By Fasasi, Rasheed Adekunle (PhD).
Come 29th of May, 2024, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu would be a year old in office. He came with high hopes and expectations from his teeming supporters and adversaries. He came in knowing fully that the task ahead was not for gentlemen.
Men who are not focused, not aggressive, and not desperate for achievements. Men who will always blame past administrations for their current failure and inability to move the nation forward. We are used to and tired of these narratives.
Nigerians greatly and seriously desire leaders with high level of creativity, uncommon ruggedness and courage to move where warriors turn back.
Leaders who are ready to commit class suicide. A leader who combines the correct economic approach of Abacha without his greedy accumulation of wealth with the boldness of Obasanjo without his desire for tenure extension, the fearlessness of Idiagbon without his khaki and the genuineness of determination of Muritala Muhammed and Yar’Adua for positive impact without short-lived tenures. We had utopian expectations. We dreamed of a Lagolised Nigeria. Where are we a year after?
Definitely only very few will say we are there or getting closer. But, can we move substantially closer in the remaining three years? Certainly yes, but not the way we are going.
Therefore and for now, save the energy and keep the drums silent. Otherwise, the drums will sound ‘Ao m’erin jọba. Ẹwẹkun ẹwẹlẹ’.
Must there be a year celebration when virtually all indices of national development and growth have not improved? A celebration now will force the people to re-assess their situation. Have their conditions improved?
Today, President Tinubu’s government is extremely unpopular in almost all part of the country including the south west. True lovers of the government, including myself, will not pretend that things are well, neither are there signs that there is a ray of light at the end of the tunnel.
We have had flashes of things worth celebrating. But they have been short-lived. Dollar value came down briefly but rose back quickly.
The much celebrated easy and quick procurement and re-issuance of Nigerian international passport is now history.
A Nigerian was invited to deliver a paper at European Conference on Education in London early July but needed to renew his passport and encouraged by media report of a more efficient organization in the immigration department, confidently went to Ibadan office of the Nigerian Immigration Service, got his capturing done on the 12th of April, 2024 and as I script this , 26th night of May, 2024, there is no hope of when the passport will be ready.
The PA to the Minister of Internal Affairs when first contacted gave impression of intervening but subsequently stopped picking calls or reacting to messages.
The registration for the conference ended on the 24th of May, 2024. It would be foolhardy of the man to go ahead to register in dollars and pound sterling (access to those currencies is a story for another day) when he is not sure of when his passport would be ready. He has definitely missed the conference. So what are we celebrating?
Is the Tinubu government a failure? Only a pessimist will say YES. And only a party loyalist or deceptive optimist will NO.
A realist will say his government can not be placed yet. It is neither here nor there.
I have imagined an Atiku presidency manifesting in Tinubu reality. Every media space will be vibrating in condemnation. Where are the human rights activists? The next few months will tell us in which direction the swing moves.
Today the Tinubu ticket is very difficult to sell. And the 2027 horse trading has started. River state is gradually going, Kano state is going. The return of Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, who is a close friend of Mallam El-Rufai and the Fubara consolidation going on are instructive.
The emerging force in the North is made up of highly educated and intelligent individuals. The traditional force is becoming a weakling. The South West is losing its emotional attachment. The South East is watching and smiling. The South -south is observing the situation closely.
There is just one magic wand; a broom bringing down price level of food, fuel, gas and dollar; sweeping up power generation and distribution and workers’ salaries to a level that will take them home. Believe it, Asiwaju can do it in three years with a new approach.
Dr. Rasheed Adekunle Fasasi is a socio-political analyst who resides in Ibadan, Nigeria.
END.