Last week, I wrote about the hurdles against Atiku’s covenant with Nigerians and how his parasitic wealth and desperation to be the president might not take us anywhere. A trade union recently claimed that the return of Atiku to Aso Rock is likely to conclude the sale of Nigeria to his friends. Today, I am focusing on Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the APC presidential aspirant and a man with more controversy around his origin and education.
If a person’s origin and education are the yardsticks for choosing leaders, the likes of Barack Obama and Rishi Sunak will never be leaders of the United States and the United Kingdom. For those claiming they did not know Tinubu’s ancestral and educational history, that is inconsequential and an argument from those that cannot move Nigeria forward. What is vital is the capacity and character of the man who is purported to lead the largest group of black people in Africa.
If you put Tinubu and Atiku on the same pedestal of corruption, we have a case of two thieves standing beside Jesus. If Jesus was to be a Nigerian and he had to choose between the thief on his right or the thief on his left, which would he choose between Atiku and Tinubu?
For now, all we need is a new brain and leadership to give us security and unify Nigeria again. Someone to recognise diversity and create an environment for all of us to thrive in the land of opportunity
The thief on the right had a mosque with people. He developed people in his mosque, built their capacities to lead, and sent them out to propagate his philosophies as Ustad in other mosques.
They became advanced in their services to others. In the Central Mosque, the Chief Thief built infrastructure and created many noticeable impacts, including increasing the volume of offerings received during worship. He made a platform that could be replicated in the other mosques in the village.
On the contrary, the thief on the left only managed at the Central Mosque, where he was Deputy Ustad for eight years. He sold the assets of the mosques to his friends and made his worshippers poorer than he met them.
He had led many followers in different vices against the religion and the people he claimed he loved. Yet, he wanted to be the Chief Ustad, a position he had desperately canvassed for in multiple previous attempts.
Which of the thieves will you prefer? The thief on the left or the one on the right.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not a saint; he is a product of the Nigerian system with no consequences and accountability for leaders. He had, however, been able to do what his contemporaries, including Atiku, could never do. He contributed to the Lagos we have today and the city representing a true Nigeria. By extension, he had impacted the Southwest states and the federation through the services of Fashola, Amosun, and Osinbajo, to mention a few.
In Nigeria, every prominent person, from big businesspeople to brilliant academics seeking political offices, are thieves waiting to explore the opportunities the society has allowed. The top businesspeople had used their connections to get foreign currencies for importation and made super profits to the detriment of millions. The so-called multi-billionaires in Nigeria have behind them political friendships and favour.
Our national resources can be traced to all the rich people in our land, either by undue favour or outright stealing. These include our traditional and religious leaders who received gifts from politicians. Those favours and gifts are from the money meant for the suffering people. There are no beautiful ones in Nigeria. The beautiful ones in Nigeria are yet to be born.
Tinubu is, therefore, a product of his environment. You can hardly be one saint in the multitude of a million criminals. The focus should therefore be on what good can come out of the Tinubus and Atikus, knowing that they can never be saints in the corridor of power in Nigeria. There are no saints in the aisle of power anywhere in the world.
What are the hurdles against Tinubu’s renewed hope for Nigerians?
If Nigeria were to be a country of consequences, the first hurdle against Tinubu’s presidency is the APC platform. The performance of the change mantra of the All Promises Cancelled team in the last seven years is disastrous. Let’s give credit and not live in denials.
The APC government had done credibly and progressively well in building solid road infrastructure under Buhari. Babatunde Fashola and Rotimi Amaechi had stood out well among their peers for quality road infrastructure and reviving the Nigerian Railway system. However, a team’s performance cannot be distinct from the leader’s mental, cerebral and general capacity.
The economy is entirely unconscious, and one wonders if anyone is managing the naira with its free fall against all other currencies and the recent ill-timed announcement to redesign it. We selected and appointed Buhari to give us security and fight corruption on the platform of the APC. Seven years later, Nigerians are more unsecured. Check the records.
The annual GDP growth rate under Buhari and the APC speaks for itself. Buhari took us to a negative growth rate and the poorest since 1999. In real terms, the Buhari government performed woefully and is nowhere compared to Jonathan and Yar’adua, talking less of Obasanjo, the best among them. The GDP growth of 3.4% in 2021 was the lowest in the last eleven years. Nigerians are suffering.
The northern voters are dying due to Buhari’s inability to steer the ship of the country and, in most cases, standing aloof. Buhari is not to be blamed. We helped his ambition to write names in the bad books of Nigeria’s history as some who had created more disunity among Nigerians than he met it.
He needed to figure out what to do in every sphere; unfortunately, his party could not help but keep praising him. Thus, the performance of the Buhari administration and the APC government is strong enough for Nigerians to decide against giving the party another chance. What a shame for a group of people with a blend of intelligence without a discerning leader to maximise their talents.
Suppose Nigerians can look beyond APC and Buhari’s ineptitude and focus on what Tinubu had done as a governor in Lagos state and the leaders he had produced. In that case, the next hurdle is the governors’ sincerity in APC not to play regional politics and cede power to Atiku.
Read also: 2023: Tinubu unfolds plans to revamp Nigeria’s economy, tackle insecurity
It will take an extra effort from the APC governors to convince uneducated voters in the north not to vote for Atiku, a northern town where all they have seen in the last seven years was insecurity and poverty. If the APC governors are sincere and can deliver their states, the chances of BAT will be good though he will have to split the votes in the south.
Wike’s claim that Atiku has been promised the presidency by Buhari calls to question Nigeria’s future and the power’s domination by a selected group of people. The northern people are good. They are not the threats and enemies of a united Nigeria.
I have been with them and seen how good they are. The enemy of Nigeria is the northern and the southern political elites that settled scores for personal advantages and against the masses. They are the people that will disintegrate Nigeria if we do not take away their influence.
Tinubu’s presidency is achievable if the block votes from the north are delivered to APC and if Nigerians can forgive the poor performance of Buhari. It is Nigerians’ fault to have elected a leader without apparent capacity but assumed character to fight insecurity and corruption.
At the end of this Buhari tenure, it will be evident that corruption and insecurity are still outstanding. Every voter who enthroned Buhari is wrong. The only man not disappointed by Buhari is David Oyedepo. That’s a headline for another day.
For now, all we need is a new brain and leadership to give us security and unify Nigeria again. Someone to recognise diversity and create an environment for all of us to thrive in the land of opportunity.
