BEING THE TEXT OF LECTURE DELIVERED BY

COMRADE GABRIEL OLALEKAN SOYOMBO IN HONOR

OF HONORABLE AYO ADISAS 25TH BIRTHDAY
CELEBRATION AT STUDENTS UNION BUILDING, EKITI
STATE UNIVERSITY, ADO EKITI TITLED LEADERSHIP
IN OUR CONTEMPORARY TIMES: A GENERATIONAL
CHALLENGE DATED THIS DAY OF FRIDAY 31ST
OCTOBER

2014.

It is indeed a great pleasure for me to be here today to deliver this commemorative

lecture of 25th birthday celebration of one of our great brother Ayo Adisa, a
comrade per excellence who among his few contemporaries, place the value of
honor above primordial considerations in unionism and activism. I have known
this comrade for years. I knew him when he was a member of the parliamentary
arm of the students union of this great campus. I am also a living witness to his
current portfolio as chairman, students union task force of this great university. To
an extent, he has borne out an errand for progress with commendable constancy.
Despite the complexity of the new world, that is threatening the old tradition and
its simplicity- a great challenge to our collective existence, Ayo Adisa remains

focus and determined to the course of humanity . Ayo is known for his corrosive
dexterity, livid posture against demagogue and tested to be a radical
orientationalist. I am therefore happy to be here, to savour the joy of our comrades
25th years of useful, rewarding, enviable, incredible, progressive and outstanding
services

to

mankind

and

our

generation.

Consequent upon this, I say congratulation to you my brother for attaining this
gracious age. May you live long, and may you continue to be of great productive
and purposeful service to your family, friends, society and Ekiti State University
students union in particular. I also want to acknowledge all the dignitaries, invited
guests and comrades here present in honor of your brother and your friend. To me,
it is not just recognition for our brother, but a sharp demonstration of love for
solidarity and progressivism. We shall all continue to grow from strength to
strength.
All of us here present today know the problems of leadership in our contemporary
times. We experience it daily in our homes, at works, in our organizations, and in
the larger society. From schools and workshops, through civil society and
community organizations, to government and international organizations and
businesses, we see the value, relevance and the importance of leadership. Where
leadership is lacking, you cannot pretend that it exist. If a business is under bad
leadership, you easily notice its debt rising. Workers disillusioned, product loosing

quality, market share shrinking, competitors having an advantage, profit declining,

structure decaying, and eventually it would collapse. It is the same thing in the
family. Where there is no leadership in the family, such a family decay and
deteriorate and finally engulfed in conflict and break up. The children become
undisciplined, lacking in focus, not performing well at school and at times
becoming an outright criminals. This also applies to countries and tiers of
government at all levels. Good leadership is sine-qua non to the peace, stability,
productivity, security, progress and overall development in our contemporary
times.
Good leadership brings hopes and energy to the people. It attracts the best minds as
well as local and external support. Good leadership brings about quality and good
governance, progressive policies, happiness in the people and general dynamism.
Good leadership brings out the most purposeful, creative and innovative quality of
citizens and expands the capacity to share the pains of reform and to establish
strong platform of tolerance, mutual support, corporation, innovation and social
justice. In fact, no matter the level, there is no alternative to purposeful, honest,
focused, dedicated and patriotic leadership. Good leadership propels the emergence
of good leaders and who in return encourages people to take charge and to want to
make

difference

in

any

given

society.

Today, our generation is a victim of bad leadership at all levels. We have left

undone what we ought to do and done things we should have avoided. This is why
in the case that despite of the struggles and sacrifices of our heroes and heroines in
the past, we have not still come out dependency, underdevelopment, violence,
instability, poverty, poor infrastructural development, low industrialization, low
technological base and weak infrastructure and institution. I must stress here that
we have in the past had great leaders who occasioned good leadership in their
capacities. Many fought a good fight and laid good legacy. Many had given
everything they had to ensure better lives for our people. They fought colonialism
and neocolonialism. They gave their lives in the struggle for peoples freedom.
They resisted exploitative tendencies of transnational corporations. These heroes
withstood the devastating impacts of foreign political interference and unsteady
commodity prices. They had to deal with poverty, illiteracy, ethnic regional and
religious differences and conflicts, sharp class division, hunger, dissatisfaction,
industrial stagnation and all the impediments of underdevelopment and
unfavorable global economic order. In some cases, they succeeded and at some
point

they

did

not.

My comrades, brothers and sisters, let us not deceive ourselves. The problems of
our contemporary times require focused and serious minded leadership. There can
be no room for unnecessary experimentations and risk. One year of bad leadership
can take us back ten to twenty years. In other words, one year of bad leadership

can contaminate and destroy ten solid years of progress. This is why I say we
cannot afford mistakes in our time. A times, our people get overwhelmed by
emotions or allow themselves to be deceived and manipulated. A times, the so
called leaders are effective at manipulating the people and play on their fears. At
other time, they did not tell the truth; they say what they did not mean or what they
cannot deliver on. They manipulate class religion, ethnicity, profession and other
primordial considerations to get to power. There have also been cases when they
simply grab power through illegal means or rigged themselves to power. On
getting to power, they spent their scarce resources and time on remaining in power
rather than building communities and institutions, giving voice to the voiceless,
mobilizing the people, promoting growth and development and establishing
opportunities

for

sustainable

democracy

and

democratic

practice.

Such leaders identified real and imaginary enemies everywhere and proceeded to
contain, intimidate, humiliate and even culminate them. All these only deepened
the crisis of governance and leadership and it was the people that suffered. A few
adopted radical and militant outlets to deceive or mislead the people. Soon, it
became clear that behind all the noises, groans, protest and opposition was a
cesspool of inefficiency, corruption, limited understanding of the imperatives of
governance and very low capacity to deal with the serious demands of governance
in

condition

of

poverty

and

underdevelopment.

