When Senate screened nominee who called them morons

I have not been a fan of the Senate ministerial screening, because I find it a waste of time. The key reason is that Nigerian presidents have refused to attach portfolios to their nominees, making the Senate screen candidates without any emphasis on suitability for any position. Imagine a company wishing to appoint a marketing director, a finance director and a human capital director not attaching any portfolio to their vacancy adverts but interviewing all the candidates simply as directors and asking them general questions? The senate screening, therefore, looks like a circus designed to fulfil all righteousness.

However, on Saturday, by coincidence, members of my family watched the video of the screening of Dr Bosun Tijani, a ministerial nominee and co-founder and CEO of Co-Creation Hub. It was full of drama and lessons.

Anybody who has seen the academic and professional background of Tijani would agree that he is the type of candidate Nigeria needs in different positions of leadership. He studied economics at the University of Jos where he also obtained a diploma in computer science. Then, he obtained a masters’ degree in information systems and management from the Warwick Business School in England. After that, he got a Ph.D. in innovation and economic development at the University of Leicester.

He is adjudged one of the pathfinders in the African technology world. He is credited with initiating the first visit of Mark Zuckerberg, founder of Facebook, to Nigeria in August 2016 in addition to hosting other global technology leaders in Nigeria, like former CEO of Twitter, Jack Dorsey, in 2019 and Microsoft founder and co-Chair of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Bill Gates, in June 2023.

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He was a key figure of the 2020 #EndSARS movement in Nigeria. Born on July 20, 1977 (46 years) he is seen as a “youth” in the Nigerian context, which makes his nomination interesting in a country where presidential candidates in their 50s and 60s, like Omoyele Sowore, Kingsley Moghalu, and even Peter Obi, are considered not ripe for leadership by some people.

However, during his screening, some of the social media posts he made in the past haunted him and became a threat to his confirmation by the Senate. The first salvo came from Senator Fatai Buhari (All Progressives Congress – Oyo North), who quoted one of the tweets by Tijani which read: “Nigeria is a bloody expensive tag to have against your name. Leave patriotism for a minute – that tag is a bloody waste of energy. A second foreign passport isn’t sufficient to clean that ‘sin’.”

It was a tweet that brought Tijani’s patriotism to question. But he rose to the occasion, explaining the context and circumstances that made him post that. He said he tweeted out of frustration and passion. He listed what he had done to push the image of Nigeria up and contribute to the development of Nigeria. He added that the quoted tweet was only the first part of the tweet, which had a second part where he stated what could be done to bolster Nigeria’s image and save travellers embarrassment.

As we watched, we asked that the Senate let the man be, noting that frustrating circumstances about Nigeria could push someone to make comments like that.

But when it sounded as if he had wriggled out of that, a bombshell came from the Senate Minority Leader, Simon Mwadkwon, who quoted another tweet by Tijani which read as follows: “Who conducted a security check on him when he was appointed? What sort of checks are done by NGRSenate when they confirm appointees? And the media … question for another day. Until we ask the right questions, these morons will continue to take us for granted.”

We shouted and covered our faces in shame. How could you call people “morons” and then come before them to screen you to become a minister? Some senators, including the Senate Majority Leader, Opeyemi Bamidele, intervened to plead on his behalf and offer explanation about the anger of the #EndSARS event that watered the ground for such comments.

Tijani himself apologised, saying: “Distinguished senators, I was raised properly as a Yoruba boy both in Agege and Abeokuta. I do understand that we are not meant to disrespect our elders and that is not the training we were given. My father won’t be proud of me for all these allegations. What he would be proud of is the passion that led me to those mistakes and that gave me the opportunity to contribute to the development of this country. So I want to profusely apologise to everyone in this hall, including anyone, anywhere in Nigeria that may have been offended by everything I said. I beg that in the process of accepting my apology, you look at the undertone of everything I have said. I did not say it to spite. I said it out of frustration and love. Please accept my sincere apologies.”

I went to my wife in laughter and said, “Out of love, I wish to ask: ‘How are you, moron?’” She responded, “Out of love, I am fine, moron.” We laughed over it.

Eventually, the Senate President said he would accept Tijani’s apology on behalf of his colleagues and asked him to take a bow and go.

One glaring point was that the negative posts made by Tijani completely took attention away from his sterling background. Nobody discussed his contributions or asked him questions on IT or the Nigerian economy. This happens every time someone makes a post or a comment on an issue and uses uncouth words against another person, ethnicity or religion. No matter the importance of what the person said in that comment, all is forgotten in the cantankerous debate that ensues.

The truth is that there was absolutely no compelling need for the use of that word “morons” in the post. It added no value. He simply employed the word to show himself as a “fearless social media influencer who does not try to be politically correct.” He could have robustly criticised the perceived lack of thoroughness in the Senate without any denigrating word and his point would still have been as strong as ever. He would not have faced the embarrassing situation of eating his words before the same group of people he insulted.

When people use offensive words in their posts, they assume that it is a sign of courage. But it is not. Verbal attacks are the least difficult in communication. They require neither thinking nor creativity. Children learn foul words even before they learn useful words. But online courage is no courage at all. Social media simply gives people the cloak of anonymity and distance. When a debate venue is moved from an online platform to a physical format, the so-called “fearless people who don’t want to be politically correct” don’t use the same offensive words they use online.

Another point that came out of the screening is the lack of principles that has become the hallmark of politics in Nigeria. When Dr Goodluck Jonathan was president, he said that one sad thing he learnt as a child about politicians was: “Politicians are people who go to all places, making promises they won’t keep and saying what they don’t mean.” In developed and progressive countries, people are judged by their words and actions. Tijani has not acted differently from those who are leading Nigeria today. While President Bola Tinubu was in the Action Congress of Nigeria, he made scathing comments about Major General Muhammdau Buhari (retd.). Eventually, he aligned with the same Buhari to form the All Progressives Congress and began to say wonderful things about him. When the current National Security Adviser, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu, was the Chairman of the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, he made negative comments about Tinubu. Today, he has accepted to work under the same person.

There are many other Nigerian politicians who called others names but later turned around to praise the same people. The lame argument is that there are no permanent friends or enemies in politics but permanent interest. It is a warped way of thinking that has helped to keep Nigeria down, making politicians not stand for anything but only concerned with what they can grab from the system, no matter the negative implication to the country.

– Twitter: BrandAzuka