Embracing Pat Utomi

Nigeria is a country of faith. Regardless of religion, Nigerians embrace God and frequently seek solace in His infinite mercies when their country is distressed, which is more often than not. Even Nigerian agnostics invoke their various deities. Correspondingly, God’s love for Nigeria has been steadfast, compassionate, and infinite. If not, how else does one explain the nation’s uncanny survival of forty-seven years of muddling through dismal, ineffectual, retrogressive and corrosive leadership?

Two recent Epiphanies made the Almighty’s care for this country of ours even more manifest. In the past week, Nigerians witnessed and joined Ghana in celebrating its fiftieth independence anniversary. That landmark celebration flagged a critical timeline and that Nigeria’s turn to celebrate its fiftieth anniversary is merely three years away. But like Ghana, will Nigeria have anything to celebrate come 2010? Second, just on the eve of electing Nigeria’s thirteenth leader, Gov. Umar Yar’Adua the candidate deemed by many as the president-in-waiting took ill suddenly but not surprisingly and was flown abroad. Aside from “thirteen” being an unlucky number, it could have been nothing less than divine intervention and a revelation of sorts, that such happenstance took place, thus allowing Nigerians to reevaluate if they really want to elect, as their next leader, a candidate whose extremely poor health is evident.

Moreover, which truly forward-looking and progressive nation flies their national leaders abroad the very instance they fall ill? That reality, alone, underlined the doleful and sorry state of Nigeria’s healthcare delivery system, which is a resultant product and evidence of many years of bad governance. The thrust of this piece, however, is who should lead Nigeria ahead of its fiftieth independence anniversary and the second half of its centenary? In trying to respond to the question, we need to bear in mind, that Nigeria’s first fifty years has been, without debate, wasted. Finally, we need to acknowledge that we have entered an irreversible process of electing the leader who will finish and begin what will perhaps, be the most critical segment of Nigerian politics and history in its first century. Nigerians will be called upon in the next seven weeks to make that epochal democratic decision.

Erudite aficionados of Nigeria’s history will be the first to tell you that in many ways, Nigeria mimics the United States. Nowhere is this truer than in the politics of both nations. What is now deemed the unsavory vagaries of Nigerian politics, replicate in the main, a similar era in American politics when hoodlums and charlatans used every trick and treachery to gain political power, and failing which, resorted to the force of arms. America eventually overcame its tribulations, for as President John F. Kennedy, one of its eminent sons and savvy politician subsequently said of his nation, “It is time for a new generation of leadership, to cope with new problems and new opportunities. For there is a New World to be won.” The same may well be said on present day challenged Nigeria.

It was also John F. Kennedy, who wrote in his widely acclaimed book, Profiles in Courage, “a man does what he must -- in spite of personal consequences, in spite of obstacles and dangers and pressures – and that is the basis of all human morality.” This said, it bears admitting that both quotes from Kennedy are salient to this write-up and its main subject, Dr. Pat Utomi, who like Kennedy has chosen to run the political gauntlet in seeking the Nigerian presidency in 2007, against what is well known to be very obvious and extremely formidable odds.

Who rules Nigeria in 2007 will definitely have far reaching implications for Nigeria, Africa, and the World. It needs to be remembered that Nigerian politics, like its foreign policy extrapolates in outwardly concentric rings. With the third term saga now over and in the political annals, Nigerians must begin to seriously think aloud about who will rule them come May 2007. The pretenders are evident, and the usurpers are already scheming and gunning full throttle to fill the imminent void in Aso Rock. But like the third term plot, their scheme might not play out as designed, simply because Nigerians are a lot wiser and may have reached the end point in their tolerance elasticity.

What is clearly evident is the divide between the old school and military politicians and the emerging new school of political vision and thought to which Utomi belongs. The consistent misrule of Nigeria, if in anyway considered a factor of the predominance of northern leaders, be they military of civilian, can be linked to the warped but intentionally skewed policy of the colonial British administration. But we cannot infinitely blame colonialism for the ills that we have confronted in the past forty-seven years. It is up to us to remedy whatever lapses that exist. And the forthcoming elections present a unique opportunity.

