Reports quoting various sources recounted in @DrCOmole ‘s new biography of @MBuhari , indicate that the late President of Nigeria was simply a prisonprisonerer held and caged by a powerful cabal.

This is painful to read, but not surprising. If it is true, then obviously Buhari’s leadership capacity was overrated because he was not fully in charge.

This is the bane of African leaders – that they are not in reality leading, but are in truth FOLLOWING any group of relatives, ethnic journeymen and women, mistresses, immediate family, business associates etc that manage to capture them and have little agency beyond a strong will to stay in office.

Any real leader must reserve and maintain the ability to exercise independent judgment and decision-making in order to succeed. We are all human, and there are always persons for whom a leader will have a soft spot and so such persons might have or acquire influence.

But a true leader must be aware of this Achilles heel and safeguard against this. One way to do so is through a transparent process of decision making that encourages different subordinates with policy relevance to any matter to air their views. That way, the leader has a full spectrum of inputs before making important policy decisions.

Another is to maintain surveillance on “gatekeepers”. Watch the “watchers”! But to know this, of course, is to already have attained a high degree of perception and leadership capacity!