Between the rule of law and economic development: Five months of Umar Musa Yar Adua

Since President Olusegun Obasanjo handed over power on May 29th 2007
to Alhaji Musa YarAdua, Nigeria has been treated to a style of government
that is as unique as it is strange. Before 1999 when General Obasanjo left
jail to become a civilian president, Nigerians had become used to insensitive
military leadership. The government of obasanjo was a refreshing change; an eight year Sitcom
riddled with humor, frustration, protests, excessive military actions [including the
eradication of a couple of villages in Bayelsa and Benue State],
armed insurgency/militancy in the oil rich Niger delta. It was also an era of
procustean leadership and unbridled corruption both of power and money.
The president gathered a motely assortment of cronies around himself and
assumed the garb of a dictator. He flaunted court orders at will and used his
junkyard dog the EFCC to harass and intimidate opponents, critics and perceived enemies.
He was not beyond treating state governors like his errand boys nor was he
immune to petty anger, jealousy and fits of self deification.

However, for all the shortcomings of Obasanjo, he was a man of action in classical
fashion. When the spectre of impeachment from office first dangled over him, he
announced that "I dey Kampe". He also had a good economic program which even
his detractors were at pains to respect. He inherited chaos and near ruin, but by
cleverly mixing politicians and technocrats in his administration, he achieved a very
high level of economic and social change. He managed to stay above ethnic sentiments
and for the most part, failed to discriminate along ethnic or religious affiliation;
at least his administration introduced issue based
democracy (even though his over personalisation of the presidency did not help)

His sucessor Alhaji Yar Adua took office over five months ago and in that time he has in his
unobtrusive manner worked to upturn the undemocratic precedents of his political mentor Obasanjo.
Aside from pledging to continue the war against corruption, he pledged to b a servant leader and
uphold the rule of law. This vow was sorely tested by the decision of the Supreme court in
the case of Obi vs Inec where Mr. Obasanjo's errand boy Dr. Andy Uba was expelled from the Anambra
Government house. To his credit, Yar Adua performed flawlessly and immediately ordered the re-instatement
of Mr. Obi. Since then, Nigerians have hardly had reason to accuse him of being unconstitutional
in the discharge of the functions of his office. In fact, it would appear that as a
president, Alhaji Yar Adua is only exellent in staying on the side of the law. Nigerians have begun to
complain that he singularly lacks the ability to take us to the promised land.

Great leaders at several times in world history have been persons of infectious charisma, boundless energy
and visionary character. It would appear that YarAdua is lacking in these. The economy has remained
unmotivated since he took office; there is no sign that the man has any plan to embark on a journey
of redesigning our socio-political life. Corruption is only being fought in the press, infrastructural development
has not appreciated at any significant pace nor has the economy shown any signs of improvment under
him. If any, the FIRS revealed that government revenues have fallen by about 10% since his government took power compared with
a similar time last year.

Is this the man that will take us to vision 2020? Hitler rebuilt the German economy in five years, on a diet
of personal charisma, aggressive Nationalism and drastic industrialisation policies. Mr. President YarAdua
had been governor of Katsina through 8Years and he is more remembered for stability and quiet than
rapid progress.

While the economic effects of his administration are still hidden behind a pile of statistics,
it is undisputable that Obasanjo introduced wide reaching reforms which will soon bear fruit, and
the man helped tried to forge a more united Nigeria by the power of his will alone.

I would like to know what you think, should we have political stability at the expense of economic progress?
Can YarAdua build on OBJ's economic legacy?

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hey man, i loved your article. The insight was fantastic. however, i think we need to look more at the followers because the true test of leadership is in the followership. Ur blog isnt developed by the way