By Iliyasu Gadu, Ilgad2009@gmail.com
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At the end of his budget presentation a couple of weeks ago, President Tinubu could hardly contain himself. He was obviously in an expansive mood sensing that the anthology of figures and statistics he presented to the National Assembly was going to sail through from the exultant looks on the faces of the assembled ranks of Senators and members of the House of Representatives.
In the course of his presentation he had inadvertently referred to the present National Assembly as the 11th which drew a stir. When he was told that it was actually the 10th, his response was ‘’10th? I wrote 11th, which means you are all re-elected.’’
Ever since the President blurted out that statement in full glare, the Nigerian public space had been abuzz with discussions about its implications.
Was it a clanger he dropped, possibly as he looked beside himself lost in a moment of ‘’bon vivre?’’ Or was he flying a kite about his future political intentions in the coming race for the 2027 elections which will begin to gather momentum in 2025? Is it a case of ‘’from the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaketh’’? Was the President trying to subtly elicit the support of the legislators and hint them of his intentions in a ‘’scratch my back, I scratch yours’’ manners per the 2027 elections? In order to make meaning of all of these questions, it will serve us well to look at the whole issue from a wider perspective.
First of all, politicians seldom make statements of this nature if they do not mean it or at the very least they must have entertained thoughts of such nature. In the particular case of President Tinubu, from his antecedents and the existential situation on ground, if one believes this statement was just a mere off-the-cuff ‘’faux pas,’’ then we have another think coming.
If there is anything we can be certain of, from all indications, President Tinubu, like Presidents before him would like to be re-elected for a second term which he is eminently entitled to. And President Tinubu’s desire for a second term in office despite the orchestrated obscurity about it is the worst kept secret in the land. President Tinubu would want that second term because the first term of 4 years would not have been enough for him to consolidate and conclude his road map of total state capture. And he is so desperate about it because if he stopped midway into the plan, President Tinubu entertains no illusions about what Nigerians would do to him and his policies. And even for his sake, he would want to remain in power by all means necessary fair or foul in order to provide him with the protective immunity of facing the anger of the Nigerian people now slowly boiling into a cauldron of slow, vicious rage.
Ordinarily, the issue of whether President Tinubu winning a second term should not be a matter of such fierce debate and objections as previous Presidents like Obasanjo, Yaradua and Buhari negotiated this challenge successfully. But President Tinubu is well aware and from the opinions of most Nigerians on his performance so far, his hopes for a second term are not so sanguine. In this regard, it is in the realm of possibility that President Tinubu will seek to deploy the ‘’grab it and run with it’’ tactic in his attempt to secure a second term over the objections of Nigerians. And it should not surprise us that this may likely take some form of skulduggery.
Contextually, the statement credited President Tinubu during his budget presentation is not a clanger but more a combination of floating of the kite and throwing of a signal of intent to the legislators on how the President intends to navigate the difficult road to 2027 and how with their cooperation he will be successful.
But Nigerians are not amused. Going the way President Tinubu is signalling will be an affront to the democracy we all fought for and are now enjoying. Even as a joke, telling National Assembly members of different political parties that they are now re-elected two years before the elections are to commence even as a joke, is tasteless. It is not the sort of jokes that the President of a country who swore to observe the provisions of the constitution and who is supposed to govern by the rule of law should be making under any circumstances. Indeed it constitutes a gross contempt of the very seat the President occupies which he won by the very process of elections and which by that statement he is trying to negate. If the President can seek to ‘’award’’ re-election to NASS members without the mandatory elections which is one of the core tenets of constitutional democracy, what then do we need the political parties, INEC, Judiciary and institutions of democracy for? Why don’t we just disband these and other democratic institutions and allow President Tinubu to ‘’select’’ those that will fill the hundreds of elective offices across the country in fulfilment of his desperate and dangerous desire for a second term in 2027?
President Tinubu’s statement did not come in a vacuum. Some weeks back, the Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF) George Akume was reported as saying subjectively that President Tinubu had performed so well that his main challenger in the 2023 elections should not consider contesting the 2027 elections. There has been statements of this nature by President Tinubu’s publicists and supporters to that effect and this should be of concern to Nigerians on the fate of our democracy. The SGF who himself who became Governor and Senator respectively in Benue through elections should know better than to seek to deny others their chance to seek the people’s mandate. In particular such a statement coming from a nephew of the great Orchiviligh Shagbaor Joseph Tarka who championed the cause of democracy in this country is unfortunate.
Why is President Tinubu so desperate to return in 2027 that he does not mind choking our hard earned democracy to death in a scorched earth campaign in the process?
Nigerians should be concerned because President Tinubu has for all practical purposes destroyed the economy by his scorched earth economic policies. And despite the suffering, poverty and uncertainty in the land that these policies have caused, he has obdurately refused to adjust in order to alleviate the suffering of the people. If this is anything to go by, President Tinubu is likely to do the same to our democracy. And Nigerians are likely to end up with both our democracy for which we sacrificed so much and which is our only hope to express our preferences and choices in the political arena and our economy both subsumed under the despotic road map of President Tinubu.
2025: A year of positive possibilities beckons.
In a few hours hence the fireworks will usher in the year 2025 in Nigeria. Already in some parts of the world we are already in the second day of the New Year. This is yet another manifestation of the majesty and power of God the almighty and omnipotent.
Although the year 2024 was one of continuing hardship and pain for most Nigerians, we must however give glory to Allah for his mercies for surviving the year. In the coming year, we will continue to pray and hope for positive interventions from Allah in our lives and in the affairs of our beloved nation Nigeria.
Accordingly, I wish all readers of this column a year of positive possibilities in the firm belief that a power greater than man will see us through all our trials and tribulations.
Happy New Year to all.
Iliyasu Gadu, a former Foreign Service Officer who served at the Nigerian Missions in Germany and the United Kingdom (UK), is a columnist with Daily Trust