Opinion
Opinion: CHOICES, ATTITUDES, AND CONSEQUENCES: HOW LEADERSHIP AND FOLLOWERSHIP CONSPIRE TO UNDERMINE NIGERIA’S PROGRESS*
By: A G Abubakar
Society throws up a leadership it deserves. Better still, it elects a leadership that reflects its character. Life is about choices and outcomes. And, this holds true in all major faiths. The Qur’an says, ‘indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is within themselves.” (Qur’an 13:11). The Bible corroborates this and more, to the effect “that the sluggard who does not plough in autumn; he will seek at harvesting and have nothing.” (Proverbs 20:4). It went on to state in Galatians 6:7-8 that “…whatever a man sows, he will reap in return.” These divine injunctions simply meant choices have consequences.
The inability to make informed choices or to deliberately ignore taking informed decisions has been at the core of Nigeria’s existential challenges. Nigerians love to turn divine injunction on their heads, in preference for sentiments and emotions, then turn around to seek the Creator’s interventions. So cheap. So evasive.
Buhari represented a larger Northern sentiment of the time in 2015. Tinubu rode on a similar bandwagon, though with diametrically different consequences. Actually, Tinubu is proving to be a backlash. If Buhari was too laid back with a compromised vision, Tinubu lacked a sense of proportion and character. The two political actors might have achieved their ambitions, but the nation’s dream of greatness is neither here nor there. This is because the two deficits found between the duo – vision and character – incidentally are the main ingredients that drive national transformation. The two, unfortunately, have been missing. The question was; Why do Nigerians recruit leaders who are lacking in vision and/or character?
The answers lie in the jaundiced perception of issues and the degradation of ethical values. Years of poor governance had compromised the citizens’ vision as much as their sense of brotherhood and patriotism. The prolonged failure of leadership has simply turned segments of the society on each other, with little respect for the common good: Muslims on Christians, herders on farmers, the young against the old, the poor versus the rich, the minority slugging it out with the majority, etc. The nation has become one giant ocean of mutual distrust, rendering, every decision suspect, and every move, self-serving. As this disposition persists, every known guardrail of social and ethical values simply varnishes, leaving society bare, and vulnerable, especially its leadership recruitment processes, which had become highly ineffective with the concomitant negative impacts on life, property, and socioeconomic development. Today’s Nigeria is a two-horse race between a compromised leadership and a poor followership as to which one becomes the undertaker of the nation called Nigeria.
The rot in Nigeria might have been induced by leadership, which obviously takes the larger part of the blame, but the followership seemed to have learned faster. And because of the masses’ overwhelming size, they have succeeded in foisting anarchy upon society seamlessly. Here was a society where people do not see anything wrong in destroying or vandalizing public property, observing simple order of things in breach, taking advantage of each other in basic interpersonal interactions, hold each other accountable, and even take civic duties like elections for granted. Nigerians simply “enjoy” living in mess, often revealing their capacity to self-regulate.
For illustrations: nearly all the non-concrete guardrails on the highways are gone. Iron and aluminium structures stripped. Even the concrete demarcation is being chipped away in search of the stabilizing iron rods. Electric cables, poles and fittings, and manhole covers are not safe. In rural areas and city suburbs, schools, hospitals, and related public (even private) buildings are not safe. It’s common sight to see roofs, windows, doors, furniture, etc. gone, leaving the structures like animal shades/pens.
The latest tragedy was the bringing down of power towers along major arteries just to steal the installations. Though initially blamed on insurgents and terrorists, the unwholesome practice had been rife in the southeast and now catching up in the northeast. Many enclaves have been thrown into needless darkness because of these dastardly acts. As if not enough, it has now been allegedly reported that screw bolts holding rail lines in place are being stolen, putting rail travels at risk. But why are Nigerians so base? Many are quick to rationalize the ugly development on the usual alibi of poverty. Really? India, and China until the turn of the twenty first century were the poster boys of poverty in its extreme form, where people at time self-immolate out of frustration, but there was no history of this wanton destruction in their societies. Something must be wrong and peculiar with Nigerians!
