The presidential candidate of the Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), Donald Duke, has identified selfish leadership and excessive personal ambition among Nigeria's political elite as some of the country's biggest problems. Duke, a former governor of Cross River State, said Nigeria had sufficient human and material resources to become a prosperous nation but had repeatedly been held back by leaders who placed personal interests above the national good.
Speaking in an interview on Tuesday in Abuja, he argued that many of the country's problems were not caused by a lack of resources but by the manner in which those resources were managed. He said: "Leaders who see public office primarily as an opportunity for personal advancement will find it difficult to make the difficult decisions required to transform the country. Political leaders must be prepared to make decisions based on what is best for Nigeria rather than what is politically convenient."
He linked Nigeria's problems to the repeated failure to tackle major issues such as insecurity, unemployment, energy shortages, infrastructure deficits and poor public services. "Leadership requires the capacity to put the national interest ahead of personal ambition. Nigeria's political class must also learn to work together where national interests overlap, rather than allowing competition for offices to prevent cooperation," he said.
Duke said the same problem affected opposition politics. "Politicians who genuinely want to change the country must be willing to sacrifice individual ambitions where necessary to achieve a larger national objective. The obsession with who would occupy political offices had often overshadowed the more important question of what those offices should be used to accomplish. Nigerians needed leadership capable of making long-term decisions even when such decisions might not produce immediate political rewards. The country could not continue to move from one administration to another without addressing the structural weaknesses that had kept millions of citizens in poverty," he said.
He called for a new political culture based on responsibility, accountability and service, saying: "Public office should be regarded as a trust rather than a personal entitlement. Nigeria's leadership crisis is ultimately a crisis of priorities: whether political leaders choose to serve themselves or serve the country."
Duke also said the country was facing serious economic and security challenges and that the opposition had a responsibility to present a coherent programme for addressing them. He added that his participation in the presidential contest was part of a broader effort to contribute to the search for political solutions.
The PRP candidate acknowledged that multiple opposition candidates could potentially divide votes but said the answer was not for politicians to withdraw from the race without first building an alternative structure capable of uniting them. He argued that Nigeria needed a process through which opposition politicians could identify areas of agreement and eventually work towards a stronger common platform. "The objective should be to give Nigerians a genuine choice at the ballot box. My political experience has given me a clearer understanding of the challenges involved in governing Nigeria. The country needed leadership capable of making difficult decisions, managing resources responsibly and creating an environment for businesses and citizens to prosper," he said.
He added that his return to the presidential race was not simply about occupying the presidential seat. "It is about helping to reshape the political conversation and demonstrating that Nigeria could be governed differently. Opposition politicians should focus less on individual ambition and more on the national interest. If political leaders could overcome their differences and work together, the opposition could become a serious force," he said.
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