Agenda for Incoming President Tinubu

Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

There is so much work for Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to do after being declared the winner of the controversial February 25 presidential election by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).

There is no escaping the fact that there is tension in the country and Nigeria needs healing. Many pundits have stated that Nigerians have never ever been this divided, even during the time of the civil war. The fact that the election is still being contested in the court shows that bonding needs to be comprehensively pursued by Tinubu if he is ever to make a success of his lifetime ambition of becoming the president of Nigeria.

Tinubu must never ever cease harping on the need for national unity instead of the polarisation that the hate speech of politicians portends. It is incumbent on Tinubu to use the vehicle of his election to build a strong government that is truly national to all intents and purposes instead of dividing the land along partisan lines. Tinubu should make bold to stress that all the talk of “It’s my turn! Emilokan! Yoruba lokan!” during the elections had been done away with for good. That should be the spirit. I cannot but ask the other politicians to toe the line of peace even while pursuing their court cases.

Any talk of setting an infrastructure agenda for Tinubu at this time that the nation is being fecklessly torn apart by mundane ethnic concerns, bigotry, hate and terrorism should be put on one side for Nigeria to first earn a measure of healing. Tinubu owes it as a duty to take charge of the central unifying role of bringing all together through shared values.

The ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) has retained power through Tinubu after the expiration of the tenure of President Muhammadu Buhari. It is well-nigh impossible for Tinubu to cut himself off from the failures of the past regime such as the humongous debt burden put at 77 trillion US Dollars, gross nepotism, flagrant kidnappings etc. Winning back the trust of Nigerians is what Tinubu should work at first by finding a way to distance himself from the strictures of Buhari.

There is the nagging fear that we may lose the nation if something concrete is not done now to hold us together. Nothing should be done by Tinubu to give his one-faith ticket any measure of dichotomy or disparity in a volatile multi-faith nation such as Nigeria is. Tinubu ought to make hay with the understanding and belief that the bonds established by Nigerians across ethnic and religious borders in the intervening years since the 1914 Amalgamation by Lord Lugard have grown beyond the flimsiness of a whimsical breakup. Tinubu should therefore rise up to the needs of the oneness for the nation instead of priding his Yoruba homeland over all others like Buhari placed his Northern Muslim background ahead of other constituents of the country.   

Tinubu cannot but come armed with the knowledge that Nigeria can in no way be singled out as the only diverse nation in the world. India, for instance, has its share of diversities and even mutinies, but it still holds aloft the torch of democracy.

The fact that his disputed election is what is hampering his legitimacy should make Tinubu immediately embark on comprehensive electoral reforms. Undertaking this necessary task will earn Tinubu great support across the country.

For Nigeria to build her democracy and make it last, Tinubu must take hard decisions, no matter whose ox is gored. Leaders of stature all over the world such as Pandit Nehru of India and Nelson Mandela of South Africa should be seen by Tinubu as ready examples to emulate for a new Nigeria to be launched forth after the squandering of riches of the past epochs. The dream of our founding fathers, notably Dr Nnamdi Azikiwe, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and Alhaji Ahmadu Bello, to build a formidable nation that should stand the test of time must not be compromised on the altar of small-mindedness and parochial sectional interests.

Lee Kuan Yew of Singapore boldly made the mark of taking his then fledging nation from the Third World to First World status. Dr Mahathir of Malaysia repeated the feat. This shows that it is possible for Nigeria to defeat all debacles and shoot well ahead in the comity of nations without bending the knee to defeatism. The problems of the country ought to be seen by Tinubu as challenges that can be mastered by a committed leader. This ought to be the centrality of the coming Tinubu drive.

It needs to be stressed that it is not necessarily the holding of power by one’s kin that makes a particular zone to prosper but the creative productive spirit to forge ahead. It is the willingness of the people to bond together based on shared values that strengthens the commonwealth. This way, Tinubu can make the people who have been made to believe to stay committed with him in giving Nigeria a new lease of life. The lesson of course is to readily subjugate self in favour of the general good.

Tinubu can only succeed if he sees the entire Nigeria as his vast canvas. The railway track that travels all the way from Sokoto up North and down to the South through Eha-Amufu, Iddo and Port Harcourt must have over the years established so much binding mores amongst the diverse Nigerians. Tinubu, unlike his predecessor, should not isolate some areas as independent dots! The migration of Nigerians to all nooks and crannies of the nation has built together uncountable Nigerians who call anywhere they reside in the country home. Tinubu should call to order some of his supporters, especially in Lagos, who flew a ghastly ethnic flag against another nationality of the country during the elections.

There is tension in Nigeria. This tension must be frontally addressed by Tinubu as the president from the very beginning for the needed progress to be made. Tinubu should man up to say like the former American President Harry S. Truman: “The Buck Stops Here!”