The saga doesn’t stop with physical or non-living matters. It is in Nigeria that today, the observance of basic curtesy and etiquette had become a tall call. Even where an individual’s life and safety are at risk. The same clumsy mindsets characterize interpersonal relations in commerce and faith. To cheat is business. To insult each other’s ethno-religious backgrounds is piety and God ordained.
Taking turns to access social services, in the considered opinion of Nigerians, is to be unenlightened. To observe a traffic light for 60 seconds is a waste of time that should be circumvented even when heading to a meaningless or not so urgent destination. Traffic lights have literally been turned into a point of vehicular frustrations and even “death spots.” The story is worse when it comes to taking turns to access services at public functions and journeys. For Nigerians, simple queuing and taking turns is luxury. There has to be commotion. Pushing. Shoving. And fisticuffs. Nothing in the individuals says that it is not right, even those who have been lucky to be exposed to other climes, where they imbibed and were expected to be role models. That residual sense of right and wrong had simply varnished from the DNA of Nigerians. The citizens have simply chosen to operate a society that chocks itself – almost willfully.
Actually, one may be tempted to believe that there is something fundamentally not right with Nigerians and indeed the sub-Saharan peoples. Something that make them poorly capable of coping with the basics of “modernity,” decorum, and critical thinking. Historical experiences can not be discounted from the said peoples’ predicaments, but many parts of the world have strived and risen above similar experiences for good. Why not Nigeria? Why not Haiti, Sudan, DRC, Somalia? Or even the dwellers of the favelas/ghettos around some major cities of the western hemisphere? Why are they perpetually trapped and not the others around the world? Why did the people get mummified in terms of ideas? One hates to hear this, but in diagnosing the problems with Nigerians and indeed peoples of the sub-Saharan extraction, such factors as epigenetic and neuroplasticity – i.e., how environmental and historical experiences in a complex interplay alter people’s worldview/capacity – can not be totally discounted unless one wants to go the metaphysical way.
In parts of the North, it is a common practice for families to be hell-bent on breeding kids beyond their means, which inadvertently leads to the creation of huge pools of poorly adjusted youths. For lacking in proper socialization and parental care, this generation of youths has become the nation’s albatross, serving as easy recruits into all sorts of crimes and criminality. The insurgency movements, the armed terrorists/kidnappers’ ranks, are filled with poorly schooled (western and/or Islamic) young men between the ages of 18-35 years. The same goes for those involved in urban gangsterism, snatching handsets, and breaking into people’s houses. All of it is a consequence of bad choices. But as usual, those concerned Nigerians wouldn’t like to hear of it. They are quick to pass the buck to the government or even justify it through a warped understanding of religious scriptures.
Now, the paradox. If the government has been responsible for all the ills in the Nigerian society, it becomes instructive then for people to take their voting rights seriously. Hold their local elites to account. This is with a view to changing their conditions, but no, not in Nigeria. It is during electioneering seasons that all forms of primordial sentiments are inputted into the process. Religion, region, tribe, and other stripes wound are brought to bear, leaving the polity with fractured outcomes and outlook and compounding governance the more. Now is a vista to register and to restrategize for change, but like a possessed people, the same schism is holding sway. A typical lackadaisical attitude that brought Tinubu and his predecessor Buhari.
Maybe it is uncharitable to put serious blames on the people, especially against the backdrop of being serially handed the short end of socioeconomic and political stick. For, doing so is akin to holding a slave deserving of his master or share the blame for his oppression. A friend succinctly put the predicaments of the hapless masses in Nigeria’s leadership recruitment process as follows, “those who did not contest elections have won; those who lost elections have won; those who were not nominated have won; and those who won have lost.” Protests have been crushed with examplary force, or gavel of a compromised judiciary, not once, twice, but multiple times. And the blood so spilt used in writing warnings that says, “let him who is mad enough to throw his life away, oppose the outcome. Some did and ended up creating emergency widows and orphans as a prize for wanting to secure their civic rights.
Those who chose not to engage in the bloodbath simply restricted their campaigns and three or so corporate citizens – INEC, Security Agencies, and the Judiciary (Judges). No doubt these developments have the potential to create a feeling of despair and resignation. In enlightened climes, they serve as wake-up calls to do the needful; the quest for self-actualisation and fundamental rights. This inherent modicum of mindset seemed to be lacking among Nigerians, which invariably made them culpable in their own challenges and deprivations. A drawback so entrenched, it has impacted their capacity to make rational socio-political choices, and also resist injustices.
