 The national president of the Pentecostal Fellowship of Nigeria, Reverend Dr. Felix Omobude, the former president of the Nigeria Bar Association and founder of Wale Olanikwekwanko, Chief Wale Olanikwekwung, OFR, honorable members of the Lagos House of Assembly present on Buwala and the Honorable Commissioner for Investment, Trade and Industry on AQT State, Aureolumu Yawa Olumilua. Honoured guests, distinguished ladies and gentlemen, and of course our host and lead consultant at hoofpig.com, Mr. Simba Olanfield. Ladies and gentlemen, let me first say how very honoured I am to join you at this presentation of books by Simba Olanfield. Simba Olanfield has emerged as one of the most important thought leaders on politics and government in Nigeria. He has through the years and in very many articles and sundry commentaries ranging from the economy to development, international relations and partisan politics consistently applied rigor, deep thought and scientific discipline to his analysis of the people, the events and the policies that have shaped these issues and the societies and publics that they impact. I think his strength is in his capacity to take on the big issues, the complex ideas such as ethnicity and cultural politics and also the more retail questions around the daily disputes on the rightness or wrongness of government policy or the efficient or sloppy implementation or with the same clarity of thought and presentation. His projections on political outcomes are eerily accurate and his prescriptions are practical and clearly thought through even if controversial. His three latest works, the devil is not in the politics, politics is not a game for gentlemen and every day for the goliaths, what man of democracy is this, is a successful attempt to put in print his thoughts in various interventions on the broadly descriptive titles and I think that an incredibly insightful review has already been done. But whereby by the way which has put this together able to follow and argue with his thoughts on the dynamic interaction of politics, policy and governance, central to his analysis as a central to all these analysis around these issues is leadership. As the events of the last few months around the world have proven to us, leadership is indeed consequential. If there was any doubt about the fact that the quality of leadership is central to the fortunes of society, this pandemic has established that to us in plain terms. It may literally mean the difference between life and death. If leadership is that consequential, then it must then suggest that politics may belong in the same existential category being the production line for leadership. Simba O'Longfemme strengthens the point by the metaphor of politics and policy being Siamese twins, intertwined and interlocked, one being a propeller, the other the engine. Success for a political leader, he submits, involves a smart fusion of both. But such that policy drives politics and policies are strategically framed, pursued and executed without losing sight of one for the other. Perhaps one may add that this is where the purpose of politics is the attainment of power for the prosecution of the public good, not as an end in itself or for personal or parochial interests. And this may be no small matter, as one sees time and time again the tragedy of self-absorbed, self-seeking leadership. Some have argued that one of the challenges that we have faced as a nation is that of the reluctance of our best minds to get involved in politics, living it to the second 11, as they say. A chapter from which the book Politics is Not a Game for Gentlemen derives its title, speaks to this point. Simba argues that puritanical idealism can only take one so far in politics and that to be successful and to be in a position to attain power or influence, or to be able to influence policy direction, a bit of pragmatism is needed, founded around strategic thinking and an acknowledgement of the fact that all politics is local. To be successful, it is necessary, he says, to approach it at the retail level and not with a wholesale mentality. Indeed, this is true, but clearly where the rubber hits the road is the crucial collision of theory and praxis. How much compromise is too much and what is too little? I will leave that argument for another day. But the other point is in my respectful view, the error of assuming that failures in governance is on account of professionals and other decently engaged people leaving the space to career politicians. I fear that that sort of analysis is not only factually incorrect, because as a matter of fact, very many of those who hold political office are actually qualified in some discipline or the other. And our simple points out in every day for the goliaths, one of the pieces there, that the decay extends to what one would describe as learned commonly, such as judiciary, the banking sector, etc. We must tell us that the problem is probably deeper. The question in my view is what is the elite consensus? What is it that the elite are going on? The elite in most societies determine the direction, even if the primary purpose is self-preservation, even if that is the primary purpose of the elite, that elite must determine in which direction the society moves and what society ought to do. I think that the problem we have is that there is so much concern about self, about narrow parochial interests that the Nigerian elite is even unable, even out of self-preservation, to find the consensus, not only to lead the nation forward, but also to prevent itself from destruction. I had the privilege of working with Simba and several others a few years ago on political strategy and tactics for our party, the APC. His commitment and passion for nation-building was always so evident, and his taking the trouble to detail his thoughts in writing and put them out for debate and analysis is a commendable, but I must say, sadly, disappearing activity. In the era of the mindless tweet and other digital enablers of lightning speed communication and the purel attention span that they nurture, the space for critical thinking on public affairs is narrowing, and the public intellectual is fast becoming an endangered category, which is why Simba's latest efforts deserve all commendation. I'm therefore very honored to invite you to join me in presenting these books to all who seek better societies and who know that better societies are indeed possible by the honest implementation of the thoughts and ideas of men and women who, like Simba, apply their talents to finding answers to the mirrored issues of development. Congratulations, Simba. Thank you very much.