Bola Ahmed Tinubu Ushers Nigerians into the Saddest Episode in the History of Nigeria

Our mouth is a major determining factor of how our lives turn out to be and this is because life and death is in the power of the tongue. A closed mouth is a closed destiny and every mouth that remains closed will be the cause of why the stomach suffers hunger. Faith is an act and by extension, a work, and that alludes to the saying of fact that faith without work is dead. Permit me to humbly submit that Nigerians have been adjudged to be the happiest people in the world, take cognizance however, that happiness is inferior to joy, and to this end, one can be happy and not be joyful. Looking carefully into the lives of Nigerians, one easily discovers that the happiness that characterizes the behavior of Nigerians is psychological and is a product of mental disorder. This is so because happiness is expected to be the expression of joy but where people are happy but not joyful, that only shows that people live a superficial life that lacks profundity, making their lives fit in for description as a beautiful plant growing over a period of time but without a firm and strong root in the ground. Nigerians easily adapt to situations, especially the hard and difficult ones.

It is not out of place to say that the unprecedented hunger crisis that pervades the entire country was made possible by the choice made by Nigerians to smile while suffering, and to keep their mouths closed. No matter how religious, righteous and faithful a man is, it will take the use of his mouth to bring into reality, his dreams, no matter how big or small they may be. Nigerians are good at what can be described as erroneous complacency. This accounts for why wicked leaders easily get away with their atrocious acts against Nigerians and a problem that urgently needs to be addressed with the present administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. One does not need a seer to see for Nigerians and to say without mincing words that the journey of nation building that is embarked upon and being led by this current administration, is a journey in the wrong direction, leading to a wrong destination. Everything about the present government is shrouded in secrecy, lacking in visibility and transparency. This began with the foundation of perjury and deceit as can be seen in how President Bola Ahmed Tinubu sumbitted to the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) while running for the office of the president, a forged diploma purportedly received from the Chicago State University, a forged NYSC certificate, as well as the failure on his path to tell Nigerians the primary and the secondary schools he attended. Even the election that brought this President into office was fraudulent and shambolic. This is to paint a picture of a faulty foundation on which the building of this administration was laid, for if the foundation be destroyed, what can the righteous do.

For instance, take the issue of the fuel subsidy, that the President said had gone on the day of his swearing in on May 29th 2023, but which in reality is still going on underground with new names given to it as shortfall or unrecovered payments by the NNPC limited, which is the sole importer of the PMS product (petrol) into the country. Also, think of the high level of fraud going on within the NNPC, under the leadership of his Group Managing Director, Mr. Mele Kyari. This is a man who always speaks from the two sides of his mouth and who plays on the intelligence of Nigerians with ease and impunity. We keep hearing about the oil theft and the reason why the NNPC has not broken even, let alone contributing its quota to the national treasury. Don’t forget also that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu inherited this man and the NNPC problems from the former President Muhammadu Buhari, who as a president was also the Minister of petroleum. President Tinubu chose to continue in the same trajectory, making himself the Minister of petroleum, where the greatest fraudulent activities are going on, and the question now remains as how does this organization and the president who is the minister oversighting the fraudulent activities, reform themselves.

There are long queues in every part of the Nation’s capital, Abuja today, after the NNPC declared that it is owing billions of dollars in debt to the suppliers of the PMS (petrol) and before you know it, what Nigerians will hear is that the current pump price of petrol, which already has been a source of concern and the reason why life is hard for Nigerians, is no longer sustainable and a higher pump price will be introduced. The hunger and poverty that Nigerians are subjected to today, permit me to say, are self-inflicted, where people cannot hold their government accountable or speak truth to power even when the opportunity is before them, who then do you blame for their calamities? Everything about the Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government is fraudulent, making Nigeria to cease from being the giant of Africa to being the poverty and corruption capital of the world.

The security agencies are instrumental to the problems that Nigerians are facing, themselves being complicit. The security agent cannot be helping the government in oppressing and subjugating Nigerians, and still expect the people to share intelligence with them on how to win the war against insurgency and banditry. You cannot be the enemy of the people and expect the people to be your friend. It is easier for the security agencies to clampdown on protesters and even kill them with impunity than for them to go after the terrorists and bandits, who is deceiving who? If truly the members of the armed forces of Nigeria are out to perform the assignment stipulated by the constitution, they would not be aiding and abetting any government that has failed in its responsibility to perform in its primary assignment as prescribed by the constitution, which is the protection of the lives and property of Nigerians, as well as prioritizing their welfare.