Elementary knowledge of economics and the economy would tell that Buhari left power when the economic fundamentals were barely holding. Joblessness, poverty, and security were all being interpreted more on paper than the quality of people’s lives. As for corruption, it was a way of life. Recall the AGF, the AG, the CBN governor, and many more. Ordinarily, Nigerians would have been circumspect in the recruitment of a successor. But that has never been in Nigeria’s character. The new leader should mirror its ugly content as a society. So, Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) became the new kid on the block – a new sheriff in town with all baggage in tow. A president that can be likened to a dark matter and a dark energy, operating in fashion that only he knows.
Nobody is perfect in life, but PBAT’s imperfections were self-cultivated, which should have made the larger society apprehensive in recruiting him ab initio. Here was an individual who has every imaginable thing about him suspect except his breathing. From name, parents, village, schools attended, qualifications, business interests, and even his vision of “one indivisible and insolvable Nigeria” (curtesy, Zik), all remain guesses Regardless, Nigerians should not complain. For, as long as they keep doing the same thing, they shouldn’t expect a different outcome. That’s the law of nature and society.
It would, however, seem that Nigerians are condemned to repeat choices with adverse consequences in the future. Something true to type of Robert Kelly’s Followership Model (Kelly, R 1992) that isolated five followership styles based on a combination of engagement and critical thinking. They include exemplary, conformist, passive, alienated, and pragmatist. Exemplary citizens are characterized by active engagement and independent critical thinking, while the passive ones have both limited engagement and critical thinking.
The alienated, possessed independent thinking but limited engagement, and the pragmatist has balanced engagement and critical thinking, too. The conformist may engage actively but with limited critical thinking. It would appear as if Nigerians fall in the conformist group, with sprinklings of maybe the other traits. This, as they kept engaging but with limited attention, paid to leadership qualities with its concomitant repercussions on wellbeing, peace, and development. A case of sowing wind and harvesting whirlwind. Do Boko Haram, armed herders/terrorists, ethnic militia, twenty million kids out of school, etc, ring bell? They are manifestations of bad choices.
Attitudinal change has never been an easy task, especially in a diverse setting like Nigeria. However, the awareness as well as the acknowledgement of the need to do so shall be a crucial first step towards cultivating the culture of rational choice, and also for both leadership and followership to hold themselves mutually accountable. The leadership, by necessity, should take the lead in driving the process. This is to forestall a possible mass disaffection and its dire consequences. It is tantamount to naivety to take nationhood for granted. Let there be a rebirth on the part of both the leadership and followership for Nigeria to work and for all, too.
A.G. Abubakar
agbarewa@gmail.com
NIGERIA BELONGS TO ALL OF US
I have written this open letter to His Eminence, Alhaji Muhammad Sa’ad Abubakar III, CFR, mni, Sultan of Sokoto and President-General of the Nigerian Supreme Council for Islamic Affairs, with profound respect for his office and for the historic institution he represents.
This is not an attack on Islam, neither an attack on Christianity.
Also, It is not an attempt to diminish the historical importance of the Sultanate, rather, it is a sincere contribution to a conversation I believe Nigeria must have with greater honesty, courage and intellectual maturity:
What does equal citizenship mean in Nigeria?
Our country has a complex history involving kingdoms, caliphates, indigenous political systems, colonialism, amalgamation, independence, religion, ethnicity and competing political traditions.
But after all that history, one question remains fundamental:
Who does Nigeria belong to? My answer is simple:
Nigeria belongs to all Nigerians.
I am publishing this letter openly because I believe conversations of this magnitude should not be confined to private rooms.
I hope it reaches His Eminence.
More importantly, I hope it reaches Nigerians—Muslims and Christians alike—who believe that our future must be built on equal citizenship, mutual respect, constitutional democracy and a shared sense of belonging.
I invite people to read this letter in that spirit.
Not as a provocation or as a religious argument. But as an invitation to think.
