A week before the second anniversary of President Bola Tinubu in office, leaders of his political party, the All Progressives Congress (APC) were in a frenzy, dishing out gales of endorsements for his undeclared re-election bid for the 2027 presidency. The President was endorsed by the Progressives Governors’ Forum (PGF), an umbrella of 22 governors of the party, the leadership of the party in the North-West geopolitical zone, the National Assembly and state caucuses of the party across the zones. Ordinarily one would wonder what was at stake and what prompted the rush to show solidarity with the president whose party is the only one “making the difference,” in our polity.  At least, in the last few months, the APC has made the difference by not only capturing states, but it has also been capturing big fishes from the opposition and their legislators. None of the major opposition parties that battled it for the presidency in 2023 is standing with two legs. One is on its knees, while the other is busy rolling on the floor. The APC is coasting home even before the referee blew the whistle to commence the 2027 race.

So, what’s the push behind the rush by the national chairman of the APC, Abdullahi Ganduje and his members to endorse President Tinubu two clear years ahead of the election?  Segun Sowunmi, a member of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), spoke on Arise television last week and declared that with his knowledge of President Tinubu, the former Lagos governor was not swayed by the accolades being showered on him by his party men. He said that Tinubu, being streetwise, knows that politicians would always sing songs that would swell the head of the leader and that if Tinubu were a fickle-minded politician, he won’t be able to build the massive structure that took on the Nigerian system and delivered him the presidency in 2023. Having seen the rise and rise of the Tinubu political stratagem, I am somewhat convinced by Sowunmi’s postulation.

But if we may ask Ganduje and co, why the rush? The answer cannot be far-fetched. It is found in the claim that politicians and sycophancy are like a twin in the mold of a Siamese. In fact, a commentator once said that sycophancy is the politician’s raison d’être. A friend also once confessed that politicians enjoy praise singing and that due or undue adulations serve as tonic that oil their fancy. “We enjoy those things,” a friend said his boss once told him. And the hailers also usually know the mumu buttons of the subject matter and press them at will.

At the Banquet Hall of the Presidential Villa, Abuja, where APC stalwarts named President Tinubu as the party’s sole presidential candidate for the 2027 general elections, Ganduje had declared that: “As the Chairman of the party and as the only recognized platform to field a candidate in any election, I hereby affirm the endorsement of the President.” That was after Hope Uzodinma, governor of Imo State and Chairman of PGF had on behalf of his colleague governors moved a motion for Tinubu’s endorsement. Senate President Godswill Akpabio and Speaker Tajudeen Abbas had also roped in the 109 Senators and 360 members of the House of Representatives, plus all Speakers of the 36 state assemblies in a massive motion that endorsed Tinubu for 2027 presidency.

Though there was not a ministers’ forum to raise similar motion, it is all taken for granted that the ministers are all primed for the endorsement going by the high volume of the Renewed Hope singsong oozing out of their camp in recent weeks. In the last one month or thereabout, the song on the lips of the ministers is on the sweetness of the Renewed Hope Agenda, which they all claimed has been delivering the goods. Even as the APC leaders revel in the orgy of endorsements for the president, which is hardly anything the president needed at that point, I want to say that Ganduje and Co missed the point. As the leader of the party in power, his business should be to galvanise government operatives to deliver democracy dividends. He should be at the forefront of leading the charge to showcase how the government is truly making the difference in the lives of Nigerians.  Maybe he needs a lesson from Afenifere’s book of governance under Pa Abraham Adesanya. The Pan-Yoruba Socio-political Organisation was the vehicle through which the Alliance for Democracy (AD) took charge of the South-West in 1999, and with Afenifere in control, the organisation usually called its governors to scorecard sessions in Ijebu-Igbo, apart from sending teams to ascertain development objectives in the different states. That the APC under Ganduje was merely seeking to massage the president’s ego and regale him with a second term ticket that is already in his inner pocket is missing the point badly. The APC chairman should know that in the tradition of presidential democracy, sitting presidents have the right of first refusal for second term tickets and whoever attempts to struggle the ticket with the incumbent will be easily dealt with by the party structure. So, how can anyone think that a second term ticket within the APC would be Tinubu’s headache? Even if Ganduje would not check the history of the United States presidency, as a former governor, he is well equipped to recall the nature of things within Nigeria since 1999. President Olusegun Obasanjo got the re-election tickets of his party, notwithstanding the hubris raised by some stakeholders, Dr. Goodluck Jonathan also got the re-election ticket for the 2015 election, even though he lost to the opposition led by President Muhamadu Buhari, who effortlessly secured a re-election ticket of his party in 2019.