A number of participants in the end bad governance protest, at least ten of them, nine males and one female, have been arraigned before the court of the land with fictitious charges of offences such as treason and terrorism manufactured against them, which cannot be substantiated. This was done just to deter others who might want to protest against bad governance, especially the one slated for October 1st, 2024. You may wish to know also that journalists are not spared in the acts of illegality being perpetrated against Nigerians by the Tinubu administration. It is reported that more than one hundred journalists have been kidnapped, tortured, intimidated and manhandled by the administration of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu from May 29th 2023 to date. This action has to backfire but I pity the media houses in Nigeria, especially the main stream media houses, whose survival depends on advertisement from the government of the day, both at the federal and at the sub-national levels. It is also a sad reality to note that most of the civil society organizations who are supposed to be the watchdog of the masses have been put in the pocket of the government, either by inducement or cohesion. Needless we talk about the other arms of government which include the legislature and the judiciary. Members in this institutions are not different from toothless bulldogs who can only bark but cannot bite, having been pocketed by the executive and having their independence sold for a morsel of bread to the executive.

Every facet of the Nigerian society has been corrupted and made to retrogress, and no positive change is in view. The unfortunate thing is that as Nigeria as a country grapples with the problems of insecurity, poverty, and stagnation, those who are entrusted with the leadership of the country, rather than proffering workable solutions to the problems, are just busy stealing and amassing to themselves, the wealth of the country. It is instructive how President Bola Ahmed Tinubu openly applauded his predecessor, the former President Muhammadu Buhari for not interfering in his administration unlike how he, Bola Ahmed Tinubu was the national leader of the All Progressive Congress party (APC) during the time of Buhari and who happened to be the one who recommended Ministers, who occupied important key positions in President Muhammadu Buhari administration, including the Vice President, Professor Yemi Osinbajo. This revelation lends credence to why Bola Ahmed Tinubu cannot be absolved from the mess that the former President Muhammadu Buhari plunged Nigeria into, including the problems of oil theft, terrorism, banditry, corruption, with the climax as bankrupting the country. Why the military has moved his major command to Sokoto State as a reactionary measure, are not proactive against the escalation of banditry activities in the region, with its most recent as the murder of the Emir of Gobir, Alhaji Isa Muhammad Bawa, a first-class traditional leader, is to say the least spurious and laughable. It would have made more sense if the military had dimed it fit to swing into action by moving his command to Sokoto just as soon as the Emir was kidnapped by bandits and paraded on social media for several weeks before he was murdered, as well as the attendant kidnap of more than 150 persons in the same Emirate and the rustling of more than 1000 cows by bandits just a week after the Emir was murdered. This has been the pattern employed by the security agents in their war against terrorism and banditry and which fits in for description as a chase of the wild goose.

The list of the misfortunes that have befallen this country since President Bola Ahmed captured the state of Nigeria on February 25th 2023, through the most fraudulent election in the history of the country, and continuation of the reign of terror, which the former President Buhari brought on Nigerians, cannot be exhausted, but can only be described as the saddest episode in the history of Nigeria. It is unfortunate that some Yorubas, who are the kinsmen of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, take pride in what is currently going on, all in the name of ethnic sentiment and this group of people are not different from the man who is in the saddle but who lacks legitimacy and integrity, and a paradox of what morality is but a reprobate in every sense of it.

I take an exception to being a supporter of illegitimacy, mediocrity, and corruption in whatever shades and forms that it may present itself in leadership. On a final note, the task of changing a lifestyle, is not in keeping silence and feeling indifferent, especially by choosing not to speak truth to power. We are therefore admonished to seize every opportunity presented before us to say something when we see something, for we have been given a mouth and wisdom that none of our adversaries can withstand or gainsay, if only we can put what we have to use, for failure to do so makes us useless and become a cheap prey to our adversaries. It is not enough for us to be called a giant, it is more important that we see ourselves that way and act with that understanding. It is time to act.