An Assessment of Three Leaders at the National, Regional and Continental Level in Relation to the Contigency Theory of Leadership

Contingency Leadership Theory guides the application of Contingency (Situational) Leadership approach which emphasizes the style a leader applies in the situation in which he operates. This paper assessed the styles of Sheikh Mohammed Al-Maktoum, President Paul Kagame and President Olusegun Obasanjo as global, regional and national leaders respectively in the context of Contingency Leadership Theory. The common denominator found among the three leaders was that they were all at one time or the other military men and this to a far extent shaped their authoritarian leadership styles. On the basis of this, the study concluded that the dictatorial, autocratic, despotic and benevolent democratic styles applied by the three leaders accounted for the remarkable successes they recorded in the course of exercising their assigned mandates.