Tinubu: Starting political leadership on a wrong footing amidst problems -

The Achilles’ heel of our political polity is our inept, incompetent, profligate, corrupt, and irresponsible political leadership. Were Nigeria blessed with the luck of being led by our best political leaders since our attainment of political independence in 1960, Nigeria would have realized her potential a long while ago and become a developed country.

But since 1960, when the British Union Jack was lowered, and our green and white flag raised, signalling our political freedom, self-seeking, incompetent, unknowledgeable, and corrupt political leaders have been our lot.

And against the background and context of the verbal faux pas committed by President Bola Tinubu on the issue of fuel subsidy during his inauguration, he seems to be one of those incompetent national leaders who got the opportunity to lead Nigeria.

President Tinubu’s removal of fuel subsidy- a contentious issue- during his inauguration on May 29, 2023 has caused the astronomical increase in the pump price of fuel. And it is not unexpected that one of the ripple effects of the removal of fuel subsidy will be a spike in the prices of food commodities.

Now, the Nigerian Labour Congress (NLC) is opposed to the federal government’s removal of fuel subsidy. The organized labour, which had unfruitful meetings with representatives of the federal government, has asked the Tinubu-led APC government to rescind its decision on fuel subsidy before June 6, 2023; otherwise, the workers in Nigeria will embark on an industrial action to force the hand of the government regarding the vexed matter.

President Bola Tinubu’s removal of the fuel subsidy, post-haste, without engaging in wide consultations with stakeholders in the oil sector and top members of the NLC is an injudicious decision, the consequences and backlash of it will hurt his government and become a huge but avoidable distraction for him.

He ought to have made wide consultations and put palliative measures in place to cushion the adverse effects of the removal of the fuel subsidy on the masses. But he did not do that.

The corny and platitudinous reasons he adduced for removing the fuel subsidy are not unknown to us. Based on those reasons, the federal government has justification for the removal of fuel subsidy. The existence of the fuel subsidy regime, we all know, gulps huge sums of money.

Over the years, the money spent on fuel subsidy, could have been used to either boost the agricultural sector or carry out infrastructural development of Nigeria. The removal of fuel subsidy is, no doubt, a noble action.

But can this APC-led government be trusted to carry out a holistic reform of the oil sector so as to make fuel and allied products available to the people at a cheap price? Can it use the money saved from the removal of the fuel subsidy to ignite national development in Nigeria? The answers to these questions blow in the air.

In fact, the antecedents, precedents, and life story of President Bola Tinubu do not inspire hope in the hearts of millions of Nigerians who belong to many different linguistic, cultural, ethnic, and religious groups. Not a few people perceive him as a shifty character.

Apart from resolving the issue of fuel subsidy, president Tinubu is battling hard to invest his government with legitimacy as his presidential election victory is being challenged at the presidential election tribunal. As to the electoral litigation, his political rivals, who are keen on invalidating his mandate, may win the case or victory will swing in his favour.

If he wins the electoral case, which is a cause celebre, he should strive to unite all the ethnic groups in the country. Ethnic animosity as well as hatred reigns among the peoples of Nigeria.

For example, the relationship between the Yoruba people of southwest Nigeria and the Igbo people of southeast Nigeria was severely damaged during the last general election in Nigeria.

So he should spare no efforts to reconstruct the battered relationship between the two ethnic groups, knowing full well that a divided country cannot make meaningful progress in any areas of national development.

As the president of Nigeria, he is the father of all Nigerians; and as such, he should not pander to ethnic, religious, and primordial sentiments while administering the country. Rather, he should perceive the whole country as his constituency.

Again, the heightening insecurity of lives and property in Nigeria is a major threat to our country’s political stability. There are reports of recrudescence of bloody violence in Plateau state, which has the potential of turning the area into a killing field. And the Fulani herdsmen still invade villages in Benue state, killing people, destroying farmlands, and causing humanitarian crisis, there.

More so, the southeast, which used to be in the firm grip of secessionist agitations, is not violence-free, now. Recently, some Nigerians who are on the staff of the USA Embassy were gruesomely murdered while in Ogbaru, Anambra State for an official assignment.

Violent killings, which are carried out by gunmen, occur intermittently in all the southeast states, namely Abia, Anambra, Ebonyi, Enugu, and Imo. Tackling the security problem in the southeast as well as nipping it in the bud is critical to guaranteeing political stability in Nigeria.

How can our problem of insecurity of lives and property be solved? Creating employment opportunities for the teeming unemployed youths can help to mitigate and reduce the rising incidence of crimes and anti-social acts in our country.

It is an indisputable fact that a gainfully employed young person will not have the luxury of time and gumption to endanger his life by carrying out dangerous criminal acts. And we have this saying: an idle mind is a devil’s workshop.

But the APC-led government cannot solve our problem of unemployment without diversifying and shoring up our depressed economy. The government can make our economy better by addressing our electricity problem, embarking on infrastructural development of Nigeria, and lending support to our local industries.

Although the presidential election result is disputed and the presidential election tribunal is hearing the case, the APC-led government should hit the ground running to remake our battered country.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is piloting the affairs of Nigeria should provide good and purposeful leadership for us until the apex court in the land gives its final and irreversible judgement on the electoral matter.