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IF President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a true democrat(as he claims)who cares about how the people he governs feel the economic policies he unleashed on them in the past three years, let him take a serial notebook and few security operatives on a visit to some states. The words he will hear will definitely shock him. They are dreadful words from disillusioned and despaired Nigerians. Anger has eaten deep into their hearts. They no longer want to hear about politics or see politicians who tell them tissues of lies. Truth is, Tinubu’s policies have made a tiny few, including business associates, stinkingly rich, but have pushed millions of Nigerians into acute poverty and hunger. Food insecurity has worsened, while terrorists have made Nigeria the most unsafe country in the African continent.
Right now, across the country, there’s a crisis of confidence in the assessment of President Tinubu’s performance in office. And his academic record just released by the Independent National Electoral Commission(INEC) throws up fresh debate about Tinubu’s qualification. The of assessment of his presidency is grim and despairing. It’s a crisis that strikes at the very heart and soul of our national will. You can see this crisis of despondency and anger in the growing doubt about the meaning of our lives and in the loss of a unity of purpose for our country. The erosion of confidence in the future of the citizens and the country is threatening to destroy the social and political fabric of Nigeria.
These are the stark realities, not statistics. It’s, therefore, not unkind to say that no elected president in Nigeria’s political history has faired worse than President Tinubu. None has been abysmal in public approval rating as President Tinubu, yet he’s unconcerned about happenings around him. He is only preoccupied with being re-elected for a second term. As another election nears, I agree with those who are of the opinion that President Tinubu represents the perils of incumbency, a perception of a failing leadership. In a little over three years, this president has failed to utilise the advantages of incumbency by using the office to prevent bad things from happening. He has equally failed to minimise the disadvantages of incumbency by using the power of the office for greater purposes for the people. All we have seen is the overweening pride in the myth that incumbent presidents are always reelected. That myth flies in the face of that historical presumption. Former president Goodluck Jonathan is a case study. But in recent days, the president’s lapdogs have been drumming that hackneyed cliché that 2027 is a done deal for the President, a “coronation”, according to Mr. Festus Keyamo, Minister of Aviation and Aerospace Development. This is what Keyamo meant: that the outcome of 2027 presidential poll is already a forgone conclusion. In other words, Keyamo is saying that the process lacks genuine, viable opposition competition, meaning that the January 16, 2027 presidential election is a pre-ordained outcome, and that voting on election day is essentially a formality or a mere rubber-stamp to legitimize a choice that has already been made behind close doors. Put in context, Keyamo is mocking the idea of a true democratic contest, comparing it instead to a royal succession ceremony where a monarch simply inherits power.
Make no mistake about it.The ruling APC has been working on this gibberish presumptions for a long time now. It’s part of the ‘gutter politics’ of the Tinubu presidency. All the president’s men are going from one television show to another, regurgitating this fallacy that 2027 election is a no contest; that he has won already.
That assumption is not grounded on the people’s power in the ballot box. Neither is it based on the accomplishments of the incumbent President. None of that. Perhaps they have got the assurance of the electoral body that the outcome of the coming elections is already a sweet victory for the APC. But here’s the truth, it’s an issue assumption based on ‘fear factor”. It’s a panic button by the ruling party to the rising fortunes of opposition candidates, especially the prospects of Mr. Peter Obi, presidential candidate of the Nigeria Democratic Congress(NDC) defeating a sitting president. When politics pays your bills, truth becomes your enemy. In an interview with Channels television, ‘Politics Today’, last week, Keyamo over-simplified the outcome of the forthcoming presidential election and dismissed the chances of Obi and Atiku, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress(ADC) against President Tinubu . According to Keyamo, the 2027 poll would be less of an election and more of a “coronation” for Tinubu. On Obi, Keyamo, looking at the interviewer, boastfully and disrespectfully said, “I am looking around between you and me, where will Obi’s votes come from? I can’t see it”. Talk is cheap. The question for Keyamo is: where did Obi’s votes come from in 2023 when he defeated Tinubu in his home turf of Lagos state? It came from real voters, not from vote-buying or stuffing the ballot box. On Atiku’s chances, Keyamo scoffed,”which Atiku? Nightmare! Who?’’.
