Nigeria, Feb. 4 -- Malam Nasir el Rufai, former Governor of Kaduna state, needs no introduction in Nigerian politics. Many people across the country are strongly opposed to him and his guts. However, people who believe in him, mostly those we call 'hardliners', also do so fervently. It is for this reason that many call him a rabidly polarising figure.

Speaking as a guest recently at a National Conference in Abuja on 'Strengthening Democracy in Nigeria,' the former governor articulated the fundamental problem of the country as that of poor leadership, which he attributed to the system of leadership recruitment. For him, surfeits of delegates who elect candidates in the political parties are illiterate. "You cannot afford to have illiterat...