he Nigerian nation can pass for the ultimate puzzle. What is puzzling is not that the nation is backward, has been backward and shows no signs of ever changing; it is that normal and intelligent human beings in various leadership positions in Nigeria have failed to see reason and have cowered in the face of truth. Nigerian leaders have failed to courageously speak out for common sense, for the common good. In fact, Nigeria proves that there is a sea of difference between intelligence and wisdom in leadership. Occasionally, a nation might get lucky to find in one leader an intelligent and wise individual.

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It is my personal view from life experiences that a wise individual is often intelligent, but not all intelligent individuals are wise. So, many nations of the world have been led by very intelligent but unwise leaders; Adolf Hitler of Germany was one of such intelligent but unwise leaders. Nations suffer most at the hands of such “intelligent” leaders; as decisions taken by them have historically destroyed many nations. The most successful leaders of the world are more equipped with wisdom than intelligence. Nigeria has been led through the years by intelligent but unwise leaders. The ultimate difference between a wise leader and an intelligent leader is that a wise leader can sometimes bite the bullet, swallow his or her pride, and resist the counsel of his sycophantic advisers to take actions which benefit the nation. That is why in the annals of Nigerian history, only one leader has ever passed that test.

That leader is Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe. Dr. Azikiwe resisted the urge to gain independence for Southern Nigeria, though he could have emerged its leader. Today, Nigeria exists principally because of him. A wise leader is one like Dr Nelson Mandela who resisted all pressure from wounded black Africans of South Africa after the assassination of Chris Hani in 1993. Chris Hani was to black South Africans what Alhaji Ahmadu Bello was to Northern Nigeria. In 1966, Between 50,000 and 100,000 died in Nigeria as a result of Ahmadu Bello’s death; by contrast not a single white person was killed in South Africa as a result of Chris Hani’s death. Nelson Mandela used his vision and wisdom as a great leader to show his fellow black South Africans that the future was brighter in a new South Africa without vengeance. Mandela went further to institute reconciliation through the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) which basically pardoned the perpetrators of Apartheid. Contrast that with the Nigeria of July 1966 to May 1967, and the civil war which lasted to 1970 with about 2 million Nigerians dead. The Nigerian civil war and the continued waging of that war by proxy after 40 years, is really because of the death of one man.

Today, millions of Nigerians have died from deprivation and bad governance because some sections of the country feel that they have captured Nigeria, and must hold it as an eternal inheritance to be passed on to their generations unborn. The Executive, Judiciary and Legislature are all in the firm grip of Northern Nigeria and large sections of the nation have been disenfranchised in their fatherland. Amazingly, some of Nigerian elites lament the nation’s backwardness and wonder why other African nations are pulling ahead of Nigeria. How can Nigeria progress, when her best have been driven out of the country through a sustained policy of exclusion based on tribal fear?

Can anyone convince the nation that Nigeria deserves a new CBN Governor whose highest educational qualification is a Masters degree in economics? Moreover, can this individual equal the qualification and pedigree of the current Governor whose is an internationally acclaimed professor of economics? How can anyone justify this change in baton in the middle of a world economic crisis? The impression is being given that the Yar adua government is not interested in solving the nation’s problems; and that in fact more problems are being created under his watch. While we are busy quenching sectional and religious thirsts in the North, Ghana, Rwanda, Kenya and South Africa are all marching ahead of Nigeria and attracting international patronage.

I was particularly saddened by an analysis by a news commentator in one of Nigeria’s leading newspapers. It involved an examination of the political scenario which surrounds the reappointment of the Central Bank of Nigeria Governor. The analyst basically ruled out the CBN Governor’s reappointment by pointing out that the nation might be about to witness her first Igbo Inspector General of the police; that the nation cannot have a CBN Governor and an IG from the same geopolitical zone. My reaction to that was to ask; what happens to a man who spent his whole life in service of his fatherland, worked hard to get to where he is today and may lose his appointment to become an IG owing to his tribe? Isn’t it offensive enough, that the Igbo had to wait for nearly 50 years of the nation’s independence to produce an IG? Mind you that the man in question never got to where he is through any affirmative action but by dint of share hard work.

How can the nation ever have a functional police force when all who get to the IG position has to not be Igbo in order to be appointed? Supposing the best happens to be Igbo, then what? How can anyone convince any Igbo in his right mind that they are Nigerians, if Ogbonna Onovo is not appointed IG? Meanwhile the Igbo had decided to give Nigeria a trial-run to see if it can work. I believe that is why MASSOB was persuaded by top Igbo politicians to drop the Biafra agitation. So, why must the Igbo give up the CBN Governor to get the IG post, especially when both persons in question have stellar qualities which will make their success at the job more likely? Was there never a time in Nigeria’s history when two persons from the same region occupied both positions? Only really wise leaders should attempt to answer these questions. I realize that Nigeria has become a place where a citizen is killed for speaking up against injustice and retrogression; but, these questions must be answered satisfactorily before anyone thinks a nation exists.

The ongoing Niger delta military situation calls for such wise leadership, but all we currently see are the same knee jerk reactions. President Umaru Musa Yar adua has given in to advice from short-sighted hawks in his cabinet including ex-military dominated national assembly to lunch an unwinnable war against a genuinely agitating section of the county. Information coming out of the creeks recall rape; indiscriminate shootings; bombing of civilian homes and villages; sacking of hospitals and other actions which violate the Geneva Conventions. One of the Nigerian army officers was quoted as threatening the hospitals and doctors who “treat militants”. This officer failed to understand that blocking of treatment to wounded enemy combatant is tantamount to war crimes. He also fails to caution his soldiers to desist from engaging in raping and pillaging of civilian homes. Basically the officer spoke as if this is the 1967 Nigerian army ramping and raping their way through Biafra. This means that the Nigerian army has not changed for about 40 years.

How can Nigeria maintain such a barbaric military in the 21st century and still entertain a dream of becoming a permanent member of the UN Security Council? The world today has changed and the change is accelerating daily. Gone are the days when an army officer commits war crimes and goes scot free. The International Criminal Court is waiting to try such war criminals today. The Nigerian state, being a member nation of the court, is obligated to turn over these war criminals for trial. So, these officers should bear these in mind as they extend the war elsewhere in the Niger delta.

It is also on record that a ranking member of the House of Representatives Ibn N’ala, in support of the military action stated that Nigeria can afford to kill 20 million of fellow citizens for the sake of the remaining 120 million. That statement alone is enough to fetch N’ala a war crimes trial at The Hague in the future. People in leadership positions in Nigeria carry on as if they cannot be held accountable for their murderous actions. That is why civilian popular democratic revolution can never happen in Nigeria; the Nigerian security forces are ever willing to mow down unarmed and innocent citizens demanding their constitutional rights. That is why elections are rigged brazenly using the army and police; anyone who resists by trying to protect the vote is cut down by the bullets paid for with tax payer’s money.

Nigeria needs a wise leader. We need a leader who understands that Nigeria will not collapse if we give 50% to the oil producing areas in a derivation arrangement; someone who understands that the nation really cannot win this war and cannot move an inch forward without this concession. We need a leader who understands that the civil war ended nearly 40 years ago and that if we need to remain one, then the Igbo must be fully integrated back into the country through removing all road blocks in the South East roads and by increasing the Federal presence though development of the South East Federal roads. To successfully bring the Igbo back might need a special conference between the Igbo and the Federal Government. Such a conference should address all issues of concern and lay the civil war to a final rest. The nation might not even need a sovereign national conference if all the issues of concern are well addressed through wise leadership, honest and sustained dialogue.