AN OPEN LETTER TO HIS EMINENCE, ALHAJI MUHAMMAD SA’AD ABUBAKAR III, CFR, mni
SULTAN OF SOKOTO AND PRESIDENT-GENERAL, NIGERIAN SUPREME COUNCIL FOR ISLAMIC AFFAIRS
Your Eminence,
OUR HISTORY MUST BE REMEMBERED HONESTLY—BUT IT MUST NOT BECOME A CLAIM ON THE FUTURE
Nigeria’s history contains great Muslim civilisations and political institutions.
Kanem-Bornu, the Hausa states and the Sokoto Caliphate represent important chapters in the history of the territories that eventually became Nigeria.
The Sokoto Caliphate, in particular, became one of the most influential Islamic political formations in West Africa.
That history deserves recognition and respect.
But history presents us with an important question:
Does historical political authority confer permanent political ownership?
I believe the answer must be no.
The British colonial conquest and occupation of the territories that now constitute Nigeria occurred over decades, with the conquest of the Sokoto Caliphate culminating in 1903. The Northern and Southern Protectorates were subsequently amalgamated in 1914, and Nigeria achieved independence in 1960.
Whatever political arrangements existed before colonial consolidation, the Nigeria that emerged as a modern sovereign state ultimately became a constitutional republic in which citizenship could not legitimately be based upon the political history of one religion, ethnic group, kingdom or region.
Nigeria became something larger than all of those histories.
It became a country.
And that country belongs equally to the Muslim, the Christian, the adherent of another faith, and the citizen who professes no religion.
Your Eminence, Nigeria’s Constitution does not establish either Islam or Christianity as the religion of the Nigerian state.
Section 10 provides that:
“The Government of the Federation or of a State shall not adopt any religion as State Religion.”
Section 38 protects freedom of thought, conscience and religion.
Section 42 further provides constitutional protection against discrimination on the basis of religion, among other grounds.
These provisions are not merely legal technicalities. They represent an important national compact.
They establish principles of religious neutrality, religious freedom and equal citizenship.
They tell every Nigerian that his or her fundamental rights cannot legitimately depend upon belonging to the “right” religion.
That principle protects Muslims from Christian majoritarianism just as it protects Christians from Muslim majoritarianism.
And therefore, defending constitutional religious neutrality is not an attack on Islam neither an attack on Christianity.
It is protection for both.
THE DIFFICULT QUESTION OF POLITICAL SYMBOLISM
Your Eminence, this is where I believe our national conversation requires greater intellectual honesty.
A political arrangement can have two realities simultaneously:
its strategic reality and its symbolic reality.
Strategically, politicians may see a particular political ticket as an effective coalition, an electoral calculation, a mechanism for consolidating support or a means of improving political cohesion.
But citizens may interpret exactly the same arrangement symbolically.
They may ask:
Who is represented?
Who is included?
Who is excluded?
What does this say about the distribution of power?
What does this mean for people like me?
This distinction became particularly visible in Nigeria’s debate over the Muslim-Muslim presidential ticket.
Some citizens saw strategy while others saw symbolism.
Some saw political competence, Others saw the possibility of religious exclusion.
Both reactions can exist simultaneously.
A mature democracy must therefore be capable of understanding not only what a political arrangement is, but also what people believe that arrangement means.
This is not an argument against Muslims occupying political office nor should it be an argument against Christians occupying political office.
It is an argument for understanding the enormous responsibility that comes with political symbolism in a deeply religious society.
Political leaders must therefore understand that electoral strategy does not exist in a vacuum. Every political decision is interpreted through the lived experiences, fears, hopes and historical memories of the citizens who encounter it.
That is why responsible leadership requires both strategic intelligence and sensitivity to political meaning.
The Muslim citizen must not feel like a tolerated Nigerian, neither should the Christian.
This is perhaps the most important principle I wish to communicate.
A Christian should never have to feel that his citizenship is conditional upon political accommodation by Muslims. A Muslim should never have to feel that his citizenship is conditional upon political accommodation by Christians.
Neither should have to prove that his loyalty to Nigeria is greater than his loyalty to his faith.
Both should be able to say:
“Nigeria is my country, and nobody needs to give me permission to belong here.”
That is the Nigeria we should be building.
Your Eminence, traditional and religious leaders occupy a unique position in Nigerian society.
