Editorial
Nigerian economy vs ‘Lagos Boys’: So long for Tinubu’s famed brilliance
On page 106 of his book entitled: Baiting Igbophobia, The Sunny Igboanugo Thesis, one of the latest in his INTERVENTION SERIES, globally-famed Nobel Laureate, and Africa’s leading playwright and essayist, Professor Wole Soyinka, described an encounter with Prince Mohammad Saif Al Hakim of the Fujairah Emirate. The subject matter was President Bola Tinubu.
It was at the Annual Conference of the International Theatre Institute (ITI), in the United Arab Emirate (UAE), February 2023, the first to be held physically since the COVID-19 outbreak, which had him as the Guest Speaker, as the former President of the prestigious body.
The erudite scholar, and human rights crusader, recalled that before the event started proper the conversation with the Prince, which had delved into the situation in Nigeria, particularly the presidential election and more particularly, Tinubu, went thus:
“How are things in Nigeria?’
“Well, you know, so-so. Not the most relaxing sphere of existence. But not the most turbulent.”
He chuckled. “And the elections? How is Tinubu doing? ‘What do you people think?”
It was unexpected, the directness, so I became cautious in my reply: “Well-e-ell, the usual mixed feelings about all the contestants. In his case, he has an additional problem of health. People find that worrisome. I also do, quite frankly.
His response was spontaneous and any serious journalist is free to fly to Fujairah and check. The prince took a good look at me as if attempting to situate me. He tapped the side of his head and said:
“Ah, but here, is that alright?”
I nodded, Yes, adding: “I haven’t heard any complaint regarding that department. The contrary appears to be the case.”
He nodded satisfaction, beaming: “We were in college together, in Chicago, Brilliant. We all knew him. Talked about him a lot. We were sure he would go places. Everyone admired him. We still keep in touch.”
The most deductible reading of this narrative, is that Soyinka is not only among the numerous supporters of Tinubu, who are trumpeting his famed intelligence and brilliance, but that he actually emphatically denied that the debate around this phenomenal brain power did not come into play as one of the issues that shaped the voting of Nigerians one way or the other in that election.
But the Nobel Laureate was wrong in presenting that picture to his friend, the UAE prince. Tinubu’s mental health, was indeed one of the key issues on the card, regarding how Nigeria saw him as fit and proper to lead Nigeria after his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari. Therefore it could either be an oversight or deliberate that he replied in the manner he did.
But what is now evident in today’s Nigeria is that Tinubu is currently being confronted with the reality and challenge to prove that invincibility upstairs, with which he was said to have “built Lagos,” as the first governor in the present-day democracy which started in 1999. The evidence has produced one visible outcome – failure. His famed knack for headhunting the best, seems to have also failed him.
Before the ink with which he signed the dotted lines in the document that proclaimed him President on May 29, 2023 dried up, and while the echoes of his voice taking the necessary oath of office were still reverberating, the former governor had thrown the entire country into chaos by those three words, which he pronounced as the last part of his inaugural address – subsidy is gone!
Since Tinubu climbed down from the dais at the Eagle Square to meet the chaos which he created by those unnecessary words, the further effect is that like attempting to apply the break at top speed, he totally lost control of the vehicle and has been running into various obstacles to gain control again without success.
Worse still, those he has called to ride with him and relying on for help, appear to have done more damage rather than salvage the situation. Obviously, their interest is not to help him stop the galloping vehicle even as its parts are being dismembered and pulling out one after the other – bumpers, headlights, fenders, windshield, et al, but on what they could grab from it before it finally crashes in the jagged rocks down the valley.
We at Whirlwindnews.com.ng, have never been enamoured of Tinubu’s option right from the outset and have not failed to say so. But we never knew that the disaster would come so soon. Just one year and Nigeria is almost completely crippled. What a shame! But all hope is not lost. Not yet. This speeding vehicle could still be stopped and could still be salvaged, if only Tinubu could recognise the danger, stop the fiddling with knobs, concentrate on the road, while steering the vehicle out of more danger instead of deliberately heading to them.
The first and immediate option is that Tinubu must severe the umbilical cord tying him with his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari. He helped Buhari to become President and Buhari returned the favour to help him snatch, grab and run with the number one job on February 25, 2023. They are now square. Enough of inheriting Buhari’s enemies, while the man snores soundly in Daura after enough fura and nunu.
Yes! Tinubu used to be a jolly good fellow with a visible large heart and open arms that accommodated everyone until his political marriage with Buhari who smeared him with ethnic tar and nepotistic slur which followed him like swarm of flies to a wounded dog throughout his eight years of calamitous outing as the worst President in Nigerian history.
