The Nigeria Institute of Public Relations (NIPR) has said that President Bola Tinubu deserves praise for reversing the presidential pardon granted to undeserving Nigerians. The President and Chairman of the Council of the NIPR, Dr. Ike Neliaku, recently had his say during the October edition of the NIPR monthly meeting in Abuja.
Speaking at the gathering, Neliaku commended the President for doing the right thing after being misled to include the wrong names.
According to him, even if some Nigerians are currently accusing BAT of constantly reversing his own decisions, the people should not fault a leader who realizes when he makes mistakes.
Admitting that it is not wrong to commit an error, he stated that Tinubu would’ve only deserved criticism if he did nothing to correct his mistake.
“It is not wrong to make mistakes. It is wrong when you fail to acknowledge your mistake and then pretend that it is the right thing, that is not reputation, that is not integrity, that is imposition of thought.
And I said, the mark of leadership is to acknowledge when you are wrong and correct yourself when you realise it. I am among those who believe the sacking of the NTA DG was wrong.
So, when the President corrected it, I was one of those who felt he did the right thing.
I believe that people told him ‘you did what you ought not to have done’ and he realised that he was sold a wrong dummy, which is what happens to leaders,” he said.
Neliaku further noted that Nigerian leaders are always vulnerable to being misguided by the people around them.
He concluded by saying that making corrections when you do the wrong thing is the mark of a true leader.
“When you see what I go through, you will know that leaders are vulnerable to being misadvised and to being misguided. So, if you are not on your toes, you are on your own.
When leaders are misled and have a way of finding out that they were misled, there is nothing wrong in reversing it. That is rather a mark of leadership.
If the president realised that he was misadvised and owned it and said, ‘I must do the right thing. It is not wrong; that is what reputation is all about,” he added.