Nigeria’s years of independence, has unquestionably been dominated by one political party, the military; and either in or out of uniform, or by their proxy. The choice of whom to vote for as Nigeria’s next president will be, after all, a personal political thing. Nonetheless, it will also be an intensely collective soul-searchingly and sacred task in the context on prevailing realities in the country. We must as Nigerians ask if we desire true change or wish to continue wallowing in abysmal leadership, fractious politics, and other forms of bad governance. We are, therefore, being called to take a leap of faith. Responding to the reality will require that we also respond to an intrusively gulling, but nonetheless pertinent question. Considering those who are directly or indirectly in the leadership tussle now -- Obasanjo, Buhari, Babangida, Yar’Adua, Atiku Abubakar -- we need to contemplate and ask, “How has it been possible for the same set of men to have continuously dominate the axis of power” either directly or by proxy? We must also ask, what are the alternatives?

Enter Dr. Pat Utomi of the African Democratic Congress (ADC). Many have asked why Utomi would dare to venture into Nigeria’s troubled political terrain, mindful of its pitfalls. Some note that his being under resourced translates to his being politically hamstrung. I too, have asked variants of that question, as I am sure Utomi has. On reflection, and with Nigeria’s best interest at heart, I am going on record, as identifying with Dr. Pat Utomi, the flag bearer of the African Democratic Congress as the best suitable candidate to lead Nigeria into the second half of its first centenary. I have many reasons for doing so, aside from Utomi being fresh in almost every sense – ideas, youth, emergence, vigor, and vision. Let me start with the fundamental premise. The misrule of Nigeria has affected every facet of Nigeria and every geographical zone alike. Southerners, easterners, westerners, and northerners alike have all been equally and adversely affected. As has been observed, “northerners like everyone else in Nigeria, seem to be at the mercy of this power elite.” Put more bluntly, whereas northerners have ruled Nigeria for nearly eighty percent of the forty-seven years of independence and produced eight of the twelve Nigerian leaders, the northern region remains largely the least developed part of the nation. Why allow this trend to continue?

Seven years ago, Nigerians took a leap of faith and elected President Olusegun Obasanjo to a second tenure in office. The outcome and expectation, while not defined, was optimistically positive. Moreover, the need to ensure unfettered power shift to the south justified that Nigerians joined en masse in supporting Obasanjo and eventually, his victorious PDP. But in essence, the support vote derived from two sources. First, it was a grouse vote against the military and the past misrule of northern oligarchy. Second, it was a vote to recompense Chief M.K.O. Abiola’s supporters across Nigeria and especially to his south-west kinsmen for the egregious injustice done to him and to Nigeria. Obasanjo’s candidacy and election was meant to buy peace and stability for Nigeria. . But whatever positive dividends Nigerians believed that they had bargained for, ill-defined as it was, have not manifested. To many Nigerians, President Obasanjo has simply not delivered. At best, under his leadership since 1999, peace has been halting, security perfunctory, and nation building and development, just as erratic as the national power supply.

The less-than-expected turnout of the country under President Obasanjo and the besmirched reputation of the ruling PDP has given rise to the clamor for a new brand of national leadership. Even Obasanjo himself, recently urged Nigerians to elect only those who are credible in 2007. That proposal, a seeming indictment of the outgoing administration, could at best, be a tacit acknowledgment on the president’s part, that things have not gone as they should have under his watch. So, we have entered an open season.

There is a season for everything and a reason too. For long, Nigeria has been a nation in search of a true leader. It is not that ours is a nation bereft of leadership materials, but rather, that the leadership selection and election process has been flawed and unproductive. But for the flitting moment under Murtala Mohammed, that collective wish has largely eluded us. The question that needs to be asked is, why? From my vantage point, this is how I see it. Over the years Nigerians came to accept as a convenient excuse, that their country was a tad too difficult to govern. But the inconvenient truth is that Nigeria is like any other nation, and hence, can be easily governed if there is the vision, the will to lead selflessly and the determination to run a purposeful government in the interest of all. This has never been the case; perhaps, it has never been Nigeria’s luck or fate to find those willing to reach for such Olympian ideals. Paradoxically, when futile leadership seem to have become the norm, history is turning Nigeria’s leadership excuses on its head; and the myths and realities too.

