Two years, in the next two weeks, into the regime of Nigeria’s president, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, losers of the 2023 presidential election who contested against him, as well as those who fiercely opposed his suitability for the presidency ab initio, are not letting go. They have tried everything in the books to distract our dear ruler without much success. At the presidential election tribunal in 2023, they threw everything at him including accusing him of forging his name, his university certificates, claiming an alumnus of schools he never attended, and being involved in cocaine deals in the 1990s. None of the mud thrown at him stuck. The venerated justices of the Supreme Court (never mind that some ignoramuses who do not know that the law is an ass prefer to call it Supreme Cult) ensured that nothing untoward happened to the widely accepted candidate, a man after the hearts of a majority of Nigerians at that time, and even up till today. The justices demonstrated that they were heads and shoulders above our revered justices of blessed memories including Kayode Eso, Chukwudifu Oputa, Alfa Belgore, among others.
Those bent on destroying our country ensured that Tinubu was fully distracted with multiple litigations in the United States’ law courts after Nigeria’s ‘Independent’ National Electoral Commission (INEC) correctly and courageously awarded him the presidency after a fair, free, and credible election which was devoid of any controversies. Both domestic and foreign election observers had in a rare unanimity given the conduct of that poll and the result it produced a clean bill of health. Though the result of the election was declared in the wee hours of March 1, 2023 (about 4am), in spite of the fact that the INEC had assured a few hours earlier that collation of the same result will continue on the same March 1, Nigerians still managed to pour out onto the streets of the country, from the south east, south south, south west, north central, north west and north east, to celebrate Tinubu’s win a few minutes after 4am. Nigerians celebrated his victory like drunken sailors, and gave kudos to the electoral commission for the conduct of the freest and fairest election since 1993. And since that spontaneous celebration two years ago, it has been an unbroken chain of celebrations because the man over whom Nigerians rejoiced had kept faith with his campaign promises to turn the fortunes of the country around, arrest its economic decline, provide enabling environment for employment especially for the youths, stabilise the value of the Naira, tame the galloping inflation, tackle insecurity head on, stop the industrial scale theft of our crude oil, and give corruption a bloody nose. In less than two years, the living standards and conditions of Nigerians have been on a rapid rise, and these have been making our people heady with pride. The ugly tagging of Nigeria as the poverty capital of the world has since been erased. If our country is no longer the poverty capital of the globe because of the relentless war on poverty by the crusading Tinubu regime, do not ask me which country inherited the odium from us. I am a patriot. I do not care. I am only interested in my country. You should also not bother. For once on this issue, you should be a patriot. I am determined to speak well of my country. You should also.
But in spite of a series of victories by Tinubu’s regime since it came to office in a landslide and popular mandate of a cross section of Nigerian voters two years ago, and despite plaudits from international agencies including the World Bank, International Monetary Fund, JPMorganChase, Standard & Poor’s and similar patronising institutions and credible voices on the wonderful outcomes of Tinubu’s rewarding reforms, the enemies within are still not giving up. They are determined to ignore the beneficial effects of the reforms on the lives of Nigerians, and continue their unpatriotic and egregious efforts to undermine the extant regime. How much more evil can the opposition be? And other undiscerning countrymen and women. After failing in using propaganda to besmirch this phenomenally successful regime, the opposition has now resorted to the use of a pernicious tool. The option which the opposition (real name: enemies of the state) has recently adopted and deployed will make the regime look bad no matter how it reacted or responded.
Bad act Abdukaldir Eedris, has been recruited by the opposition to paint our hard working president in unflattering hues. Eedris masquerades as a music producer, writer, songster and political activist. You can see mischief in one nondescript man combining all these attributes. The only thing, to the best of our knowledge, that has brought him fame and fortune (in my considered patriotic opinion, notoriety actually), is that he writes songs which are rightfully promptly banned by the government. It does not matter whether the government was formed by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP) or the current ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). You couldn’t have forgotten his 2004 ‘Nigeria jaga jaga nonsense song that was summarily banned by Olusegun Obasanjo who was the president then. How could a sensible adult be writing lyrics for a song twenty years ago and claiming that our country was a ‘sh’thole’ at a time that the country was actually an Eldorado. To put it mildly and politely, Eedris said at the time that Nigeria was a country with no rhyme and no rhythm. And that it was drifting. How could he? Was he also among the prophets as was asked of King Saul in the Holy Bible thousands of years ago. Obasanjo was a retired general of the Nigerian army before becoming a civilian president. He did it the army general’s way: he banned the song. But he did not go the whole hog- he did not ban Eedris from making music. Ever again. In hindsight he should have.