Political leaders come and go.
Governments change.
Political parties rise and fall.
But institutions such as the Sultanate carry historical memory.
That gives your words a different weight.
When a politician speaks about religion, Nigerians may suspect political calculation but when a respected religious leader speaks about coexistence, citizenship and national unity, the message can carry a moral authority that politics often cannot achieve.
This is why I believe the Sultanate has an extraordinary opportunity.
Not merely to speak for Muslims, But to speak to Nigeria.
To say clearly that the greatness of Islam in Nigeria does not require the political diminishment of Christianity. And equally, that the flourishing of Christianity in Nigeria does not require the political diminishment of Islam.
The strength of one faith should not require the weakness of another.
The security of one community should not depend upon the insecurity of another.
And the political advancement of one Nigerian should never require the political humiliation of another Nigerian simply because of religion.
WE SHOULD MOVE BEYOND THE COMPETITION FOR RELIGIOUS OWNERSHIP OF NIGERIA
There is a dangerous psychological temptation in deeply divided societies.
Each community begins to measure its security by the amount of power the other community possesses.
Then politics becomes a permanent struggle for religious arithmetic.
Who has the President?
Who has the Vice President?
Who controls the security institutions?
Who appoints judges?
Who controls the legislature?
Who controls the governors?
Who controls the economy?
And eventually, citizens stop asking the most important question:
Does the country work for everyone?
That is where we must break the cycle.
Nigeria cannot become great by producing a permanent contest between Muslim political power and Christian political power.
It can become great when both communities begin demanding something larger:
competent political power exercised for the common good.
The ultimate measure of political leadership should not be the religion of the person holding office.
It should be the quality of governance, the protection of citizens, the fairness of institutions, the security of communities and the opportunity available to every Nigerian.
PERHAPS OUR GREATEST NATIONAL TEST IS NOT RELIGIOUS DOMINANCE—BUT MUTUAL TRUST
Your Eminence, I believe Nigeria’s deepest problem is not simply that Muslims distrust Christians or Christians distrust Muslims.
It is that decades of political competition, violence, injustice, insecurity, corruption and unequal experiences of citizenship have created an enormous deficit of trust.
Religious suspicion is often the language through which that distrust expresses itself.
Therefore, if we want to defeat religious tension, we must do more than preach tolerance.
We must build institutions that make tolerance unnecessary as a condition of citizenship.
A Nigerian should not need to be tolerated.
He should simply be equal.
A Christian should not need a Muslim’s permission to belong.
A Muslim should not need a Christian’s permission to belong.
Our common citizenship should be the foundation upon which our religious differences are accommodated—not the other way around.
Your Eminence, I respectfully propose that Nigeria’s most respected Muslim and Christian leaders begin a different kind of conversation.
Not another conference where speeches are made and photographs taken.
But a serious national dialogue around five questions:
- What does equal citizenship actually mean in Nigeria?
- How should religious diversity influence political representation without becoming a mechanism for religious entitlement?
- How do we distinguish legitimate political strategy from symbolism that creates unnecessary fear or exclusion?
- How can traditional and religious institutions help rebuild trust between communities?
- What constitutional, institutional and political reforms are necessary to ensure that no Nigerian believes the country belongs more to another citizen than to himself?
These are difficult questions. But perhaps Nigeria has spent too many decades avoiding difficult questions because they are uncomfortable. And perhaps the price of that avoidance is becoming too high.
Your Eminence, history gives leaders a choice.
Every generation inherits history. But every generation also decides what to do with it.
We can use history as a weapon or wisdom
We can teach our children that Nigeria is a battlefield between religious communities.
Or we can teach them that Muslims and Christians inherited a complicated country together and have the responsibility to make it work together.
We can continue competing over who has the greater historical claim.
Or we can build a country where historical claims do not determine the value of a citizen.
I respectfully believe the latter is worthy of the office you occupy.
The greatest legacy of a historical institution is not merely that it preserves the memory of what once was.
It is that it helps a nation decide what it can become.
My final appeal Your Eminence, I do not ask you to abandon Islam.
I ask you to help Nigerians understand that Islam does not need Nigeria to belong exclusively to Muslims for Muslims to belong completely to Nigeria.
