“NIGERIA’S LEADERSHIP CRISIS: EXPERTS CALL FOR FAJUYI’S STYLE SACRIFICIAL LEADERSHIP”
GREATRIBUNETVNEWS-THE Ibadan Discourse Group (IDG) has called on Nigerians to emulate the leadership values of the late Lt. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi, a model of sacrificial leadership. This call was made during a national discourse held in honor of Fajuyi, with the theme “Fajuyi: Essential Values for National Leadership”. The event brought together intellectuals, students, and pressure groups to reflect on Fajuyi’s leadership qualities and their relevance to Nigeria’s current challenges.
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Key Takeaways
– Leadership Crisis: IDG Chairman, Chief Adebisi Adesola, identified leadership as a major problem hindering Nigeria’s progress, with each change in leadership attributed to poor performance.
– Fajuyi’s Legacy: Fajuyi’s leadership qualities, such as sacrifice, hospitality, and courage, were highlighted as a foundation for restoring value-based leadership in Nigeria.
– Restructuring Nigeria: Dr. Olusegun Mimiko emphasized the need for restructuring Nigeria’s political system to reflect its diverse nature and promote national unity.
– Lawlessness: Prof. O.B.C Nwolise stressed that lawlessness, not lack of leadership, is Nigeria’s greatest challenge, and proposed solutions such as reconvening the Southern Governors’ Forum and establishing a memorial hospital.
Call to Action
– Emulate Fajuyi’s Values: Experts urged Nigerians to emulate Fajuyi’s leadership values, including sacrifice, discipline, and selflessness.
– Promote National Unity: The IDG emphasized the need for national unity and cohesion, and proposed creative ways to drive unity and development, such as making historical films to tell Fajuyi’s story.
Chief Adebisi Adeshola emphasized the need to reflect on Fajuyi’s leadership qualities—sacrifice, hospitality, and courage—as a foundation for restoring value-based leadership in Nigeria.
Proper leadership in Nigeria has been identified over the years as the bane that has handicapped the the realisation of the full potentials of Nigeria.
The patron of IDG, Amb. Yemi Farounbi, Extol the virtues of late let. Col. Adekunle Fajuyi as a brave soldier with exemplary loyalty to leadership and a good administrator.
Late Fajuyi was on a frontline military mission in Congo during Lumumba Sponge crisis where he performed excellently and was decorated with the Military Cross the highest British medal for courage. The similar courage he showcased when he stood by his head of state and supreme commander Aguiyi Ironsi, by laying down his life.
Aside his military bravery, Fajuyi administrative prowess included his stoppage/ quelling of the operation wild wild west political crisis (Wet E) of the then western region between loyalist and supporters of Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola ( premiers of western region).
While addesing the press at the event , Dr. Olusegun Mimiko said it is imperative to bring to the consciousness of the younger generation the sacrifices and virtues of Late Lt. Col. Fajuyi. According to Dr. Mimiko said ” Fajuyi’s type of discipline, courage and selflessness are values any nation needs for progress. It’s gratifying that Ibadan Discourse Group put this event together. Particularly, the intervention and participation of the students that will extol the virtues of Fajuyi. For every outing, our focus should be on the future. If we continue along this path, celebrating the best of what has been, for us to be able to engineer the future, I think it’s a worthwhile.”
Dr. Mimiko also reiterate the need for the nation to forge national unity and promote national cohesion.
Mimiko described Fajuyi’s choice to die alongside his friend and superior as a rare act of loyalty and selflessness. He stressed the importance of restructuring Nigeria’s political system to reflect its diverse nature, arguing that visionary and contextual leadership is needed.
He therefore condemned election rigging, describing it as a form of civilian coup, and noted that Nigeria’s problem is not leadership, but lawlessness.
Dr. Mimiko charged the Ibadan Discourse Group to use creative art to drive unity and development, corroborating
He suggested the idea of making Historical film to tell the story of late Fajuyi.
On his part, the guest lecturer Prof. O.B.C Nwolise, noted that good leadership is rooted in peace, development, and the wellbeing of the people. He stressed that lawlessness, not lack of leadership, is Nigeria’s greatest challenge. According to him, when laws are broken, bad leadership follows. He described the annulled June 12 election as the only free and fair election in Nigeria’s history and declared that Nigeria is not a true nation, but merely a state. He proposed several solutions:
Such as:-
Immediate reconvening of the Southern Governors’ Forum and southern governors wives forum.
Reversal/ dousing of any tension deliberately raised between Igbos and yorubas. These tensions are traps to further divide us at our own peril.
Formation of a team to explore the philosophical songs of the East and West as a means of teaching sacrifice, and the establishment of the Adekunle Fajuyi/ Aguiyi Ironsi tripartite Life-Saving Memorial Hospital incorporating foreign medicine, African traditional healing, and spiritual care.
Other speakers at the event advocated for unity, peace, and national development, urging Nigerians to emulate the discipline, fearlessness, and integrity that defined the leadership of Lt. Col. Fajuyi.
Others at the event are Chief Adebisi Adeshola; Alagba Banji Ogundele; Prof. Nwolise; representatives of Ohanaeze Ndigbo; students from the University of Ibadan, Ibadan city polytechnic and Omololu Olunloyo Polytechnic, Ibadan; intellectuals, pressure groups, press and members of the Fajuyi family.
