The Transience Of Power: What It Means For Leaders

The Transience Of Power: What It Means For Leaders

The image of former presidents Muhammadu Buhari and Goodluck Jonathan at yesterday’s Council of State meeting presided over by President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is another illustration of how transient power is.

It was also a testament to the continuity of governance, even as individuals change.

The Council, a body of former leaders and current officeholders, serves as a poignant reminder that leadership is not permanent.

It is a baton passed from one to the next, with each leader contributing their chapter to the nation’s history.

In the image, Dr. Jonathan leads, followed closely by Gen. Buhari, both smiling as they walk past the imposing presidential seal.

Once a symbol of the authority they held, the seal now belongs to another.

In between them is a chair either would have sat on were they in charge, an aide waiting to help them adjust it. This time, they merely walked by.

The president’s chair is empty, waiting for its current occupant.

The scene is a powerful visual metaphor for the fleeting nature of authority.

The two once-powerful men now move through the corridors of power as statesmen, no longer as the ultimate decision-makers who had multiple aides and appointees at their beck and call.

It is a lesson to public officeholders that leadership is temporary and that it is what they do while in position – their legacies – that will be remembered.