At 9:oopm, Nigerian time, on the 5th of May 2010 the news of our president's death started spreading like wild fire. I was rapping up for the day and at the same time preparing for the activities of the next day but as it is my habit, I would hardly go to bed without checking out my facebook profile so I did and I found two wall posts reporting the death.

My weary and slowly dragging eyes cleared immediately and I headed straight for the living room as if sitting in for a routine favourite television programme. There it was on the screen of several television stations, as least the most reputable ones, the president was confirmed dead.

This is to officially say my goodbyes having glued to my television in the last 15 hours or more trying to get the best of every information that the media was going to offer and it did come up with interesting news flashes from time to time.

Beyond saying goodbyes to the Late President I cannot write this piece without calling the attention of leaders around the world to some important lessons. It was no news that the president was sick at the time of death but more important is the fact that Nigerians are not happy with the way the health situation of the president was handled. It was not that we were going to treat the president but at some point the politicians made the president lose the sympathy of Nigerians for not being transparent about the true state of his health yet they were asking us to pray!

My lessons now are that:

1.) You cannot hold unto to power eternally so it's just common sense to do what you were elected to do and leave a legacy that history will smile at.

2.) It was, and never will be, a crime to be sick but the way things are handled, especially when you are serving the nation, will be different.

3.) In all of these mess Nigerians still remember the departed president as a man of integrity. We all follow leadership expert, John Maxwell, to say that leadership is influence but I had like to add that it is "Positive influence with obvious integrity."

4.) In the service of the nation we should learn to separate politics from leadership. In documentaries that I have seen recently the historians said about John F. Kennedy and Barack Obama that, 'they are not politicians. They are leaders who have married being a celebrity with leadership.' The best example I can think of in that situation as far as Nigeria is concerned would be our founding fathers - Awolowo, Azikwe ...

5.) We have to go all out for the advocacy of true leadership rather partisan politics which advances personal interests only for a while and on the long run kills the the collective interests of the nation.

6.) If all the millions of people who have gone out today to pay their last respect for Mr. President really respect him then we should IMBIBE HIS TRANSPARENT habit.

When we realize that leadership is first about the nation and then individuals, it will be easier to advance as a nation.

Fola Daniel Adelesi, ASM
www.debater5.blogspot.com
www.foladaniel.com
This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.