And I would say the same to Christian leaders:
Christianity does not need Nigeria to belong exclusively to Christians for Christians to belong completely to Nigeria.
The future must therefore be bigger than both arguments.
Nigeria must belong to Nigerians.
Not to Muslims.
Not to Christians.
Not to Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Tiv, Fulani, Igala, Idoma, Nupe, or any other ethnic nationality.
Not to the North.
Not to the South.
Not to one historical institution.
To all of us.
That, in my humble view, is the foundation upon which a truly united Nigeria can eventually be built.
I respectfully submit this thought to Your Eminence—not as an accusation, but as an invitation to a deeper national conversation.
May our religious differences become a source of moral strength rather than political division.
May our history become a source of wisdom rather than entitlement.
May our political differences never become a justification for denying one another’s citizenship.
And may the Nigeria we leave our children be a country in which neither Muslim nor Christian ever has to ask:
“Does this country belong to me?”
Because the answer should always be:“Yes. It is your country too.”
With profound respect,
Dr. Mike Achadu
A Nigerian Citizen
Opinion
OF GOVERNANCE AND THE ZULUMFICATION OF GOVERNANCE IN BORNO: RANDOM MUSSINGS ON GOV. ZULUM’S 3RD YEAR 2ND STANZA.
By: Inuwa Bwala. inuwabwala3@gmail.com
By the time I put down my pen, the media space would have been awash with narratives about the achievements of Mr President and governors, as a mark of celeberation of their third year in office.
I will not bother chronicling what will be told of their achievements, rather I want to look into the curious magic wand that made my own governor to stand differently tall.
One will not find the definition of title coinage for this piece in any conventional English lexicon, but no Nigerian will claim ignorance of what it signifies in our present governance discourse.
Many words have today been personified after certain people, who popularize an idiosyncritic mannerism.
And so, in Borno’s 15-year war against insurgency, Governor Babagana Umara Zulum seem to have chosen an unconventional playbook: governance style, reminisceint of an emergency doctor, not a distant administrator, which led to above coinage.
Three idiosyncrasies define his second term in particular, and the gains are showing on the ground to the effect that, these idiosyncracies gave rise to the coinage: Zulumfication.
Zulum’s trademark has been his unannounced visits; 2am checks on General Hospitals, surprise trips to IDP camps in Monguno, Baga, Damboa and others. Sudden stops on bad roads in Gwoza and unsheduled night overs in dangerous localities, as his routine.
He inspects projects with torchlight and asks hard questions: sometimes sacking absentee staff on the spot.
And the gains have added speed and discipline to government Contracts and civil servants.
They promptly deliver, knowing Zulum could appear any day any time.
This obviously explains how, 238 projects got completed in year one of his second term and 1,195 projects in five years. That urgency earned Governor Babagana Umara Zulum the Nigeria Union of Journalist’s Good Governance Award on Education in 2023.
And while Borno spent about N100bn on security in 2025, Zulum kept prioritizing people, with N727m going to 28,801 tertiary students. N1.5bn covered nursing students’ fees, besides the cash support reacheming 343,293 women.
His logic, has been that, “Education is the real antidote for insurgency. The payoff is human recovery.
Records indicate that, over 1,000 teachers were recruited, 150+ schools rebuilt, and the 104 Mega School Initiative launched. And so, when President Tinubu commissioned three mega schools in Maiduguri in 2026, he called them “tangible evidence of effective governance.” Kids who once hawked on Maiduguri streets are back in class because opportunity replaced despair.
Again, Zulum is known to have zero tolerance for waste. He has queried commissioners live on TV, sacked ghost workers, and confronted contractors who abandoned sites. It nay be uncomfortable in politics, but it works. Borno scored 89.7/100 on the 2025 Governance Accountability & Transparency Index, up from 86.3 in 2024, ranking among Nigeria’s top 10. Ministries now expect scrutiny, and leakages have shrunk.
Zulum blends this with reconstruction plus reconciliation. While 20,000+ resettlement homes house over 1 million returned IDPs, his “Borno Model” has convinced 200,000+ fighters and families to surrender and got reintegrated. Markets in Bama, Dikwa and Gwoza are reopening. Roads are being rebuilt, though insecurity still stalls some projects in southern Borno.
