‘Inflexible Integrity’: Buhari applauds Bisi Akande for values-based leadership at book launch

*President Muhammadu Buhari, at a book launch in Lagos, has described Chief Bisi Akande, former Governor of Osun State, as a decent, truthful, and friendly person of admirable leadership qualities with ‘inflexible integrity’

Isola Moses | ConsumerConnect

In respect of the importance of values-based leadership in national development, President Muhammadu Buhari has described Chief Bisi Akande, former Governor of Osun State of Nigeria, as a ‘‘perfect public officer,” and someone he could go into the jungle with when it comes to personal integrity.

ConsumerConnect gathered President Buhari stated this in his address at the public presentation of ‘My Participations’, an autobiography of Chief Akande Thursday, December 9, 2021, at the Eko Hotel and Suites, in Lagos.

Chief Bisi Akande, a Nigerian leader of inflexible integrity

Mr. Femi Adesina, Special Adviser to the President on Media and Publicity, in a statement quoted President Buhari as saying that Akande, who is also a former interim Chairman of the ruling party, has retained ‘inflexible integrity’ in and out of public office, adding that “he never accepted or offered bribes.”

Buhari further described the former Governor of Osun State as a decent, truthful, and friendly person as well as an administrator of the first order, whose leadership qualities made him the unanimous choice as the first Chairman of the All Progressives Congress.

He also noted “My first personal contact with Chief Akande was, if I recall correctly, in 2006 when preliminary consultations were coming to fruition for a grand coalition to unseat the PDP Government.

“Those efforts eventually came to nothing. Neither he, nor I, nor many of our friends and associates gave up as, in Chief Akande’s words: “the country was going down and down under PDP,” referencing Page 396 of Akande’s ‘My Participations’.

Going down the memory lane, the President related how Akande rose to prominence from his participation in the Constituent Assembly established by the Military Government of General Olusegun Obasanjo.

According to him, the ex-Osun State Governor was always in the thick of things through the difficulties and political discontinuities of the 1980s and ’90s.

“Chief Akande had a horrendous baptism as Governor of Osun State with discord from his own party; his State Assembly (including an attempt to impeach him without any reason whatsoever); from the trade unions and from his own deputy governor!

“On top of that, he inherited a deeply indebted Treasury, huge arrears of salary, allowances, and pensions. Enough challenges to overwhelm many aspiring leaders,” Buhari stated.

He also said: “Bisi Akande stood four square and faced all the challenges head-on and overcame most of them.

“His first action was to stop payment of “critical allowances”, a euphemism for government money customarily shared by the big boys in Osun State.”

The President noted: “This set the tone of his Administration. By 2003 Chief Akande had virtually sanitised governance in Osun State, having cleared some of the troublemakers from his government and, though reluctant to serve a second term, he was persuaded to run again.”

The President reflected on the political history of the author, particularly his bid to seek a second term as Osun governor.

Buhari noted that Akande was the victim – along with other AD Governors – of a diabolical double-cross which ended his gubernatorial career.

According to the President, “desperately disappointed though he was, and being a good Muslim, he accepted this setback as part of the trials of life. He looked to the future of service to the country.

“Chief Akande was in the thick of further attempts in 2011 and 2014 to fuse together different groups and dislodge PDP from governance.

“The key to his thinking which coincides with mine is that Nigeria can only be successfully managed by alliances between major groups.

“Chief Akande was unanimously chosen as the first Chairman of this great coalition. Throughout the difficult negotiations, I found Akande truthful, steady and always with an eye to the ultimate goal.”

The President added: “In or out of office, he has retained his inflexible integrity. On Page 400 of his book, he wrote: ‘I never gave to or demanded bribe from anyone all my life.’ A perfect gentleman. A perfect public officer.”

In all, President Buhari affirmed that Akande has a permanent smile on his face, saying “he is the type I will go into the jungle with.”

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