EXPRESSO>>> By Steve Osuji
The situation is so dark that some are already making dire speculations about the President’s current extended vacation in Europe. But it’s really getting eerie. The presidency has diminished vastly since the quest for a second term began and President Bola Tinubu is a vanishing caricature of his already poor self.
Observers have pointed out that it may well be a mortal mistake for the president to seek a second term in office. After purloining the first mandate and performing abysmally, many expected he would play the Mandela card. That is pretend to be a statesman, bow out in a hail of glory and honour to the admiration of the world. But Tinubu is no statesman. He has no honour either.
He has only one obsession, viz: power for power’s sake . It’s just as well that Tinubu didn’t stop at only a first term. He would have hoodwinked history into glorifying him. History would have been arm-twisted into dressing Tinubu in golden garbs of nobility. But he’s from the streets. He’s an alley cat. Or a narco cat if you like.
But it’s actually a certain kind of genius to work ones way from the streets to the No. 1 address in the land. The problem however, is that they don’t know when to stop, to take an honourable bow from the stage.
THE DAMAGED COMMODITY
Tinubu today, is worse than Joseph Biden in every respect. But in July, 2024, he was pushed to step down from the Presidential race because he had become an embarrassment. Aged and ailing, his incapacitation became apparent not only to the Democrats, but to America and indeed, the world. His party impressed upon him to step down. But here, Tinubu is APC.
He’s both the president and leader of the party. No one can look him in the face. Everyone chants about his (flawed) mandate at every turn; even in the hallowed chambers of the National Assembly. Since the mandate was stolen in the first place, chanting about it seems an eccentric way of legitimising it.
When it was therefore time for presidential primary, no one dared to speak up or stand against Tinubu. In fact, all the big wigs tumbled all over themselves trying to endorse him. Regardless of the fact that he performed woefully; that his indeterminate age tells on him and his ailment may have worsened, he chose to run for a second term.
APC HOLLOWED OUT
Tinubu didn’t only damage the country, he also reduced the ruling party to rubble. No, let’s be charitable. He reduced the party to his level and rebuilt it in his poor image. For instance, scanning through the party, there’s no personality with enough stature to replace Tinubu should it become necessary to so do now. Upon his ascendancy, Tinubu shuttered out all the high-minded members of the party and left only his lackeys.
Men like Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Babatunde Fashola, Muiz Banire, Rauf Aregbesola, Gbenga Daniel, Kayode Fayemi, Babafemi Ojodu, all the real men among his kinsmen from the the southwest, he decimated them all. He consigned them to the Siberia of Nigeria’s politics. From the other parts of the country, he locked out people like Dr Chris Ngige, late Ogbonnaya Onu, Rotimi Amaechi, Orji Uzor Kalu, Rochas Okorocha, Dr Bukola Saraki, to name a few.
All the serving APC governors of the south have diminished in stature under Tinubu. Should the incumbent become unviable as it looks increasingly probable, hardly any APC man or woman from the south can step up to the plate. Tinubu is anti-intellectual, he’s a canker that has quietly destroyed APC. Prof. Osinbajo, Muhammadu Buhari’s vice president for eight years was super eligible to take over from his principal.
He challenged Tinubu in the primary and lost. He, like all the notable members who lost in the primary, including those who stepped down for him were sidelined. So APC is a hollow pipe right now.
CAN TINUBU SURVIVE THE STORM? The president is weary. His public activities have reduced. Sometimes he’s not seen in the public for days. He jetted out a few days ago for an extended vacation in Europe that’s unbecoming of a sovereign.
But Tinubu’s main blight today is his drug-related FBI files in the US. One of the leading opposition candidates, Atiku Abubakar, has continued to scourge the president over this issue. But the president fights desperately to ensure that the redacted files are not made public. He said that exposure of the files would be most injurious to him.
The CIA, FBI and DEA that have described him as an “asset” agreed with Tinubu. The president was a couple of days ago, accused of offering a huge sum to US lobbyists to block the exposure of the files which by the way, is to do with his narcotics trial and forfeiture of alleged proceeds therefrom.
DAMAGED BEYOND REPAIRS
Whichever way the tussle goes, the president and Nigeria’s presidency is being tainted and damaged beyond repairs. Pressure mounts and signs are blurry. Why would a president embark on holidays at the beginning of a major election campaign? That speaks volumes. The president and his party have also performed woefully over the past three years. There’s hardly any concrete achievements to campaign on.
The country is far worse today than in 2023 when he started. A boondoggle reform he embarked upon at inception has only produced negative results, e.g, throwing additional 60 million Nigerians into poverty. This is enough to throw out a president. In fact, any reasonable leader would stand down on account of this alone.
In summary, the ruling party would have done well to change its flag-bearer but it actually has no viable substitute among it’s rank!
LAST LINE: DATTI BABA-AHMED’S UNRAVELING
Whatever happened to Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed? He was a revelation of sorts when he ran as running mate to Peter Obi in the 2023 presidential election. Nigerians thought they had found the quintessential northern leader who ticked all the boxes. Well-read, well-spoken, with an ample grasp of the critical issues in Nigeria. He ran a good race with his principal in an election the world believes their team, the Labour Party, won.
He even caused a stir when he threatened hell and brimstone should President Tinubu be sworn in. But he has since moved on after the futile legal battles. Today, he has joined his big brother’s Peoples Redemption Party (PRP) but his campaign mantra seems to be: Operation run down Peter Obi. Each time he makes a post, he picks on his former principal or tell the world why the north would reject him.
He would propagate outright lies that had been debunked ad-infinitum. His current song is a blatant lie that Obi as Anambra state governor issued ID cards to Hausa indigenes in the state. It needs to be stated that Datti-Ahmed’s relentless barbs at Obi is akin to self-annihilation. He diminishes himself more because his action presents him as traitorous.
