Eme N. Ekekwe

We live at a time and in a country where it is very difficult to find good things to say about the men and women in public life, especially politicians, because many of them do not inspire. Many might be genuinely convinced that some politician was doing a credible job, but for how others would receive their views, they hold back. Indeed, it is very difficult to see what qualifies some people in leadership position to be where they are, other than the fact that more good people did not come out.

Many of us who have become professional observers – some would call us, armchair critics – tend to write off every politician, often with good reason. But this reaction has very little to recommend it. Against the background of the dearth of good leadership material out there, we ought to be encouraging those who show some promise. Leadership is not every thing, but it is critical in any organization or country. In our case, given the deep militarization of most of our institutions as a result of prolonged rule by professional soldiers, we would do well to look out for individuals who could lift our nation to greater heights.

Sadly, sycophancy has usurped a wide space in any public picture of our leaders. Equally sad is that, overwhelmed by the disappointment of many impostors, we tend to so easily write off every leader without necessarily making an objective appraisal. Thus, for one to come out in public commendation of any leader, he or she runs the risk of being numbered among the sycophants. BUL if we desire a positive change in our situation, it seems to me that we must be more circumspect in these matters, so that on the one hand we do not in truth degenerate into sycophancy or become victims of the knee-jerk reaction that throws the baby out with the bath water. If we desire good leadership then we should not be shy to encourage signs of it wherever they present themselves. If we do not encourage it, it will not emerge or it will do so only very slowly. This is the thought that informs this outing.

If there are any leaders in the present dispensation who deserve positive notice for trying to- make a difference, one of them, in my view, is Chibuike Rotimi Amaechi, Governor of Rivers State. He emerged Governor of his State after undergoing some political and judicial baptism of fire. And ever since he has been in office, there have been countless times when he was supposed “to be removed soon”. For some reason he just keeps soldiering on. He is probably the only current Governor who is in office in spite of what his immediate predecessor thinks about him. I do not know the man well enough, but I believe that like many others, Amaechi is not without his faults. Whether these earned him the travails he passed through is not the issue here. What interests me is that he has risen to the challenge of leadership in a way that excites.

Leadership is, in part, about vision. The leader must know – and show others – where he is taking those he is permitted to lead in the time available to him. Many a Governor and a President comes to office without any plan of how they want to work, beyond awarding contracts and listening to project vendors. Yes, Amaechi has awarded contracts. But look again, these appear to have been done within a plan and a vision that was evident from the first day he took office. Some people may have valid issues about the scope of the vision. What is important here is that there is some formula to what is going on. Sure, a few things will likely fall between the cracks, but at least there is some objective reference point.

If a vision is to stand any chance of being achieved it must be backed by commensurate political will. The Governor of Rivers State has not been lacking in this department, in fact he has shown uncommon courage in many ways. Who would have believed that he would succeed in sending okada riders packing out of Port Harcourt, in the face of propaganda about his intentions? The relative sanity in the place now is pleasing. This was not the first time an attempt was made to regulate okada operation in Port Harcourt. Obviously something accounts for the failure of the past and the success of the present. But if these do not serve as a good example then the massive demolition exercise surely does. Port Harcourt is beginning to look positively different. Initially many dismissed the exercise as something bound to fail because the big men would stop the Govemor in his tracks. The rest is now part of current history.

The Rivers State Governor has acquitted himself well enough to delight his supporters and begin to embarrass his detractors. If a genuine opinion poll were conducted the Govemor would do quite well. It was the former President of Ghana, J. J. Rawlings, who once remarked that Amaechi seemed to be making a revolution. In the true sense of the word, Amaechi is no revolutionary. If he appears that way, it is because in our context such changes as he is trying to engineer in Rivers State are out ofthe ordinary. The sheer breadth of what is going on here makes some wonder if he can see them all through. Thinking thus is not uncomplimentary; it is the natural reaction of people who are not used to thinking big. One of the marks of good leadership is the ability to give the people, genuinely and sincerely, an enlarged picture of themselves and where they ought to be. It is tempting to think that, unlike many of his colleagues, Amaechi is seeing beyond his nose. This writer does not mind yielding to that temptation: the evidence on the ground makes that reasonable.

For daring to depart from business-as-usual trap, Governor Amaechi deserves encouragement. There is something in the way he is going things that reminds one of Fashola in Lagos and of the former Governor of Cross River State, Donald Duke. Politics in Rivers State is being played out in murky waters. But Governor Amaechi seems to be ridding the fast currents. It is refreshing to have steady hands at the helm. To be sure there are rough edges in the way programmes are delivered. This is to be expected in any system. What delights is that there is a determination to serve and meet the basic needs of the populace. The ship of Rivers State has yet a long way to sail, but the begim1ing gives hope that the captain where he is going.

Dr. Ekekwe is a lecturer at the Univwersity of Port Harcourt.