How bad can it get before things begin to get better? Look around your neighborhood, what do you see? Excitement or despair? Last week, a woman caused a stir in a market at Bishop Okoye street, Mile 3, Diobu, Port Harcourt, Rivers state. She brought a 5-year-old boy she claimed to be her son, and put him up for sale. How much? N250,000 only! Customers and traders thronged with utter amazement and disbelief to the corner where she was standing with the kid by her side. Eyewitness accounts said she tearfully told the crowd that that stared at her that she took the hard decision to put the son for sale because life in Nigeria has become unbearable for her and her family. The attention of the Mkpolu Police station, Mile 3, Diobu was drawn to the spectacle. The Police reportedly took hours to arrive.
The situation indeed reflects the harrowing experience, the burden that many Nigerians are going through these days under Tinubu presidency. They believe that government that ought to protect them and cater for their welfare has failed them. Fear, frustration, anger, and hunger, are tearing at the hearts and souls of the citizens. Many Nigerians are becoming destitutes, some have converted overhead bridges and pedestrian crossing into homes, turning to leaves and animal feed for sustenance. Yes! If you doubt, visit Mile 12, mile 2, Maza-Maza, pedestrian bridge at Berger Junction, and Mushin, all in Lagos, the so-called “Centre of Excellence”, the President’s homestate. Nigerians are grappling with unprecedented challenges of immediate sort that require quick response. And lack of that urgent attention is deepening the fear and stirring a likelihood of revolt. In market places like Mile 3 Diobu, in Port Harcourt, in drinking pubs, restaurants, and elsewhere across the country, a tidal wave of concern is brewing. It all began that blustery day that President Tinubu, in a brainwave, announced in his inaugural speech that fuel subsidy “is gone”. That was the day his ‘Renewed Hope’ gave way to despair and pessimism. Faith in government has been lost, and the clock is ticking fast as resentment and hunger, occasioned by soaring cost of living continue to escalate.
It is as if the future has died in Nigeria. Not quite. The people still believe that hope is eternal. But the condition that is supposed to sustain that hope is fast fading. That, in my view, is what has given rise to the recent coup-plot story against President Tinubu’s nine months administration. Last week, the Nigeria Army addressed this coup rumours, and quickly concluded it was ‘fake News’. The statement from the military high command was sequel to some online publications, alleging that the Presidential Guards had been placed on “high alert” over suspicions of a brewing coup . Acknowledging, but not denying such a plot, the Acting Director of Defence Information Brig.Gen Tukur Gusau , said the attention of the military has been drawn to the malicious and unfounded online publication. He maintained that the allegation was totally false. Nonetheless, he stressed the responsibility of the Presidential Guards in protecting the presidency, and by extension, the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) and its environs.
Also, the Chief of Defence Staff Gen. Christopher Musa, has reiterated the what he called the ‘unalloyed’ commitment of the Nigerian Armed Forces in the protection and sustenance of democracy in the country. One shares the concerns of the military, and want to believe that the coup rumours remain ‘fake news’ , and ‘totally false’. But, you see, as the old cliché says, ‘there’s no smoke without fire’. This is not the first time in this democratic dispensation that such coup plot story had happened. Recall, on May 24, 2017, the Defence Headquarters(DHQ) dismissed rumours of a coup plot to overthrow the administration of Muhammadu Buhari. The Defence spokesman then, Maj.Gen John Enenche addressed a press conference at the DHQ, Abuja.
A week earlier, the then Chief of Army Staff Lt.Gen Tukur Buratai(now retd) had warned officers and soldiers of the Nigerian Armed Forces not to “associate with politicians”. Exactly on May 16, 2017, military authorities said they received information that “some individuals have been approaching some officers and soldiers for undisclosed political reasons”. The question to ask is: why the same narrative of coup rumours, same denials, in the past and present government? I remember another cliché that says: sit at the feet of an older man to absorb his knowledge. As a Defence correspondent for 4 years(1995-1999) during the time that Brig.Gen Fred Chijuka was DHQ spokesperson, we were told that rumours of coup plot are often a reflection of discontent in the country, and is often a result of loss of confidence in the government in power, sometimes being needled by some politicians. Dismissing such rumours, as the military high commands often do, is what they are trained to tell the public, but it’s a warning to the government to sit-up, and make amends.
To President Tinubu, this is my unsolicited advice: Beware! Take responsibility. Be careful with those you surround yourself with. These ‘yes men’ claim to love you till they die. We have heard many of them claim they are your ‘armour bearers’. They blame your underperformance on the ‘opposition’. But, it’s all about their selfish interests.
