In a ruling that did not surprise many, the Supreme Court of Nigeria (SCN) finally sealed the tenure of President Ahmed Bola Tinubu, thereby laying to rest, months of post-election legal battles between him and his two closest political rivals Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), and Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) both of whom contested against him as the presidential candidates of their respective parties in the February 25, 2023 presidential polls.
As is easily recalled, the Supreme Court ruling was in respect of an appeal by Atiku seeking the disqualification of Tinubu as duty elected, on the basis of alleged discrepancies in the latter’s academic records. To prove his point Atiku Abubakar had procured the involvement of the Chicago State University (CSU), to attest to the records so designated.
However, in its ruling, the Supreme Court, made among other pronouncements, that Atiku’s spirited enterprise was “tardy”; which means that such came too late to be relevant. Granted that Atiku’s enterprise was elaborate and unearthed significant incongruities of public interest on Tinubu’s academic records, the court’s ruling that the effort was tardy, remains most significant as it defined a statutory end point to the man’s venture.
Reactions trailing the ruling have been varied with the immediate past President Muhamadu Buhari calling it the last bus stop in an eight-month long legal battle, with the expectation that the country should be left to address itself to the numerous challenges facing it. The PDP, through its National Publicity Secretary Debo Ologunagba slammed the ruling as eroding public confidence in the country’s judiciary. For much of the rest of the country, this however should be a season for looking into how to move on with life, and the reinvention of the Nigerian State.
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Just as well, by this ruling public take on Tinubu’s presidency has assumed the status of a paradox of sorts whereby what his traducers expected to crash one way or the other, has now become a reality that is not only standing immovably erect but also has powerful teeth to bite at will. In one vein a man whose public image had suffered significant battering on several grounds, and had been deemed to be unfit for the office of the president, now enjoys irrefutable legitimacy – courtesy of the omnibus powers of the law.
Hence, while many Nigerians may still be ruing the sordid drama of Tinubu presidency, the truth of the matter is that it is time for the country to smell the coffee, and move on.
Meanwhile, considering that it is trite knowledge in development discourse, that a society breeds its own type of leadership, it remains out of place for Nigerians to expect an angel to drop from heaven, to serve as president. At least the nation’s laws never prescribed such. Hence the country’s president must be a Nigerian; and so has Bola Ahmed Tinubu emerged as one.
They way forward for the country now depends on what Nigerians make of the situation which features the challenge of reversing the current state of affairs. For as far as many Nigerians are concerned, of more relevance to them are daily burdens and pains like the falling value of the Naira, escalating price of fuel, and not the puritanical expectations of the country’s electoral process by both Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi.
Courtesy of the serial failings of the political class, most Nigerians see the country’s political culture with emotional detachment. Many will even swear that even if Atiku Abubakar or Peter Obi had won the polls, hardly will anything be done differently as they are all part of the decrepit Nigerian partisan political establishment. This is akin to asking the question – can anything better than Tinubu come out of the Nigerian political establishment. Hence Nigerians for now are more interested in Tinubu’s ability to change the country than his touted, ‘tainted’ credentials. As far as most Nigerians are concerned, the question on their lips is “na Tinubu certificate we go chop?”
The truth of the matter is that Nigerians are not much besotted by any politician seeking any office in the land, on the premise that such a person will create or turn the country into an Eldorado. Rather they see any politician come to office to pursue parochial interests, along the concentric progression of self, family, kindred, close friends, ethnic roots and finally the large society. Hence as soon as a leader emerges there is a subconscious guide for expectations of benefitting from the office according to the aforementioned framework.
With Tinubu’s partial victory, the question now is how far the country will fare for Nigerians across the nation, with each concerned with what he or she will get from the system. It is this disposition that drives the crass opportunism that manifests in the character of Nigerians at every stage, with some fingers pointed at him as President as the role model in this situation.
A cardinal consideration of development dynamics is that sustainable progress is often driven by the thought leaders of a designated community. For Nigeria, is it the political class? Is it the traditional rulers? Is it the religious leaders?
Notionally, the political class is the only one that enjoys constitutional sponsorship and ascendancy, and should provide thought leadership. They are supposed to be the light and salt of the world. And as the Bible states, if they fail to light up and give savor to the world, they become not better than mere dross, and worthless for use.
Tinubu’s success in his tenure depends on his assumption of the thought leadership of the country along with his political leadership. That will depends on how far he resolves the moral baggage around his persona and dexterity in governance to change the country sustainably for all Nigerians to see.
If he does that he may not need anybody to start dangling the prospects of a second term even when he has yet to consolidate on his first tenure. His sterling performance in thought leadership towards a better Nigeria will easily secure a second term for him, unaided.
