What has age got to do with it?
By Onyi-Oiza A. Bello
It is the political season. It is the season of absurdities. The season of anything goes. The season that some uninformed Nigerian youths demonise age and stigmatise the elderly, some of whom spent their youthful age fighting for the enthronement of democracy in the country and put their lives on the line fighting for the same freedom they are now using to say rubbish on social media. This is not just youthful exuberance, it is also juvenile folly!
Supporters of the structure-less candidate whose state governor told in clear terms that he cannot win (I don’t want to dignify them with a mention) are the ones going around social media saying that ‘old men should give way’ and that their younger candidate is the best option. They talk as if it is now a crime or sin to advance in age as if they do not want to live long.
As far as they are concerned, being younger is all that matters in the search for leaders, not competence, capacity, pedigree or record of service. They know their candidate has nothing to show for his eight years in office as governor but claim his younger age and the sweet nothings he says on TV make him the Messiah Nigeria needs to fix her myriad of problems.
Common sense, history and recent reality in the Nigerian polity do not, however, concur with their telling ignorance. We have seen political officeholders in their 30s and 40s mess up their respective roles due to a lack of capacity.
History is also replete with fantastic leaders who combine age, experience, brilliance and patriotism to provide the kind of extraordinary leadership which generations after generations continue to make reference to.
America’s 40th President, Ronald Reagan, a former entertainer, won an election at the age of 69 in 1980 and was sworn in as the President at the age of 70 in 1981. He also won a second term four years later. Based on his performance on the economy(his economic model was dubbed Reaganomics by the American media then!) and foreign affairs, he is still regarded as one of the greatest leaders to ever occupy the White House.
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UK’s war-time leader and one of the greatest statesmen of the 20th century, Sir Winston Spencer Churchill, was Prime Minister for the first time from 1940-1945. After successfully guiding the country through the turbulence of World War II, he left office and came back as Prime Minister for the second time in 1951 at the age of 77. Neither the British Parliament nor the public castigated or shamed him due to his age but they kept on trusting him with power and responsibilities on account of his outstanding record of service and he never disappointed.
I will move away from politics and governance a bit. Manchester United’s long-serving manager, Sir Alex Ferguson, retired abruptly in 2013 at the age of 72 over old age and illness. Despite his deteriorating health and old age, he still won the Premier League in his last season with a squad of mostly average players. But despite spending about one billion pounds on new players from 2013 to date and recruiting five different managers who are far younger than Fergie, the club has never achieved a fraction of the success recorded under the Scottish icon. David Moyes (50 years), Louis Van Gaal (63 years), Jose Mourinho (53 years), Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (45 years) and Ralf Ragnick (63 years) were all younger than Ferguson when they were recruited but they did not only fail to win a single league title but their success rate was nowhere near the standards set by him.
Ladies and gentlemen, my candidate in the 2023 presidential election is the 70-year-old Bola Ahmed Tinubu, my own Alex Ferguson, an old wine that gets better with age. An outstanding public servant with a verifiable record of service as the visioner of modern Lagos, not the harbinger of fake statistics.
Tinubu’s age comes with wisdom and experience and that makes him the most prepared man for the job having proved himself as an extraordinary and visionary statesman as Lagos state governor. The other man who is also advanced in age has never been properly tested anywhere in public service aside from being a glorified spare tyre between 1999 and 2007. The self-styled unifier has also failed to unify his disaster-prone party, further proof of his deficiency in the wisdom and tact that come with age. Tinubu is therefore the only one in the race who ticks all the boxes. He is the best man for the job!!!