Perhaps Ganduje as party chairman does not know his role as the leader of the party. Rather than galvanise his party men to a dance on the altar of sycophancy, he should be seen helping the president to sell the offerings of the Renewed Hope Agenda. Why is he not taking the ministers to task, calling them to scorecard sessions in the party headquarters? He should be calling the governors to do the same. Governance should not just be about the niceties, the ceremonies and the glamour you see on television. Some actors like the party chairman, ministers and others should be doing the seen and unseen jobs like the midfielders in a football field to ensure that the people enjoy the dividends of the hard-earned democracy. By merely dancing around the president and offering him a ticket that is not lost is of not value to democratic growth. 

As I was about concluding this, I saw the effort of the Minister of Education, Dr. Tunji Alausa in launching the revitalized Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET). I must confess to being impressed by the offerings of the programme as enunciated by the minister. According to him, the idea is to retool technical and vocational education in the country to the extent that Nigerians would no longer rely on foreigners to handle most of the technical work. According to the minister, the Federal Government would train at least five million youths in industry-relevant, entrepreneurial, and income-generating skills in the coming years.

“This is not a projection; it is a mission backed by strategic investments, implementation frameworks, and multiple partnerships,” Alausa said on Friday, adding that 25 trade categories had been developed across sectors such as ICT, renewable energy, construction, agriculture, the creative industry, and the automotive industry. He also said that the ministry had engaged state governors, commissioners of education, sector skills councils, regulatory agencies, employers, and development partners to build ownership at every level of the programme. Just as he stated that while the artisans would be paid stipends during their training, the mentors would equally receive stipends per student. Alausa said: “This is not a reinvention. We’re doing what the world’s most successful economies have already done. Technical skills built Germany’s economy 500 years ago, and they remain the industrial powerhouse of Europe today.”

Initiatives like this, if properly harnessed, should propel Nigeria to a level of self-sufficiency in skills development in the nearest future. Because it is also measurable, stakeholders can easily take on Alausa and his men if the policy starts faltering. I would, however, wish that this is backed by law and inculcated into the educational system rather than being an adhoc initiative. It is a pity that only a few ministers have produced such landmark offerings in the last two years. My take is that designing initiatives that address the challenges of the Nigerian society is the best way the political actors can earn their names, help the president and the country at the same time. Someone remarked recently that Chief Obafemi Awolowo ruled the Western Region more than 50 years ago, yet his name remained on the lips of his compatriots years after he had departed this shores. It should not shock you to note that many Nigerians are already forgetting the names of some governors who left office less than a decade ago. History and the people cannot be deceived by ephemerals.

AN ice wall initially separated President Bola Tinubu and POTUS Donald Trump. As they sat inside the White House’s Oval Office, Tinubu was the first to thaw the ice. “How are you managing old age, Mr. President?” he asked jocularly. Apparently fazed by the Nigerian president’s boldness, Trump flashed his traditional wry smile and replied, “Same here, Mr. President. How are you coping with age?” They both laughed rambunctiously, laughter which instantly infected some of their aides on each sides of the divide.

The Oval Office gives America a touch of ancient cultural history. It was inside this room that  young John F. Kennedy looked out to see the front panel of his father’s desk; where Richard Nixon spoke on telephone to the Apollo 11 Astronauts. Presidents after presidents addressed America from there, ranging from the 1962 address to Americans about the Cuban Missiles crisis by Kennedy and the Nixon announcement of his resignation in 1974. It was right inside the Oval Office that George W. Bush, almost fidgety, addressed America after the debilitating September 11, 2001 terror attacks.

Trump was pleasantly surprised at Tinubu’s boldness. He had met his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, on April 30, 2018, seven years earlier. The exchange was literally unilineal, either due to Buhari’s famous ear defect or his inability to penetrate Trump’s dense English. The Financial Times was to later report that, after meeting Buhari, Trump swore never to meet someone that lifeless again. This was coming after an earlier racist profiling of Africa made by same Trump in his infamous ‘Shithole’ infelicity. Packaged as an image booster for a Buhari who had general elections to weather in February, less than a year from then, the Trump visit became an image fiasco. After the Times expose, Buhari had to make a show of possessing life. In what was seen as an indirect disputation of Trump’s reading of his obviously poor health and maladministration, Buhari had to walk more than 800 meters from one point to the other to prove that he wasn’t lifeless after all.

