Soludo’s Scorecard: A Proof That Certificates Don’t Guarantee Good Governance
By Gozie Ugwumba
At his media parley yesterday, while reeling out his false scorecard, Soludo devoted his wasteful airtime to denigrate Nicholas Ukachukwu (Ikukuoma) questioning Ukachukwu’s academic credentials which to him makes him less equipped to offer Anambra State good governance.
Assume without conceding that the professor’s “tales by moonlight” are true, so what? Being a Professor is not the same as passing the leadership test. Ukachukwu isn’t applying to lecture in a university; he’s asking to govern Ndi Anambra, many of whom do not parade degrees but keep the economy alive with grit, enterprise, and the taxes that feed the IGR Soludo boasts about.
By mocking Ukachukwu’s academic history, Soludo unwittingly mocks the larger Anambra public, traders, artisans, farmers, transporters, etc. People who may not have strings of certificates but outperform the government daily in productivity. When leaders worship paper over performance, society learns the wrong lesson.
History too refuses to support the professor’s arrogant stance. President George Washington, the first president of the United States of America, and a beacon of presidential democracy, had no university (College as they call it) degree. Andrew Jackson, the 7th president( 1829-1837), didn’t have one either. The widely quoted President Abraham Lincoln(1861-1865) didn’t even have formal education; he taught himself and became an icon of democracy. President Harry Truman(1945-1953)a drop out who never finished college led the USA boldly through the end of World War II. The venerable Sir Winston Churchill , British Prime Minister ( 1940- 1945&51-1955) respectively,did not have a university degree, yet he steadied Britain through its darkest hours.
Closer home, Sir Tafawa Balewa and Shehu Shagari emerged from teachers’ training colleges and led Nigeria to the best of their abilities. Military leaders like President Ibrahim Babangida, an infantry officer, and one of the best leaders in this country had admitted he didn’t know much about academics but surrounded himself with some of the best brains to deliver good governance.
So, Soludo’s ridiculing of Ukachukwu purportedly for academic credentials only exposes his pitiable lack of understanding of what political leadership truly requires. Soludo couldn’t match his rhetoric with performance.He failed to transform his manifesto to reality.The scorecard of a certificate flaunting Professor has proven that certificates don’t guarantee good governance.Certificates don’t govern.
What Ndi Anambra needs is a leader who understands the masses and is humble enough to galvanize the best hands under his watch not a Lecturer-in-Chief.
Rt. Hon Dr. Prince Nicholas Ukachukwu and Senator Dr. Iyom Uche Ekwunife have the requisite credentials to lead Ndianambra from all works of Life-whether you have certificate or not. Their wide exposure and interactions with people across all social strata equip them to lead with required candour,composure and compassion.
Ndi Anambra should troop out en masse on November 8 and vote for Ikukuoma and Iyom for Governor and Deputy