I am writing this unauthorized, not requested, but badly needed authoritative testimonial of His Excellency the SGF, Senator George Akume KSJI, CON on his 71st birthday. All public officials need this form of public attestation from senior colleagues and experts in leadership and governance.
I aim to paint a vivid, sweeping portrait of a man whose astonishing ascent to the pinnacle of national leadership remains an intriguing enigma and captivating puzzle. In reaction to his appointment as SGF, many who would have been, or should have been, SGF considered Akume an undeserving appointment. Many have been blind-sighted to President Tinubu’s master stroke strategic appointment of George Akume as SGF, a phenomenal national strategic critical asset.
If the President had sent me as many names from North Central Zone to evaluate, vet, and recommend who should be appointed as the country’s Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), I would have put George Akume at the top of the list without hesitation.
Twenty-one years ago, in 2003, I declared Akume an extraordinary leader and politician. On Dec. 27, at George Akume’s 50th birthday celebration public lecture event, he asked me to be the special guest speaker at the IBB Square in Makurdi. It was after his inaugural as second-term governor of Benue
State. Becoming the second-term governor of Benue State was the fiercest political battle of Akume’s life. Many Hegemons, God-fathers, Satraps, and Warlords congregated to end his political career and make him a one-term governor. They must have seen his bright future in their fasting and prayers or witches’ covens. I was Chairman and Director General of the team that elected him. I declared that “his second term inaugural was more than a re-launch of another term, but the Birth of National Greatness, which Benue State owed Nigeria through one of us – George Akume.”
I said then, “As one of us, Governor Akume, has brought a new face to politics and a new definition to that much-maligned word, politician. No longer shall we define a politician as a human who is untrustworthy, selfish, self-seeking, and arrogant and who steals from the public for his upliftment. Thanks to George Akume, we can now define a politician as having a humble human face, integrity, selflessness, public spirit, empathy, and generosity.” Twenty years down the line, I still say so.
The emergence of the SGF, George Akume, as a significant Nigerian leader and a key ruling party member has become a reality and self-evident truth. Like all truths, he was ridiculed and violently opposed by individuals and segments of society who could not accept that such a great leader could be one with such humble endowments. The truth is inevitable: The SGF, George Akume, has been greatly favored, and we, fellow compatriots.
Akume means what he says. He is coherent, trustworthy, and evokes a hope of shared reality. Today, Akume’s mantra is that Nigerians should stand on the hallowed rotation of the presidency between the North and South, with each part having a term limit of eight years. He is credible because of his record when he led other Governors and legislators to scutter Obasanjo’s risky third-term adventure. Today, he is rooting for President Bola Tinubu’s second term. Akume knows that his principal and his party have a lot of work to do before Uhuru. He is an early bird advocate of the Tinubu second term.
The most significant influence on Akume has been the late Senator Joseph Sarwuan Tarka, the Minority rights crusader who led the PDP to victory in Nigeria in 1979. Even though Akume never met Tarka in politics, his mind is seared with the anecdotal wisdom of Tarka, passed on to him by elders like Isaac Shaahu, other Tarka friends across the nation, and his esteemed uncle, Mr. Simon Shango. Akume, like J.S. Tarka, is not afraid to fight for causes of social justice and equality, as well as for the downtrodden.
Akume’s Leadership Assets
Among George Akume’s leadership assets is his generosity. He is essentially the politician’s politician. As early as 6 am, Akume opens the doors to his residence in Maitama to the public. By seven o’clock, the main living room floors are filled with people from all over the country, flocking to see the SGF. His living rooms are the best places for political networking. You don’t need an appointment to see Akume. While you are a guest at his residence, whether you can see him without an appointment or hear he has already left for the office in a hurry, a hot breakfast awaits you. If you wish to stay for lunch, you are welcome. Food prepared and served to guests in Akume residence is without end.
You will meet a horde of his admirers and prebendal followers in the courtyard. They, too, must be fed and transported, and their needs must be taken care of by the SGF. Yet Akume does not own any known businesses, nor has he been on the record for those who stole state funds. He survives from day to day by grace. Like Tarka, or even Paul Unongo. Tiv politicians carry the poverty of their homeland. They live by other people’s generosity. Like the above Tiv predecessors, Akume is overgenerous, has empathy, sympathy, integrity, and is visionary. He is courageous and fears nothing unless he makes mistakes and apologizes. Akume lives an authentic life. He treats people with kindness and respect. He is highly relational and generous with his resources and time. Few politicians in the World undergo these exertions to be nice. He is a good politician.
