Date: 2015-02-03

The name of the late Sardauna of Sokoto, Sir Ahmadu Bello, resonated in Ilorin, Kwara State capital, when Gamji Members’ Association, inspired by his sterling qualities, looked back at his legacy.

Gamji is a name given to the late Premier of the North for his political greatness and sagacity.

President of the Kwara branch of the club, Dr Abubakar Ibrahim, in a lecture entitled “Wither The Sardauna Leadership Legacies?” said Nigeria is suffering from lack of capable and effective leadership.

Dr Ibrahim promised to establish a GAMJI centre to mould good leaders.

“Nigeria is now in dire need of good legacies for it to overcome its current social, political and economic crises,” he said. “Such leader must possess moral authority and esteemed values of integrity, honesty and must be ready to undergo hardship and suffer deprivation on behalf of the poor masses.

“Such leader must be competent and sound in the art of managing diverse people and abundant resources and must properly understand  his mandate as father of the nation, not a as a son or daughter of Yoruba, Hausa, Igbo, Ijaw, Nupe or Ebira.

“Such leader must clearly know that Nigeria is a pluralistic society. He must be capable of bringing out a vision of what he wishes to achieve and have the requisite knowledge and experience about how to solve the mirage of problems currently bedeviling our nation. Such leader must be ready to be fair to all and must be capable of managing crises as they arise.

“In fact, Nigeria requires a leader that will end insurgency in sixty days… a leader that will lead the war against insurgency, a leader that will recover our daughters from insurgents, leader that will diversify our economy. Leader that will end power problem, create industries in all state capitals to provide employment for teeming youths, leader that will restore security to all nooks and cranny of our nation, leader that will declare his personal properties and forfeit same, leader that will lead by example, leader that will be incorruptible, honest, trustworthy and accountable. This is our search in GAMJI.”

The GAMJI president expressed delight that the late Sardauna “in spite of wielding enormous powers in the First Republic, was simple, upright and incorruptible whose guiding principles in public services was honesty, public probity, accountability, efficiency, dedication and hard work and in the pursuit of these principles, he did not care whose ox was gored.

“In fact, after several years as Premier of Northern Nigeria, with a land size of about 56 per cent of the present day Nigeria and undoubtedly the most powerful man in Nigeria during his time, when he died exactly 49 years ago, he left virtually nothing, except the two local mud houses in Sokoto town and Rabbah which he had built before becoming premier.”

In his remarks, Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed of Kwara state, represented by the state Commissioner for Education and Human Capital Development, Alhaji Saka Onmimago, expressed the hope that the lecture will “explore the Sardauna’s leadership legacies especially in the context of the country ‘s current search for transformative leadership.

He said that “it is on record that the foundation for much of the development and unification of Northern Nigeria was laid by the late Sir Ahmadu Bello.”

Ahmed advocated for a “combined leadership and entrepreneur skills in the school curriculum to catch the children young and prepare them for leadership.”

The guest lecturer of the day, Prof Hassan Saliu of the University of Ilorin said the late premier’s integrity was clearly lacking in “our present political system.”

The professor of political science added that the Sardauna was honest and not materialistic, saying that “unlike our current politicians whose desire is to conquer the material world with acquisitive tendencies, Sardauna was a highly contented leader who at a great cost to his personal comfort sought for public good for the greater majority of his people.”

His words: “Some key issues that had agitated the mind of Sardauna of Sokoto during his reign as the premier of the North would form the basis of drawing lessons from his Spartan life for our politicians who have shown a discomfiting level of importance to the core values of honesty, tolerance, religious accommodation making politics to serve the cause of development, promotion of national unity and integration.

“To be more specific, it is a statement on the contemporary politicians that almost five decades after the demise of Sardauna, Northerners and indeed, Nigerians are still eulogizing him and praying quietly that may another Sir Ahmadu Bello be raised among the country’s contemporary politicians. What this simply means is that our politicians need to search their souls and adjust themselves in terms of the value they subscribe to and legacies they want to bequeath to the nation.

“Sardauna was a highly sensitive leader who had his eyes and ears all over the Northern region. He formed the habit of consulting with party members all over the region, including Ilorin. As the leader of the north he was closer to the people and had firsthand knowledge of their needs. Throughout his life he worked for his people and the elitist politics of today had no place in the governance architecture of the late Sardauna.