A leader must be compassionate —Prof Akande

A gubernatorial aspirant of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in Oyo State, Professor Adeolu Akande, has said a major condition for purposeful leadership is for the leader to be compassionate.

He said many of the manifestations of bad leadership in the country were testimonies that many of the people in leadership positions lack compassion.

Professor Akande spoke as one of the speakers at a leadership summit for Christian youths in the ancient city of Oyo, Oyo State, at the weekend.

Professor Akande said every society have vulnerable members which he identified to include children, the aged, the disabled and the very poor who live below poverty level.

He said the attitude of the leadership to these people in the design and implementation of government policies will determine whether those policies are pro-people or not.

Akande said a leadership that is compassionate will support education policies that guarantee that children of the very poor have access to education.

Akande identified other ingredients of purposeful leadership to include vision, integrity, courage and communication skills.

Akande cited the example of Chief Obafemi Awolowo who introduced free education in Western Nigeria in 1955 despite widespread opposition and blackmail of political opponents.