President Bola Tinubu has said Nigeria needs leaders who place the public interest above personal gain, speaking at a thanksgiving for former Secretary to the Government of the Federation Boss Mustapha in Yola.

The service was held at St. Monica Cathedral of the Lutheran Church of Christ in Nigeria, Jimeta, to mark Mustapha’s 70th birthday. Tinubu told the congregation that national development depends on officials and citizens who resist self-aggrandisement.

The setting was a tribute as much as a sermon. Mustapha served as SGF from 2017 to 2023 under Muhammadu Buhari, chaired the presidential COVID-19 task force and was among the figures who helped stitch together the APC merger. Tinubu, Olusegun Obasanjo and Yakubu Gowon had already issued written praises of his “institutional memory” and calm during crisis.

Calls for selfless leadership are a familiar line at Nigerian state events. They land differently depending on who is listening. Supporters hear a president setting a standard. Critics hear a lecture that the same political class has not applied to contracts, appointments and party tickets.

Mustapha’s birthday gave Tinubu a church, a northern host and a former colleague to praise. The test of the message is not the applause in Jimeta. It is whether public office after the service looks any less like a private harvest.