Students of strategy and history will agree that in all forms of government rulers are motivated by and subsequently judged based on the legacy they live behind them.  Whilst in power they strive to shape their legacy through their deeds and the statements they make.

Their level of success naturally depends on the social context in which these leaders operate but also on their character, charisma and vision of the world. One must therefore judge differently the way a roman emperor treated war from the way a modern day prime minster or president will treat war.

Needless here to dwell upon on the fact that rulers with more powers like those ruling within an undemocratic system have more scope to define their own legacies than those operating within a system laden with checks and balances. One of the features that limits and characterizes democratic governments is the limited tenure in which they have to operate. Such feature forces a democratic government to focus on relatively few and rather quick to achieve objectives. Technically speaking, democratic rulers are like managers or administrators who can only deal with mere mundane albeit essential matters such as the building and maintenance of good infrastructures, provision of security and maybe balance the budget. A good example is former USA president, Bill Clinton who most analysts consider perhaps the greatest politician of his generation; he had to force his way into such historical heights through efficient administration and charisma. Just a political administrator, lucky them in USA.


Rarely do these political administrators get the chance to write their name in history through grand unforgettable deeds that none has done before them, they don’t often get the opportunity to forge a nation, to lead a generational change, to reshape or lead the trajectory of a people and by so doing the change also the course of history.

The current president of Nigeria, Dr Goodluck Jonathan has an opportunity most of his peers around the globe will give an arm for: being part of world history without having to raise tax, sell national assets or fight a war. Goodluck Jonathan has the opportunity of becoming the president under whose watch Nigerians are given the opportunity to truly sit down to examine and discuss issues related to our sovereignty and our mode of government in order to perfect our union. As some observers have had occasions of pointing out, what we call our constitution today in Nigeria is in fact a military decree handed down to the people the ways military decrees are forced on people. Does that matter? Yes it does.





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