For many years, leaders from the north misruled Nigeria and ran it aground. But those leaders are from the same ethnic stock that produced accomplished public servants like Nasir El-Rufai, Nuhu Ribadu, and Martin Agwai. Likewise, for many years, Igbo charlatans, masquerading as politicians, drove those Igbo with leadership qualities underground, while they sold out their kindred and communities for a porridge mess and derisory contracts. But from that very Igbo stock have emerged the likes of Charles Soludo, Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Obiageli Ezekwesili, and Dora Akunyili. By a cruel twist of fate, whereas Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief M.K.O. Abiola, two eminent Yoruba politicians came close but never had a chance to lead Nigeria, their respective slots vicariously went to Olusegun Obasanjo, and he performed to the best of his abilities. Some argue that he has eternally mortgaged the Yoruba claim to national leadership.

Ever since independence, Nigerian minorities have been economically and politically marginalized and their voices muffled. Interestingly, the emergent Nigeria in its renaissance clearly cannot progress without its minorities being equally ensconced at the political and power-sharing table. To contemplate the continued marginalization of our minorities would be impolitic and to actually try to, would be extremely foolhardy, ill-advised and a recipe for unprecedented trouble. For this reason among many others, the time has come for Nigerians to think outside the box and embrace a dark horse in the coming elections.

To paraphrase Senator Lloyd Bernstein remarks about President John F. Kennedy, “I know Pat Utomi. He is a friend of mine.” I know that he represents, like the youthful JKF did for America during the corresponding period when Nigeria was becoming independent, the embodiment of the collective hope, aspiration, vision, and national development. Like John Kennedy, I believe that Pat Utomi represents for Nigeria, it’s best chance to cross its political Rubicon and enter into the realm of greatness and purposeful governance.

Pat Utomi’s candidacy brings to the Nigerian political landscape, different but critical variables. He enters the political fray, hamstrung by the fact that he is not part of the political leadership mainstream that has contributed to Nigeria’s arrested development. In that regard, he is an unwelcome stranger to some. However, if Nigerians can muster the vision, courage, and political will to think outside the box, to think beyond tribe and tongue and elect Utomi as their next president in April, they would have collectively changed the entire political dynamics in the country. By extension, they would have also impacted on political realities in Africa.

Considered against his possible opponents in the coming presidential elections, Pat Utomi is the proverbial ace card for the nation. Accepted that against Umar Yar’Adua, Muhammadu Buhari, Atiku Abubakar and others, he is the least known, the youngest, the least weighty and wealthy, and the candidate with lesser political backing, in present day Nigeria, such seemingly obvious limitations are indeed a plus and an asset. Couched differently, Pat Utomi is bringing no political baggage to the office. I realize that his freshness may lead some to call him a political neophyte, but similar tags and labels were thrown at JFK, Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, and of late, Barack Obama. If that is the case, Pat Utomi is in distinguished company.

In embracing Pat Utomi, I see him as belonging to the new bold school. He belongs also to a new generation; not the lost generation of our parents, a generation that wittingly or unwittingly squandered Nigeria’s riches and frittered away our God endowed resources with which we could have used to uplift Africa and the rest of the Black race. Whilst he has not served in a elective office and as such, does not have a political track record, it is clear for anyone who cares to look, that in every sphere of human endeavor that Utomi has been engaged in so far, he has excelled. Pat Utomi brings to everything he does, his Boy Scout ideals, orientation, preparedness, and discipline. As such, it is natural for him to accomplish his goals. The challenge I see, is not whether Pat Utomi can win a free and fair elections in Nigeria today and effectively rule Nigeria in the coming years. The question is whether Nigerians are ready to take off their blinkers, and for once, in the national rather than sectional interest, embrace a cosmopolitan, visionary, educated and energized leader who is averse to political prebendalism and committed to uplifting the nation.

