Chatham House: A good leader must listen to his subordinates before making a final decision -Keyamo

The Chatham House outing by APC Presidential candidate Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu has continued to elucidate reactions.

Tinubu, was billed to speak on security, economy and foreign policy imperatives as a frontrunner in the country’s upcoming general election, however, on being asked questions, delegated his aides and party members to address them.

This sparked outrage on social media as Nigerians had long demanded an appearance to hear the APC Presidential candidate respond to their pressing concerns.

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Reacting to the issue of delegation and if it was right for Asiwaju to have done so, Minister of state for Labour and official spokesperson for APC 2023 campaign council, Festus Keyamo who spoke on TVC’s political program, Politics Tonight, Thursday edition said going to Chatham was not to engage in a debate nor was it an exercise to test his oratorical skill or how brilliant and clever he is to answer questions, rather it is how certain issues regarding policies and others will be handled by your proposed government.

“When you are asked questions at that level, what you are going to do as president, not as candidate, you therefore need to respond as president.

According to him, those making uninformed comments don’t understand how government works.

“I am in cabinet, when issues come up in cabinets, the president is the last to speak.

“A good leader must hear the views of his leutenants before he makes the last comment.

“When you ask an Asiwaju at the Chatham house what he is going to do about oil theft, the first thing he assumes is that he is president, he wants to hear his leutenants make comments before he responds and that is what he did.

“Some have compared what happened at the Chatham house with being a medical student.

The APC Spokesman said it is like comparing oranges and Apples because being a medical student is not the same as being a President.

“If you are a medical student or a lawyer and you’re asked a question, you’re expected to answer it yourself as a professional, but the President is not a professional,” Keyamo said.

The president cannot be an expert in all areas, he must therefore listen to experts and when that is done, he must have the knowledge to make the final decision.