But Trump, not one to be caught unguarded in his lair, unleashed the next salvo. “Last month, I instructed Caroline Leavette, the White House Press Secretary, to give Americans my Annual Physical Examination Results after being examined at the Walter Reed National Military Center. They include diagnostic and laboratory testing and consultation with fourteen consultants. I had a 62 beats per minute Resting Heart Rate; 128/74mmHg Blood Pressure, among others. I’m good! How about you, Mr. President?” “Yeah! Yeah! I’m good!” President Tinubu replied. Still bent on pursuing this further, Trump asked, “I learnt you’ve had a knee replacement and frequently go to Paris and St. Mary’s Hospital in London. So sorry to hear that. Hope you’re good now?” This time, Tinubu was the one who was caught napping. He merely replied, “Yeah. Yeah”, a bead of sweats welling up his brows.

The night before, the Nigerian delegation, flying in the Nigerian national presidential aircraft nicknamed Air Force One, had arrived Washington D. C., America’s seat of power. It comprised Tinubu, his Chief of Staff, Secretary to the Government of the Federation; three governors from the north, east and western parts of Nigeria; Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Trade and Investments and Chairman of the FIRS, brilliant Zacch Adedeji; select captains of industry, Nigeria’s First Lady and First Son, Seyi and a few other presidential hangers-on. The next day, at exactly 12.00hrs, Tinubu and a select few members of his entourage were ushered into the Oval Office, West Wing of the White House and the formal working space of the American president.

Dressed in a resplendent black suit and a blue tie that must have cost the Nigerian taxpayers some chunk of cash, the Nigerian president looked as if he had hopped out of a fashion magazine.

A few weeks before then, immediately the news filtered in that President Trump had invited Tinubu to the White House, the Nigerian press turned the news into a carcass which it flayed mercilessly. You would imagine that leopard, the animal whose fierce and legendary butchering talent earned it Yoruba’s christening and praise-name of ÒgÌdán Olóólà Ijù, (the giant king of the wild capable of using its incisors to make lethal marks on animals) had just seized a buffalo. Press commentaries and analyses became a gourmet. Morbid fear and pessimism that Tinubu would make a disaster of the visit dictated press projection of what lay ahead. To be fair to the Nigerian press, the wisdom in an ancient fable of the lion and the tortoise preached caution. It says he is wise who is wary of and alerted by the misfortunes of others.

The Nigerian press based its pessimism on recent previous visits to Trump’s lair. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa got their flesh feasted upon by a man recently nicknamed TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out). Tinubu, they said, would not be an exemption.

Rufai Oseni, at his cheeky best on Arise TV, suggested that while at the Oval Office, Tinubu should promise Trump another luxury 747 jumbo jet since the American president was in love with impropriety.

The pessimism in the media was so huge that you could have a handshake with it. The presidential media office did all it could to change the colour of the Doomsday predictions. The president was a ‘deals man’ who understands the wiles of characters like King Trump, it says. Yusuff Tugar, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, literally made television houses his domicile. Tinubu would spend the projected one-hour visit to the White House to reinforce Nigeria’s bilateral trade with America, he said. Bayo Onanuga asked Nigerians to trust that Tinubu would put up a stellar performance. Apparently exasperated by the mounting cynicism, on a television programme, the old media fox attributed the American visit prophecies of doom to the usual Tinubu-bashing by the media on the payroll of the opposition. Suddenly, he burst into an ancient Yusuff Olatunji’s Yoruba Sakara evergreen song: “In the wild dream of the goat, the butcher’s death should come quickly, so that it could prounce about in majesty…” (l’ójú ewúré, bíi k’Álápatà ó kú, k’án máa rìn, k’án máa yan).

The irascible Peter Obi social media soldier ants were even more unsparing. One of them, on X, inflected a statement credited to Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the Miller Center, University of Virginia. While Perry had said, “Like all things with Trump, it’s unprecedented,” the Obidient said, with Tinubu, all things were unprecedented as well. “He is the first Nigerian president to inflict hunger of this magnitude on Nigerians; the first president with drug issue history in America; the first Nigerian president to bring this level of misery and frightening ethnic relations in Nigeria.” The silly fellow then concluded that the invitation to Tinubu to be a guest of Trump was America’s own way of getting our president arrested. What a logic! But he cited examples to back up his claim.

