2019 Elections: Who are your Suitors?

When it comes to marriage, women have their expectations. Any woman that is ready to say yes to any kind of man is either desperate or lack self definition. Nobody is perfect but there are certain qualities that a woman will see, that are personal to her, and she will tell herself: yes this man is good for me. Why? It is because her life depends on that choice.

As Nigerians, what are our expectations? What are those developmental and growth needs that we have been denied of? Who among those that are wooing us has the qualities to meet our expectations and needs? These are some of the questions we need to ask ourselves and answer before we say yes to any candidate.

2019 elections are fast approaching and candidates are wooing us to accept and vote for them. They will come with gifts of money, food items, promises, etc., which are not good yardsticks for measuring their credibility. Are we again going to sway towards them like hungry chickens just to eat our cake today and go hungry in the next four or more years?

What shall it profit us to gain the whole world (which of course they can’t give us), and lose our souls? Yes, our souls; because when there is unemployment, some youths go into kidnapping, prostitution, drug addiction, etc. When there is bad governance, the masses loose the most and die the most.

This is the time to scrutinize those that are wooing us to accept and vote for them come 2019 elections. Let the following selected quotes on leadership guide us to chose and vote wisely.

Quotes on Leadership

The supreme quality for leadership is unquestionably integrity. Without it, no real success is possible, no matter whether it is on a section gang, a football field, in an army, or in an office - Dwight D. Eisenhower

A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way - John C. Maxwell

Leadership is the capacity to translate vision into reality - Warren Bennis

The art of communication is the language of leadership -  James Humes

Leadership is practiced not so much in words as in attitude and in actions -  Harold S. Geneen

Where there is no vision, the people perish. —Proverbs 29:18

Leadership is lifting a person's vision to high sights, the raising of a person's performance to a higher standard, the building of a personality beyond its normal limitations. —Peter Drucker

Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, concerned citizens can change world. Indeed it is the only thing that ever has. —Margaret Mead

The most dangerous leadership myth is that leaders are born-that there is a genetic factor to leadership. That's nonsense; in fact, the opposite is true. Leaders are made rather than born. —Warren Bennis

To command is to serve, nothing more and nothing less. —Andre Malraux

He who has never learned to obey cannot be a good commander. —Aristotle

A leader takes people where they want to go. A great leader takes people where they don't necessarily want to go, but ought to be. —Rosalynn Carter

Leaders think and talk about the solutions. Followers think and talk about the problems. —Brian Tracy

It is absurd that a man should rule others, who cannot rule himself. —Latin Proverb

“It takes 20 years to build a reputation and five minutes to ruin it. If you think about that, you’ll do things differently.” – Warren Buffett, investor

“Perfection is not attainable, but if we chase perfection we can catch excellence.” – Vince Lombardi, legendary Green Bay Packers coach

“Be faithful in small things because it is in them that your strength lies.” – Mother Teresa, Catholic nun and saint

“Great leaders are almost always great simplifiers, who can cut through argument, debate and doubt to offer a solution everybody can understand.” – Gen. Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State

“A leader . . .is like a shepherd. He stays behind the flock, letting the most nimble go out ahead, whereupon the others follow, not realizing that all along they are being directed from behind.” – Nelson Mandela, former President of South Africa

“There are two kinds of people, those who do the work and those who take the credit. Try to be in the first group; there is less competition there.” – Indira Gandhi, former Prime Minister of India

“Do you know that one of the great problems of our age is that we are governed by people who care more about feelings than they do about thoughts and ideas?” – Margaret Thatcher, former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom

“I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.” – Maya Angelou, poet and civil rights activist

Do not go where the path may lead, go instead where there is no path and leave a trail. – Ralph Waldo Emerson, poet and essayist

“To be persuasive we must be believable; to be believable we must be credible; credible we must be truthful.” – Edward R. Murrow, American broadcast journalist

Good leadership is built with the bricks of criticism. A true leader sees criticism as grease to lubricate his elbow, and praise as a sign to work harder; He values his critics more than his flatterers – Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi, a poet, novelist and blogger 

Ideal Olive says #votewisely because our lives depend on our votes.

Written by Olive Chinyere Amajuoyi