Imagine a father sends his child to boarding school where the child succeeds tremendously, disappointed by this, the father calls his child and tells him to limit his ambition; to be content with mediocrity and not work harder. Or an investor hires a business manager, entrusts him with his portfolio and when he rapidly turns a profit, the investor decides to stop him from future progress. Both scenarios do not make sense? Yes.

Yet a certain Mohammed Seidu has attempted to do this with governance in Nigeria. Worsening an already bad situation, his malicious intent is backed by foremost media house, Thisday newspapers.

As soon as my attention was called to the Thisday publication of 14- July- 2015, I knew someone had to write about it. Someone must bring to the forefront of discussions this trend that most certainly has become a Nigerian tragedy of some sort. Someone must say to writers who prey on the successes of hard working Nigerians that being ambitious is not a terrible thing.

Infact, for writers like Mohammed Seidu whose articles are mainly devoid of facts and lacking in logic, ambition will do them some good. It will push them to think beyond their self imposed limits and see their scopes broadened, both in thought and aspiration, in ideas and research. We build a limited society if we choose to see ambition as dirty, as a trait we probably should not desire or cultivate.

In his article titled ‘El-rufai and the 2019 Presidential Election’, Seidu describes el- Rufai as one who does not think much of his people but is instead fixated on the 2019 polls.  This simply is not true, and the records already verify this. Reputable polls and informed citizens have already begun to describe el-Rufai as Nigeria’s best performing Governor.

The writer even went further to accuse the Governor of overstating his achievements in the media to corner favor from the public in support of a purported 2019 ambition. This again is not true and I will summarize three sensible reasons that support my position.

First off, there is a President and his Vice who are constitutionally allowed to run a second term, so there most likely will be no vacancy on the All Progressives Congress Presidential ticket come 2019. Secondly it is this same ambition the writer aims to criminalize that has seen the Governor achieve giant strides with Kaduna in as little time as he has spent governing the State.

Thirdly, the major job function of every Governor is simply to govern. To administer the affairs of a State as best as he can and el-Rufai is a model for efficient, effective and functional governance.

I fear at the thought that we have become a people who castigate others for doing jobs we employed them to do? What sort of society will we become if we continually criticize our Governors for simply doing a good job at governance? Why vote people into power if we will accuse them of blind ambition as soon as their efforts begin to yield the very same results we desire?

Interestingly, President Muhammadu Buhari has made clear time and time again during his campaigns that el-Rufai was one of the people who convinced him to run for office even after he decided not to. In acceptance, he tasked el-Rufai to run for Governorship of Kaduna State, does this sound like the posturing of a man with intentions to contend for the same position in 2019?

Given that an increasing number of Nigerians have picked an interest in the governance process and acknowledge the fact that our leaders must work harder, utilize resources judiciously and run more efficient governments. You would think that everyone will throw their support behind the much needed and required reforms el-Rufai is implementing, but no. Every so often, you stumble across writers who instead of asking less performing Governors to rise up to the serious responsibility of governance, ask better performing Governors to be mediocre and understate their achievements.

This is dangerous for a country like Nigeria which is in need of radical ideas and the political will to have things change for the better. We must allow leaders who lead effectively do their jobs and challenge the less performing ones to action. Imagine what damage we begin to do to our society when we tell ourselves in clear terms that the reward for performance will be unfounded and clearly biased allegations. And the reward for non performance will most often be silence.

Let’s consider our children for a second too. Ambition mostly drives you to achieve more, to aim for more. To strive to be better, to be your best self, what good do we do them if we have them believe that ambition is unacceptable and not worth nurturing.

In closing, the writer warns that ‘we must watch out for this shrewd man with a not too altruistic motive’. He goes on to ask ‘how we can ever forget the monumental damage el-Rufai wrought as Minister for the Federal Capital Territory (FCT)’,

I lived in Abuja all the years el-Rufai was Minister, and I wonder what he considers monumental damage? Perhaps it is the restoration of the Abuja masterplan? Or el-Rufai’s various beautification and greening exercises? Or the creation of an efficient transportation system complete with London Taxis and Dark Green Peugeot 307 vehicles? Or the provision or expansion of infrastructure in districts such as Katampe Extension, Wuye, Utako, Guzape, Asokoro Extension amongst many others.

There must be a case for ethical writing even with opinion pieces, and Seidu’s piece sadly is lacking both in objectivity and balance and serves only to muddle the successes of one of Nigeria’s hardest working Governors.