Two weeks after the inauguration of President Bola Tinubu, there is still this feeling of ennui across the land. The merriment and glitz that often herald the swearing in of a new President and Commander- in- Chief, have been absent. His Inaugural speech, removing fuel subsidy was like a stab into the chests of poor Nigerians. In many parts of the country, it was as if an invisible force had descended on the nation. Nothing could be more fatal for a new President than to have a false start. How do we explain this? Well, historians will tell us that by the nature of power, the complexity of ambition, and the role that the greater good can sometimes play in the making of a leader, certain things are obvious, and that’s: Many people want to be leaders, even President of their nation, but very few are leaders in the true sense of the word: using power for great purposes.
Robert Allan Caro, Harvard-trained American journalist and author known for his biographies of some U.S. Presidents, did an extensive research on power and leadership. His deep understanding of the inner workings of power is very revealing. And most striking is what he says power always does: it reveals. That’s why, according to him, what leaders do while they are trying to get power is not necessarily what they do after they have it. I share his insights about the nature of power, and the complexity of ambition, particularly as it relates to those who aspire to the highest office in the land. The lesson in the case of what Nigeria is going through right now, is indeed, sobering. “No man can lead”, Caro says, “who does not first acquire power, and no leader can be great who does not know how to use power”. “The trouble”, he says, “is that the combination of the two skills is rare”. Besides, he argues that the “temperament and behaviour of the ambitious, cynical player adept at amassing power is often at odds with those of the daring and imaginative visionary able to achieve great things with that power”. Is that not where Nigeria and Nigerians are today with Tinubu’s presidency? Good leadership requires human qualities beyond the conventional notion of authority. Power brings responsibility. That’s why the hasty removal of fuel subsidy by Tinubu without consensus will not go away anytime soon.
Nobody will disagree that fuel subsidy is not a scam, a criminal offence against the poor to feed the rich. However, its removal by fiat has triggered and fouled unusual national mood, and killed the desire for renewal of hope and purpose that Tinubu made the centre of his campaign. The greatest harm is on the people who have gone through unprecedented hardship since 2015 that the All Progressives Congress (APC) ‘captured’ power. Few things are clear now: A dangerous cartel led by the Nigerian National Petroleum Company Limited (NNPCL) determines the pump price of fuel. The cartel has spoken, even when the supply end of the argument has not been addressed. The MD/CEO Mele Kyari has claimed that the federal government is owing the company a hefty N2.4trn spent on subsidy of petroleum products. We are back on Catch-22. How low can our leaders go? Since the fuel subsidy was removed, we have been reminded of what Tinubu said in 2012 during the infamous #OccupyNigeria protests over planned removal of fuel subsidy by President Goodluck Jonathan’s administration. Tinubu, had, in a letter published in many mainstream media, accused Jonathan of breaking social contract with the people. “I am not calling Jonathan an evil man”, Tinubu wrote, “ I do not believe he is perverse. However, the economic ideas controlling him are so misguided and they have a perverse impact. Because he(Jonathan) is slave to wrong-headed economics, the people will become enslaved to greater misery. This crisis will bear his legacy. The people now pay a steep tax for voting him into office. People may occupy office but how that person performs depends on the ideas that occupy his mind”. Tinubu concluded his attack on Jonathan by saying that subsidy removal “is ill-timed and violates the condition precedent necessary before such a decision is made”.
From that moment, Jonathan’s administration did not quite recover from the orchestrated political blackmail and the protests that some believed were sponsored by Tinubu, an allegation he vehemently denied. You see, nobody is calling Tinubu ‘evil’, but what has really changed between then and now? Between 2015 when Buhari took over and now, the pump price of fuel has increased by almost 300 percent, the highest in the history of the country. The lesson from Tinubu’s attack on Jonathan in 2012 has come in the fullness of time. Time heals. As one saying goes, “If you destroy someone’s life with lies, take it as a loan. It will come back to you with interest”. That’s one of the enduring lessons in life. It’s even more so in politics. Who says our politics is not a fun to follow? To paraphrase Caro, ‘what politicians do when they are seeking your votes is not necessarily what they do when they got elected’. What has emerged now is Bola Ahmed Tinubu in his true colours. Jonathan, wherever he is now, I guess, he will be in deep reflection. Vindication doesn’t come fast, but it certainly will. In his memoir, MY TRANSITION HOUR, Jonathan wrote, “If you embark on digging a hole for your enemy, you better make it shallow because you might end up in the hole yourself”. It was a dig at the APC government propaganda machine that slandered him, and almost succeeded in destroying the economy. Investors left the country in droves, the consequences we are still yet to recover from. It is now the fire on Tinubu’s plate. As Jonathan painfully recalled in his book referred to, “even members of my family, ministers, aides and associates were attacked”. He said there was an attempt to erase his legacy from history. “The good thing is that the unending barrage of attacks, deliberate misinformation and programmed media smear campaigns failed to sway the opinion of those with a clear view of our beliefs, efforts and achievements”.
From what has happened in the last two weeks, Tinubu has missed the opportunity to build trust. He has also failed to seize the moment that history has offered him to build consensus on his presidency which is still a matter of judicial litigation. He has missed that rare chance to think strategically and creatively. When he needed solution providers, he decided to follow the “Rehoboam” Way. Recall that Rehoboam, Solomon’s son ill-advisedly adopted a harsh policy that divided Israel into different kingdoms by taking the counsel of “old men”. His infamous quote: “My father made your yoke heavy, I will make it heavier. My father scourged you with whips, I will scourge you with scorpions” (1Kings 12:14). Read the details and see how Rehoboam got punished. I don’t think Tinubu wants to unleash heavier punishment on Nigerians than Buhari did.
How a king organises his coronation is entirely his. Nonetheless, Tinubu should begin now to look at how history will judge his presidency. Though he was part of the making of Buhari that has put Nigeria in this big hole, he should not make the already existing yoke heavier. APC, it must not be forgotten, came to power by beguiling Nigerians, through deception, trickery, manipulation and outright lies. My advice to Tinubu is to stop making his pride stronger than the recognition of his Achilles heel. He should retreat from accepting the truth that subsidy removal is ill-timed. He has a lot to gain, little to lose if he reverses his decision. So far, his understanding of what leadership entails in turbulent times is wrapped around ego. That’s not the stuff of a great leader. Those who are telling him that what presidents before him could not do, he has done, are ‘sincere deceivers’, These are well-practised deceivers, difficult to detect their lies until they bring down a president and his government. These ‘yesmen’ are not solution providers. These characters are our today’s problem. Tinubu, beware of these men, especially the so-called G5, led by Nyesom Wike. In the last one week alone, some of them have been regular visitors to Aso Rock , praising Tinubu as the ‘best leader’ in Nigeria with the audacity to remove fuel subsidy. “Power is where power goes”, Lyndon B. Johnson( the 36th U.S.President) once said. It’s no surprise why politicians are going in droves to see Tinubu. Faking to be nice has its cost. They want something, either an appointment or protected from prosecution. It will serve Tinubu well if he can master to read the eyes of these politicians, for what a man says with his mouth is sometimes less relevant with what he says with his eyes. Interesting days ahead. The honeymoon will soon be over.