President Tinubu and the Coup in NigerBy Chief Akintayo Akin-Deko

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One thing all men and women hold in common is that we will all die. If we are fortunate to reach old age then, whether gracefully or otherwise, the debility brought on by failing organs will force us to slow down and ruminate on bygone years. Some will remember the struggle to make a difference, others to build fortunes, while the majority will recall how they simply watched and carried on with their lives. All of us until it is now almost too late to reverse Nigeria and West Africa’s ongoing relentless march towards perdition now focused around the coup in NigerFor our wasted generation – as Professor Wole Soyinka aptly described us – the approach of our twilight years is particularly painful as we are forced to watch Nigeria prepare to shed more blood in our struggle to be rid of the shackles of colonial rule. Painful because as we grew up in the postcolonial era of the 1960/70s, we stood shoulder-to-shoulder with our American and European mates. We imbibed the virtues of first class education and, be it in academics, in sports, in entertainment, in business or in governance, we usually excelled. In our bid to outdo our former colonial masters and enslavers, we swallowed their alien culture in all its ramifications and even embraced their concepts of God – be it Christian or Islam. Yet, as a nation or a continent, we failed to rise above the status that the West designed for us – a source of raw materials and a market for the output of their factories.In those days we were motivated by the rhetoric of great Africans like Kwame Nkrumah, Patrice Lumumba, Nelson Mandela, and Muammar Gaddafi. Even if their motives were sometimes self-serving, we were inspired by their readiness to give up power and even their lives while confronting the colonialist in the push to promote African unity and our eventual emancipation. Yet, these great men and women mostly didn’t succeed in their efforts, not even to loosen the West’s grip on our economic throatsBut with advancing age comes greater maturity and with it better understanding and acceptance of God’s awesome Will as it inevitably manifests in all things. Thus, from General Gowon’s “Go on with One Nigeria” to Chief Abiola’s “Hope 93” and Labour Party’s “Forward Ever”, it was always God. And so it is with Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who God has chosen in His wisdom to make the president of Nigeria – for now. Yet even though it is God’s doing and we can but watch and wait to understand His purpose, we can still speculateFirstly, for those expecting to see PBAT’s Cabinet filled with super technocrats, you overlooked the politics. This first outing has to be a cabinet of political survival. In classic Sun Tzu, Tinubu is starting a difficult tenure in office by keeping potential troublemakers close to him within the cabinet. These are men and women who had what it took – good or bad – to straddle Nigeria’s boisterous elite and can now be left to knock heads in the cabinet where PBAT has the means to make and unmake. Hopefully while in the cabinet they will experience their road to Damascus moment.Secondly, unlike some of our past heroes, PBAT does not intend to die for Africa fighting neocolonialists; nor does he need to. With his record of joining others to confront General Abacha’s brutal regime during the heyday of NADECO, PBAT is obviously as bold as they come. Yet, this haste to threaten the Niger coupists with military intervention is a sure recipe to shatter the unity of West Africa. Beyond that, given the hue and cry of key leaders of the Fulani-led northern conservatives, such an intervention could easily lead to the unravelling of Nigeria’s own unity, which the Buhari presidency stretched to breaking point.Is PBAT bluffing with this military intervention gambit? Only God knows. But let those that can prevail on the president and his new cabinet not to let the West and Russia lead Nigeria along the same road as The Congo and turn Niger into another Syria or Sudan. It shall be well with us all.