One of the most insanely absurd consequences of having a colossal failure like Muhammadu Buhari as President is that he drops the bar so low that any Tom, Dick, and Harry that replaces him automatically becomes a genius with every move or action they undertake. This is the most typical explanation for what is going on in Nigeria at the moment following the inauguration of President Bola Tinubu.
The bar of governance as of the expectation of Nigerians as a people, indeed, have been so abjectly lowered that they have been impelled to praise just about any mediocre act of a politician who show nascent sparks of brilliance in matching their words with action and acting right by the people.
At first, the inauguration of the former Governor of Lagos State as Nigeria’s President was greeted with cautious optimism, rather than the usual euphoria of a change of government. A good chunk of Nigerians generally concluded that Having sold a dummy to them twice by supporting Buhari and also assuring them that he was only coming to continue from where he stopped, expecting anything good to come out of him would have been foolhardy and plainly stupid.
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Surprisingly, his propaganda machines and spin doctors have managed to twist the proceedings and turn the narratives around. Three weeks after his swearing-in, every decision he appears to have taken has been received with euphoric commendation from a section of gullible Nigerians. Most of these Nigerians who are perhaps patients of Stockholm syndrome have seen themselves being encouraged to praise gross ineptitude, mediocrity and a badly ran kakistocratic government of nepotism.
The tremulous and doddering government of Tinubu which was fairly illegitimate from the beginning has in three weeks unleashed unprecedented hardship, pain, and suffering on Nigerians. The government has made highly spirited efforts to heighten the burdens of Nigerians without any form of cushion or palliative measures to act as buffers. The government has seen itself remove fuel subsidy in a very bizarre manner in what was nothing but an apparent case of crass showmanship. That move ended up impacting every sector of the economy leaving Nigerians to their fate.
Tinubu’s predecessor, Buhari, who rode on the crest of the goodwill of the masses to defeat the incumbent former President Goodluck Jonathan of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in 2015, had promised so much, but delivered so little in his eight-year tenure, turning Nigeria into the poverty capital of the world. Amidst those glaring failures, the propaganda machinery of the APC which was well-oiled by Tinubu kept deodorising the stench by making claims about massive infrastructure as part of the major achievements of the administration under his watch. Regardless of whatever lies they peddled, what is undeniable was that, under the former President, Nigeria witnessed two recessions, huge debt overhang, foreign exchange instability, dwindling value of the naira, rising unemployment, hunger, and general despair and no one can change those well-documented facts.
This negative trajectory of the economy during those locust years was largely blamed on the gross ineptitude of Buhari, his nepotistic tendency, and parochialism which accounted for the abysmal performance of his administration. Today, it appears that Tinubu is copying from the same playbook.
Once again, nepotism is beginning to rear its ugly head again. For a government that is still struggling to dispel the legitimacy question marks around it, it is even more preposterous and insane. From taking out the gluttonously corrupt Governor of the Central Bank of Nigeria, Godwin Emefelie, and replacing him with a tribesman in Folashodun Shonubi to ensuring that the Nigerian Police Force, and Nigerian Army and the customs are headed by his tribesmen, some analysts have posited that Tinubu could be preparing to make a mess of Buhari’s nepotism records. Perhaps one of the most odious attributes Tinubu appears to have inherited from Buhari is an obvious dislike for Igbo people. In three weeks, Tinubu has made over 40 appointments and only one of them is of Igbo ethnic origin.
For starters, a kakistocracy is a government run by the worst, least qualified, or most unscrupulous citizens. This exactly describes what Tinubu has been assembling ever since he took the reins of power.
The truth remains that, after riding to Aso Rock on the back on an utterly divisive Muslim Muslim ticket, it was going to be surprising if Tinubu’s appointment were not lopsided. However, given his background in Lagos where non-indigenes were appointed to his cabinet, many had expected him to do better. Rather than recruiting men and women with the requisite capacity to steer the country out of the woods, Tinubu appears keen to replicate the Yoruba version of Buhari’s nepotism template.
Under Buhari, merit was completely thrown overboard and unbridled parochialism was the order of the day. To him, it did not matter whether someone was qualified or not. All that was required was for the ‘right’ side of the country and he or she was automatically qualified to hold even the most sensitive national assignments.
Today, Tinubu is leaving no stone unturned in preparing the grounds to run a very divisive government. This is coming at a time when there is huge clamour for a government of National unity to unite the country that was terribly divided by the man Tinubu claims he made President.
During the electioneering period from September 2022 to February 2023, Tinubu blatantly shunned all media appearances, refusing to grant a single interview even to explain his manifesto.
Hardly did he take any message to Nigerians as a reason he should be voted for. The only visible message he kept repeating to the irritation of Nigerians was that he will continue the good work of the immediate past President, Muhammadu Buhari.
Even when he appeared at the Chatham House in London, United Kingdom during the campaign, he had no response to questions and his aides had to come to his rescue to answer questions on his behalf. Those actions, were clear enough to inform Nigerians that the self-styled ‘Jagaban’ had nothing to offer Nigerians.
Tinubu and his choir of pretenders and residents of alternate reality can continue to live in denial of self-evident truths about his medicore leadership, but facts are facts and facts are often stubborn. They must be reminded that repeating a cocktail of tired lies and half-truths several times will not help them remake and rewrite the facts on the ground to suit their narrative and mislead undiscerning Nigerians. Of course, in this nefarious quest, there are willing writers of fortunes-for-hire to help advance their narrative.
Tinubu’s government has so far not addressed any of the fundamental issues bedeviling Nigeria. The problems are still very much around and are fast festering. The earlier Nigerians come to terms with the fact that Tinubu has nothing to offer them, the better.
