Ododo’s scandalous first 100 days scorecard: While it is true that 100 days may not be long enough time to appreciably evaluate the capacity of a governor and while it is also true that some leaders are slow starters who end up finding their rhythm with time, the truth is that any governor who consciously listed trivialities as achievements and who believes same to be true as Ododo obviously does, will end up a spectacular failure.
Let us be clear from the outset. There is no constitutional or statutory significance to the first 100 days of a governor or president’s term, though it seems to have become conventional. In fact, the origins of the concept is hazy and its import remains a subject of debate.
Some historians trace its origins to the second reign of French Emperor Napoleon I, beginning on March 20, 1815, when he retook his throne after his exile to Elba. However, that triumphant return ended July 8, 1815, when King Louis XVIII was restored to the French throne, a total of 110 days. Within five days of Napoleon’s return, the European powers at the Congress of Vienna declared him an outlaw and committed to increasing military troops on the ground in order to end his rule once and for all, a decision that led to a series of battles fought between the French Army of the North and the Anglo-Allied and Prussian armies, which culminated in the decisive Battle of Waterloo (June 15 – July 8, 1815) and the ultimate vanquishing of Napoleon.
The phrase les Cent Jours (the hundred days) was said to have been first used by the prefect of Paris, Gaspard comte de Chabrol, in his speech welcoming King Louis XVIII back to Paris on July 8, 1815.
But like most democracy principles, the idea was popularised with the coming to power of President Franklin D. Roosevelt. In fact, in the first 144 years of America’s democracy, no one made a big deal about the 100-day mark. But elected in the heat of the Great Depression and inaugurated on March 4, 1933, Roosevelt in his first 100 days in office took breathtaking actions, both legislative and regulatory, that Americans hailed as setting the governance bar very high.
For instance, it is on record that in those 100 days, his administration unfurled its New Deal agenda, declaring a bank holiday which stopped the disastrous run on the U.S. banks, took America off the gold standard, passed groundbreaking legislation for farmers, homeowners and the unemployed and also passed amendments to the hated Volstead Act which had created prohibition – actions promoting economic recovery and putting Americans back to work through federal activism in the face of the severe global economic downturn that affected many countries across the world.
So, while the concept is an artificial milestone with lots of attention but no significance in some quarters, it has increasingly become popular since the FDR era and in many countries, including Nigeria, it has become a standard fare to do leadership assessment after 100 days in office.
While one school of thought believes that 100 days is too short a time to gauge the performance of a governor or president who has four years – 1461 days – as it is the case in Nigeria, to stay in office, those who believe in the old saying that morning shows the day aver that the first 100 days in office could actually be a pointer as to which direction an administration is headed.
So, while 100 days may be a short time to make an assessment, yet, to any chief executive who prepared to hit the ground running, it is enough time to make a loud statement. Abia State governor, Dr. Alex Otti, has validated that position with his performance in 100 days and beyond. Emeka Ihedioha also eloquently made the same point in Imo State with his stellar performance before the Supreme Court threw a spanner in the works in January 2020.
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So, when Kogi State governor, Usman Ododo, did a self-appraisal of his stewardship in 100 days, that ordinarily shouldn’t have raised any eyebrows.
But it did.
Why? If anyone is still in doubt whether the quality of leadership in Nigeria has gone to the dogs, Ododo’s self-appraisal erases such doubt. It is a proof that the country is in dire leadership straits.
Ododo was sworn in as governor on January 27, 2024 after being declared winner of the November 2023 offseason Kogi State governorship poll by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC), and on May 5, 2024, he clocked 100 days in the office.
To commemorate the milestone, the 42-year-old governor in a flyer shared across his social media handles, with a banal caption: “We will continue to do more for the good people of Kogi State. God Bless Kogi State. God Bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria,” listed meeting with Nuhu Ribadu, the National Security Adviser (NSA), as his star achievement in his first 100 days in office.