If Obasanjo had banned Eedris from his proclivity to write and produce and broadcast vexatious songs which bear no relationship to the lives of Nigerians, Tinubu and his team would not now be left with contending with the notoriety of Eedris and those who may be tempted to copy him and follow his annoying and irritating footsteps. It would appear that Eedris smiled to the banks after Obasanjo banned his ‘Nigeria jaga jaga’ non-song. That would only be the explanation for what emboldened him to wax his recent song titled ‘Seyi tell your papa country hard’. Seyi is one of president Tinubu’s adult children who identifies as ‘Nigeria’s First Son’. His sister also parades herself as ‘Nigeria’s First Daughter’.
In his latest provocation Eedris said that Nigeria has become a hell hole. He claimed that life has become short, nasty and brutish. Is Eedris for real? He even had the gumption to instruct the ‘First Son’ of the federation to relay his made up bad news to his father. In centuries past and in some jurisdictions, the appropriate punishment for Eedris’s impudence would be a date with the hangman. But I know for a fact that if Tinubu were to be an emperor in that long gone era his good nature and his milk of human kindness would not have allowed him to put Eedris to the sword. Such is the extent of the kindness and the soft nature of our dear ruler. But Eedris and his co-travellers should not underestimate the capacity of this regime to do things that will ensure regime preservation.
It is down to Tinubu’s concern for the masses of our country that he rolled up his sleeves from the get-go to reverse the enormous damage done to Nigeria’s economy by his party-man predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, who turned out to be Nigerians’ nightmare in the eight years of his presidency. Tinubu demonstrated uncommon courage by removing petrol subsidy on May 29, 2023- his first day in office. He achieved two things or even more with that masterstroke. He put more money in the coffers of state governors who have used the additional inflow to improve the lives of their people. Secondly, that move made queues at our petrol stations to disappear overnight. Yes, petrol prices initially shot up but they have since normalised. And Nigerians are now grateful to Tinubu because petrol is now affordable and easily accessible. Eedris must be living on another planet for not seeing what our dear leader has achieved in this sector.
Has Eedris not noticed that the initial inflationary pressures exerted by that patriotic removal of petrol subsidy by Tinubu has since moderated with inflation racing down towards a single digit? If the president did not remove the subsidy Nigeria would have been bankrupt long before today. We wouldn’t have had a country to call our own. Imagine what would have become of the ‘giant of Africa’ as we affectionately call ourselves. In addition, can’t Eedris at least acknowledge that the surfeit of cash for various tiers of our government has ensured that we have stopped piling up offshore loans for future generations of Nigerians. If Tinubu did not stop petrol subsidy when he did we would have been borrowing and behaving as though borrowing was going out of fashion. Even if Eedris will not, I will give it to this regime that the monies saved from yanking off petrol subsidy has empowered the regime to adequately fund and train our security forces to combat insurgents, terrorists, bandits, kidnappers, and sundry felons. ISWAP, Boko Haram, Ansaru, and the like are on their back foot because of the winning streaks of our security forces. It takes an implacable enemy and a loud mouth like Eedris not to see the positives in this patriotic and people-centred regime which is working its socks off.
The good news extends to the Naira which massive devaluation has been the best thing to ever happen to Nigeria since sliced bread. With the value of our currency left to the forces of the market, investors have been flooding our country. States and local governments have their hands full attending to inquiries from foreign investors. And Eedris should be told that some transnational corporations, a few really, who left on the heels of Tinubu’s reforms are now regretting their actions, and seeking a way to come back to partake in our flourishing economy. And we are now giving them conditions for readmission. JPMorganChase cannot be wrong. It recently touted the strengthening of the extractive arm of its business in Nigeria. Its business model was not founded on charity. A global rating agency last weekend moved Nigeria’s economy from negative to positive. Eedris should acknowledge that in spite of the fact that some of Nigeria’s former diplomats had alleged that they routinely bribed such agencies for favourable ratings. By the way, ratings influence the cost of money for countries such as Nigeria which are neck deep into borrowing from the international lenders market.
If my opinion is sought I will recommend that Eedris and others who may be inclined to think, behave, sing and write like him should be branded as security risks and enemies of the people. If they are left unchecked, they will continue to incite Nigerians to rise against a regime that has shown commitment to revamping the economy, improving our politics and governance, eliminating out of school children, making Nigerians secure, combating the country’s lingering and notorious energy deficits, and moving the country into the first world. Banning Eedris’s latest hit song – ‘Seyi tell your papa country hard’ is not enough. And it should not be left in the hands of the national broadcasting commission (NBC). He will do worse if the rumoured impending disclosures from America’s Intel Community turned out to be adverse to whatever is left of the reputation of our dear ruler.