwanda.... Just 20 years ago, it was the most destroyed nation in the world. Go there today. It is a model, walk through the streets of Kigali, it is the neatest city in Africa. Even Rwandans dont even walk around dressing haggardly. Interact with them to check out their level of patriotism. Check out their growth rate and how today they are the most respected African country at international diplomatic circles. Look at Ethiopia, hitherto known for poverty and hunger...today it is the driving force in the Africa rising story. They are building a massive 8000 km railways criss crossing the entire country.Their airline is the most profitable state run airline in the world, and the rate of infrastructure development is second to non in sub Sahara Africa. I can go on and on.... I can also go into Europe and give examples where just one man or woman came up with an idea, sold it to everyone, and ensured everyone is part of it. Even democratic Germany survived the economic crises of the last decade because of the leadership of Angela Merkel. In the United States, and at different times in their history, we have seen the emergence of someone who took the bull by the horns, and steer the nation from economic doldrums to prosperity. It started with Thomas Jefferson. Then we had Abraham Lincoln Then Franklin Delano Roosevelt whose astute leadership ensured Americans elected him four times as President even when he was bedridden. We had John F.Kennedy, whose dream was to put a man in the Moon. We also had Ronald Reagan Bill Clinton, and ofcourse Barack Obama...... These leaders stood out. In the UK we had men like Winston Churchill whose words, just words boosted hope in time of despair, and whose wisdom helped save an entire continent. In France we had men like Charles de Gaulle. He was France, France was him. He was affectionately described by the French as "Celui qui dit non" Your Excellency Sir, show the light, and the people will find the way! LEADERSHIP IS EVERYTHING.

Excellent write-up!!! kudos!!

Good post...Leadership should start with the head and not the tail...When the head shows exemplary sacrifice, transparency,commitment and love for the polity then the followers will be ready to commit to the cause! What we currently have in the country are Lords and not Leaders!

President Goodluck Jonathan on Friday during a rally in Enugu said that the All Progressives Congress candidate, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (retd), cannot remember his own mobile phone number.

Jonathan, whose unscripted address was mostly a response to previous statements made by Buhari, accused the APC presidential candidate of deceiving Nigerians by promising to revive the economy without explaining how he would achieve the feat.

The President wondered how Buhari would develop the country’s economy, a feat he could not achieve while he was in office as head of state between 1983 and 1985.

“Is it now that Buhari cannot even remember his own phone number that he can change the economy of the country.” Jonathan asked.

The Peoples Democratic Party presidential candidate said that although he did not like to “go personal during campaigns,” “sometimes circumstances demand that certain things must be said.”

Jonathan said that Buhari belonged to the medieval age, adding that he (the APC candidate) intended to run the Federal Government as a medieval king.

He said, “We cannot run the government as if we are in the medieval age; we cannot run a government where somebody said he would throw people into jail.

“You are not a medieval king – a medieval king can throw you into jail but we have to follow the rule of law because we cannot go back to the old days.”

Jonathan, however, read the speech made by Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (rtd.) after overthrowing Buhari’s regime through a military coup on August 27, 1985 to justify his claim that the APC candidate does not keep his promises.

Babangida, in the portions of the address read by Jonathan, justified Buhari’s overthrow by pointing out that the latter did not live up to the promises he made to Nigerians when he ousted a democratically elected civilian government headed by Alhaji Shehu Shagari in a military coup.

Noting that Buhari “deceived Nigerians” from 1983 to 1985, Jonathan quoted Babangida as saying, “The initial objectives of Buhari’s intervention were betrayed as there was a general deterioration of standard of living in the country.”

The PDP candidate also pointed out that Babangida accused Buhari of being “too rigid in his attitude to national issues” and “became alienated from the people” in the course of his stay in power.

He, therefore, challenged Buhari to tell Nigerians how he intends to revive the economy.

Jonathan said, “They are telling young Nigerians that they are going to change the economy but they have not told us how they want to manage the economy more than us.

“If they say they want to change agriculture, they should tell us the weak links in the agriculture value chain and what they want to do about it.

“I said in Lagos that I want to work with young people, not to deceive people.

“I am not going to run the government based on my habits, I am going to run the government according to global best practices.”

Jonathan also insisted that he was committed to the campaign against corruption.

“There is no government that has fought corruption more than we do,” he said, noting that some previous administrations pretended to be fighting corruption while oppressing their enemies.

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He recalled that Buhari jailed some prominent Igbo politicians while in office as head of state, including former Vice-President Alex Ekwueme and former governor of old Anambra State, Chief Jim Nwobodo.

Stressing that Buhari jailed politicians on trumped up charges, Jonathan said, “You can no longer carry people and put them in prison for 301 years.”

The President equally accused Buhari of having a wrong idea of corruption.

According to him, Buhari believes that every wealthy Nigerian is corrupt.

He said, “If a Nigerian businessman has a private jet, then you are corrupt but if a South African has a private jet then you commend him.

“If you have a good house, then you are corrupt, if you have a good car then you are corrupt – that is his definition of corruption.”

Jonathan accused his opponent of making spurious claims against him.

The President said, “They are saying that government is corrupt but they are not telling us what they are going to do to stop corruption. Let them go back to their consultants to coach them, then I will listen to them.

“They should tell us how they are going to manage the economy better than we do.

“They are saying we stole foreign reserves, nobody can steal foreign reserves – spurious allegations.”

He also reiterated his claim that Buhari did not equip the military while he was the head of state.

Jonathan said that he had done more than his predecessors to shore up the country’s defence.

“For 30 years, we had only one frigate, now we have four additional frigates,” he said.

In the same vein, he pointed out that Buhari did not find any woman worthy enough for appointment when he was the military head of state.

The President asked Nigerians to assess him and Buhari by looking at how they performed during their respective periods in office.

He said, “They have deceived us before and they want to deceive us again.

“Go and find out whether these people are deceiving you or are telling you the truth.

“People are assessing me because I have run this country for some years – they have run this country for two years.

“They came with promises but immediately they came in, what they did was to jail Jim Nwobodo for 201 years.”

What did president Buhari do again?