Malam Aminu Kano, of blessed memory, led a party or a movement based on strong ideology of protecting the interests of the poor in the face of crude alliance between feudal entities and their ‘gang of lackeys.’ Malam Aminu Kano was a scholar, networker and witty public speaker. Apart from being a leader in every sense of the word, he was also a writer. One of his best works was “Hikayoyin Kaifafa Zukata” – children’s book that drew from fiction, tales, folklore and real life stories. He wrote the book as his token of providing the younger ones with stories that can help them wade through challenges of life at time of what he described as “deceit, betrayal, manipulation of religion and wild obsession with amassing wealth.” At the end of the book, Malam emphasized the value of telling the truth in all circumstances and utility of audacity.
Sir Abubakar Tafawa Balewa, of blessed memory, was one of the refined leaders Nigeria ever had. His oratory and communication skills are legendary. Apart from his political achievements he was also a writer. His novella “Shaihu Umar” published in 1955 was a masterpiece with a philosophical approach to slavery, Islam and Hausaland. The family at the centre of the story and its travails show the immense capacity of the writer to weave ideal with the real; provoking beyond the surface contemplation on faith and reality.
Chief Obafemi Awolowo, of blessed memory, coupled his politics with scholarship. He robustly debated policies and wrote books on burning issues of his time, boldly making his stand known, with lucid details. His autobiography “Awo”(1960) can be described as a work of polemical excellence. He captured his travails in “My March through Prison” with often bitter details – showing the mind of a politician who was also an intellectual, with his own articulate understanding of the best ways to develop a nation. Awo was so versatile to the extent that he took a stand on every crucial issue like federalism, the constitution, ideology, the future of Africa and the civil war in books form – that generations after generation can refer to.
Let me digress, in time. Shehu Usmanu Dan Fodio; his son Muhammadu Bello and his daughter Nana Asama’u were prolific writers in both Arabic, Hausa and Fulfulde. Often, Shehu showed his sophistication by taking on serious issues poetically. The Sokoto Caliphate then was not all about conquest. It was also about providing leadership through scholarship and debate.
Lee Kuan Yew took Singapore from the poor island it was, to one of the most-developed nations on earth in three decades of championing merit and diversity over all their opposite; mediocrity. He was a prolific writer up to his last days. His “From Third World to First: The Singapore story” (2000) is one of the familiar books of reference across development experts and budding leaders with passion for rapid development – and even historians.
If leadership is all about meeting the yearnings and aspirations of the people, it is also about rising above the aboard. It is also about giving those who trust their present and future in your hands a definition of the present and the future. A leader can be good without being a scholar, but a leader can be better with more knowledge and better understanding his world. Many good leaders notable for their unprecedented achievements were not writers but their leadership became a monument on which many books were written and are being written.
Not all leaders can be writers. But a good leader may turn out to be a good reader. And an ardent reader can be a good writer. In some countries, leaders share with the public their reading list, or the books they are or have read over a holiday. One will expect a leader to devote his time to reading, to be broad-minded and capable of learning from the past to make the present better. A leader is always learning – keenly developing himself and expanding his worldview. A leader acquires new skills, not necessarily by abandoning his responsibilities, but by devoting some of his time to reinventing himself through reading and learning new things. A leader never pretends he has all the answers to all the problem. Infact, a leader becomes the problem if he/she assumed he/she is the answer to all the problems.
Sir Winston Churchill had first and second terms as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He was an artist, historian and a writer. In 1953 he won the Nobel Prize for Literature: “for his mastery of historical and biographical description as well as for brilliant oratory in defending exalted human values.” Every sentence in all his historical books showed a man does not need politics to be famous. Churchill will continue to be an example of the possibility of a leader becoming much more than just a politician with only a skills for skulduggery.
A good leader is (not) the one that builds bridges, roads, schools, airports and boreholes. A good leader keeps the living standard rising, the gap between haves and have nots narrowing. A good leader build strong institutions that survive beyond his time in power. A good leader gives people reasons to have hope in the future, to be optimistic. A good leader centres his leadership around ideas that can stand the boldness of reality. But nations are only built on concretes. Progress, paving way for a great future, and creating opportunities for all to realize their potentials require a leader who can also build ideas through essays, books, speeches and memoirs – that stay for posterity.
