‘What politicians should learn from Akande’

At 75, the Interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Chief Bisi Akande, is a rare example of leadership. With a rich antecedent in the corporate world and politics, he remains a mentor and role model to those who strive for value. In his old age, his life preaches modesty and disdain for avarice. Akande has earned respect, not because he is wealthy, but because he has a good name.
Eminent Nigerians, who showered encomiums on him during his birthday ceremony in Lagos, highlighted those virtues of statesmanship peculiar to the former Osun State governor. At the Eko Hotel, Victoria Island, the venue of the event, statesmen, government officials, traditional rulers and politicians were unanimous that Akande is a man of honour and integrity.
The major highlight of the ceremony was the lecture titled: ‘Developing a new leadership: An imperative for national development in Nigeria.’ The two speakers were Prof. Olu Obafemi of the National Institute for Policy and Strategic Studies, Kuru, Jos, and Prof Akin Oyebode of the Faculty of Law, University of Lagos, Akoka. The two scholars urged the political class to emulate the celebrator’s style of leadership.
A former Member of the Osun State House of Assembly, Mrs Tejuoso, described him as an incorruptible politician. “I was closed to him. Because of that, my colleagues asked me to go to him to request for money for legislators. He said that he had heard what I said, but, he asked me to ask from them under which sub-heading will the money come. That was the end”, he recalled.
As the governor of Osun State, the Asiwaju of Ila-Orangun and Igbonna politely put his house in order. He politely told his wife, Omowumi, who clocked 70 recently, that she will not be permitted to parade herself as the First Lady. Akande’s explanation was that that nomenclature does not exist in the constitution. Throughout that four years, the governor’s wife was in the background. Her duty an an unofficial first lady was restricted to entertaining her husband’s guests with foods and drinks in the State House or private residence at Ila.
Akande shunned corruption while in office. He was obedient to the advice of his mentor, the late Chief Obafemi Awolowo, that a public officer should not lead a life of opulence he cannot sustain outside power. Thus, when the Oyinlola Administration, which displaced his government instituted a probe against him, it paled into a wasted effort. Nothing incriminating was found against his administration.
His legacies as the governor are evergreen. In four years, Akande, like former Governor Lateef Jakande of Lagos, completed the State House and secretariat projects. The State House is named after his former boss, the late Chief Bola Ige. The former governor did not succumb to the temptation to inflate contracts. He adopted ‘value engineering’ approach, which is a creativity model geared towards cost reduction. He insisted on standard. Since the contractor knew that the governor could not be bribed, they resolved to do a neat job.
The same method he applied to the construction of classroom blocks. “He was able to execute over 500 projects”, said Aderemi Idowu, a chieftain of the All Progressives Congress (APC), who added: “While the Federal Government under Gen. Obasanjo was awarding a one-room classroom project for an average of N1.5 million, Akande was doing the same standard of classroom for half-a-million naira”.
Akande also took some cardinal decisions which were perceived as unpopular steps by the people, especially the teachers. In later years, the university don, Prof. Akin Oyebode, confronted him over that policy of sacking a huge number of teachers. He defended his actions, saying that the teachers were not adding value to the teaching service at that time. This, in Oyebode’s view, was a mark of seriousness and determination to govern well.
Ige, the Attorney-General and Minister of Justice was murdered in 2001. His killers are still at large. In 2003, former President Obasanjo was said to have requested Akande to serve in the regime as a minister. He declined because he was not covetous, despite his political misfortune of missing a second term. To wade off the presidential pressure, he travelled abroad. He did not return until the composition of a new Federal Executive Council. He returned to rebuild the progressive platform, a mission Ige could not fulfill, following his gruesome murder.
Obafemi, who lamented what he described as the “leadership deficit” in the country, said that hope is not lost. He paid tribute to Akande, saying that, if many politicians had behaved like him while in power, the polity would have been saved from decadence.
The don gave reasons for the leadership decay. “A structure for good leadership does not exist in Nigeria”, he said, urging the people to ponder on its effects. “A leader must know the way, toe the way and take the people through the way. Great leaders are far ahead of their time. Such leaders are in short supply. A leader must have a vision and mental picture of his destination. We need new leaders for a new vision for Nigeria; courageous, patriotic leaders to build democratic institutions,” Obafemi added.
His colleague, Oyebode, shared the same thoughts. He observed that Nigerian is in misery and making progress in reverse direction. The legal scholar also pointed out that many Asian countries who were on the same pedestal with Nigeria at independence have left it behind. Oyebode lamented that political and economic transformation have not been accomplished because it is business as usual in the corridor of power. He chided the leadership for poverty of ideas, stressing that when a country is saddled with clueless leaders, there will be retrogression.
Oyebode urged Nigerians to reject hypocritical leaders and replace them with trusted, tested and incorruptible leaders. “Where leadership is in the hands of venal, opportunistic, corrupt and self-serving elements, all the people would get is a lot of motion without movement, just like the potter’s wheel,” he added.