In every sense, Pat Utomi and I belong to the same generation, orientation, socialization, and aspiration. It is a generation that is very conscious of history, of the potentialities of Nigeria and the underlying challenges that we face and how to overcome them. We are witnesses to how youthful and middle-aged visionaries and purposeful leaders have turned around their countries by putting their nations above self and other partisan considerations. Not being of the old school, Pat Utomi is in this context, not politically hamstrung. Unlike Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, Utomi is not ex-military and is therefore, not associated with any previous governance record, political views and beliefs that some Nigerians find troubling. Unlike Umar Yar’Adua, he is not being handpicked or anointed to assuage or promote any political engineering or other convenient arrangements. Hence, he is not beholden to any political power base, any ethnic cleavage or party machinery. Equally, unlike Atiku Abubakar, he has no albatross around his neck of questionable wealth and unmitigated allegations of official malfeasance and unjust personal enrichment at public expense. Quite unlike all three men, Utomi is running on the platform of a new reform party, which has grassroots support and national appeal and has not been wrested away by moneybags and professional politicians, who have no other loyalties but to themselves.

Furthermore, unlike any of the other major candidates, Pat Utomi is focused on issues and how to bring about in Nigeria, the virtual state that caters the wellbeing of the national population rather than sectional interests. He does not belong directly or indirectly to the northern military political power axis that has dominated Nigeria politics since independence. In many ways, Utomi’s candidacy is reminiscent of Peter Obi’s in Anambra State in 2003, which was unprecedented, fresh, ideas and issues driven and committed to the needs of the people. Another key value of an Utomi presidency is that it would lay to rest and rubbish the notion that in a nation of 140 million people, a nation that seeks to have destiny, despite its diversity, that we need to rotate the presidency in order to ensure national unity.

I have said it as frequently as possible, that there is now no nook or corner of the federation, which cannot produce a viable leader for the nation. We must, therefore, not select our leaders from one part of the country on account that an office or the presidency is zoned to that region, when indeed there is a better candidate from another part. What we must look for is the leader that brings comparative advantage to the table. Whereas diversity and federal character are desirable at all levels, when they obstruct the values of good governance, their merit is lost.

For those within PDP, it may be acceptable or even binding, that power should revert to the north now that President Obasanjo has ruled for the prescribed eight years. Fair enough. But such a policy should only be pursued insofar as PDP’s internal and informal political arrangements go. It should not be binding on the nation, except if it is a universal clause that other parties had also subscribed to, which obviously is not the case. In the case of PDP, they have effectively decided to pursue that plan of action by picking Umar Yar’Adua. Now, it will be up to the Nigerian electorate to concur with that choice. Meanwhile, ADC sees nothing wrong in putting forth a south-south candidate to succeed a south-west president. That is the essence of democracy, even if deemed to be an ill-adjusted form, in the context of Nigeria’s historical realities. But let me dwell briefly on why I believe Nigerians should embrace Dr. Pat Utomi.

We are barely one and a half months to the 2007 presidential elections and Nigerians have this sneaky feeling that other contestants aside, the successor to President Obasanjo in the end, will be a handpicked candidate. It is a somber thought. Should it happen, it will render meaningless, the universal suffrage and the sense of a franchise given and held in trust for 140 million Nigerians. As things stand, the Nigerian political terrain still roils with the same depressing familiarity, fractious politics that eventually lead to confusion and one form of crisis or another. While some may deem it fatuous to declare that the time for a new generation of national politicians has come, it will be criminal not to hold out such hope. Anyone, who contemplates such hopes and sees the need to walk away from our past politics, will be compelled to take a close look at Pat Utomi for several reasons.

First, Pat Utomi incontestably, belongs to the cadre of those considered to be amongst Nigeria’s “best and the brightest.” Second, his election when considered as the end product of the first successful civilian-to-civilian transition will in itself be a watershed. It will also mark the first time in forty-seven years that Nigerians would have democratically elected a university graduate to lead them. All the vagaries and clashing imperatives that drive and define Nigeria’s complex politics considered, Utomi remains one candidate that will not be bashful about thinking out of the box in order to give Nigeria the leadership and direction it so richly deserves. Some would like to see Utomi as a political upstart. Indeed, some have even referred to him as being “green behind the ears” and many have asked why he would dare to venture into Nigeria’s reputedly troubled political terrain. Utomi has asked himself those very questions and even attempted to respond to them. Apart from considering what JFK said as being essentially a validating point, there is another reason why Utomi must be supported. Simply, put, Nigeria’s time-tested professional and military politicians have failed the nation. So the time for change has come. And from what I know and have read about Utomi, it is time for the three essential “Rs” revivalism, re-branding and restoration of Nigeria.

