Welcome back, Mr. President, but…, by CASMIR IGBOKWE

Fellow Nigerians, let’s welcome back our President, Bola Tinubu, who, on October 2, 2024, travelled to London for his annual leave. He was meant to return after two weeks. But midway into his relaxation in London, he travelled to France for an “important engagement”. The President finally returned to Nigeria on Saturday, October 19, 2024.

While the President was away, the Vice-President, Kashim Shettima, also travelled to Stockholm, Sweden, for bilateral talks. That was between October 17 and 19. This meant that Tinubu and Shettima were out of the country simultaneously. That was the second time the pilot and his co-pilot were out of the cockpit while the flight was airborne since they started piloting the Nigerian aircraft 17 months ago. Within this period, both Tinubu and Shettima have reportedly undertaken 41 trips across 26 countries. Tinubu has visited 16 countries while Shettima has visited 10. Presidential spokesman, Bayo Onanuga, said there was no vacuum in governance as the two leaders were fully engaged with the nation’s affairs even while they were away.

Well, Nigerians are used to frequent travels by their Presidents. When Umaru Yar’Adua was the President, he was frequently out of the country to attend to his health. For months, he was on his sick bed in Saudi Arabia without transmitting any letter to the National Assembly. But a certain cabal told us some cock and bull stories just to sideline the then Vice-President, Goodluck Jonathan, and achieve their aim. They said Yar’Adua could rule from any part of the world and even reportedly signed some bills from his hospital bed. We endured this situation until Yar’Adua died in 2010, paving way for Jonathan to take over.

Former President Muhammadu Buhari copied Yar’Adua’s style. In his first tenure as President, Buhari visited not less than 33 countries. He did a similar thing during his second term in office. Like Yar’adua, Buhari’s spin doctors told us different stories to rationalize his long absence from his duty post. In 2017, Buhari spent 103 days on medical vacation in the United Kingdom. His Senior Special Assistant on Media and Publicity, Mallam Garba Shehu, said a leader could govern from the air, on the road or at the sea. Yes, Buhari signed the Deep Offshore and Inland Basin Production Sharing Contract Amendment Bill in London in 2019. Luckily, his deputy, Professor Yemi Osinbajo, was more than capable. He took charge and expertly handled the affairs of the country during Buhari’s first term in office, especially in 2018. He was able to do this because the President allowed him to act as President each time he embarked on a long travel outside Nigeria. But in his second tenure, Buhari stopped transmitting letters to the National Assembly to allow Osinbajo to act as President as required by Section 145 of the 1999 Constitution.

In all these travels, what suffers is effective governance. Though former President Olusegun Obasanjo had his flaws, he appears to be the best when compared with his successors. The man was firm and had direction. His ministers and advisers were top-notch. Under him, we had a semblance of an experienced pilot who knew his destination very well. It is quite unfortunate that every successive regime performs worse than its predecessors.

Yar’Adua who took over from Obasanjo tried his best, but sickness was what knocked him off. Jonathan is a good man, but leadership requires more than being a good man. He was also weak and couldn’t control the hawks around him who were milking the country’s resources dry. For Buhari, it was a combination of old age and incompetence. He didn’t know much about what was happening around him and he lacked the capacity to even know. Tinubu is still young in his position as President. The full verdict of his stewardship will come after his tenure. But from what is happening currently, there appears to be no end in sight to our woes.

The hawks have gathered again. They are feasting on the resources of the country. Many big companies have seen hell. They secretly remit humongous amount of money to some government agents who threaten them if they don’t cooperate. Most times, the money does not pass through the banking system. They collect it in cash and in dollars.

It is possible that the ruler of Nigeria does not know what is happening. He is old and has lost the strength to preside over a vast and difficult country like Nigeria.

Many things have gone wrong and continue to go wrong in our beloved country. I travelled to the East from my base in Lagos last Friday. The roads were terrible. A journey that ordinarily shouldn’t take me more than six hours took me over 12 hours. We are building Lagos-Calabar coastal road, yet we can’t maintain the ones we already have. We have Federal Road Maintenance Agency (FERMA). Each state has state road maintenance agency that is saddled with the responsibility of maintaining state roads. The question then is, why are most of these roads in a terrible shape? Why can’t we develop a system whereby little cracks on these roads are repaired before they turn into big potholes and craters? What will it take the FERMA to repair or maintain the Benin bypass which is in a terrible state and has caused serious delays for travellers and damage to vehicles. And we have a minister of works!

Do we talk about insecurity? Non-state actors like Boko Haram, herdsmen, unknown gunmen and kidnappers have taken over some sections of the country. In certain parts of the North, terrorists and bandits collect taxes from citizens and woe betide whoever fails to pay. People are kidnapped at will and huge ransoms paid to rescue them. Some get killed even with the payment of ransom. Life has no meaning here anymore and killing of citizens has become part of the monthly statistics we read on a regular basis. The number of citizens killed by bandits and terrorists runs into hundreds of thousands. Those displaced from their homes runs into millions. And we have security chiefs and service commanders!

We have been told that the painful reforms of today will bear plentiful harvest tomorrow. Nigerians are dying in droves. Inflation has continued to rise astronomically. People are hungry and angry. The exchange rate has never been this bad as it is fast approaching N2,000 per dollar. Amid all these, the people in power revel in luxury and even mock the masses in their predicament. Some of our youths protested. They were arrested and charged with treason. The alibi is that it is not the present administration that caused our problems; that it inherited economic mess from the previous administration.

They forget that Nigerians did not elect them to give excuses. They knew that the country has many challenges. They campaigned and promised to renew our hope when they assumed office. Is giving excuses part of renewing our hope?

In any case, Nigerians did not elect many of the people parading the corridors of power today. They imposed themselves on us. They have captured the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC). They have captured the security agencies. They have also captured the judiciary. They have even captured thugs who perpetrate violence and snatch ballot boxes during election. So, when they rig elections, they tell you to go to court because they know that nothing much will come out of it. They know they will win and nothing will happen.

Until we get our leadership recruitment process right, Nigeria will not move forward. The beauty of democracy is that it gives power to the people. It is said that the power of the people is greater that the people in power. This is not the case in Nigeria where the people in power are greater than the power of the people. The powers that be do things with impunity and dare the people to do their worst.

Nigerians have resigned to fate and have continued to look up to God to rescue them. But we must do our part first before we continue to disturb God. We must continue to agitate for electoral and political reforms in Nigeria. We must continue to call for restructuring of the federal system we run currently. We must continue to insist that politicians who present themselves for leadership positions must meet certain verifiable standards, especially in education and character. We must maintain that appointment into key positions like the Chairman of INEC should not be the prerogative of the incumbent President alone. We must think of how to strengthen our institutions such that the Chief Justice of Nigeria (CJN), for instance, will not be more powerful than the institution he superintends. Or the President of Nigeria being more powerful than the people who put him in office.

Meanwhile, let’s welcome our President back from his annual leave. Being a man who loves travelling, we must continue to ask God for journey mercies upon him and his aides. He started travelling to different countries to seek foreign investors even as President-elect in 2023. Let’s also implore him to stay more at home and face the challenges of governance squarely. He should ask himself, how many Presidents have visited Nigeria since he assumed office 17 months ago?