Debt Atiku, Tinubu, must pay Nigerians

IF we consider President Muhammadu Buhari Nigeria’s hurricane in the past seven years, not counting other years of his recurring presence, we may forget two eminent Nigerians whose distinct engagements have ranged from distractions to near disasters.

Alhaji Atiku Abubakar and Ashiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu are not statesmen in any meaningful sense of the word. Their crowds appropriate words to associate values with their politics. The values still remain indiscernible, lost in the grand ambitions of the duo to be President or…

Their remarkable support for the election of Buhari was an extended strategy to deliver the office to them quicker. Buhari was not expected to be strong enough to do two terms. He did.

Nothing stops their quests. They see only the day they become President as when Nigeria would be a better society, pulled out from the doldrums decades of inattentive leadership has dealt on its entire existence.

They are addressed as astute politicians for the wrong reasons – their focus on power and an apparent misunderstanding of the uses of power for the common good even if they stretch enlightened self-interest.

Both are men of means. They are seen as having capacities and capabilities to get anything they want, anything.

Their structures, layers of armies of obeisant supporters cultivated in decades of remarkable political intrigues, are the backbone of their invincibility.

Boasts about hosts of people they know even in the remote parts of Nigeria are assets they parade.

Their fluid concept of Nigeria only crystallises in how it would aid their presidential aspirations.

They share this attribute with other politicians but they have dedicated resources to the business of politics.

Their media empires and associations, businesses, have all been streamlined to serve their politics.

Nothing is more important than they being President of Nigeria.

As the presidency of Nigeria eludes them, they feel more entitled, more decisive in their moves. Hints of their frustration are not absent. But make no mistake about their determination to do whatever it takes to be President.

When Tinubu out-foxed Atiku by supporting Buhari in 2015, Atiku left for PDP where he no longer supports zoning because he wants to be President. Tinubu was cocksure he would be the next

President as payback for backing Buhari.

Rules of the game have changed. The two big parties have zoned power to the North from the North but would not give up.

Their followers praise their generous investments in politics. The investments are due for more bounteous harvests. More than anyone else, they bear joint responsibility for the immediate challenges Nigeria faces. Without them there was hardly a chance that Buhari would have been President.

They owe Nigerians profuse apologies for where they have taken us. If they were statesmen or had any interests other than theirs at heart, they would spend the rest of their days using their hyped political acumen to repair a country their ambitions have damaged beyond recognition.

Not minding whatever good they intended for Nigeria, the incredible damage their political sagacity has done is enough for them to retire from throwing their eminent presence before us.

They don’t bother discussing Buhari and their role in making him President. Do they think we have forgotten? We have not.

Read also: Election season and broken promises

Finally…

PRESIDENT Muhammadu Buhari is the first Nigerian leader to pay a condolence visit to UAE. You don’t have to like him to record his achievements accurately. Those who claim PMB is doing nothing should stop the hatred.

OUR fame for imprecision makes me doubt that the Accountant-General Ahmed Idris kept only N80 billion allegedly for himself and by himself. I suggest the investigators look deeper. If all that Idris could save in more than seven years, is N80 billion, a little over N11 billion a year, he is unfit for the office.

AN explanation someone gave for Ahmed Idris’ alleged infraction was that he took his retirement benefits upfront.

THOSE wondering about security breaches at the Murtala Mohammed International Airport, Lagos, pretend they do not know that some people use parts of the airport’s perimeter fence in building their houses.

AVIATION fuel scarcity has thrown air travel into a spin. The authorities are not bothered. They have jets maintained at public costs to meet their needs. Others can swim or travel by road at the mercy of kidnappers. Reality check in Nigeria is daily.

RIOTS are sprouting. Pent up anger against mis-governance, and in most cases non-governance, is finding expression in religion, jealousy, and sectional lawless that we use different guises to promote. Nigeria is not safe. Nigeria is more unsafe daily. Is the President not “aware”?

HAVE you noticed that insecurity, scarcities, killings, foreign exchange challenges do not stop politicians and their supporters from campaigning? There seems to be three countries – one for politicians, another for those who have so much money that price increases do not affect them, and the rest of us who run into these bumps in every direction.

DEBORAH Samuel is gone. The law is unable to protect her. We are hoping, and hopping over intricate issues that are sipping out of the loose nets of our laws, laws that are at best nebulous.

GOVERNMENTS should make tough decisions for the benefit of the people. Train services should resume on the Abuja-Kaduna route, but is it too early to do something about passengers kidnapped in March? With what confidence will passengers board the trains?

.Isiguzo is a major commentator on minor issues