We seems to still be far-off from the promise land. 2023 might not be as promising as we've hoped. At least for now, the reality reaffirms that we are still in the circle of electing leaders who cares more about political correctness at the expense of people's desperate yearning for a leader who is ready to decisively address thier prominent and difficult issues.
Deborah Yakubu's death, unfortunate as it is, offers a litmus paper to test the readiness and resolution of the presidential aspirants to delve into the heated zones to tackle one of perennial problems of the nation. We've clamoured for a strong leader who is ready to make the tough choice, face the devil and wrestle away the future of this nation.
Religion intolerance, ethnic bigotry, unideological and skewed political systems forms the tripods of the incinerator that consistently threatens to burn this nation down. Many of our past leaders often walk on eggshells around these issues. No one wants to dabble into it and lose their political acceptance, hence the reason why these problems seems unsolvable.
The recent situation in Sokoto brought one of these prominent issue to the fore, as if to give us a practical insight into their mind, but as usual, none of the presidential aspirants display the strength of conviction to choose the human life, and societal peace over their political acceptance. To them, gathering votes still trump everything else.
One of them, who for a moment was thought to be courageous enough to address the issue, caved in to mob pressure that threatened to deny him their votes. He was forced to the spot where he had to chose between gathering votes (personal ambition) and lending his voice to assuage communal riots and defend the helpless. He chose the former.
However until we have such leaders who is ready to risk their acceptance for the greater good and overreaching peace in the land, we would still subsist in this dangerous circle. In 2023, I believe what we need is a leader that won't avoid the difficult talks. A leader that would consult widely to amalgamate diverse but constructive opinions to stabilize the nation.
Such leader must possess strong conviction, courageous empathy, and phenomenal understanding on plural and sensitive issues like religion, ethnicity, political restructuring, and be willing to take them head on. We cannot afford another silent and unimpressive leader, who only play to the gallery for cheap political points.
We need a courageous leader who will in such recent situation, rise to bring lasting solutions, but unfortunately, all the ones we currently have appears to lack that prerequisite virtue. They want our votes more than our lives.
Ayanniyi Taiwo James is an engineer writing from Ogbomoso
