By Paul Ojenagbon
Former United States President, Barrack Obama, famously made a
statement that Africa did not need strong men
but strong institutions. Like many, I had swallowed the import of this message
until prevailing circumstances compelled me to see reason on the flip side. On
the contrary, the continent needs both strong men and strong institutions
because it takes strong men to build strong institutions that would endure in
their own spheres of influence.
The general perception of many is that strong
men in power denotes negativity but the experience in other climes that had
similar situations and challenges as Africa showed that the emergence of such
super strong men was the turning point in the history of their countries.
Strong men can be positive too, it depends on how they are skewed; the negative
image of the strong men who dominated
Africa
the African political landscape negatively for a long time would make many
perceive and dismiss them as evil.
