AFRICAN ECON :: THE OPTIMIST VOICE

EDITORIAL

Giving Credit Where Due

December 24, 2010

It is imperative that we give credit where credit is due, and in the timeliest manner too, for most renowned intellectuals have expressed agreement with the adage “Justice delayed in justice denied.” Timely justice or praise is necessary to help support and motivate righteous actions (amala salihan) by members of the community and most especially the leaders. It is actually more so the leaders because they remain the role models for the community, and also ultimately make decisions that affect a greater majority of the people.

The Optimist Publisher and Editor had wanted for long to write and praise those who stood up on the right side of justice when that action was needed, and desperately sought. By their action they have raised the honor of their nation, the honor of their party and of themselves. By that we mean the announcement first by Retired General Ibrahim Babangida; by another Retired General Aliyu Muhammed Gusau; and the Civilian Kwara State Governor Bukola Saraki; expressing their willingness to come out and challenge a critical violation by a sitting President. They did that by announcing their willingness to run for the Presidential ticket of their party against an incumbent. Praises are due also for the unrelenting pursuit of the same goal by former Vice Presidential of Nigeria 1999-2007, Alhaji Atiku Abubakar.   For democratic ideals without those willing to defend them whenever they come under threat, will not thrive or even survive.

While some people have praised their efforts earlier, others have criticized them as self-serving leaders with no better programs or services to offer the nation. To be candid however, as fellow mortals, our judgment of their actions is limited to the available evidence as to who they are, what they have represented in the past and our intellectual capacity to analyze. No one can however deny them the political courage they demonstrated and continue to demonstrate. The greatest praise has to go to the first of them to garner the courage to enter the arena, Retired General Ibrahim Babangida. That does not in any way belittle the efforts of the others. We just hope and ardently pray that their collective efforts, including the matured leadership that came from Alhaji Adamu Ciroma to take on the role of an arbiter, becomes the beginning of such political courage by its northern population, countering any effort they deem a threat to democracy, their population and other important institutions of governance.

Nigeria is truly a great nation endowed with many blessed attributes and the individual capacity to lead the whole continent to greater good, if its leadership, i.e. those in positions of political, economic, and social power are willing to make a difference in their various capacities. Every serious nation of the world is aware of Nigeria’s potentials, except may be Nigerian themselves, who have hitherto demonstrated unwillingness to gather the moral and ethical courage to make that possibility a reality. It is partially for that fact that we today raise the beacon of honor and gratitude to these four, with the hope of inspiring a greater demonstration of similar courage in the future by others who find themselves in any position that carries with it immense possibilities for positively impacting the outcome of issues important to the Nigerian State and its teaming population. May God Bless them all, and the nation in general.

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