Qualifications For The Presidency

We need finished products for the presidency,not some half-baked

work in progress.

I have told this story before,and it bears repeating again.

The morning after Bill Clinton's presidential election victory, he said he and Hilary were in bed,and it dawned on them what they had actually achieved:they had won the presidency.

They said the victory was so unexpected,that they felt like a dog that had chased a car,and actually caught it!

 The dog,in shock,did now not know what to do with the car.

We know that Bill Clinton went on to become one of America's most celebrated presidents,because he transformed America, for good!

The presidency of any nation,be it a banana republic,or a first world nation, like America,is a hallowed, and sacred trust.

 It is not an office you draw lots for,it is not something you allow everyone who feels like it,because he had a dream last night,to get to.

The president,by default, whether he/she, likes it or not,influences the current,and future generations.

This is why I am rilled to deep indignation,when we reduce ascension to Nigeria's presidency to pedestrian,and puerile, considerations,like ethnicity.

The Punch newspaper,this morning's edition,had a banner headline proclaiming,"2011:Ethnic minorities really around Jonathan". Is that how low the qualification for our presidency has descended? 

Are we saying that we do not care,whether the man is capable intellectually,to discharge the duties of his office?

 Are we now saying that where he comes from,and not even his state of mind,is the  overriding consideration?

We do unbelievably bizarre things like this,and wonder why we do not get the respect that we crave from the international community?

Despite our sacrifices,in peace keeping missions,and other areas, we are still strangers to international respect!

Did we not learn anything, when we allowed Obasanjo to become president?

He was compensation for the Yoruba nation,over the annulment of June Twelve Election? 

See where he left us?

In the middle of nowhere!

Did we not suffer together under Yar'Adua,when he did not know how to even dissolve his cabinet? 

See what he left us?

Chaos! Left and right!

The sad truth is that,when we reduce to the nethermost ridiculous minimum, the criteria for occupying such a highly exalted,exacting and demanding office,as the presidency:we also,invariably reduce the quality of individuals who would eventually get there!

And we can only blame ourselves!

The odds favour the average men of straw, who only want to come and enrich themselves,and not Nigeria.

They outnumber the brilliant ones ,a million to one!

I believe, that the criteria for our presidency, must be the most exacting, humanly possible. 

The fellow who gets to occupy that seat would be responsible for over one hundred and fifty million Nigerians,and the generations to come.

I have no quarrel with Goodluck Jonathan as a person, my concern is with the presidency of Nigeria. That is an institution,that is sacred,and not a place to go and learn.

Electing a president, in my own opinion, is like literally going for a head transplant operation,(that is if such an operation were possible). 

You would want to ensure that the new head you are getting,would improve your total person. 

If you could speak six languages before,why settle for a head that can only speak pidgin English?

If you could see with two eyes,without  glasses before,why settle for one that is blind?

So you see,why I am always shouting, like a lactating goat whose kids have been taken:it is because I have only one country,and I can only have one president every four years!

It is not every time, a president would die mid-term! 

If the wrong person is elected,we suffer for four long years.and even after he has left office,like Obasanjo has done,we could still be suffering years after, all because one wrong choice was made.

There is no successful nation on earth,that chooses her leader,based on his ethnic group.

I can categorically say that,places where ethnic considerations, determine who aspires to high office never develop.They remain rooted in the stone age of the caveman. 

So,Nigerians, Patriots,Progressives,and Lovers of our land, 

let us not make a wrong choice again.

The effects are usually long lasting, and unpleasant.  

My name is Julius Umogbai, I support the Kakatawaga Progressives.

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GOD BLESS NIGERIA,OUR NIGERIA,FOREVER!