David Hundeyin, the tiny fish bone stubbornly trapped inside Tinubu’s esophagus, also dug up his oft unrelenting narrative. On his X page, Hundeyin alleged that the president’s invitation to America was a “home boy come home” trip. Since he commenced the battle to get then presidential candidate Tinubu indicted for alleged drug couriering in the United States in the 1990s, Hundeyin has consistently maintained his stand. When the CIA, FBI and DEA filed a memorandum opposing his’ and another colleague of his’ motion for summary judgment in the FOIA disclosure case about the president’s drug trafficking investigation records, the duo sought to have redactions removed from the partially released files.

Hundeyin has also consistently insisted that the president is a CIA agent who is working hand in glove with America. He based this on a CIA file which recently claimed that the CIA “will do everything in (our) power to prevent the public disclosure of (our) cooperation” because, “confirming or denying the existence of records on a particular foreign national, like Tinubu, reasonably could be expected to cause damage to US national security.” On the same X page, Hundeyin claimed that the Tinubu visit was an invitation for the Nigerian president to give the US a report on his effort at frustrating the Burkina-Fasso military government led by 37-year-old Head of State, Ibrahim Traore.

Serial presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, was similarly unsparing. Coming on the heels of a recent Financial Times’ assessment of Tinubu, upon which the Villa has gone on a celebratory binge, Abubakar alleged that the newspaper’s seemingly complimentary review of “the pains” of Nigerians was meant to wet the ground for Tinubu’s meeting with Trump. He also claimed that the newspaper was merely celebrating the easy access to Nigeria’s capital by foreigners and the ease of access Tinubu has made for his western collaborators to repatriate their easy money in Nigeria. This, he said, was what the Financial Times erroneously tagged Tinubu’s ‘stabilization of the Nigerian economy’.

“The American newspaper had no words about the pang of hunger an average Nigerian goes through under Tinubu in the last two years, nor the hopelessness that has become a familiar sight. It didn’t talk about how this government has pauperized the people; no words about the electricity war it is waging on the mass of our people, the endemic poverty, the migration from Nigeria of manufacturing companies, the consistent dearth of exports and how Tinubu and his acolytes have suddenly become as stupendously wealthy as Mansa Musa of the Mali Empire,” Atiku Abubakar said.

Indeed, Mansa Musa was reported in history to be exceptionally and inconceivably wealthy. Maybe his closest rival is Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu. The Time magazine said of Mansa Musa: “There’s really no way to put an accurate number on his wealth.” While the source of Musa’s wealth was principally from Mali Empire’s control and taxing of the trade in salt from northern regions and gold mined in Bambuk and Bure, it is said that the Nigerian president’s source of wealth is Nichodemus.

Then, as he did to Ramaphosa, as Trump and Tinubu were talking, a big television screen beamed live video of killings in Benue, Plateau, and other Northeastern parts of Nigeria. “Why are you killing Christians in Nigeria, Mr. President?” Trump asked. Apparently briefed on the possibility of this question, Tinubu acquitted himself admirably. He told the American president that though he was a Moslem, his wife and key members of his government were Christians and that in his family, he was probably the only standalone member of that religious persuasion.

Both Trump and Tinubu later went into the Oval Office lunch room where they discussed bilateral matters. Almost immediately after the Nigerian entourage left the White House, the X page of Onanuga literally went on fire, beeping red. His tweets gloated about the Villa White House victory. Many non-Yoruba who read Onanuga’s post, with a music Emoji, found it cryptic and impenetrable. It simply read, “Yègèdè won ò gée o! Yègèdè won ò gée o! Esè t’e pé wón gé, l’a fi ńrìn yìí o! Yègèdè won ò gée o!” It was only a Yoruba respondent on the page who did the interpretation. In the respondent’s words, Onanuga’s post was the line of a song sang by Yusuff Olatunji who died in 1978. Diagnosed with an unhealed diabetic foot wound, the initial medical advice was to amputate Olatunji’s leg. Second medical examination however said cutting of the leg might be bypassed. The second examination gave birth to the Olatunji gloat in the song which, translated, meant “Blimey! The leg you announced would be cut wasn’t. Isn’t it what I still use to walk?”

Does Onanuga realize that the Tinubu, sorry, Olatunji leg was eventually amputated?

