EDITORIAL: Let Their Achievements Speak — The Mbakwe Standard Nigeria’s Leaders Must Meet
There was a time in Nigeria’s political history when leadership was measured not by noise, propaganda, or lavish campaign spending, but by visible results.
The late former governor of old Imo State, Barrister Samuel Onunaka Mbakwe, fondly remembered as the Weeping Governor, once gave a timeless response that remains a powerful lesson for today’s political class.
When asked why he was not engaging in aggressive campaigns ahead of the 1983 governorship election, unlike candidates from the NPN, GNPP, and PRP, Mbakwe reportedly replied with remarkable confidence:
“I don’t need to spend money on campaigns anymore after my first tenure. The roads I constructed campaign for me. The industries I built campaign for me. Adapalm, our shoe industry, Imo Poultry and Aluminium Extrusion campaign for me. Imo Airport campaigns for me. The schools and their happy teachers will campaign for me. The workers will campaign for me. If they don’t, then I don’t need to be governor.”
That statement is more than political rhetoric. It is a profound standard of leadership.
In an era where public office is too often reduced to personal ambition, empty promises, and power retention at all costs, Mbakwe’s words challenge every elected leader in Nigeria today — from the President to governors, lawmakers, and local government chairmen.
The true campaign of any leader should be the evidence of service.
Let the roads they built speak.
Let the hospitals functioning with affordable healthcare speak.
Let the schools with motivated teachers and improved learning environments speak.
Let security improvements, jobs created, youth empowerment programmes, food affordability, economic stability, and anti-corruption efforts speak.
The electorate should not be forced into choices through intimidation, suppression of opposition, or abuse of state institutions.
Democracy thrives when leaders return to the people with proof of stewardship, not merely slogans.
If a government has genuinely delivered on infrastructure, security, employment, education, and economic growth, then those achievements should naturally become its strongest campaign message.
Nigeria does not need politics of imposition.
Nigeria needs politics of performance.
As another political season approaches, citizens must demand the Mbakwe standard: let achievements campaign for leadership, not billboards, violence, or propaganda.
Any leader whose work cannot speak boldly before the people must reflect deeply on whether they deserve another mandate.
At Donblaze Media, we believe governance must be judged by impact, not intention.
The people deserve results.
Let performance speak.
