Last week, a reader by name Olajide called from Abeokuta, Ogun State, and engaged me in a very interesting discussion on the state of the nation, especially in the light of the bombshell of a letter written by Iba Gani Adams to President Bola Tinubu. He said he noticed that I seem to have taken it upon myself to constantly target President Tinubu in my articles. He said he was neither here nor there on the matter. But he told me that Nigerians were just getting to know the personality that those in the South West of Nigeria had long known.
Olajide said that during the presidential election, at the risk of their lives, some of them tried to caution other Nigerians about the Tinubu candidacy.
He said, “We know him to be someone with a winner-takes-all disposition who will like to use you when he thinks you are useful. And when you are no longer useful, he dumps you without looking back.”
He made a long list of prominent personalities and groups in the South West, including the Yoruba socio-cultural group, Afenifere, which he said had been used and jettisoned.
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He said, “Can’t you see what he did to (Nasir) el-Rufai (former Kaduna governor) who he practically begged to come and join him in the new government he was to form; and (Akinwumi) Ambode, a former Governor of Lagos? Look at what he is doing to Nigeria. If Nigerians believe Tinubu will somehow take measures to reverse some of his harsh economic policies due to the outcry of the people, then they will wait till thy kingdom come.”
My answer to Jide was to refer him to Chinua Achebe’s “Things Fall Apart” in which a certain bird was asked why it kept flying without stopping. And the bird’s cryptic answer was that since men had learnt to shoot without missing their mark, it (bird) had also learnt to fly without perching. I added the popular Nigerian saying for good measure: “Pikin wey say im mama no go sleep, im sef no go sleep.”
By import, these are referencing Tinubu’s declared intent to subject Nigerians to the severest of hardships ever. The unremitting hardship that Tinubu has unfurled through his economic policies knows no tribe, religion or region. Increasingly, it is becoming clear that Tinubu means no good to any region, tribe or religion as per his economic policies.
It is now no question that Tinubu did not come to lead Nigeria out of its existential challenges; he came with the intention to rule. In the process, he hopes to entrench himself as the single most powerful Nigerian personality to which every other personality is beholden.
Since he ascended to power, we can see that Tinubu intends to run his government not on the basis of consultation, collaboration and inclusiveness. Nigeria must succumb to his whims and not the other way round as in democracies.
On the economic side of things, the president runs a massive hoover machine sucking up revenues where they could be found in the vast Nigerian economic firmament. Politically, he is deploying his network of enablers and enforcers to take over political institutions, including political parties, so as to liquidate any individual or group in opposition to his political roadmap.
This economic and political roadmap will reach its decisive point by 2027 when Tinubu hopes to win the next presidential election and consolidate his political status in Nigeria.
Among the projected action items of Tinubu’s post-2027 agenda is a political restructuring, not necessarily as demanded by Nigerians, but to further entrench himself to rule Nigeria. That is what the roadmap of Tinubu is all about.
In this regard, I call on Nigerians to notice that the entire Tinubu economic and political roadmap is all about him and him alone; it is his script, his production and his direction. He does not expect anyone or institution to share in the credit and glory that comes with this production. Other Nigerians are merely either part of the supporting cast or are extras.
That is why unlike previous economic policies we have had in this country, Tinubu’s has no comprehensive plan that should necessarily include other independent actors either as planners or implementers. The planning and execution are on the whims of Tinubu alone and Nigerians must subject themselves to the all-knowing wisdom of Tinubu of which by his own reckoning makes him the best gift to Nigeria from God.
For this overarching reason, Nigerians should not expect any let up in the repertoire of economic policies Tinubu is dishing out. There is simply no alternative either to Tinubu or the policies he is embarking on. Nigerians should indeed be thankful to the president for trying to pull the economic chestnuts out of the fire and bear the pains this comes with as necessary sacrifice for better times ahead.
But what about Tinubu himself? Is he exempt from the sacrifice that he is asking Nigerians to make? Is he not expected to be selfless, empathetic and show good example by walking the talk? Can he not cut his expenditure and extra budgetary spending on frivolities? Can he not also ask some of his aides to stop splurging scarce funds on luxuries?
Unfortunately, Tinubu does not and has not seen the need to do that. His admonition to Nigerians to bear the pains is nauseating; to say the least. And this has alienated and set Nigerians against him. One would never have thought a personality like the Iba Aare Ona Kakanfo of Yoruba land, Gani Adams, would write a most scathing letter to the president as he did last week. Significantly, the letter is not just a tomahawk of a put down to the president on the state of the nation under his watch. It amounts to telling the president that there is a vote of no confidence on him from his South West natal origin.
Realistically, as it is, driven by a “me, myself and I” disposition, Tinubu might have gone beyond redemption, and to expect him to avoid what awaits him in 2027 is a forlorn hope.
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