ENLIGHTENED LEADERSHIP VERSUS RESTRUCTURING. 

By Pastor Felix Nyerhovwo Jarikre. 

Stephen Ubimago: As Pastor E.A. Adeboye incisively suggested, restructuring should not be seen as a threat to progress and security: rather it's a flexible instrumentality put in place by a listening, responsible leadership to bring forth meaningful development and productivity beneficial to the citizens. 

In other words, restructuring is friendly to a flexible governance. Because when stagnation, poverty, marginalisation shackles a place due to defective administrative setups, revolt or outright rebellion cannot be ruled out. 

Clearly history bears out the position of the revered Christian leader. Trying to demonize him for speaking out on the issue is a misleading gambit that can only produce bad fruits.

 Having said that, I have heard or learned nothing to shift my position that what Nigeria needs NOW is godly leadership, not restructuring. Would  that in any way suggest restructuring is not URGENT? I dare not say that as the urgent need for restructuring is glaring. 

Still the URGENCY for godly leadership to step forward to the plate, and take a RESOLVED stand on governance issues is greater than restructuring.  

Let me make it plain. It'd take only a godly leadership to restructure Nigeria without a BLOODBATH. Other than that, prepare to welcome another season of anomie.  

All the usual perfunctory, angry outbursts staged in the name of press conferences by Southern political leaders, including their latter day allies from the Middle Belt; and the isolated editorials on restructuring would have no where to go but disappear into thin air. Political leaders, under the aegis of Pandef, Afenifere, Ohaneze, Middle Belt forum etc  imagine themselves to be pressure groups capable of persuading Buhari to restructure Nigeria by appealing  to his moral conscience. They are in for a rude shock. 

The earlier these leaders change strategy the better in order not to attract contempt and opprobrium unto themselves. 

Can these political leaders honestly tell themselves they speak for the indigenous peoples of the South and Middle Belt in their appeals to Buhari? 

They say they speak  the minds of the people. But are they? They are not. I dare say without equivocation they REPRESENT themselves. I'd rather align myself with the Central government which sees these UNELECTED political leaders as OPPORTUNISTS. 

Under a military regime, the strategy of these political leaders might be permissible and tolerable. But not under a supposed democracy that we operate today.  

PMB is not a Pharaoh that has enslaved the peoples of the South/Middle Belt without their consent. So no self-appointed Moses has a valid platform to say: "Buhari, let my people go. Free my people..." 

We should stop feeding the false notion that Buhari 

has a PATERNALISTIC hold over Nigeria. The man is only the CHIEF SERVANT of Nigeria, bound to do what the citizens want. He's not the father of Nigeria. We should stop placing the burden of fatherhood on his fragile shoulders. 

The only people recognized by the President as being capable to speak and handle the weighty issue of restructuring are the ELECTED POLITICIANS from the South. These include the governors, the senators, the House of representatives members, State houses of Assembly, local government officers. As President of the Central government, Buhari is constitutionally inclined to listen to these ELECTED politicians on the matter of restructuring, despite his personal view or choice. 

With that in mind, Pandef, Afenifere etc including other lone activists should leave Buhari alone, and turn their fire on the ELECTED politicians from their regions.  

If the governors, senators, hon.Reps etc from the South and Middle Belt, across party lines, are not sounding off, and pushing openly their articulated and resolved position on  the matter, then RESTRUCTURING is not an issue in the South worthy of consideration. In that case, we need a break from all this noise-making on restructuring. 

Let me emphasize this point: Appealing to Buhari to restructure Nigeria is a TIME-WASTER. 

Elected politicians from the South should be prodded to bear the burden of enlightened leadership, and positively change the game. That's the  only way restructuring of Nigeria can be achieved peacefully.  

Enlightened or godly leadership is FEARLESS, BOLD, RESOLVED and PASSIONATE. They don't back down until their objective is achieved.  

All this not because they trust in the force of arms or the psychology of violence but because they trust in the living God, the  Master of Creation who gives them spiritual WEAPONS to wage wars for the pulling down of strongholds...