If you must worm yourself to president Tinubu, know his secrets, master those things that are of political interest to him, know his perceived political enemies and attack them with all your might. As Robert Greene says in ‘The 48 Laws of Power’, “Court attention at all cost”, and “Stir up waters to catch fish”. “Despise the free lunch”. That’s why people like Keyamo, Senator Adams Oshiomhole, Sunday Dare, and all the president’s media aides are strutting the stage to court the attention of the president. By the way, where is Minister of Works, Dave Umahi? Why has he suddenly become quiet? All these men have one common ‘enemy’: It’s Peter Obi. Attack him and get an invite to the presidential table.
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Adams Oshiomhole is one smart, cynical, frivolous fellow who has forsaken God’s benevolence in his life. He is one of those misleading Tinubu. He says Obi is a “trader”.Yes, Obi has severally said so as a mark of humility and virtue.But Oshiomhole was once a tailor, General Secretary of the Textile, Garment and Tailoring Workers of Nigeria in 1982 before rising to national prominence as the President of the Nigeria Labour Congress. Indeed , in 1986, he won an award as the “second-best tailor” in Kaduna. God’s grace made him Governor of Edo state, and later National Chairman of APC, and now, a Senator. Last week, he begged to be interviewed by TVC, owned by the President, where he leveled several political criticism and unproven claims against Peter Obi. He said Obi is not an ideologue, no reputation.
Did Oshiomhole suddenly forget that in 2012 he publicly lavished praises on Obi when he invited him to Edo states to commission Akpakpava road? Who says Nigerian politics is not a fun to follow? He also dismissed Tinubu’s defeat by Obi in the 2023 presidential election in Lagos as being driven by “public anger” over the economic policies of former president Muhammad Buhari. Oshiomhole is good at playing fast and loose with facts. He claimed Obi emerged from an “unusual situation” rather than personal political strength. He admitted that ruling party made itself vulnerable in 2023. APC is even more vulnerable now than it was in 2023.
The question is: Are Nigerians better off or worse now than they were under Tinubu administration? If Oshiomhole cares to know, the economic hardship created by the Tinubu’s administration makes the President very vulnerable for reelection in a free and credible process. With an approval rating at all-time low, according to a recent SMB Intelligence survey, even a wimp can beat Tinubu in a transparent election. APC knows it. That’s the reason for their panic and the unrelenting attacks on Obi and Atiku. In setting National priorities, what has President Tinubu achieved for Nigeria and Nigerians to seek for your vote for another four years? Didn’t he tell you 3 years ago that if he failed to fix the power sector you should reject him for a second term? Didn’t he also promise to turn the economy around? Hasn’t he turned it upside down, with our national debt at all-time high in our history? What did he promise three years ago that he has fulfilled?Hasn’t Nigeria become a killing field due to p insecurity?
These are the issues before us ahead of the 2027 election. If people are to take the trouble to vote, they must expect something from the leaders they choose. At a minimum, the people expect this much: First, a candidate for president who has a programme that will address the central problems that concern the people – not necessarily one with all the answers, but at least a philosophy and an approach that give promise of succeeding. Second, the winning candidate will then proceed to accomplish the list of programmes he promised – again, not in every detail or all at once, but with enough actual achievement to give the public a sense of progress towards the goals that were projected in the campaign. These are not my exact words. They belong to James Sundquist, one of the former resident scholars at Brookings Institution in Washington, USA, in a book titled: Setting National Priorities, themed for the American election in 1980. Ronald Reagan of the Republican party defeated the incumbent President Jimmy Carter. As far as President Tinubu is concerned, 2027 election is “fight to finish”. Nothing else matters. He said that much recently during a meeting with members of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of Nigeria(CBCN) at the Presidential Villa, Abuja. The bishond s’ refusal to endorse his reelection may have infuriated him. His remarks came just hours after gunmen slaughtered at least 30 people in Naridon village in Kauru Local Government Area of Kaduna state. With this ‘do- or die’ mentality, expect nothing but a flawed and election next year. Tinubu has widened the fault lines that divide us.