Those who think that was ridiculous may have cause to change their minds after reading what amounted to a drivel, because the achievements which are in five major categories – governance, agriculture, education, health care, and general information – also included a reception organised for him in Okene, his home town, participation in the meeting of Progressive Governors Forum in Abuja, first courtesy visit by Ife-Olukotun Community in Yagba East Local Government Area, and participation in a joint meeting of the governors of Kogi, Ondo and Taraba with the Minister of Agriculture and Food Security, Senator Abubakar Kyari.
Now, how on earth could these perfunctory duties be termed achievements? What manner of low self-esteem would make an elected governor consider a meeting with an appointee of the president a privilege and an accomplishment worth celebrating? That is sheer neurosis because even a meeting with the president cannot be considered an achievement for a governor. In the same vein, how can his participation in a meeting of fellow governors be celebrated as a big achievement in his first 100 days in office? To say the least, Ododo’s self-advertised achievements is a scandal. It is a sign of low self-esteem for someone to consider a parley with peers an achievement worth celebrating and every well-meaning indigene of Kogi State should be worried.
Aside being mortified by such pedestrian outing in the name of celebrating a non-existent milestone, the question that should concentrate their minds is: What kind of transformative vision can a governor who records first courtesy visit of a community as an achievement have for the state?
But is anyone really surprised? How did Ododo become governor? His political ascendancy speaks to the faulty leadership recruitment process that has bedeviled the country since 1999. Ours is a democracy where power does not belong to the people. Ododo is Kogi State governor today because his predecessor and godfather, the fugitive Yahaya Bello, wanted him to be, the same way the Federal Capital Territory Minister, Nyesom Wike, made Siminalayi Fubara governor of Rivers State.
The faulty recruitment process is responsible for the gross delinquency we are celebrating in the name of governance across the country.
But there are more pertinent questions. Where are the Nigerian people in all this mess? Why are the people still cutting these misfits in positions of authority some slack? Why are there no popular revolts against the prevalent idiocy in high places?
But Ododo is not alone. Last week, the Speaker of the Niger State House of Assembly, Abdulmalik Sarkindaji, announced with glee his plans to marry off 100 female orphans whose parents were killed by bandits as part of his constituency empowerment project, “aimed at alleviating the suffering of the impoverished.”
Sarkindaji, who represents the Mariga State Constituency, said he would pay the dowries for the bridegrooms, disclosing that all necessary materials for the marriage ceremony scheduled for May 24 at Bangi, the headquarters of Mariga Local Government Area, had been procured.
How can child marriage alleviate the suffering of the impoverished? What about paying for the girls to go to school or acquire some skills at vocational centres? After footing the bill for their marriage, then what happens?
Yet, the Speaker is angry with the Minister of Women Affairs, Uju Kennedy-Ohanenye, for calling him out. He said the idea was not his but that of the traditional and religious leaders in his constituency.
“The traditional and religious leaders approached me and I decided to support the girls. They initially submitted the names of 210 girls to me, but we cut it down to 100,” he claimed.
One cannot help but grieve for Nigeria and the North in particular.
Sadly, this is a country that used to have leaders as Dr. Michael Okpara, Sir Ahmadu Bello, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Chief Dennis Osadebey as regional premiers. Even in the second republic, we had governors like Sam Mbakwe, Jim Nwobodo, Balarabe Musa, Abubakar Rimi, Lateef Jakande, Bisi Onabanjo and Michael Ajasin – progressive, ideological and goal-oriented – leaders who knew that governance was serious business. Can anyone imagine any of these great statesmen listing a meeting with President Shehu Shagari’s NSA as achievement?
While it is true that 100 days may not be long enough time to appreciably evaluate the capacity of a governor or president and while it is also true that some leaders are slow starters who end up finding their rhythm with time, the truth is that any governor who consciously listed those trivialities as achievements and who believes same to be true as Ododo obviously does, will end up a spectacular failure.