Utomi also offers the novelty of not having a political track record to be judged by. The other prospective candidates –both civilian and military do. Indeed, some of those whose name are still being bandied about, ought to appall Nigerians. Interestingly, if their respective pervious records were so good, Nigeria will not be in such a bad shape. So, why give them another opportunity to fail us? One key paradox is that Nigerian leaders, when they are abroad, as they frequently are, enjoy the comforts of modernity which they loath to provide at home, starting with human security, and especially those of life and property. While in power their goal had never been to actualize the dreams of Nigerians, least of all restoring our national lost values. Addressing “Why we must restore Nigeria” Utomi wrote in The Guardian of August 22, 2006 “I have only one interest-that my children may not lament living in hell called a country because their father could not see visions or was so big a coward.”

Whilst some may deem Dr. Utomi to be an unknown quantity, he is not bereft of ideas nor shy in expressing his views, which he does so frequently and eloquently. In contrast, some of his opponents have not uttered any policy prescription of note. Utomi’s views on governance matters, though not the only prerequisite for purposeful leadership, are quite insightful. Essentially, they are well thought out and visionary. In his piece, “Is collapse here?” (http://www.patutomi2007.com) which dealt with the fundamentals of democracy, Utomi noted:

Democracy matters because constituents keep the pressure on those they have elected to deliver on certain promises. The general impression of Nigeria is that its politicians do not think the people count so they invest their energies in how to get to power ignoring the will of the people. That done constituencies are considered a joke and accountability to the people, an occasional matter for justification of claims to legitimacy. The very dear price we have paid for the termination of constituency politics is the demise of accountability, and systems failure.

In the context of Nigerian politics and matters of accountability, he asked pointedly:

Who are our political leaders accountable to? How much legitimacy do they have to hold civil servants accountable? Do they, the power elite, know enough about influence and public performance to realize that deploying power, by public brutalisation of the dignity of others, like civil servants, does not really institutionalize seamless accountability; first to the political leaders and ultimately to the Nigerian people.

Clearly, as a technocrat, Utomi understands the rudimentary premise on which our national politics have faltered. He understands also that our national politics have for long been seen as synonymous with enrichment, justly or unjustly. Therefore, he must understand the responsibilities of power, which in our national history has frequently been abused and how to redress such abuses. In considering Utomi’s candidacy we must grasp that it will be foolhardy to expect that those political charlatans and carpetbaggers who presently dominate Nigeria’s political landscape will disappear, just for the asking. They will not, because they are unschooled, unreceptive, and unskilled in any other trade, safe for politics and looting the Nigerian coffers. They are the heirs to the erstwhile nationalists, whom Wole Soyinka excoriated, in his recent memoirs for their overbearing pretense at nationalism, while committing sordid and unpatriotic acts against their motherland. To paraphrase Mark Twain, “they are all for progress; it’s change they can’t stand.”

Finally, Nigerians must also look at Utomi’s candidacy in the context of Chinua Achebe’s proclamation: “Our Elder Statesmen are speaking, and we are listening. In response to their thought provoking insights, we turn now to a younger generation of leaders within Nigeria and the Diaspora, whose life work offer diverse solutions to the worthy prescriptions of our elders for our beloved Nigeria.” In supporting Utomi and urging other to do likewise, I have chosen to look at that larger picture, and at the forest despite the trees. Well beyond electioneering and contemporary political clichés, when the needs of Nigeria are considered in real terms, Pat Utomi is the most electable of all the candidates, even if less known and even if he does not fit conventional Nigerian political norms. Nigerians must realize that “it is time for a new generation of leadership, to cope with new problems and new opportunities.” As the old saying goes, “the difficulty in life is the choice”. The time to make that choice is now!

With neither anger nor partiality, until next time, keep the law, stay impartial, and observe closely.

Hank Eso, is a columnist for Kwenu.com. His commentaries on Nigerian politics and global issues have appeared in The New Times (Lagos), African Profile International (New York), The Nigerian And Africa Abroad, (New York), African Market News (New Jersey) and in Gamji.com.

THE IMPARTIAL OBSERVER

HANK ESO

It is time for a new generation of leadership, to cope with new problems and new opportunities.

For there is a New World to be won.