{"id":10447,"date":"2023-07-16T06:42:57","date_gmt":"2023-07-16T06:42:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/?p=10447"},"modified":"2023-07-16T06:42:59","modified_gmt":"2023-07-16T06:42:59","slug":"inside-president-tinubus-nigeria-by-abiodun-komolafe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/?p=10447","title":{"rendered":"Inside\u00a0President\u00a0Tinubu\u2019s Nigeria By abiodun KOMOLAFE"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

On May 29, 2023, Bola Tinubu assumed office as Nigeria\u2019s president, 16th<\/sup> leader. Nigerians wish him success in the onerous tasks ahead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the same, it is important to note that President Tinubu\u2019s Nigeria is home to an array of folks: the diligent and the intelligent, the determined and the focused, plus the great boasters and the little doers; and they cut across her socio-political geography. Tinubu\u2019s country harbours the progressives and the conservatives, the strong and the weak, the praise-singers and the faultfinders, the slippery and the flippant, the perpetual pessimists and the embittered opposition. Above all, it is currently a grim reminder of hangover politicking, collateral wheeling-dealing and deliberate promotion of comical sincerity; and they are in abundant supply.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On March 5, 1986, Mamman Vatsa, a Major General, and member of the Ibrahim Babangida-led military government, was executed for planning a coup. Until his death, Domkat Bali, former Minister of Defence and Chief of Defence Staff, maintained that there\u2019s no way of knowing whether or not Vatsa actually committed the crime for which he was executed by his childhood friend. But again, this is Nigeria!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let’s quickly wake General Sani Abacha up from his eternal sleep; he must have something great to share with Nigerians. Remember Daniel Kanu and the \u2018Two-million-man March\u2019<\/em>. Though Abacha won many battles with bullets and allied munitions, the \u2018Maximum General\u2019<\/em> couldn\u2019t but succumb to the superior power of the beautifully bitter songs of \u2018we\u2019ll make the elephant king\u2019<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside Tinubu\u2019s Nigeria, the Yoruba Agenda and the difficulty of coming up with one has been an obvious phenomenon. For example, there was widespread jubilation in Yorubaland when Oba Okunade Sijuwade became the 50th<\/sup> Ooni of Ife <\/em>in 1980. To them, the hope was that, as a man of steel and means, Ile-Ife would be transformed into paradise within months of hisascension to the throne. With his international connections and business interests spanning the global landscape, Nigerians had no doubt in their minds that Oba Sijuwade would, within a short time, turn the ancient city into mini Lagos and that, in no distant time, Ile-Ife would overtake Lagos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Matter-of-frankly, Nigerians held the belief that, with Ooni Sijuwade on the throne, negotiating a coordinate that would bring out a dual carriageway from Iga Iduganran<\/em> Street<\/em> to Enuwa Square<\/em> would be the least of Ife\u2019s worries; and that there would be total industrialization of the cradle of Yoruba culture such that \u2018Segilola\u2019<\/em> would have been a project long done. But, unfortunately, none of those expectations came to reality. Instead, His Imperial Majesty was always in Abuja, either dining with the \u2018evil genius\u2019<\/em> or clinking glasses with the \u2018Goggled One\u2019<\/em>. Needless to repeat that it was during Sijuwade\u2019s reign that the Ife\/Modakeke crisis raged for years; and it was as if the gods were angry!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tunji Adebiyi was personal assistant to the late Abraham Adesanya, a foremost pro-democracy icon and leader of Afenifere<\/em>, a Yoruba sociocultural organization. With the birth of the 4th<\/sup> Republic in 1999, Afenifere<\/em> played prominent roles, especially with regard to who became governors in the Southwest. Fortunately, the progressive bent had its way as all its elected governors were from the Afenifere<\/em> House of Politics<\/em>. Still, nobody remembered this diligent and loyal aide until Tinubu pulled him out, during his 2nd<\/sup> coming as governor of Lagos State. The rest is history! When Adebiyi died in December 2014, altar calls were reportedly made for donations so that his immediate family could have a roof over their heads. Such is the plight of most <\/a>Nigerians: they get so little in return for their industry. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once upon a time in Nigeria\u2019s rich history, Adams Oshiomhole was on this side of the rung. But how time flies? The former president of the Nigeria Labour Congress<\/em> (NLC) is now part of the Federal Government Delegation to the \u2018subsidy-is-<\/em>gone\u2019 <\/em>talks. But what has really changed? Is \u2018Oshio Baba\u2019<\/em> doing it for the love of dear fatherland, or is it because the former Edo State governor has moved from the passenger’s seat to the driver’s? Well, only God knows!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Nigeria, politics and elections are contests: somehow fierce, sometimes deadly. Here, an educated group of people remain the most difficult set to govern. Days to go, former President Muhammadu Buhari confessed that he couldn’t wait much longer to be united with his cattle because governing herds of cattle is much easier than governing Nigerians. The question, therefore, is: when did Nigeria become so didactically disadvantaged as to have lifted up Egypt to the place of attractiveness to Nigerians?