FEMI ADEOTI COLUMN
If President Ahmed Bola Tinubu had treated us this way earlier. Perhaps our plight wouldn’t have been this messy. But he never did. Sad!
In his very first hour in office on May 29, 2023. He elected to jump on us. He took us for granted. He told us he was tough. And he thought he had taken an equally tough decision.
But, alas! Things have not been the same. His presidency took over from a bad government. At least, that’s what Nuhu Ribadu told us. He’s the National Security Adviser (NSA).
However, our collective plight has gone from bad to worse. Their stubbornness was rapidly worsening the situation. We watched helplessly.
We cried our hearts out. Then it dawned on them. They realised they goofed big time. And the beat changed. They switched to “endurance.” But we faulted that approach. While we endured, we didn’t see any of them doing the same.
We shouted foul play. We adjusted our lifestyle. But they didn’t do as they said. They never walked their talk. They stuck to their recklessness. And their opulent living.
We refused to endure any longer. We told them so in plain language. No ambiguity. They were not even clever by half. They hurriedly changed tactics. They redirected their crude strategy. “Patience” was brought in through the backdoor.
Patience became the in-thing. And they preached it to high heavens. Again, they did not display any seriousness in their patience mantra. We read their lips so well. It was another gimmick. We blatantly refused to buy into it. We could identify their ugly writing on the cracked wall.
We are resolute. We won’t give up. No not now. Neither in the farthest future. We have had enough patience. It’s appropriate now for us to have comfort.
The major beneficiaries of these hard times are well known. They are not far to find. They are strictly the elite members of the political class.
They are blessed with cohorts and cronies, as the case may be. In fact, they are the only ones. That’s not contestable. We can see it. We can feel it.
This over-fed and spoilt political class is choking us. We are gasping violently for air. But we must breathe. Why? We still have life in us.
That can’t be taken away from us carelessly. We can’t be denied breath either. They dare not. It’s God-given.
These weird characters are aloof and unfriendly. They’re detached from us. They deliberately maintain their distance from us. They are brazen in their actions and inactions.
Their body language is nauseating. Though they are a very tiny minority. All the same they loom large over us. They occupy every space possible.
For eight excruciating years. It was the same sermon; endurance, patience, et al. They have taken it to a ridiculous level. That there is light at the end of the tunnel. It’s natural that there will be light after going through darkness.
Let’s put this light before the tunnel. That will be a guide. It will help us navigate the darkness in the tunnel. We will then see the land mines in the tunnel.
Tinubu ought to have put in place whatever he considers as palliative. Then remove the much-flaunted fuel subsidy. With that, we won’t need their light at the end of their tunnel. There wouldn’t have been any need to go through the tunnel.
Sadly, their sermon on the mount meant nothing. It never helped matters. We kept on degenerating and depreciating. Until we were crashed, “from top to bottom.”
Tinubu came calling on us again that Monday evening. His genuine intention: To halt the downward trend. He poured his mind. He spoke to our plight. He dwelt heavily on two matters that hold our life as case studies: Fuel subsidy removal and preferential exchange rate system.
It was electioneering after election of sorts. If only he did this before now. If only he didn’t act like a military head of state. Perhaps…
All the same! He honestly addressed our pains, plight and agony as he deemed fit. To fight the rot in our economy is Herculean. He didn’t feign ignorance of the task before him:
“Ending the subsidy and the preferential exchange rate system were key to this fight. This fight is to define the fate and future of our nation.
“Much is in the balance. The defects in our economy immensely profited a tiny elite, the elite of the elite you might call them.” This tiny elite is extremely deadly.
And Tinubu confessed but opted not to surrender: “Our economy is going through a tough patch and you are being hurt by it. The cost of fuel has gone up. Food and other prices have followed it. Things seem anxious and uncertain.”
He went down on his knees: “I understand the hardship you face. I wish there were other ways. But there is not. If there were, I would have taken that route as I came here to help not hurt the people and nation that I love.”
Tinubu strived hard to convince us: “This once beneficial measure (subsidy) had outlived its usefulness. The subsidy cost us trillions of naira yearly. Such a vast sum of money would have been better spent on public transportation, healthcare, schools, housing and even national security.”
What went amiss? His quick response: “Instead, it was being funnelled into the deep pockets and lavish bank accounts of a select group of individuals.”
The President is not done yet. He won’t stop the lamentation. Who would? Not Tinubu: “Our national wealth was doled on favourable terms to a handful of people who have been made filthy rich simply by moving money from one hand to another.”
But this evil clique can be identified. Can’t they? They are traceable. They are not ghosts. Are they? What really is our stress? Are they bigger than the government?
His vow. And he appears to mean it: “What I can offer in the immediate is to reduce the burden our current economic situation has imposed on all of us, most especially on businesses, the working class and the most vulnerable among us.”
Let’s conclude his homily with these words: “Fellow Nigerians, this period may be hard on us and there is no doubt about it that it is tough on us.”
He picked on our sentiments gullibility. He made maximum use of it. He brought endurance and patience again. That’s the template, their singsong. They can’t just do without it:
“I urge you all to look beyond the present temporary pains and aim at the larger picture. All of our good and helpful plans are in the works. More importantly, I know that they will work.”
Our sincere response: Comfort, that’s what we want. Patience we don’t.
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