By Tai Emeka Obasi
Many know Mr Peter Gregory Obi but yet do not truly know him. That is why some believed he should not be trusted with such an emphatic statement, because they assume he is just another Nigerian politician. He decided to endorse the same statement in writing, yet the naysayers are still after him. The question is: why shouldn’t he sign the promise to stay for just one term of four years? He did not hesitate to sign because he meant every word.
Whoever thinks the man we fondly call PO will stay a day longer in office is up the wrong tree. In his last interview with Seun Okinbaloye of Channels Television, PO re-emphasised his assertion to the viewing public. He said he cannot achieve steady 24/7 power supply to Nigerians in four years because of the rigorous engineering processes involved, but assured Nigerians that the process of achieving it would be well underway before he hands over.
Likewise, four years would be enough to steer Nigeria in a positive direction across all spheres of development. All it requires is the political will to take the first solid step. Subsequent leaders can then continue, as happens in all developed and developing countries. It is only those with an old-order mindset who believe that every government must start and finish every project. Such people are enemies of lasting progress.
Leadership is not measured by how long a man clings to power, but by how much progress he makes possible before he leaves it. The greatest leaders do not build nations around their own indispensability; they build institutions strong enough to outlive them. A leader who insists that every national project must begin and end within his own tenure is not thinking like a statesman. He is thinking like a proprietor. Nigeria does not need political proprietors.
It needs nation-builders. As the old wisdom reminds us, “A society grows great when old men plant trees whose shade they know they shall never sit in.”
Mr Peter Obi’s four-year promise is therefore not a sign of weakness or political naivety. It is a profound statement about the nature of public service. Power should be a trust, not a possession; a responsibility, not an inheritance; and a temporary instrument for permanent national progress. The true test of a leader is not whether he can remain in office forever, but whether he can make the country better enough to continue progressing after he has left. Four years is not naivety. It is statesmanship.
Obasi writes for POEM, PO Express Media