Unlike and until now, he was the best friend of Ndigbo, across Nigeria, in the class of 99 outside governors from the South East, which he demonstrated by building his economic blueprint around an Igbo man. It was during his tenure that Eze Ndigbo title in Lagos, which is now being painted as a terrible sin by his successors, particularly in the current government, became quite pronounced, as they not only had access to and in his government, but became his eyes and ears among their Igbo kiths and kin not only in Lagos, but back home.
Today, even the likes of Joe Igbokwe, who have virtually ostracised himself willingly from his people just to please him, have been sidelined in the scheme of things, despite his best efforts. That alliance must come back. Nobody deliberately hurts the Igbo or indeed anyone and gets away with it. Buhari did not even with his claims. Tinubu must reconnect with Nigeria – all tribes and tongues, so that they connect with him.
Another option is that he must seek outside help. Even himself must have realised by now that the Lagos crowd, which constituted the gamut of his passengers, has not helped matters. Their sense of ownership and entitlement has become a serious albatross. If anything, it has succeeded in removing the veil from the big masquerade. Now, everything is exposed and people now have an idea of the person behind the mask.
One year is long enough to pay political debt and having lasted that long, they have gotten their ample comeuppance and must therefore disembark from the vehicle or be forced to do so. If Tinubu insists that he must go the Buhari way of ethnically-decked appointment as a template, there are millions of versatile, worthy and competent Yoruba people in Nigeria and across the globe to choose from. This was exactly the template Olusegun Obasanjo, President 1999-2007 used in carving the niche for himself as the best President of Nigeria since the current democratic exercise.
But why must it even be the Yoruba? Why must it even be members of the All Progressives Congress (APC)? Why not spread the dragnet to pull in Nigerians of all ethnic persuasions as Obasanjo did? There are so many Ngozi Okonjo-Iwealas with the clout and reach out there to help him pull back the Nigerian economy from the brink.
Would it be impossible for Tinubu on a cool evening to put a call across to Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP) or stealthily, in the wee-hours of a given day, knock at the doors of Atiku Abubakar, at Asokoro Abuja, and let them discuss Nigeria and the way forward and return to the Villa before dawn? Did the world not see it happen between Uhuru Kenyetta and Raila Odinga some years back, when they publicly denounced their animosity, even in the thick of their political rivalry?
Today, Nigerians are being regaled with the laughable tale that the N5.4trillion that Wale Edu, Minister of Finance is proposing as fund for subsidy for the next six month is a ruse and that subsidy is indeed gone, when even an imbecile is aware that the Minister is spot on. For as long as Tinubu maintains the them and us template that he brought with him to Abuja, he would continue with his current loss of control. Even the fact that it came as a proposal from no other person than, Edun, the numere uno, in the management of the Nigerian economy is an indication of the current danger.
The debtor who asks his creditor to return next year thinks its too far. One year is gone already. The next bend will be 2027. Then what? Nobody knows if the vehicle would have crashed completely by that time. Unfortunately, if it does, Tinubu may not be a victim of the fatality. He would probably be sipping the best wine in the garden of a mansion in Paris, France with his friends. That will be the tragedy!
It began less than 10 minutes after taking the oath of office. In his address to the nation, he uttered those three-letter words – subsidy is gone. The ink with which he signed the documents declaring him President was yet to dry.
That was it. From that moment, Nigerians have known nothing but poverty, tears and death. It was a declaration that came out of impulse rather than articulacy. It was not even contained in his original speech prepared for the occasion. But it sprouted out – from a rash, unthinking and impetuous mental construct.
But the effect was instant, the impact direct. From that moment, Nigerians have never known peace. Every thing took a cue. Minutes after, the news broke that the price of Premium Motor Spirit, otherwise known as petrol had jumped from N189 to N550. It was that instant. Today, it hovers around N1,500.
The effect: Within minutes, transportation cost quadrupled. So too, commodity prices. Caught unawares, marketers, who had earlier thought it was a day of the rains as customers rushed to their shops, soon became suspicious and then got wiser – these were not ordinary customers but smart alecs playing a fast one on them.
They stopped selling, retrieved the items they could from those who had not disappeared with their goods and closed shop to study the situation properly. Hours after, they responded. A plate of eba and soup, went up from N200 to N1,000. Prices hit the rooftops.
