LEADERSHIP
Brand Disintegration
By Dr . Wale Akinyemi
A
Nigerian Bishop cracked me up recently . What he did was so funny and yet so sad at the same time . As we all know Nigerians go to the polls in February to chose the people who will lead them for the next four years . The candidates are Bola Tinubu , a Yoruba ( South West of Nigeria ) Muslim man , Atiku Abubakar , a northern Muslim man and Peter Obi , an Igbo ( South East Nigeria ) Christian man . Now why is it important for me to define where they are from and what religious persuasion they subscribe to ?
It is because of the peculiar nature of Nigerian politics . There has always been the unwritten law of a rotational presidency . Obasanjo is a Yoruba Christian and he handed over to Umaru Yar ’ Adua who was a northern Muslim . That unwritten law also extends to the deputy . When Obasanjo was president his vice president was Atiku Abubakar - a Muslim from the North . When Yar ’ Adua was president his vice was Goodluck Jonathan , a Christian from the Southern part of the country . When Goodluck Jonathan was president his vice was Namadi Sambo , a Muslim from the North . President Buhari is a Muslim from the North and his vice has been a Yoruba professor of law who is also a pastor - Yemi Osibajo .
Now come 2023 , according to this unwritten and unspoken law , the presidency should go to the south . If people were going to follow the unwritten and unspoken law to the letter , it should now rotate to the south east because Obasanjo was Yoruba and Yemi Osibajo is Yoruba . The only non Yoruba candidate is therefore the Igbo business man and former governor of Anambra state , Peter Obi .
However , unwritten and unspoken laws become very bendable when not in favour of powerful people . Bola Tinubu has been a king maker . When he was a governor of Lagos state the current vice president was one of his cabinet members . It is generally accepted that his effort is what made Buhari president . He is now running for the office of the president of the most populous black country on earth on the premise that it is his turn . Its no more about rotation . Even though Nigeria has not had an Igbo head of state since Aguyi Ironsi who was assassinated on the 29th of July 1966 .
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If the people who take your promise to the consumer are not competent but are there because of some connection to the Chairman or to someone important in the organization - in essence their appointment is a product of nepotism and not of competence , you will soon begin to experience brand disintegration in earnest .
Then to make it more interesting Tinubu ’ s running mate is another Muslim from the North .
There is a verse in the bible that says that if the foundations be destroyed , what can the righteous do ? The obvious answer is nothing . Because the foundations of Nigerian politics was built on tribe and religion and not on competency and capacity , we will have to live with the consequences .
What if the fathers had pushed competency instead of tribe and religion ? In 1993 Chief Moshood Abiola - a Yoruba Muslim had another Muslim as his running mate and people voted for them and they won across the nation because they were competent . So , competence can become the main issue in elections but politicians for their own selfish interests will push the tribal and religious cards .
The unfortunate thing is that politicians in Nigeria discovered that when they played the tribal or religious card , it sparked emotions like nothing else could and so they just stuck to the script and in so doing they made tribe and religion the core of Nigerian politics . In every other area of our existence be it in corporate , in sports , or in entertainment , tribe or religion are irrelevant factors but when it comes to politics and political appointments , it becomes the deciding factor .
This explains why Nigeria can have very well run companies that meet all global best practice standards in business . Their leadership was competence based . When it however comes to the running of the nation , competence does not seem to feature or else young brilliant people will not be campaigning for some obvious bad choices .
40 MAL52 / 23 ISSUE