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When Nigeria’s former military
president Ibrahim Babangida was forced to ‘step aside’ in 1993 after
eight years in office, he retired to his palatial hilltop mansion in
Minna. He left office as one of the most unpopular personalities in the
country. Similarly, when former president Olusegun Obasanjo left office
after eight years in 2007, he retired to another hilltop palace in
Abeokuta, also highly unpopular. By contrast, when Brazil’s former
president Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva or “Lula” left office after eight
years with approval ratings of 80 percent, he retired to a nondescript
apartment in Rio de Janeiro.

At the time Babangida left office, the
country was in serious political and economic turmoil after the longest
political transition anywhere in the world. It is true that his
administration initiated some positive reforms, but the toga of
corruption that hung over his government left a shadow of doubt about
the efficacy and sustainability of some of those reforms. Whatever
vestige of a legacy he had left was eroded by his annulment of the June
12, 1993 presidential elections.

Similarly, credit (if grudgingly) must
be given to some of the initiatives of the Obasanjo administration.
However, the massive corruption that also characterized his
administration and failure to improve infrastructure, particularly
roads and power left serious credibility gaps. The major undoing of
Obasanjo, as with Babangida, was his desire to hang on to power at all
cost. And like Babangida before him, history will not judge them by
what little they achieved, but by their failed bids to remain in power
against popular sentiment and the damage they both inflicted on our
democracy. At least, they both have their huge hilltop (if largely
empty) mansions to console them.

Compare these two leaders to Brazil’s
Lula and one can only reiterate what Chinua Achebe said: Nigeria’s
problem is that of leadership. Before Lula became president, Brazil was
known for its world-class footballers, beautiful beaches and as the
biggest debtor nation in the world. Beneath these facts also lay the
truth that the country had one of the widest economic apartheids in the
world: less than five percent of the country’s elite owned or
controlled over 95 percent of Brazil’s wealth.

Incidentally, Nigeria and Brazil share
certain similarities. (Brazil and Nigeria were joined before being torn
apart by primordial geologic forces). Brazil has the largest population
in South America while Nigeria has the largest population in Africa;
both estimated to hit 200 million soon. Both countries suffered
military intervention in politics. Both countries also have cultural
and ethnic diversities and with huge swathes of the population living
in poverty. Then God gave Brazil Lula. Or put another way, they
discarded primeval instincts and elected a patriot.

Lula created many highly successful
anti-poverty programmes, such as Bolsa Família (Family Allowance) and
Fome Zero (Zero Hunger). Financial aid was given to more than 12
million poor Brazilian families on condition that their children attend
school and get vaccinated. This has become the largest conditional cash
transfer programme in the world, and has reduced poverty in Brazil by
more than 27%. Lula has transformed Brazil from one of the world’s
largest foreign debtor nations to a net creditor.

Brazil is set to overtake France and
the United Kingdom as the world’s fifth-largest economy as early as
2025. And with Rio de Janeiro having won the right to host the football
World Cup in 2014 and the Olympics in 2016, more development will take
place. With transparent leadership, Brazil is firing on all cylinders
and is currently one of the fastest growing economies in the world. And
that is just the beginning for a country that has vast tourism and
industrial potential. The economy is not dependent on crude oil alone.
Embraer (ERJ) is Brazilian company and is now the world’s third-largest
manufacturer of passenger jets after Boeing and Airbus.

Once the most debt-ridden country in
the world, Brazil’s fiscal budget is now in surplus- she is a net
creditor. Brazil boasts large-trade surpluses and foreign reserves of
about $300 billion. Brazil today is the world’s largest exporter of
coffee, sugar, chicken, beef and orange juice. In recent years, the
country has become the second-biggest destination for foreign direct
investment into developing countries after China.

The message is simple: as the elections
approach, we must elect the candidate that is closest to Lula in terms
of honesty, patriotism and simplicity. Religion and ethnicity must not
befuddle our thinking. One inspired leader can make all the difference.