. . . Says the country’s present electoral system cannot produce sincere, focused, visionary and missionary leaders

A Senior Advocate of Nigeria (SAN), Dr. Muiz Banire, has said that it may require a revolution to reform Nigeria. “To reform Nigeria, a revolution, as it happened in some notable climes or a benevolent dictator like Rawlings might be required through a process I cannot say for now. A call for divine intervention in the affairs of the country cannot be ruled out. Without any of these, it will appear to me that the dream of reforming Nigeria will remain utopian,” he said.

He spoke on Saturday, September 18, 2021, while leading the conversation at a public lecture to mark the 50th birthday of public relations practitioner, lawyer and writer, Niran Adedokun.

Speaking on the topic, “Reforming Nigeria: the people or the structure”, Banire advocated a reformation of Nigeria’s leadership recruitment process, noting that “the reformation of Nigeria will remain a mirage until the leadership recruitment process of the country is capable of producing leaders that are sincere, focused, visionary and missionary. The present electoral system cannot give birth to such leaders.”

“Thus, as important as the people, in terms of leadership is important, the emergence remains a challenge. The role of the people, as in the followers, will also remain illusory until such time we are able to make their votes count and full participation actualized,” Banire, at varius times Commissioner for the Environment in Lagos State and National Legal Adviser of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), said.

According to him, “For the structures to aid the recovery of the country, it needs only not be restructured but must be midwifed into institutions. With such institutions, human elements impact will be minimized in the governance of the country. A good example is America under Trump administration where the institutions resisted all his attempts to desecrate their holiness.”

Reacting to the optimism in some quarters about Nigeria’s reformation, stemming from the experience of Ghana under Rawlings, Singapore under Lee Kuan Yew and Dubai under Sheik Maktounm, Banire said: “The scenarios are distinguishable from Nigeria. In really none of them did they have the kind of electoral system that is fraught with irregularities in existence like Nigeria. Besides, the leadership question further marks the difference. Hence, the seemingly impracticable reform of our electoral system is a vital component to the reformation of the country.”

Discussants at the event, which held virtually, included Member representing Iseyin/Itesiwaju/Iwajowa/Kajola Federal Constituency of Oyo State in the House of Representatives, Hon. Shina Peller, and immediate past Managing Director of Nigerian Ports Authority (NPA), Hadiza Bala-Usman. Publisher of thecable.ng, Simon Kolawole, moderated the panel, while media entrepreneur, Yomi Owope, hosted the event.

Adedokun, a weekly columnist with The PUNCH and thecable.ng, described the public lecture as his way of contributing to the discussion on the best way to pull Nigeria out of the brink and secure its future in the comity of nations.