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Remember Ike Ekweremadu, the Deputy President of the 6th<\/sup>, 7th<\/sup>and 8th<\/sup> senate. Ekweremadu failed to understand the intricate details of the culture of the British man and he learned the bitter lesson in the United Kingdom. Those things the lawmaker had attached values and importance to in Nigeria had no effect in Britain.<\/em> Take, for instance, the Distinguished Senator went to the UK, thinking that he\u2019d command some undue respect and that Nigerians would start shivering. But there was a clash of cultures and the British law sent him to prison.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inside Tinubu\u2019s Nigeria is Kamal Usman, a physically challenged JSS 3 student of STDSS, Kagara in Niger State who writes with his mouth. Usman needs help so that he can live out his dream.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As children, we were not trained to disobey the authority of the government. However, #EndSARS<\/em> has brought with it the era of changing times and things. A crop of new children is growing up. Having realized that nobody is conscious of their existence, these children have come to register their presence. Interestingly too, they have realized that, if the ugly trend is not arrested, it will go on ad infinitum,<\/em> because one \u2018cannot be doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results\u2019. <\/em>While the music lasts, the people will keep dancing, kowtowing as if all is well, whereas nothing is nice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lame-footed excuses! Limited understanding of institutional values! There is a trend in human behaviour that evolved almost with the creation of man. It is called blame-game! When Adam ate the forbidden fruit, the simple response to God\u2019s query was that it was He who gave it to Eve who, in turn, gave it to him (Adam) to eat; and he ate it! For Adam therefore, taking responsibility was out of the question. Likewise in Nigeria, if a man can no longer perform his conjugal obligations, it is Asiwaju\u2019s<\/em> fault. If it refuses to rain, some political gladiators will blame it on the president. If farmers\u2019 harvests are poor due to bad agricultural policies and inclement weather, \u2018na Jagaban cause am!\u2019<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the look of things, is Nigeria a functional society? If she is, would some state governors have been into too many errors \u2013 as shown in the irreverent dabble into the traditional institutions and power relations? As the chief executives of their respective states, isn\u2019t it better to face the many known troubles than to add traditional institution\u2019s matters to their plates? Anyway, that\u2019s a worthy advice which those who are collecting \u2018chicken money\u2019 from the governors won\u2019t want to offer; and it\u2019s for obvious reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Taken together, the president has a once-in-a-lifetimeopportunity to serve as the healing balm. Nigerians can only hope in the outcome of his experiments. For Nigerians, changing their beliefs won\u2019t be out of place, as no president is capable of doing for them what they\u2019re supposed to do for themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

May the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

*KOMOLAFE writes in from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, Nigeria (<\/em>ijebujesa@yahoo.co.uk<\/em><\/a>)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On May 29, 2023, Bola Tinubu assumed office as Nigeria\u2019s president, 16th leader. Nigerians wish him success in the onerous tasks ahead. All the same, it is important to note that President Tinubu\u2019s Nigeria is home to an array of folks: the diligent and the intelligent, the determined and the focused, plus the great boasters and the little doers; and they cut across her socio-political geography. Tinubu\u2019s country harbours the progressives and the conservatives, the strong and the weak, the praise-singers and the faultfinders, the<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":9657,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[46],"tags":[4156,4146,4225,4155,4272],"class_list":["post-10447","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-context","tag-current-news-in-nigeria","tag-news-analysis","tag-nigerian-newspapers","tag-time-nigeria","tag-tinubu"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/modusoperandum.ng\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/06\/TinubuOK.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10447","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10447"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10447\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10448,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10447\/revisions\/10448"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/9657"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10447"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10447"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/modusoperandum.ng\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10447"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}