In fact, the vehicle transporting what used to be Nigeria, which had been moving at a horse and buggy pace in the days of Muhammadu Buhari, stopped abruptly, engaged the reverse gear and began galloping backwards. That has remained the ugly, parlous tale of the Tinubu days, since May 29, 2023.
Now, the expectation would be that the President and his government that wrought such a horrendous punishment on the polity, would themselves take some blows. But nada! Instead, the opposite was the case. Within months of plunging the citizens into the untold hardship Tinubu went on a binge, spending money – in the words of Olusegun Obasanjo, former President – like a drunken sailor.
Few weeks after, as Nigerians were reeling and gasping in pain from the impact of their new situation, 469 newly-minted Sport Utility Vehicles (SUVs), rolled out from factories in Japan, where they were produced into the premises of the National Assembly for the just inaugurated members.
Put the cost at N100billion – that is N160million for each unit, plus other charges. Reason: The lawmakers needed the vehicles because of their good suspension system, to navigate the so many bad roads in Nigeria. Yes, you heard right. How could they think well and make good laws after the hassles of the bad roads? Tinubu saw reasons, acquiesced and voila!
But it did not end there. Tinubu suddenly realised that Kashim Shettima, his deputy, needed a new home “befitting” his new office. Pronto! A voucher of N21billion was raised and he had it. Till date a haze still hovers over the project.
The last news that was heard was that Number Two refused to take residence because the entire environment, including the toilets was wired to the teeth to monitor him. And Number Two needed privacy.
Again, in the same weeks, Oga Patapata, also realised that Madam needed to transport more comfortably. Pronto! It was arranged. Another voucher was raised for cars for the Office of the First Lady. Cost N1.2billion. Of course, madam needed the comfort for peace at home.
Naturally, since transportation is not done by land alone, he also took care of that. For the sea, a yacht was procured. Cost N5billion. Because the birds in the presidential fleet were not good enough, Tinubu did the needful.
He enriched the fleet with the one befitting of his status and had it transformed to mimic the US Air Force One. To complete the status symbol project, he also added a replica of The Beast, the US presidential automobile.
Ironically, the funds used in procuring these luxury lifestyle, came, not out of productive ventures of Nigeria, but through borrowing. Today, Tinubu has practically borrowed Nigeria blind, doubling or even tripling that of his predecessors.
Meanwhile Nigerians had upped the ante from mere groaning and skreiching. Citizens, unable to take it anymore, now stop their hitherto sleek vehicles on the Third Mainland Bridge and plunge into the Lagos lagoon to end it all. The option is now more rampant than remote and occasional.
Many others, taking the Socrates option, now drink hemlock and many more simply sleep off without any intention of waking up. That is where we are. That is the new Nigeria – the Tinubu Nigeria. But there is more.
Terrorists and the landlords of the forest, having now discovered that the Commander-in-Chief has other fancies than security and welfare of the people – the constitutionally-declared primary purpose of government and scant regard for the citizens, have practically gone haywire. They have taken over and established their authority.
Presently, outside those wantonly slaughtered or butchered in their homes like animals at the abattoir, incinerated alive while sleeping on their beds, among other forms of decimation, many more citizens are now spending months, going to years as victims of captivity with them in various forests in Nigeria.
In their rampage, the terrorists have since broken all barriers considered out of place hitherto. One of their escapades is the present videos of the school children and teachers taken from Oyo State. The gory imagery captures the current Nigerian story.
For instance, on Thursday, just as the sound of heavy celebration was going on in neighbouring Ogun State as the world marked the Ojude Oba yearly carnival, two of the victims, one of them with a toddler on her back, were pleading for their lives, as others went through various forms of torture, including heavy whipping like beasts.
Don’t forget that the terrorists had earlier slaughtered one of their colleagues. In the new video, the totally terrified women, informed that they had chosen another victim to be similarly eliminated. Yet, no word about rescue! Terrible!
Interestingly, if not painfully, Tinubu’s response, in the few cases he bothered, was to see the crisis through the politics lens. His most recent reaction was to tell the world that the harvest of attacks and carnages ravaging the country, were sponsored by his political enemies, intent on shoving him out of power. That to him was all that mattered.
Now, where are your powers as C-in-C? They are mostly found in the most disgraceful economic and political acts of impunity. Nigerians now waking up to hear of the award of brain-dazing contracts such as the N15trillion Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and Badagry-Maiduguri Highway – with scant regard for official regulations, is now becoming more common than rare.
Few days after one of the teachers was beheaded and the video of the hideous act made to circulate on the social media, the President and his All Progressives Congress (APC), party, rolled out the drums of his winning the party’s ticket to contest the 2027 presidential election.
