Respected political economist, Prof. Pat Utomi has said that good leadership can come from anywhere but the best form of it “mixes up everybody, Muslim, Christian and everybody feels comfortable”.
He said this while weighing in on the debate over Muslim-Muslim ticket ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
Utomi at a virtual meeting of the ongoing Double Diamond Platform Global (DDPG) Leadership Series in Lagos.
Speaking on the programme entitled “A Nation in Search of True Leadership”, he said Nigeria needed leaders of competence, compassion and commitment to overcome its challenges.
Utomi, the Lead Speaker at the session, noted that national discourse on leadership should be hinged on performance and delivery and not on primordial sentiments.
According to him, good leadership should seek to uplift the common man.
“That is the starting point of quality leadership and then you want everybody to feel ownership.
“When you begin to completely shut down a whole population, whether it is because of religion or ethnicity, you compound the process of trying to deliver.
“Good leadership can come from anywhere… The best is the one that mixes up everybody, Muslim, Christian and everybody feels comfortable,” he said.
Utomi expressed regrets that Nigeria was in the present situation because of the structure of the federation.
He doubted the possibility of the country making progress with its present structure of politics, pointing out ”we are in grave danger“.
He urged the people to stage protests similar to the Orange protests carried out in Ukraine where the citizens poured into the streets every day, carrying white and green flags and demanding that their country be given back to them.
He added that right now the Nigerian state has been hijacked, noting that there is “a state capture“.
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