During uncertain, turbulent times, such as Nigerians are going through currently, when despair and pessimism have supplanted hope and optimism, when the people genuinely feel their leaders are not measuring up to their expectations, it’s not unkind to ask a few compelling questions: how did we get to this terrible present? Is Nigeria jinxed on the leadership index, lacking in producing excellent leaders? Why has leadership moved other nations forward, and shaped their hopes and aspirations and the opposite is the case with Nigeria? In context, leadership should not be reduced to a huge joke. It’s not a comedy show. When it’s reduced to that humorous level, regret and disillusionment set in. Patriotism wanes. That’s why the office of the President is sometimes described as the toughest job any leader can give his brain.
Undoubtedly, the process of good leadership begins with an individual’s diligent discovery of the purpose for which he has sought power and got it. Make no mistake about it: President Bola Tinubu is an archetypical politician. He likes trading favours and flattering in generous measure, somestimes manipulative, and even devious, his political foes say, always searching out and exploiting the weaknesses of rivals. But he has had plenty of firestorms in his plate since he came to office. He has visited a number of foreign countries to woo potential investors to come invest in Nigeria’s economy. Nothing is wrong with that. But investors are not fools. They take careful note of the leader. Just last week, Tinubu was in Germany. He said some good things. But they were mere sales pitch, that are wallow in vainglory.
Addressing groups of investors at the 10th German-Nigeria Business Forum, Tinubu said he ‘deserves recognition from the Guinness World Records’ for the economic reforms he has introduced since assuming office on May 29. He claimed he has dealt with “every hurdle and obstacle” in the way of those willing to invest in Nigeria. “If you have fears of various hurdles, just look at me. Today, I can beat my chest that Lagos state is in the horizon as the fifth largest economy in Africa, rising from zero. That is the track record that got me into this office as the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”, he bragged.
Here is the height of his joke: he claimed that Nigerians voted for him for the reforms, and “from day one of my inauguration, I started the reforms. To me, if you didn’t mention me in the Guinness Book of Records, I would strive to find a way to insert myself because I did it without expectation”. Ali Baba, the ace comedian, or Zebrudaya, could not have done better. But as historians often say, the greatest lie one can tell, is the one he tells himself and the public, knowing full well it’s a lie. That seems to have become the occupational disease of most Nigerian politicians. Talk is cheap, isn’t it? To be fair to him, Tinubu had at the corporate level and as a state governor, done a few ‘wonderful’ things, for himself, family and cronies, but he has also done some ‘terrible’ things, and they all came out of the same place, from the same man.
As it is said in Advertising, the “Context is the Message”. A leader’s claims must match with reality. In other words, what a leader claims to have done must be measurable and verifiable. The consequential impact must be such that will improve the lives of his people, and also command approval from the global community. Criteria for Guinness Book of Records don’t involve unnecessary chest beating. You don’t live in denial of the facts on ground, unless you to “insert” your name into it, or perhaps unless you create your own ‘Guinness Book of Records’. A leader can do that when he creates an utopia world, surrounds himself with yes-men, sychophants and a pliant, rubber-stamp parliament. You see, wisdom doesn’t come to the unwise. Truth simply spoken, is that six months of Tinubu presidency is like been in jail for the poor. It’s only good for the rich and those who have friends in the corridors of power.
Yes, President Tinubu could be in the Guinness World Records for obvious, wrong, heartbreaking reasons. His reforms have brought unprecedented pains, tears and sorrow for a vast majority of Nigerians. He has broken the hearts of many families. His policies have been ‘kill-joy’, shocking and tortuous, to say the least. Poor Nigerians are facing extremely difficult times, while the poor are groaning, parents unable to pay their children’s school fees, not sure where their next meal will come from. The rich, and the reckless habits of politicians are being sustained at taxpayers’ expense. Cost of governance has soared, same with inflation rate and cost of living, all at unprecedented levels, leaving the poor and vulnerable angry and agitated. And for the first time in our democratic governance, the office of the First Lady has been allocated a hefty N1.5billion. Yes, that deserves to be in the Guinness World Records.
Beyond that, we have seen how the ill-advised removal of subsidy, ‘floating’ of the naira in the Forex market have brought breathtaking negative consequences to the people and the economy. Today, our local currency exchanges at N1200/$1. How thoughtless can economic reforms go? Yet the president is beating his chest before potential foreign investors. Mr. President, if you want to hear the grim truth, things don’t work that way. The deep hole in which Nigeria is today, is the outcome of when a leader is preoccupied with acquiring power, the complexity of ambition of one man who has taken his eyes off the ball of what matters to the people he’s elected to serve. For him, the greater good no longer plays an important role in the scheme of things.
For Tinubu, the lesson of the last six months mirrors the mind and soul of a leader for whom power simply means being able to bend people to his will. It’s a sorrowful reminder to historians’ warning that power, indeed, reveals – meaning that when a leader gets enough power, when he feels he doesn’t need anybody anymore, then we can see how he has always wanted to treat people all along. Deconstructing what Tinubu said in Germany last week, you can see what he thinks about himself, and the office he so much craved for. It is the acquisition of power to accomplish personal goals, not power to achieve great purposes. Does this President truly believe in one Nigeria? You answer. In an interview he granted Ayo Arowolo, published in ThisDay, the Sunday Newspaper, April 13, 1997, Tinubu was quoted to have said, “I don’t believe in One Nigeria”. Maybe, now he does. But most of his appointments so far seem to vindicate what he told ThisDay newspaper, 26 years ago.
The message is simple: What leaders do while they are trying to get political power is not necessarily what they do after they have it. Under his leadership, Nigeria is polarised down the middle. The fault lines that divide us have widened more than ever before. Every day most Nigerians wake up has been Iike a miracle. It’s that bad. I did make the point on this column June 7, 2022, that in “all his political life, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu has held before himself the image of a daring cowboy, cast in the mold of a lion. He sees himself as the man with the capacity to outrun the wild herd, riding in the dark of the night, knowing there were prairie dog holes all around him”. This is a definition of a man to whom power means everything.
My advice is this: President Tinubu should be watched carefully before he throws away our Constitution and turns it into his own playbook. Our judiciary has lost public confidence. The courts, as Mr Peter Obi rightly said recently, have now become courts of ‘favour’, no longer courts of justice. It could get even worse in the coming months and years. And you ask: Where is the ‘Renewed Hope ‘ that Tinui promised during the electioneering campaigns? It bears repeating that six months in office, this President has sacrificed national interest on the altar of sectional interests.
This President needs reminding that the essence of Presidential power, according to Grant McConnel, the author of “The Modern Presidency”, is the ability to appeal to both large and wide different constituencies at the same time. Every section of the country should receive equal treatment. For this reason, Grant warns that any elected President who ignores this timely advice risks running aground in the office. I must add that the essence of true leadership is that even when you disagree with a leader’s policies, you will be touched by his goodness and ability to look at facts and acknowledge he has made mistakes and ready to learn from them in the best interest of his country and the people. So far, Tinubu has not shown any of these ennobling qualities.