He remains low-profiled but with very high-output, avoiding political noise and letting the work speak. The Muslim News Nigeria honored him with its 2025 Transformational Leadership Award for “courage, accountability, compassion.”
Perfection is not claimed. Pockets of violence persist, and security costs strain finances, but Zulum’s style proves a point
In a crisis situation, presence builds trust, empathy rebuilds people, and accountability restores institutions. Borno is moving from “state of emergency” to “state of reconstruction” — one unannounced visit produces uncommon results.
Thiese in my opinion are amingst the exceptional things governor Babagana Umara has done, which have given rise to his national acclaim as an outstanding performer.
Opinion
Aondoakaa, a Leader Who Opens Doors: My Personal Story of Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa, SAN
By Iorwuese Tyopev, PhD
Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa, SAN, is, in my experience, a transformational leader, and I can personally testify to this from years of direct engagement with him.
Although I initially knew him only casually as an elder brother from Ushongo, our relationship deepened when I approached him to patronise the business I managed as a hotel manager in Abuja. From that point, Siman Suites in Garki became his preferred accommodation whenever he was in the Federal Capital Territory.
Each time he was travelling to Abuja, his usual call would come: “Tyopev, my brother, please keep a room for me, I’m on my way.”
A defining moment in 2006
One of the most memorable moments in our relationship came in 2006 when he was conferred with the rank of Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN). For his swearing-in ceremony at the Supreme Court, he booked almost the entire hotel for family, friends, and well-wishers who travelled from far and near to celebrate with him.
Beyond the business value, his consistent patronage strengthened my professional standing at the time and positively influenced my performance evaluation at work.
Continued relationship in public service
Our relationship continued after his appointment as Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice in July 2007 under the administration of President Umaru Musa Yar’Adua.
Coincidentally, around the same period, my late boss, Senator J.I. Akaagerger, was elected into office and invited me to serve as his Senior Legislative Aide at the National Assembly. Chief Aondoakaa also expressed interest in bringing me into the Ministry of Justice as an aide. Although I chose to remain with my principal at the National Assembly, he respected my decision and maintained a cordial, brotherly relationship with me.
Prison decongestion intervention
Shortly after assuming office as Minister, he launched a prison decongestion initiative. In September 2007, I submitted an application requesting allocation of prison decongestion cases. He immediately asked whether I had legal representation, and upon confirmation, he promptly assigned several cases to me.
That support continued throughout his tenure until 2010.
Career support and mentorship
By mid-2008, I expressed dissatisfaction with my role at the National Assembly. He advised patience and assured me of better opportunities.
True to his word, in January 2009, he informed me of an opportunity with Dr Paul Orhii, then Director-General of the National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control (NAFDAC), who agreed to engage me as Special Assistant.
Although I resumed duty, I was later informed—within 30 days—that my services were no longer required due to a change in preference. Chief Aondoakaa was abroad at the time, but upon his return, he reassured me, saying: “Don’t worry, another opportunity will come.”
New opportunity at NAPTIP
Shortly after, I was invited to his residence in Apo, where I met Barr. Simon Chuzi Egede, MON, who had just been appointed Executive Secretary of the National Agency for the Prohibition of Trafficking in Persons (NAPTIP).
There, I was informed that I would serve as Special Assistant to the new Executive Secretary.
In a remarkable turn of events, I received my appointment letter the next day as Special Assistant at Grade Level 16 Step 5, along with an official vehicle and chauffeur. I was also integrated into top management committees and exposed to both national and international engagements.
End of an era and lasting gratitude
Following the death of President Yar’Adua in 2010 and subsequent political changes, Chief Aondoakaa left office as Minister, which also affected my position at NAPTIP due to its political nature.
Looking back, I remain deeply grateful to Chief Michael Kaase Aondoakaa, SAN, for his loyalty, mentorship, and willingness to uplift others.
Some leaders inspire with words; others transform lives through action. Chief Aondoakaa, in my experience, belongs firmly to the latter category.
NB: This is Part 1 of a series of reflections on my personal experience with MKA, highlighting his mentorship and support to those around him, shared in anticipation of his birthday on June 12.
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