THE essence of leadership is constructive engagement of human energy, skills and natural resources not only for quality living of citizenry in contemporary society but equally for preservation of values and natural resources that would make life worth living for generations unborn. Leaders are celebrated not for the quantum of their earthly material possessions they acquired (legitimately or illegitimately) but for impactful and mostly sacrificial decisions, policy thrusts and actions that added value to the collective fortune of their followers. This is where the Mobutu Sesekos, the Marcos, the Mubaraks of this world missed it. Hugo Chavez of Venezuela became venerated in death by the majority of Venezuelans not necessarily because of his publicized hatred of American imperialism, neither is it because of his avowed socialistic ideological persuasion. Hugo Chavez became a hero for the principal reason that he utilized Venezuela oil wealth for the benefit of majority of Venezuelans. This is an instructive lesson for Nigerian leaders. History has never been kind to leaders who chose to use political power to serve interests that were extraneous or injurious to the interests of the people that they led.
Indeed, the Nigerian 3rd republic leaders (Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, Ahmadu Bello, Nnamidi Azikiwe and Obafemi Awolowo) continued to be celebrated because they were leaders who governed with posterity in mind. It is within this purview that one can situate Gen. Oladipo Diya foray in governance. For Gen. Diya, the art of governance is a public trust and sacred responsibility for which every leader should strive to do with utmost sense of fairness, equity and integrity. Inadvertently, every leader has a date with posterity when every action or inaction will be accounted for in the court of public opinion and ultimately before God. Gen Oladipo Diya (rtd) belonged to the exclusive class of the Nigerian leaders who had distinguished professional career and held very high political offices without compromising their personal moral ideals and principles. Gen Diya by any definition, is a tested leader. He has been opportune to serve as a state Governor, GOC of a Division in the Nigerian Army, A Commandant of UNO Peace Keeping Contingent in Lebanon, Chief of Defence Staff of the entire armed forces of Nigeria and eventually Chief of General Staff (Military Vice President of Nigeria). What is instructive for our present discourse, is that Gen Diya has never been accused (even once) of using his public office for any corrupt practice. Also, by accident of history Gen Diya has been used to preserve the corporate existence of Nigeria on more than one occasion. It is very apposite here to emphasis the fact that integrity is a very rare virtue among Nigerian leaders not because they are decidedly bad. Social pressure, peerage influence and lack of institutionalized accountability are the major reasons for character failure with Nigeria. It is only leaders with extra-ordinary self-discipline and sense of personal mission that could make the difference in leadership. These are the very virtues that Gen Diya exhibited in his sojourn in public offices. In a nutshell, Gen. Oladipo Diya public life is characterized by sacrificial, proactive, visionary and public spirited leadership.
Permit me to explain. The cardinal principle that informed Gen Diya’s leadership is sacrificial leadership. For Diya, leadership entails personal sacrifice. A leader must be dead to personal and family inordinate desires and associated social and peerage pressures. Leaders are confronted with several opportunities for self-enrichment and personal aggrandizement at public expense. Most often, the opportunities are seemingly harmless but ultimately, public interests will suffer as a result. It was Gen Oadipo Diya’s personal choice and decision never to award contracts to himself and/or family members under any disguise or fictitious name. Gen. Diya (rtd.) belonged to the extremely few numbers of people who held high political offices in Nigeria without using the offices for personal ends. This explains why in spite of diabolical intentions of some people, Gen. Diya has never for once been indicted (privately or publicly) for award of any contract or for selling public property(ies) to himself or his immediate and extended family members.
Second, Gen. Diya anchored his style in public office on vision and proactive leadership. An example will suffice here. Gen. Diya’s tenure as the Governor of Ogun State in the 1980s set the precedents that subsequent regimes in Ogun state built upon. The Ogun State Property Investment Corporation (OPIC), the major corporation responsible for physical development of Ogun state is a creation of Gen. Diya regime in Ogun State. Up till today, almost three decades since Gen. Diya left Ogun state, Government and people of Ogun state are no longer hosting the infamous ostentatious night party in Ogun state. This was another initiative of Gen. Diya. It is also an acknowledged fact that nobody fought the ‘War against Indiscipline’ (WAI) better than Gen .Diya, then a colonel, during the regime of Gen. Buhari.
Third, Gen. Diya is public spirited. The principal motivation for policy thrusts embarked upon by Gen Diya in public office is his desire to make life more meaningful, enjoyable and liveable for ordinary Nigerians. He is a man committed to the good of his fellow human beings. During the inglorious phantom coup of 1997, it was a known fact that Gen. Diya did everything to protect all the officers, even when the officers were part of the plot to eliminate Gen. Diya due to his principle position that Nigeria should be ruled on the principles of fairness, justice and equity. It was the famous Russian literary giant, Leon Trotsky, who insightfully opined: the depth and strength of a human character are defined by its moral reserves. People reveal themselves completely only when they are thrown out of the customary conditions of their life, for only then they have to fall back on their reserves. This is a perfect description of Gen. Diya’s life. Outside public office, Gen Oladipo Diya continues to use his personal resources to meet the challenges of the less privileged especially through the Gen. Oladipo Diya Foundation. At his instruction, activities of this foundation are not done on the pages of newspaper. For Gen. Diya, charity must not be advertised. Gen. Diya’s Spartan disciplined life exemplified the very best in leadership that could make the difference in Nigeria search for equity, justice and fairness in our national life.
Gen. Oladipo Diya has a heart of gold. His capacity to forgive those who maligned and even wanted him dead is phenomenal. He is exemplary in absolute commitment to his Christian faith tenets of humility, forgiveness, fortitude and love of God and fellow human beings no matter their ethno-religious background(s), socio-economic status and/or philosophical outlook. Indeed, God’s way is beyond human comprehension. The COVID-19 pandemic ravaging the earth presently demonstrated succinctly the awesomeness of God’s way. The superpower, USA, has witnessed over 10,000 fatalities due to COVID-19 pandemic in spite of the ‘state of art’ medical facility, yet Nigeria with antiquity health infrastructure, at last count has less than ten fatalities. In the same, the people that thought they had power of ‘life and death’ over Gen. Diya and consequently concocted evil machinations to exterminate him through every means (bombing of his official aircraft on December 13, 1997 and pre-arranged death sentenceby military tribunal) are dead. As Gen. Oladipo Diya celebrates God’s faithfulness for making him to witness his 76th birthday on April 3, 2020 in good health, I joined millions of other Nigerians to wish him many more fruitful and eventful years in the service of humanity.
- Afowowe writes in via rantiafowowe@gmail.com
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