The main characteristic of leadership is an all-encompassing spirit, this spirit makes the leader accept his citizens as one irrespective of their ethnicity or religion.

This important leadership characteristic has been missing in the administration of President Muhammadu Buhari in his disposition to the people of the South-East and South-South region in the country. These regions have experienced upheavals since the conclusion of the 2015 Presidential elections and have managed to subside a little.

The South-South was initially ravaged by the activities of the now rested militant group, the Niger-delta Avengers. With the challenge ravaging these zones, the President has not deemed it fit to pay a visit to the region.

It’s on record that the President has not visited any state in the South-East and South-South. These visits are necessary for many reasons.

One, such visit will serve as a means of getting familiar with the states and its citizens. Through it, he will have a first-hand experience of their challenges and devise a means to solve it. As the President of Nigeria, every state is his constituency and shouldn’t have a preference for one but the President hasn’t shown that every state is his constituency.

Two, if he had made the visit earlier, it would have made the infiltration of the South-East region difficult for the indigenous people of Biafra that have established roots in the southeastern part of Nigeria but it’s still not too late for him. There is a sense of neglect in that part of Nigeria that could have been addressed by the President himself but he rather prefers to stay away while the military move in with tanks and machine-gun.

We hope the President will spend the remaining years of his administration to unite the country across all religious and ethnic lines.

Editor