Peter Obi Is The Only True National Political Leader Nigeria Ever Produced: Discuss

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This is to establish the fact that, hate him or like him, Mr Peter Obi is the only leader that Nigeria's national political space ever produced till date. Until the Obidient Movement arose in the name of the former Anambra Governor, Nigeria only had administrators at best (rather than true leaders) at the national level.

Otherwise, the closest Nigeria's politics ever went to producing leaders before the emergence of the Obidient Movement was at the regional levels. At the regional levels, other true political leaders Nigeria ever produced can include fellows like Ahmadu Bello, Nnamdi Azikiwe, Obafemi Awolowo, Emeka Odumegwu Ojukwu, Nnamdi Kanu, and Sunday Adeyemo.

This is also to give room to discuss the matter in a transparent atmosphere, and talk about why and how the present generation of Nigerians should focus on creating leaders out of themselves. Africa needs true leaders to drive the next generations of her life, given the current pace of things at the global stage. There is a leadership lacuna in Africa and the present crop of Nigerian young is in a good stead to fill in the gap.

Who Is A Leader? And How Is Obi The First Leader To Ever Emerge From Nigeria's Political Space?

Leader vs Administrator 

I believe that Nigeria can never get it right until the country is considered and run like an organisation. As a result, I refer to a February 2024 article by Indeed.com's editorial team under the title, Leader vs Administrator: What's The Difference?

The article took off saying that "people may use the terms leader and administrator interchangeably, but they have distinct differences in areas such as thought and managerial structure".

Among the key points of difference between a typical leader and a typical administrator listed by the team, 3 caught my attention, viz:

1. Focus
2. Influence, and
3. Circumstances of power

1. Focus

2. Influence

3. Circumstances Of Power

With the above, it must have become clear who a true leader is especially in contrast to just an administrator. As you can see, "leaders...emerge on their own" and "encourage and inspire people to want to do things" by themselves and for their own reasons, while administrators typically only "use their rank or authority to ensure work gets done".

How This Applies To Obi Side By Side Other Nigerian Politicians At The National Levels Over The Years

Among the qualities of a leader listed by the Indeed team, that of the ability to inspire people seems to run through...

 I like to put it this way: Leaders are people that other people follow willingly without any form of coercion. In other words, people only follow true leaders based on how much they succeeded in inspiring them, for example through "their ideas or their natural personalities" as the Indeed team put it.

Now, I submit that Peter Obi is the only figure to ever emerge at the country's political landscape to foot this bill at the national level. I mean, he is the only political figure to ever draw willing, even cult followership across regions, religions, and other sections of the country.

This played out during the countdown to the 2023 Nigerian election season as

•  Obi got willing support without any form of inducement from people from different regions and backgrounds of the country.
• For example, Obi got willing support from a Southwestern elder statesman Ayo Adebanjo as well as from a Northwestern political pundit Yunusa Tanko Abdullahi and Southsouthern top traditional ruler the Oba of Benin (the first of its kind).
•  Again, Obi got massive willful support from the Southeastern states of Enugu and Anambra as well as the North Central state of Plateau and the FCT.
• Obi got unalloyed support from staunch Muslims (such as Aisha Yesufu) as well as Christian pastors (such as Anthony Abakporo).
• And there is more of this clearly heartfelt support across a wide range of backgrounds within and beyond Nigeria.

This Is Open To Debate Though

Administrators can change a course of action but only true leaders, I believe, can change the course of history. Thus, it's safe to say that, given the deeply sorry state of things in Nigeria, only a true leader (or a team of true leaders) can steer her clearly out of the doldrums.

This is easy to understand from the submission of the Indeed editorial team. For example, the team explained that, contrary to typical administrators' focus on short term goals of an organisation, leaders "often spend time developing long term strategies and goals. They look beyond what happens daily and (instead) work to make improvements in the system (itself)".

No doubt, such a profound level of system overhaul which only a true leader can provide as already explained, is what Nigeria needs. This is therefore meant as a part of an effort in search of such a true leader as Nigeria needs.

While I present Peter Obi as the first of such leaders to emerge so far, I am leaving the door open for other people to contribute to this search. Is my submission right or wrong? Or, do you simply have a different perspective on the matter? Or, whatever else? Next-gen Nigerian leaders, stakeholders in the nearest future of the polity, let us discuss. Thank you.

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SEE ALSO: On Peter Obi's Call For Kanu's Release: Premium Times And Omokri Are Guilty Of Strowman Fallacy

SEE ALSO: "Obi Obsession": How Reno Omokri Unwittingly Asked To Be Rejected By His Southern Nigerian Community