Mr President, accept your failures with humility. Swallow your pride. You have been very egotistical. Pride is a spiritual sin. It blinds a leader from recognising his mistakes and missteps. That’s why you are yet to see the flip side of some of the policy decisions you have made that have gone awry. One of them is the removal of fuel subsidy and harmonisation of the foreign exchange (FX) market. These policies are not bad perse, but they were ill-advised and hastily implemented. And the outcomes are here for even the blind to see.
And like King Saul, Tinubu’s pride is too much to own up that he should have done things better if he had consulted widely. But he trusted in himself so much and believes too much in those he buttered their bread as Governor of Lagos state. But things have since changed. ‘Renewed Hope’ doesn’t become a reality through magic or wishful thinking. True change comes to a man through his mind, not through his head. It takes hard work, commitment and genuine concern for one’s country and citizens’ welfare and security to know when things go wrong. It’s time to think more about Nigeria beyond ‘emilokan’, and the interest of family members and cronies. We are, perhaps all too familiar with this phrase, and have a pretty good idea what it means, “Be careful what you wish for, because you might get it”. It’s a mirror we need to see our true selves – not always pleasant, but often necessary.
But what happens after you have got what you wish for, is one ringing warning to leaders who aspire to higher offices. Indeed, understanding power, and how to use it, can bring out the best or the worst in every elected President. That’s why lessons in power is vital for any leader, and indeed, all public office holders. It determines success or failure. According to historians, no one can successfully lead who does not first acquire power, and no leader can be great who does not know how to use power for the greater good of his country and the citizens.
However, according to American presidential historian Robert A. Caro, the problem is that the combination of the two skills is often rare. Critically analysing what has become of Nigeria and its citizens under Tinubu presidency, it’s clear that not every leader knows how to use these two skills, especially if the primary preoccupation of a leader is to acquire power. The presidency is not an entitlement.
It’s a trust on behalf of the people. The question remains: when does a president know that some of the decisions he has made amount to a big risk that comes with dizzying consequences? With nine months gone into Tinubu presidency, it’s beginning to look obvious what power does to a leader : it reveals. Robert A. Caro said that much in his book on Lyndon Johnson (36th U.S. President). It’s about lessons in power. When a leader thinks he has got enough power, and feels he doesn’t need anybody anymore, he abandons the compass that brought him to office. He wouldn’t let the poor to breathe. It’s not unkind to say at this point that President Tinubu sees the office of the President as a coveted prize that has been won, not a duty to be done. That’s why that phrase, ‘Be careful what you wish for’, remains a constant reminder to every elected leader. History guides us, especially leaders, to understand how events in the past can help them to avoid mistakes so that they do not run the risk of repeating them. Nigeria’s history is full of useful lessons that should guide our leaders. But they rather prefer the short road that leads to regrets, if not self-destruction.
There’s a painful, surreal connection between Tinubu and his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari. For 8 years, Buhari choked Nigerians with anti-people policies. In just nine months of his presidency, Tinubu has suffocated Nigerians so hard that breathing has become too hard for the poor. Today, the rich are poking fun at the poor. It’s not an exaggeration to say that poor Nigerians are now in Tinubu’s ‘prison’. And you ask: what offence did poor Nigerians commit to deserve this overdose of anti-people policies that they can no longer afford basic food items and drugs? Buhari left office with fuel pump price at N198/litre. It’s now N700/litre. A bag of sachet water now goes for N500. It was N200 when Tinubu came to power. Exchange rate is over N1,900/$1. He inherited an exchange rate of N430 per U.S dollar.
It makes little economic sense blaming Buhari for the present hardship and hunger in the land. Rumours of coup plot spread when a leader has lost hope in his own abilities to turn things around. But, it should serve as a wake-up call for self-awareness and see challenges as opportunities Altogether, Tinubu needs reminding that fear is a tormentor to a leader when failure stares him in the face. It’s not too late to make amend by jettisoning old economic theories that have become hackneyed to the present realities in Nigeria. Today’s Nigeria has become like a class struggle, taxing the poor to subsidize the rich. What remains is for Nigerians to start fighting themselves on the streets.
With a new-found friend in irascible Donald Trump, goading him on, and gaslighting the rest of Nigerians for “whining and whining”, and threatening to ‘lock up’ Nigerians in jail if he was our President, Tinubu may have gotten a hardened ally who will urge him to do worse things. He’s already doing that. Didn’t you listen to him last week poke fun at the leadership of the Nigerian Labour Congress(NLC) at a commissioning event, in Lagos? He told them to wait for him in 2027. That’s the mindset of a mean, devious politician whose main preoccupation is acquiring more power and nothing else matters. The message is now clear: this President should be watched carefully. We are in interesting times. Months and years ahead will be tough. And expect more rumours about coups spreading around.