What Tinubu needs to do

Apparently, some Nigerians still hope that something will stop Asiwaju Bola Tinubu from becoming president on May 29. They should perish the thought.

The only legitimate, even beneficial, way this could happen is through the courts. Anything contrary will set Nigeria several years back. It will throw the country into uncertainty and worsen the already bad state of things. What would anyone gain from that?

People who claim to love Nigeria cannot desire such situations. Not even the fact that proponents of the idea are armed with concrete evidence that their candidate was cheated can justify the confusion that may arise.

As a people, we must learn that democracy is not so much about winning as it is about having the liberty to participate. It is about the right to vote and be voted for, not necessarily about winning. Of course, this does not mean we should condone cheating and malpractices, but nothing should jeopardise the nation’s overall interest.

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The founders of the democratic system factored in man’s capacity for manipulation and provided avenues to seek redress. While there are no guarantees that things will go the way anyone wants, having the faith, discipline, and tenacity to observe this procedure is what democracy is all about. Doesn’t former President Donald Trump accuse President Joe Biden of stealing the 2020 presidential elections in the United States till date? That is over two decades after the controversy in Florida during the President George Bush and former VP Al Gore elections of 2000. There is nothing like a perfect human system and we cannot stop the hands of the clock for that purpose. We must learn to respect this if we desire a great country.

Now, even if there were prospects for the courts to reverse the February 25, 2023, elections that would not happen before the handover date, so let all Nigerians get ready for a Tinubu Presidency in a little over one month from today. And while we look forward to the decision of the courts on the presidential election, we must, for our own sakes, support the administration. Nigeria is too close to the end of the tether for any prolonged social dislocation.

On April 28, 2015, the column published a piece with the title, “Now, we must pray for Buhari.” The thrust of this piece was that the failure or success of that administration would affect us all. It was therefore expedient that he got our support in whatever way citizens could provide that.

I wrote in the piece: “Once he takes office on May 29, everything Buhari does or does not do affects your life, maybe not just yours, possibly even that of your generations. We must be mindful of the fact that as we have people who want Nigeria to move forward so we have people who would prefer the status quo. It is therefore in the interest of all of us that Buhari does well for Nigeria, whether you voted for him or not. Four years is a short time, and that is why you must start to pray now, in any way you know to pray, such that when we look back in four years, we will thank God that Nigeria is better and that you did your bit by praying for the man that God chose to lead us…”

I do not know how many Nigerians think that prayers are efficacious or even necessary in the running of their country, but the gist is that our leaders need our support anyhow. Although the Buhari administration operated with unimaginable incompetence, the loss of the solidarity of a significant number of Nigerians contributed hugely to the mediocre eight-year run. And Nigeria and Nigerians are the worst for it.

If Buhari needed our support in 2015, Tinubu even needs it more now that Nigeria is in its worst state since 1999. The signs are manifest in and on us all. The country is more divided than ever. More innocent lives have been taken by non-state actors in the country than at any other time except for the civil war in Nigeria.

What makes that worse is that the government is unable to do anything. Headline and food inflation are at an all-time high, as is youth unemployment. The debt service to revenue ratio is scandalous, despite the government’s hide-and-seek game. Worse of all, we are not preparing for the competitive future that the world is throwing at us. Over 20 million children of Nigeria’s future are roaming the streets with little or no attention from governments at all levels. Last year, our universities were shut for over eight months. That is not to speak about the hundreds of thousands of youths who got no placement into higher institutions and are thrown into the jaws of criminal temptations. Things have simply not been this bad in the country.

What all of this means is that Tinubu has a herculean task ahead of him. The challenges are so enormous that it would take divine wisdom to know where to start. Things get worse in Nigeria because we are plagued by a political system that has made an industry out of politics and governance.

Although the president-elect is a savvier politician than Buhari, that dexterity presents a different type of problem. Tinubu would soon find an assortment of people and situations crowding over him. There would be the good, there would be the bad, and there would be the ugly, all craving his attention at once. A president would need the benefit of divine discernment to survive this onslaught.

There would be a lot of pressure on him to pander to primordial sentiments. Those who fought for his electoral victory will remind him of all that they invested. They would bring back stories about those who did not vote for him and how they should not reap where they did not sow. The South-West, North-West, and the North-East present their IOUs, they will demand patronage. The South-South and the South-East will shout marginalisation. The cacophony would be great and tiring.

To get Nigeria out of the economic woods, the incoming government will need to take courageous, albeit painful, decisions. There is the vexed issue of fuel subsidy and the corruption associated with it; the dwindling revenue of the country; widespread criminal activities across the country; and growing discontent amongst citizens. The difficult decisions needed to tackle all these issues can only be taken with the support of most of the citizens. Those who want the best for Nigeria must rally around the president. The incoming president must, however, do everything within his power to earn the confidence and respect of Nigerians. And that should start now!

Eight years of the President, Major General Muhammadu Buhari’s (retd) presidency negatively impacted the unity of the country. If only for that, we did not need the ethnic rhetoric that accompanied the last elections. They happened and have continued even after the elections. But that cannot and should not continue. The onus is on us to put an end to this and give every Nigerian the confidence that no part of the country has more at stake than the other does now. A country can only thrive in an atmosphere of peace, which Nigeria currently lacks but desperately needs.

Tinubu seems to have prepared too much for the ongoing event in his life that we cannot but expect him to lay a solid foundation for its future. His ambition of the president at his age should be etching his name in history as the harbinger of a new Nigeria. He cannot do that by getting the people on board, and convincing everyone, especially young Nigeria who are unhappy with the status quo that a new order is possible. May he find the grace.