Pundits and intellectuals of different persuasions have had occasion to reflect on the problems of the entity called Nigeria. After a reflective analyses of the myriad of issues that have kept Nigeria down over the years, Chinua Achebe, the Father of African Literature, posited that the problem with Nigeria is roundly and squarely that of leadership.
Achebe and others who have spoken in like manner have a point. But I will rather submit that Nigeria has remained crippled because we do not, strictly speaking, have a country in the geographical enclave that is loosely referred to as Nigeria. What we have instead is a horde of self-seeking groups and individuals who place their group and personal interests above that of the collective known as Nigeria. If Nigeria exists in fact and in truth, the disparate groups that make it up will have a point of convergence. There will be something that all of them will hold dear about that land they call their own. But there is no such unifying factor. Everybody, group or individual is busy feathering its own nest, leaving the country as an orphan. The situation is such that no one is indeed for Nigeria. The country exists for its own sake. It is not programmed to service the people or groups that populate it. That makes Nigeria, more or less, an abstract entity.
If Nigeria were a country, if those that have taken refuge under it were to believe in the entity, they would be interested in salvaging it. They would feel deep concern if the country were derailing. But because Nigeria is just a convenient platform for group or individual pursuits, no one cares about its soul. It can burn to ashes for all that the people care. This disposition of the occupants of this geographical zone of the world is responsible for the irresponsible vibes that are issuing forth from certain quarters of the country. Less than two months ago, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, who serves as National Security Adviser to the President, said Nigeria has made a lot of gains under the Bola Tinubu administration. He was full of gusto in his delivery. He needed to say what he said to please the President. He probably felt that he needed to display that level of sycophancy to remain relevant in the administration. If the people that make up Nigeria meant anything to him, he would have been restrained in his delivery by the hardship and hunger that have been ravaging the land under the Tinubu presidency.
Just the other day, Senator Shehu Sani, an activist of sorts, was seen defending the economic policies of the Tinubu administration. He said that Tinubu was the first Nigerian President to approach Nigeria’s economic problems realistically. Many who watched the former lawmaker say the things he said were stupefied. They did not know that Sani has become a turncoat. For him, Nigeria’s overall interest can wait. What matters at moment is his personal interest.
Then enter Senator George Akume, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF). Akume declared a few days ago that there is no vacancy in Aso Rock. According to him, Tinubu’s re-election in 2027 is a done deal. He advised those interested in the country’s presidency to wait until 2031. But the real worry in all this is that Akume did not tell Nigerians what Tinubu has done right to qualify him for re-election. He probably did not think that he needs to explain anything. The fact that the President has thrown the country into a suffering spiral through mismanagement of the country’s economy did not matter to the SGF. He knows that Nigerians have no say or input in the way their affairs are being managed. They are mere onlookers.
This is unlike the case in Ghana, one of Nigeria’s West African neighbours, where the people are in charge of their country. They decide who leads them and who should not. Just a fortnight ago, the country’s ruling party was voted out in a presidential election principally because it could not manage the economy satisfactorily.
In contrast, Nigeria is one country whose present leadership, owing to incompetence, has brought the country to its knees. Yet, someone has the temerity to declare that the re-election of the incompetent leader is a foregone conclusion. It is only in Nigeria that such balderdash can be absorbed. If the George Akumes of Nigeria are having their way, it is because there is really no country to protect or fight for. The geographical entity that we inhabit is not anybody’s patrimony. It can be handed over to the devil at will.
If ours were a proper country, there would be no reason for anybody to declare or suggest remotely that there is no vacancy in Aso Rock in 2027. Vacancy in the Villa should have been taken as a given. In fact, vacancy exists in the Villa in 2027 regardless of off-handed declarations such as Akume’s.
It is because of the way we perceive the fatherland that those who are chosen to protect institutions of state toy with them. One such person is Mahmood Yakubu, chairman of Nigeria’s electoral commission. He was sighted in Ghana during the national elections that produced John Mahama as the country’s president. Yakubu was among the team of observers that went to monitor the Ghanaian election. His presence in Ghana gave me mixed feelings. What did he go there to do? I didn’t seem to be asking anybody. I was just wondering. Yakubu was one man who had an opportunity to deliver excellently on the first ever technology-driven election in Nigeria but chose instead to bungle it. So what did this man go to Ghana to do on an election weekend? I just wondered.
But it is gratifying to note that Ghana did not go the Mahmood Yakubu way. The country’s electoral commission delivered on its mandate. It conducted a free, fair and credible election. In the election under reference, the people chose their leaders. They voted and their votes were counted.
But Yakubu chose to make a laughable interjection. He said the problem with Nigeria was that the country’s politicians switch from one political party to another in every election season. This, he said, rarely happens in Ghana. But that was diversionary. Yakubu did not want to face facts. Those who saw him in Ghana expected that he would, at the end of the Ghanaian elections, show remorse for the way he bungled what would have been a historic election in Nigeria. But no. He has to grandstand. That is part of the problem in this land called Nigeria.