Every jurisdiction says Amen to the decisions of its Supreme Court. It is not going to be different in Nigeria. The reality is that BAT is the most we have in the political leadership of the country for at least the next four years. Other contenders can at best collapse into opposition leadership with a view to resetting the cart and transform from underdogs to champions in the next electoral outing in 2027.
In the main, Nigeria shall continue to exist. As a geographic entity, it is insulated. The impact of the leadership hollowness is not on the land but on the people who appear stuck in the melee. And this is where everybody should feel concerned. Going forward, if there should be criticism of the Tinubu administration, it should be to keep the President on his toes. It should be for him to unlearn entrenched attitudes and come to the realisation that he cannot be comprehensive in impact operating from a parochial standpoint. This idea that the world or even Nigeria is not larger than his cronies in the Southwest should be discarded for good. I cannot see how broad mindedness will turn a weakness in leadership. Playing safe and refusing to venture is not a crime in itself. Rather, what is criminal is closing all other viable options just to feel safe and cool in a primordial cocoon. That is mediocrity at its worst level. The bigger problem is when mediocrity is not hidden but made a fundamental objective of state policy. With Tinubu, mediocrity in the name of commitment to loyalty and some fathom legacies, has been elevated to a prime strategy. This was also the issue with Tinubu’s immediate predecessor, President Muhammadu Buhari who did not see Nigeria outside Daura. Buhari’s glaring lack of acumen was not so much the problem as his refusal to understand his deficiencies and seek help outside his limited reality.
So far, Tinubu has not cut any sharp impression. He has only successfully proved that macroeconomics does not go beyond taxation and juggling of the same factors within a box. He is not thinking outside the box probably in the hope that good life for the citizens or substantive value can be decreed into existence. His team is flat, loaded with old players that are more nostalgic than they are forward looking. They are people that cannot be associated with breaking frontiers in the last 20 years outside the orchestrated legacy achievements in Lagos State when Tinubu was Governor. They are in federal mix because of the desire, almost as forceful as a religious creed, of President Tinubu to reward loyalty and relegate competence. Wale Edun and Cadosso, the seeming skippers of the team were last heard when they were part of Tinubu’s team in Lagos. The duo may have been deeply overtaken by global trends and cannot be said to be perfectly cut out for the job of recovering Nigeria after the damage caused by Buhari.
Anyhow, the frog must jump forward. Also, when what is desirable is not available, the available becomes desirable. That is where we are now. Tinubu must be forced to perform well. Good enough, all the immediate threats have been cleared. Tinubu has only himself to contend with now. He can comfortably afford to switch from the defensive to a more nationalistic mode and resolve key national issues including appointments on the side of posterity.
Nigeria is at its lowest ebb and recovery cannot be viewed through the prism of partisan politics and the type of provincialism that has been on display so far. If for good reasons, the opposition declines participation, the least it can do is to engage the government constructively to generate ideas for nation building. We are at the precipice and it is a fearful prospect to move blindly forward with a guide that does not have the complete picture. The most advisable thing to do is to pull back and re-chart the course. Tinubu on his part should eschew triumphanlism and ask for help from all sides.