The Akume Leadership Conundrum.
The Akume leadership conundrum refers to the paradoxical situation in which Akume appointed governors, ministers, and other high-ranking government officials due to his ability to empower people. Having acquired their lofty positions, they rebelled, became rivals, and sought to replace Akume with his political enemies.
There have been many instances, but three cases of three governors exist. This relationship between Akume and his proteges, whom he raised but who turned against him and became rivals, is an interesting phenomenon that is happening in many states in Nigeria and elsewhere in Africa.
The situation raises questions about the complexities of leadership, power dynamics, maintaining relationships, and trust among politicians, hence the conundrum. Who is to blame, the leader or protégé or their inability to understand the nuances of strategic political communication? The conundrum deserves further scientific investigation, which is not available here.
Akume As Strategic Communicator.
Akume is a forceful speaker. His ebullient personality and sartorial elegance in designers’ flowing gowns command attention, if not outright intimidating. When he speaks, his deliberate selection of words, imbued with crystalline semantic clarity delivered in measured, thoughtful cadences, conveys precision and reflection. His strategic communication makes Akume President Tinubu’s compelling public relations voice to the Nigerian public. He knows when to plead when to make a point, and when to get mad. And he does get angry and harangues. And when he is complemented on the political stage by the loquacious, audacious, unapologetic, and eloquent 80-year-old polyglot Senator Jack Tilley Gyado, the arena is on fire.
Akume’s ferocious temper tantrums are his way of holding his followers accountable, in check, and sanctioned. There are other reasons, too. Akume is known to be too kind and does not know when and how to say no to requests. His reluctance to say no and displease is why he resorts to Drama. Akume and his principal, Bola Tinubu, are among the best political dramatists in Nigeria today. While Akume’s Drama is verbal, almost like Trump’s, Tinubu’s is nonverbal, like Reagan’s. These are grade-A actors. I should know! Politics is an intense vocation when we are permanently on stage. Some skills in dramatic acting are required.
Akume’s recent presidential assignment at Paul Unongo’s burial in Benue State had his political opponents scampering for shelter from his fiery attacks. Nobody withstands his fiery logic and clarity in the deliberate choice of words in Tiv and English. Akume gives his opponents the spread of finger insults at his most ferocious. They attack him back as a drunkard, a claim that Akume takes in his stride, laughing and dancing. In the 2015 election, Akume danced to the song his opponents made about him, laughing and dancing, calling himself a “drunkard.” He is a political leader who refuses to hold grudges or enemies and has a healthy knack for laughing at himself, which enables him to defuse tense situations.
CONCLUSION
On Thursday, Dec. 5, Professor Leonard Karshima Shilgba posted on social media asking, “Where are Senator Akume’s men?” And why have the Tiv intellectuals gone silent recently in a season of advertised political tension involving Senator Akume, Governor Alia, Chief Gemade, and other politicians in Tiv land?
I am unsure if I answered Prof. Shilgba by introducing Senator Akume to the public how I know him. I am not sure I have dwelt enough on the Akume Conundrum. This discussion is for another day.
I would love to disprove Chinua Achebe that the problem with Nigeria rests squarely on the inability of Nigerian leaders to exercise responsible leadership. In my 35 years as a full professor, 25 years as an Executive Public leadership mentor, and four decades as a grassroots politician, I am more inclined to say that the biggest problem with Nigeria is the sheer ignorance of the followership of their responsibility to hold the leaders accountable. Nigerian thinkers and politicians must reimagine our republican democracy and revise our political practices, recognizing that we, the elite, are part of the problem. We need to change our mindset fundamentally.
As followers, we have not represented ourselves well. We are primarily isolated bystanders and diehards when we should be participants and activists. As leaders, we are a tragedy.
In her excellent book “Followers,” Harvard professor of public leadership Barbara Kellerman warns that those who ignore the Followers’ current importance—more than the so-called leaders—do so at their peril. Evil followers enable corruption, tribalism, endless banditry, and intolerance. They are in the majority and control immense political power.
Finally, I wish George Akume and his family a Happy Birthday. I look forward to the return of peace in Benue and Sankara, especially when Akume and his proteges, who went rogue, can meet in a convivial atmosphere devoid of Drama to chart a path to peace in Benue State and Nigeria.
Hagher (OON), President of Africa Leadership Institute, an Independent, US-Afro-centric Think tank, writes from Dayton,Ohio.