When President Ahmed Bola Tinubu barreled into office two years ago with the ill-advised “subsidy is gone”, nobody knew it was the beginning of a barrage of policy missteps that have turned into a grievance fest, leaving every aspect of Nigerian life terribly touched. Predictably, it has been a “shock-and-awe” two years. What has unfolded before our eyes is the abandonment of virtually all campaign promises, and a deliberate intent on using the office of the presidency to exercise raw political power and transform Nigeria, not on the aspirations of the people, but to transform the country and critical institutions in Tinubu’s own image.
Looking back at the last two years, it’s fair to say that some of the president’s economic reforms such as subsidy removal, tax reform, local government autonomy, are well-intended, but their implementation has gone awry because they were conceived as a bag of tricks rather than to promote the material well-being of the people, which ought to be a leader’s first priority in a democracy. Perhaps worse of all, was the ill-conceived ‘floating’ of the naira, that resulted in the free-fall of the nation’s currency. Today, the naira is ranked as the “4th worst currency in the world”. This singular, thoughtless act, has skyrocketed the prices of every essential goods and services. The exodus of multinationals in the country is also part of the uncertainty and lack of confidence in the government’s economic policies. Whatever the President will reel out on Thursday as achievements in two years, it’s a convenient cover that hides a much darker truth of his presidency. The brutal story is that no elected President in Nigeria, has unleashed the kind of extreme hardship that Nigerians are currently going through under Tinubu. The unvarnished truth is that there’s few concrete things to show that there’s governance in Nigeria in the last two years, except the pursuit of personal interests. According to former deputy governor of Lagos state Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele, who worked with the President when he was Governor before they fell apart, what we have today “is a Mafia government”. Perhaps that’s true. It’s time to strip away the propaganda that has become the unique selling point of the Tinubu presidency and ask the all-important question : Are you better off now than you were two years ago?
That was the question the Republican presidential candidate in the 1980 U.S election, Ronald Reagan asked Americans during the debate with Jimmy Carter, the then incumbent Democratic President. For Nigerians, the “better off” question has become the most profound in assessing Tinubu’s two-year scorecard. The resounding answer is ‘NO’. Nigerians are worse off now than they were before Tinubu was sworn in as president. How much did you buy a litre of petrol prior to May 29, 2023, and how much is it today? How much was a bag of rice before President Tinubu came to office, and what’s the cost now? What was the exchange rate of the naira against major foreign currencies, and what is it today? No doubt, Tinubu’s policies have upended everything in Nigeria. In two years, key democratic institutions have been weakened. Many have lost confidence in the judiciary.
That wasn’t what Tinubu promised Nigerians when he was campaigning for the office. Top on his priority list of action plan if he wins the presidential election, he said , would include reviving the economy, national security, power supply, oil and gas, agriculture, transportation, education, health. Others are to “foster a new society based on shared prosperity”, tackle corruption head-on, tolerance, compassion, and an unwavering commitment to treating “every citizen with equal respect and due regard”, and a Nigeria, where the youth, “will have sufficient jobs, with decent wages for a better life”. In addition, he assured that Nigeria under his leadership will “export more and import less”.
Two years on, has any of these promises been fulfilled? Is the economy better now or worse? Has security improved? What about employment? Political appointments are lopsided in favour of his ethnic Yoruba. The facts are incontrovertible. We can now see that the promises were mere platitudes and political demagoguery to acquire power. Whether you are aghast or delighted at what Nigeria has become in just two years under Tinubu presidency, looking ahead, the administration is desperately working towards making Nigeria a one-party state.
This is the era of strong men in power, where elected leaders are leaving no stone unturned to re-make their country in their own image. American President Donald Trump, has provided autocrats a playbook to send political opponents grasping for a message and a means to fight back. By the time you read this, the headquarters of the People’s Democratic Party(PDP) may have been sealed by the authorities of the Federal Capital Territory Development Authority. Other parties like Labour Party may face the same fate as we approach the 2027 elections.
In just two years, Tinubu has exerted raw political power across every facet of our national life more than any elected President in Nigeria has done. The other day, the National Chairman of the ruling APC, Abdullahi Ganduje boasted that the party is the sleight of hand stoking crises in the opposition political parties, causing mass defections to the APC. Last week, the President mocked the opposition parties as ‘sinking ship’. He said he expects more defections to the APC. That’s the strong man speaking. He knows why.
The ‘fear factor’ is what is driving the gale of defections, not personal conviction. To the defectors, this my advice: Not all open doors that you enter. Some open doors are traps. That’s what APC represents. You see, sometimes the road to a leader’s failure is predictable, and that’s the tragedy of Nigeria that hurts. It raises the question: why is every incumbent President we have had worse than his predecessor. Going forward, if there’s one battle any president cannot win, it’s the fight against time. For President Tinubu, that time is running short to make Nigeria better. He should quickly make amends.
In two years, there’s no silver lining. Anger, poverty and frustration have supplanted hope. A spawning fear is spreading across the country that 2027 elections will be a sham. Could it be that the President is still battling some ‘spiritual forces’, to borrow the words of Chief Bisi Akande? Regardless of the gale of defections, Tinubu remains unpopular and a beleaguered president, in a desperate, clawing struggle for re-election in 2027. That’s the ‘hand of Esau’s in the proposed ‘Compulsory Voting’ bill. In the conventional wisdom, an incumbent president who has done well for his country should allow his performance to speak for him. The message is clear: many Nigerians may die of hunger if there is no urgent intervention to ameliorate the suffering. In the president’s South West, people are crying out, “Ebin pawa o. It’s a pain cry of poverty and hunger. That’s what happens when the Commander in Chief and those he surrounds himself with, are living in denial. That’s the brutal story of Nigeria in the last two years. So what is holding the President from reading the writing on the wall, that hunger and anger are eating up the people like acid?