From Pope Benedict XVI to Jacinda Ardern: The Challenge of Poor Health versus National Leadership Bola A. Akinterinwa Pope Benedict XVI was a former Head of the Catholic Church worldwide, a Pope Emeritus who lived for 95 years (1927-2022) before
Pope Benedict XVI was a former Head of the Catholic Church worldwide, a Pope Emeritus who lived for 95 years before he passed away in a monastery in the Vatican on Saturday, 31st December, 2022. In other words, he was an old man before he passed on. His passing on at old age was very significant in terms of what he stood for before his death. He was specially recognised for being the first Catholic pontiff in about 600 years to resign his position as Pope. He did not seek to die in office.
In the same vein, for various considerations, the Prime Minister of New Zealand also announced to resign her position, though quite younger a person than Pope XVI.
And true enough, many are the reasons for wanting to die in office. Most African leaders are fantastically corrupt and fraudulent. They need to remain in power to be protected under the rule of immunity from prosecution. Some of them want to enjoy state burial while some of them need state funding for medical cover for their general family.
While Pope Benedict XVI openly told the world about his failing health and the need to take a rest and address his medical fatigue, African leaders not only often take the bad end of the stick, but also take sanctions against whoever ordinarily talks about their ill health. In Nigeria, there is nothing to suggest that all the presidential candidates do not have one medical problem or the other.
Conversations on the 2023 have also raised leadership and incapacity questions: incapacity to maintain national cohesion and dialogue, incapacity to prevent the institutionalisation of corruption and stopping it, incapacity to evolve a healthy mind. Some political observers even say that the 2023 elections are not likely to hold, and if they do hold, they may be postponed and held in an environment of violence. The INEC first drew attention to the threats of violence.
Nigeria Latest News, Nigeria Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Pope Benedict XVI: A curator of truthIt all began on June 29, 1951: Two blood brothers: Joseph Ratzinger (24), and his older brother, Georgi Ratzinger (27) are ordained to the priesthood in Freising, a university town in Bavaria, Germany. With outstretched hands the two brother priests impart their first blessing on the waiting bemused crowd, and, by extension on the 1.2 billion Catholics-one-sixth […]
Read more »
World School Athletics Trials ends in Abeokuta | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World NewsA two-day World School Athletics Trials, organised by the Nigeria School Sports Federation (NSSF), has been concluded with stakeholders lauding the event, which provided participants the opportunity to showcase their talents.
Read more »
New Zealand PM Ardern announces shock resignation | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World NewsNew Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, a global figurehead of progressive politics, shocked the country Thursday by announcing she would resign from office in a matter of weeks.
Read more »
Russian troops launch 'local offensive' in southern Ukraine | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World NewsThe Russian army has launched a “local offensive” near the town of Orikhiv in southern Ukraine, where the front has been largely stagnant for months, a Russian-installed official said Thursday. “Our troops have gone into a local offensive around Orikhiv,” the head of Moscow’s installed authorities in Ukraine’s Zaporizhzhia region, Vladimir Rogov said, according to […]
Read more »
Gunman kills five people in Georgian town | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World NewsA former serviceman opened fire in a Georgian town, killing five people before turning the weapon on himself, the Caucasus country's interior ministry said Friday.
Read more »
Two attacks kill 18 in Burkina Faso | The Guardian Nigeria News - Nigeria and World NewsTwo suspected jihadist attacks killed at least 18 people, including 16 auxiliaries supporting the army, in Burkina Faso, security sources said on Friday. Thursday’s attacks in the north and northwest of the country were the latest to hit a civilian auxiliary force that supports the military in a seven-year fight against jihadists. Landlocked Burkina Faso […]
Read more »