President Bola Tinubu Takes Off Against All Odds

Uzor Maxim Uzoatu

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has taken off as the 16^th mortal to take charge of the affairs of Nigeria. As the Presidential Candidate of Nigeria’s ruling party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), he replaced incumbent President Muhammadu Buhari who many believe had not performed well in office.

Unlike Buhari who started very slowly when he won power back in 2015, Tinubu has surprised not a few Nigerians with his action-packed early days. Many commentators have commended his courage for doing away with the petroleum subsidy, but it has to be stressed that Buhari’s regime actually did the removal thus leaving his successor, Tinubu, with a mere fait accompli. Even so, the somewhat off-handed manner Tinubu announced the fuel subsidy removal during his inauguration speech left much to be desired. Petrol prices instantly sky-rocketed, and the Nigeria Labour Congress (NLC) had to threaten to go on strike before the new regime had to use the courts to buy time for negotiation.

One controversial pitch in Tinubu’s take-off was the visit of the Niger Delta militant, Asari Dokubo, to the seat of government in Aso Villa. It did not meet with the acceptance of most observers that Dokubo was allowed to superintend upon the cover of Nigeria’s coat of arms to make the charge that 99 percent of oil thievery in the country was being done by the Nigerian military forces. Dokubo did not stop at just that as he took quite some time to launch ethnic slurs on the Igbo ethnic group. Some critics have stated that whatever score Tinubu aimed to gain from the Dokubo visit may eventually backfire.

Tinubu suspended the embattled Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele and promptly got him arrested. As things stand, one would wonder if Emefiele could have acted without the backing of his boss Buhari. Nigerians are watching and waiting with bated breath.

Tinubu has replaced Buhari’s service chiefs and there have been diverse reactions as per the appointees’ ethno-religious bearings. It is no thanks to Buhari’s rabid nepotism that so much attention is now being paid to anybody appointed into high office in Nigeria.

It is the appointment of former EFCC boss Nuhu Ribadu as the National Security Adviser (NSA) that strikes me as worth commenting on. In some quarters the issue has been raised that the NSA ought to have been a ranking retired military officer. For me, that is neither here nor there. The essence of democracy is military subjugation to civil authority. If Tinubu can go the whole hog, Nigeria’s democracy will eventually be rid of the overarching military hangover.

The appointment of the sacked former Managing Director of Nigeria Ports Authority (NPA) Hadiza Bala Usman as an adviser by Tinubu raises some pertinent issues. Ms. Bala Usman is a known associate of former Kaduna State Governor Malam Nasir el-Rufai who had made her his SA when he was FCT Abuja Minister under then President Obasanjo. It’s worthy of note that she was accused of not remitting an outstanding N165 billion as MD of NPA for which she was sent packing. A ministerial probe panel had to be set up to investigate her even as the EFCC ought to have done the job. The ministerial probe report is yet to manifest after two years and Hadiza Bala Usman is on the rise again, and many allege that it’s her connection with el-Rufai that has again upped her into appointment with the Tinubu regime.

Given this problem of corruption, a particularly remarkable suspension that President Tinubu has undertaken is that of the erstwhile EFCC boss Abdulrasheed Bawa. The DSS has since put Bawa under custody. Corruption is at the heart of the Nigerian malaise, and Tinubu has over the years been smeared with charges of corruption. It needs to be recalled that Obasanjo once stated that Nuhu Ribadu as EFCC leader under him had written a report that listed Tinubu amongst the most corrupt governors of his era. It is crucial for President Tinubu not to in any way show that he is giving a soft landing to the corrupt.

Any president of any country all over the world that attempts a cover-up, especially in matters of corruption, almost always ends up in disgrace because this leads to his sordid past being opened up. For instance, it was the Watergate break-in cover-up in the United States by President Richard Nixon that led to moves for his impeachment and ultimate resignation.

There is no denying that Tinubu’s courage to tackle corruption, or lack thereof, will make or mar his presidency. If Tinubu dithers on effectively tackling corruption, critics will keep harking back on his bona-fides that are fraught with multiform controversies, starting with the controversy over his date of birth given as March 29, 1952, and intervolving intractable charges such as bringing a Bullion Van to his home on an election day, unfathomable discrepancies over his parentage, education, drug money forfeiture, tribalism, umpteen gaffes, avoiding debates, age, health challenges etc.

It is by being a president of all who takes no prisoners that Tinubu can triumph as a pan-Nigerian leader despite his past deficits. He should give corruption no breathing space whatsoever, and should not fall for the praise-songs of the hagiographers of the moment. For now, he could do no wrong for the toadies of identity politics, but the catch is that the wider world cannot be deceived for long.

Even the international community, especially Britain, is mouthing its support for Tinubu, but this was how the British praised the military regime of General Ibrahim Babangida upon the introduction SAP until the Nigerian currency all but collapsed. With the removal of the fuel subsidy and dual exchange rate, the Naira has fallen to N815 to the US Dollar at the moment. If things happen to get worse as it appears obvious, Tinubu will face the heat. The British promoters and the ill-assorted praise-singers will of course beat a retreat as it always happens in history.

To end, Tinubu has been given charge of a divided Nigeria. The dust of his disputed election is yet to settle along ethno-religious lines. It is incumbent on Tinubu to walk this tight rope by being fair to all and not bending the knee to injustice and corruption.