We can say, without fear of contradiction, that Nigeria is in a free fall. The country is cascading into an abyss. And this is without let or hindrance.
How did we get to this pitiable turning point?
To make sense out of this inquiry, we must remind ourselves that we had a story before now. The most immediate and relevant of that story was the Muhammadu Buhari era. It was a period in our national life when the people got the very opposite of what they expected. Buhari came with the promise of positive change. He sold to Nigerians the impression that he possessed the Midas touch. Many believed that there was something about him that could put Nigeria on the path of progress. And so, without asking the right questions, the undiscerning mass queued sheepishly behind whatever he represented.
The mystique built around Buhari did not stop there. It was bolstered by the clan of men and women that swirled around him. They had their own mystifying story to tell. In doing so, they got Nigerians to believe that Buhari was the messiah they were looking for. The recurrent theme during his campaigns for the 2015 presidential election was that, if he was elected, he would, first and foremost, banish insecurity in the land. His military experience was touted as his unique selling point. Boko Haram, they said, was having a stronghold on northern Nigeria because Goodluck Jonathan, the President at the time, did not have the gravitas to deal with the menace. He had no military exposure, whereas Buhari was a retired General. The argument in favour of a Buhari presidency sailed through. He eventually emerged as President.
In addition to all this, Buhari’s no-nonsense disposition, the type he displayed as military Head of State in 1984, was thrust forward. They told us that what Nigeria needed was a Buhari who would whip everybody into line. For this to happen, Nigerians were prevailed upon to give the ex-General a second chance. They said that the man needed such opportunity to prove that corruption could be stamped out in Nigeria.
These were some of the stories behind Buhari’s ascent to the presidential seat. But all that ended at the level of the ideal. The real Buhari that Nigerians voted into office dashed their hopes and expectations. In Buhari, Nigerians witnessed the huge lacuna that usually exists between the real and the ideal. The retired General failed spectacularly in the real world of governance.
It was against this unflattering background that Nigerians approached the 2023 presidential contest. It was the year the people hoped that they would overthrow the old order and enthrone a new one that would enable them to take their destiny in their own hands. That hope of a new Nigeria was buoyed up by the phenomenal emergence and ascendancy of Mr. Peter Obi. His quest for the presidency was a breath of fresh air. It gave Nigerians something to be hopeful about. In him, Nigerians saw the possibility of a Nigeria that would work for all.
Unfortunately for Nigerians, the old order refused to yield ground. Instead, it maintained its vice grip on Nigeria. That was how the country was handed down the Bola Tinubu presidency. It was one imposition which the people would have resisted. But the wily, crooked deans of Nigerian politics did not let them. They created an atmosphere of fear that left Nigerians impotent.
Some eight months after Tinubu’s inauguration as President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, the country is yet to breathe. If anything, the people are choking to death. Even though Tinubu was not the popular choice of Nigerians for the presidential seat, they still hoped that his reign would come with some relief; that it would not be as disappointing as that of Buhari. So far, the expectations have been mercilessly dashed. The new order led by Tinubu has taken the country into the abyss. The country is caught in a wire mesh. The trapped people of Nigeria are groaning in pain. They are in need of rescue. But help does not seem to be near. This has created an atmosphere of despondency.
As things stand, Nigerians who thought Buhari was an affliction are deeply convinced that the Tinubu regime is an influenza. The malaise of the present order is anything but bearable. The people, even in their resilience, are afraid that many of them will soon choke to death unless an urgent surgical operation is carried out.
But what is intriguing in all this is that a regime that fought its way to power does not seem to know how to direct the power it got in the service of the people. The absolute lack of direction of the Tinubu regime reminds us of the joke some mischief makers made of Jonathan while he was President. They said he was clueless. Comparatively speaking, I submit that the real clueless order is here with us. Jonathan was certainly not clueless. His regime had a sense of direction. It had a policy thrust, many of which worked for the country.
Indeed, if there is any regime in the annals of Nigeria that should be described as clueless, the Tinubu regime is it.
What is really scary about this is that there is no hope on the horizon. The government is not giving the people anything to be cheery about. There is no hope of redemption from the present state of want and privation. It is all eeriness. This is the state of Nigeria at moment.
Why is the country in this state of stultifying ennui? The problem here, as always, is the leadership that the country usually gets. Nigeria has never been lucky when it comes to leadership selection or recruitment. It has always been a tale of missed expectations. That was why the people fought hard, the last time, to get it right. But the effort was thwarted by the buccaneers that have always held Nigeria by the jugular.
The institutions of state have not helped the Nigerian condition.
In countries where things work, institutions serve as the bulwark against depraved individuals who take the state and people for granted. They play a stabilizing role when the system faces trials. But that is not the case in Nigeria. Here, institutions of state are as rotten as our depraved leadership. The result is the free fall that we are experiencing at moment.
There is also a failure on the part of the people. I have always said that Nigerians are a complacent lot. They can soak in any situation, no matter how unpalatable. That was why the rape of February 25 went unchallenged. Now, the people are reeling in pains. But rather than take charge of their situation, they prefer to relapse into fatalism. They resign to blind faith. No people, anywhere in the world, survives with this kind of disposition. Until Nigerians recognize that they have a stake in how their lives are being directed by the leadership, so long will they continue to amble along in drunken stupor.