To say that it has been three years of weeping, wailing, mourning and gnashing of the teeth, is a clear euphemism. There is no starker way of putting it than calamity – pure, unmitigated catastrophe – disaster.
Then comes the big question. Nigeria is already breasting the tape of these ruinous years of the first term. Suppose Tinubu succeeds in renewing his tenure by January next year? Will Nigeria survive five more years of a life like the last three? What will be left of Nigeria? Is there a way out, outside shouting – God forbid!?
Now that Nyesom Wike, Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT) has fully executed his plot against Siminalayi Fubara, Governor of Rivers State, where would it be placed in terms of identity, nuances, ethos and history? Where would it be placed in democratic arrangement and value? In other word, by what name would it be called?
So, this is what President Bola Tinubu’s much-advertised democratic credentials is all about? This is what being listed among the arrowheads in the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), the body that fought relentlessly against the late Sani Abacha and his henchmen has finally come to?
Is this where “The Last Man Standing” – apologies Tony Elumelu – has ended up? So, after wedging an epic battle for and through Lagos State, against then President Obasanjo and practically defeating him, even if perceptibly, in all the struggles – such as running government without federal allocation for years and surviving the political onslaught that took away other South West states like a tsunami, it has come to this?
Don’t forget that it was this selfsame Tinubu that served as the bastion of opposition in Nigerian politics from when he was Governor of Lagos State, not only standing up against Obasanjo, but undertaking the relentless battles that led to the All Progressives Congress (APC), winning the war eventually in 2015.
So, this is what all the struggles, the speeches, the colloquia, the meetings and the strategies have come to – the end result? So, the definition of democracy, to Tinubu, is selling the dog to buy a monkey – replacing democratic bad-behaviour with democratic-heist? So, this is it?!
Make no mistake about it. What you saw play out in Rivers is nothing but Tinubu at work. It is all about him, it is for him. Never make the mistake of adorning Wike in the toga of a powerful man. That would be a fatal error of judgement. Every power he exercises, real, imagined, inferred or contingent belong to and are exclusive to Tinubu.
Take away the President and Wike would turn to a political meek-lamb or a jellyfish. Fubara would have eaten him for lunch a long time ago. So, Tinubu it is – the reason the klieglights must be beamed on him. That is why he must carry the can in this odious construct in Rivers in particular and the entire Nigerian political scenario in general.
With the picture that assaulted Nigeria regarding the APC primaries that have just held, what is different from the edition we saw in the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of old? Is it not worse or the worst in real and imagined terms? What then has Tinubu been fighting all these years?
Incidentally, where we have Wike today, we had Lamidi Adedibu, the Amala Politics exponent, Tony Aneni of the Mr. Fix-it fame and the Uba brothers in Anambra to whom the political firmament in Nigeria once bowed, among many plethora of examples.
So, there is nothing really new about the development, but for the fresh dimension that has been introduced into the narrative by the Wike phenomenon, which is totally novel. Before now it was a case of one behemoth in a political party rampaging the system.
But today, it has gone beyond that. Wike has developed the penchant for taking no prisoners. In his own strange construct, he has now coalesced the entire APC and PDP structure into his shoulder basket, from where he dispenses favours.
Imagine Kingsley Chinda, purchasing APC governorship election form, as a PDP federal lawmaker without first resigning from his original party. That is how wacky it has become. Wackier still is that nobody – not even the APC apparatchik has been able to raise a finger. Why? Obvious answer – the Tinubu factor.
Now, here is the danger. By the heist in Port Harcourt adding to the sequence of political oddities and absurdities since the Tinubu years, it has become obvious that Nigeria is headed towards a Paul Biya’s Cameroun, a Yoweri Musaveni’s Uganda and Zimbabwe under the late Robert Mugabe.
Tinubu, has shown obvious incapacity to tackle the parlous economic crisis in the country with 150 million Nigerians plunged into multidimensional poverty and many more growing the list daily, while also displaying uncommon powerlessness towards addressing the debilitating state of insecurity.
Under his nose citizens are daily being forced from their homes into the forests by terrorists, with some of them taken from their crutching positions, positioned before the camera and slaughtered – heads cut off like animals at an abattoir and video images freely displayed on social media.
Yet, by what has now happened in Rivers State, it has become obvious that Nigerians are not being factored into the whole equation and if they were, scant regard is paid to their opinion, ending in their powerlessness to change the situation. That is the tragedy!
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