Today, our generation is faced with unemployment, hunger, lack of amenity for all,
crime, indiscipline, inefficiency, poverty and all the things that make all the
enjoyment of life a challenge. As my generation matured we became confounded
that the problems we experienced as children remain with us as adult. Now that is a
chronic challenge that we must not run away from. In the context of such a
situation, is this the time to play politics with the lives of ordinary people?
Is this the time to use considerations that are not based on merit, capacity and
experience to make leadership choices? Is this the time to second-guess ourselves
as to the future we want to create for ourselves and our children? I will say a
resounding NO to these questions. I belief that this is the time to identify,
support, encourage and work with the people who can provide focus, organization,
inspiration, motivation, harmony, love and a sense of mission in the interest of all
in

society.

If we make mistake in our choice, we must have the courage to correct them. The
consequences of not doing so are many. If we fail to do the right thing, poverty,
crime, waste, underdevelopment, dislocations, violence, disregard for the
government, insecurity, unemployment and failing services and infrastructure as
well as corruption will remain our lots. No one is going to come from space to fix
things for us. We are a creative, innovative, very hardworking, courageous and
productive people. No wonder the bible says in 1 peter 2; 9 that we are a chosen

generation, a royal priesthood, a peculiar people and a holy nation, delivered from
the kingdom of darkness into the marvelous light of Christ. Our generation must
draw a line on the sand of history and say this is where the arrogance of power,
corruption, poverty, plan indiscipline, mismanagement, the marginalization of the
people,

misplace

priorities

and

social

injustice

ends.

My comrades, brothers and sisters, ladies and gentlemen, I am sure you understand
the point I have been making. Leadership is critical followership is no less critical.
It is the people in their communities, families and organizations including political
parties that allow for the emergence of bad leaders. Having helped them to impose
themselves on us, they seize the instrument of coercion and the resources of the
society to satisfy their clique and friends at the expense of all. Even in their failure
to uplift the standard of living, we continue to praise, worship, tolerate, and
accommodate them. This has been one of the challenges of our generation. How do
we stop this tendency and establish transparent, consistent people- driven and
people-focused processes for identifying and supporting progressive leadership?
When I speak of generation, i talk of the pre independent generation, the post
independent generation and the contemporary generation. In all these categories,
you can find good and bad leaders. It means therefore that, we must build alliances
across generations because our society belongs to all of us. In doing so, we must
pick those good ideas, resources, visions, commitments and energies; combine

them as the foundation for rapid socio-economic and political transformation. This
is

possible

once

we

commit

to

them.

Let me conclude by saying that the leaders that we chose, support, encourage and
repose our confidence to in building a sound leadership that is sensitive to the
collective yearnings of our generation and the generation yet unborn, must have at
least

twelve

qualities

among

others;

First is character- they must be seen and known to be credible, honest, reliable,
progressive and capable. Second is total commitment to the people- this can be
seen from their records, writings and statement over the years. Third is courage to
take bold challenges and not flip flop on opportunistic grounds. Fourth is
knowledge, exposure and education as this cannot be compromised in this
contemporary age of globalization. Fifth is the sensitivity and compassion. Sixth is
humility, vision and ability to take criticism. Seventh- a national and global
outlook that can attract investment, information and good will. Without growth and
development will be very difficult. Eight is vision and creativity without vision; it
is not possible to think deep, strong and purposefully. Ninth is understanding of
and respect for history, culture, positive value, tradition and elders. Tenth is
capacity to work with diverse interests, tolerance and inclusions; and Eleventh is
belief in lasting legacies and strong and useful building institutions, and the
twelfth, and which is the most important of them all is FEAR OF GOD.

These are not easy qualities and they may not all be found in a person at a time.
My experience tells me that if we look and search carefully, we can find leaders
with most if not all of these qualities. But the deficiencies or deficits can be
corrected through the collective commitment to the general good. It is these
qualities that establish the foundation for good governance, effective leadership,
respect for the rule of law, attention to social justice, honesty, just use of public
resources, attention to the pains of the people, respect for tradition and community,
and belief in boundless energies of the people and possibilities for progress.
Comrades, I request you today in our pragmatic affinity, to committing ourselves
to change order and be part of this new vanguard for transformation, for rebuilding
our families, communities, campuses, societies and particularly our nation Nigeria.
Let us be committed to moving away from the narrow considerations of the past
towards a new path to identifying and supporting leaders that can learn from the
past, take care of the present and build lasting institution and legacies. Let us
resolve today, that, our numerous problems can be resolved in the interest of all
only if we work together and struggle together with vision, commitment, strategy,
plans

and

sacrifice.

Finally, let us commit ourselves to higher ideal of governance, social justice,

equality, fair play, development and democracy. Let me end this lecture with
President Clintons second inaugural address. He had affirmed that. we need a

new sense of responsibility for a new century. There is work to do, work that
government alone cannot do; teaching children to read; hiring people off welfare
rolls; coming out from behind locked doors and shuttered windows to help reclaim
our streets from drugs and gangs and crime; taking time out of our own lives to
serve others. All of us, in our own way, must assume personal responsibility not
only for ourselves and our families, but for our generation and our country. Our
greatest responsibility is to embrace a new spirit of society for a new century. I
have no doubt that this speech is relevant to our situation here in Nigeria as it is to
America.
Once again, I wish my brother Ayotunde Adisa, a very happy 25th birthday
celebration and hope that this is only the beginning of greater and higher services
to your generation and particularly to the students of this great campus.
Thank you and remain blessed.