₦airaland Forum

Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Sokoto Matthew Kukah has said that Nigeria’s presidents since independence, except President Bola Tinubu, assumed office by accident. Nevertheless, he lamented that the country still suffers despite Tinubu’s preparedness to govern.

Given the bishop’s history of sharp critiques of Nigerian governments, his nuanced stance on the Tinubu administration—acknowledging its preparedness while lamenting the nation’s struggles—may perplex many Nigerians who view past administrations more favourably amid current economic challenges.

Kukah spoke while delivering his keynote address at the 4th Amaka Ndoma-Egba Memorial Lecture, which was held in Abuja yesterday on the theme “Leaders of Tomorrow: Creating Lasting Change In A Complex World.”

The deceased, who was wife to the former Senate Leader Ndoma Egba, died in an auto crash in Ondo State in 2020. The event, held at Start-Rite Schools, Abuja, saw Cross River Governor Bassey Otu commission a legacy building in honour of the deceased.

Kukah lamented that Nigeria’s leadership crisis was caused by its leaders’ lack of knowledge, capacity, and preparedness.Tracing the history of Nigeria’s leadership, the cleric observed that none of the country’s past leaders, including former Presidents Muhammadu Buhari, Goodluck Jonathan, Umaru Yar’adua, Olusegun Obasanjo, Ernest Shonekan, and Sani Abacha, among others, came to power prepared.

He said, “I don’t want to bore you, but run through, from the beginning, you’ll find that almost everybody who came to power in Nigeria was the result of one accident or the other. President Tinubu, well, he prepared for it. However, we’re still trying to get off the ground. But he took over from Buhari, who had already given up.

“Buhari took over from Jonathan, who was thinking that after finishing being deputy governor, he would go somewhere else, and then something happened. Jonathan took over from Yar’adua, who had actually said he was going to teach at Ahmadu Bello University as he was finishing his term as governor.

“Yar’adua took over from Obasanjo, who was in prison and was not expecting to come out. But he somehow found himself out of prison. Obasanjo took over from Abacha, who, sadly, even though the five political parties had said he would rule forever, nature took him. Abacha took over from Ernest Shonekan, who was busy at the United African Company of Nigeria, and then they told him to come and be head of state. We can go all the way down but fundamental to governance is knowledge.”



The bishop also argued that democracy’s benefits go beyond physical infrastructure, roads, railways, and other projects. If democracy were solely about infrastructure, people would still be praising authoritarian regimes like Adolf Hitler and apartheid South Africa, which, he said, built impressive infrastructure during their times.

“Democracy’s benefits are often not necessarily measurable. They are largely intangible. It is understanding how to expand the frontiers of human imagination,” he explained.

The bishop also decried the country’s culture of nepotism, saying ministerial appointments were often based on personal relationships rather than merit.

He observed that Nigerians are impatient with the country’s current state of democracy, which he noted is hardly working. Kukah said despite the country’s little progress, Nigerians are never satisfied, adding that the nation will never be a perfect place because such places do not exist.

He said, “We have made a choice to live with democracy as it is, we know that our democracy is hardly working, hardly functioning, although I’d make quick to say that we are very impatient with ourselves, very, very impatient.


“Nigerians are surprised when I say we have done pretty well. We are absolutely not happy, and we will probably never be happy because that’s not how the world is. You’ve got this, you want this, you want that. We are insatiable.

“Now, we are not in a perfect place because perfect places don’t exist, and we shouldn’t be looking for leaders who will take us to a place of perfection because nobody has found that kind of place. However, there are minimum conditions that we require in a leader, and I think we need to use them to measure the whole concept of leadership.



The bishop stressed the need for leaders to set goals and be bold, courageous, and patriotic, adding that true leadership is about influencing citizens, not just holding office.

Chairman of the National Drug Law Enforcement Agency, Buba Marwa, charged the students to shun drug abuse. Describing drug abuse as the number one challenge facing the country today, he called on stakeholders to invest in the advancement of youth to ensure that their potential is properly harnessed.

He described the late Amaka Ndoma-Egba as a visionary agent who established Start-Rite Schools to ensure that students learn and imbibe the necessary life skills to navigate an ever-challenging world.


https://guardian.ng/news/nigeria/all-nigerian-presidents-were-unprepared-except-tinubu-says-kukah/#google_vignette

The Most prepared now become the worst...

Only Tinubu prepared for the job.

Tinubu is the best prepared president Nigeria has ever had.

Kukah don yarn true. We just need to stabilize the economy and we will be alright.

Country of clowns 🤡. Yes, we have seen his preparedness by saying subsidy is over on his first day and immediately collapsing the economy.

This statement from Kukah must be sarcasm or mockery because even till now, the old druggie is still doing trial & error.

Actually Tinubu prepared to start from where Buhari stopped.

Kukah don dey speak Tinubu language lately.

I like the fact he acknowledged Tinubu preparedness.

tundegan:
Tinubu is the best prepared president Nigeria has ever had.

Kukah don yarn true. We just need to stabilize the economy and we will be alright.

it's only a mumu that thinks his enemy came unprepared. He came to steal,kill and destroy .you expect a turn around from Satan ok.continue

criminals always come prepared na,it's only the people that was not preparing for the day of that criminal from Lagos State I pity.

I agree with him. Sir Jaga came prepared.

ogolemati:
criminals always come prepared na,it's only the people that was not preparing for the day of that criminal from Lagos State I pity.

Today is Monday. Please stay off the window.

The problem is that we are measuring the progress with the yardstick of other countries that have gone far beyond us in development. The progress we have made is largely intangible.

Strictlygreen:
Today is Monday. Please stay off the window.

ok seems like there is less buses today at cele busstop.come oshodi bus plenty