“It is time to move beyond rhetorical hope…Nigeria’s future cannot be built on beautiful aspirations and emotive patriotism, but must be anchored in a collective demand for transparency, justified expectation, equity, responsible governance, and freedom from want on the many needs of living a good life”

 WHAT is patriotism? One definition of it which has gained currency but which is always (deliberately?) misquoted, misinterpreted, and misapplied to suit the personal interests of those concerned is the one popularized by US naval officer, Commodore Stephen Decatur. His exact words were: “Our country! In her intercourse with foreign nations may she always be in the right; but our country, right or wrong”. Sheer patriotism! Blind love for the motherland – or is it the fatherland! The egotist zeal of a soldier risking all, waging battles, winning wars and gaining honour and respect for his country! Decatur became famous for his dare-devil acts of valour in the early 19th Century, especially for leading a handful of men to storm and set on fire the frigate USS Philadelphia that had been captured by pirates from the Barbary states. He came back victorious without losing a single man in an operation described in those times as “one of the boldest and daring acts of the age”. Decatur followed up with another successful mission of signing the peace treaty with Algeria in 1816. He was honoured at a banquet where he raised his glass and made his hair-splitting statement quoted above.

 Not only applause but also consternation and condemnation have, however, followed Decatur’s statement for what many have regarded as its “highly narcissistic undertones”. While many have argued that a thoughtful use of the statement can “encourage positive patriotism and inspire change”, others have pointed at its immense capacity for promoting “blind patriotism (and) potentially leading to harmful nationalism”, the same as gripped Adolf Hitler’s Germany and Benito Mussolini’s Italy leading to the Second World War (1939 – 1945), and Francisco Franco’s Spain (1939 – 1975). A defence of Decatur, however, is that his focus was on relations between nations – my country versus foreign nations – and not on the individual country’s internal politics. Besides, he also made efforts to insist on the justness of his country’s cause – may she always be in the right. “Right or wrong”, therefore, does not mean it must ride roughshod over others or flex muscles anyhow. It must bend over backward to ensure the justness of its cause. The wisdom of our own elders says we should first drive away the fox before returning home to scold the chicken for wandering far away from home. 

 Here, today, we shall be reviewing ex-Lagos state governor and former Minister, Babatunde Raji Fashola’s treatise on patriotism. The reviewer is no less a person than a  former diplomat, lawyer, and professor of Political Science and International Relations at Chrisland University, Abeokuka, Babafemi Badejo, who is no stranger to these pages. Titled “My country, right or wrong mentality is actually unpatriotic: A dialogue with Fashola”, Badejo scrutinises Fashola’s speech at the 60th birthday lecture of my brother and professional colleague, Seye Kehinde, publisher of high-flying City People magazine, on Thursday, April 24, 2025 . We shall return to fire parting shots as usual. Enjoy it:

 “Mr. Babatunde Raji Fashola, erstwhile Governor of Lagos State and former Minister of Works and Housing in the Buhari administration that ran Nigeria aground, presented a passionate and compelling message titled: “Why I Remain Optimistic About Nigeria.” Fashola’s speech was an appeal for national hope and resilience. He emphasised the strengths inherent in Nigeria’s cultural richness, human potential, and the importance of unity. He extolled the nation’s cultural depth, entrepreneurial energy, and the uncommon resilience of her citizenry as assets for national redemption. His message, delivered with characteristic conviction, was a call to national hope and perseverance amid Nigeria’s complex crises.

 “While such depths of optimism and patriotic zeal are commendable, it is imperative to critically assess the underlying factors that challenge such a perspective. Fashola’s message, though well-intentioned, side-stepped the systemic leadership deficit, rampant corruption, administrative/institutional decay, and the external dynamics, not to mention the infrastructure deficits, that have made meaningful progress elusive.

Leadership failure and corruption: The glaring contradictions

 “The core issue afflicting Nigeria is not the absence of human or natural resources but the sustained failure of leadership. From the local through the states to the federal level, governance is often tainted by opportunism, incompetence, and corruption. The optimistic narrative Fashola portrays stands in stark contrast to the lived experiences of many Nigerians who contend daily with failing infrastructure, unemployment, insecurity, and a justice system many consider compromised.

 “Fashola only scantily touched on the pervasive and fundamental issue of corruption, referencing it only through a non-justiciable constitutional provision that seeks the abolition of corruption. He had no time elaborating on the failure since 1999 of the National Assembly (NASS) to enact a law that would, for instance, allow easy access to the asset declarations of public office holders. Fashola’s passing mention is insufficient given the devastating impact that corruption continues to have on governance, insecurity, public trust, and national development.

 “His attempt at promoting national optimism, brand image protection, and patriotism, whilst failing to adequately confront corruption with the same intensity, does not make for a more balanced approach to the issues thrown up. The inability to handle corruption flows from a leadership deficit concerning a visionary approach that focuses on popular interests. The persistent gross inadequacies in governance have led many articulate Nigerians to seek a redefinition of corrupt values towards genuine progress and development.

 “The persistent erosion of public trust is evident in the widespread perception of corruption across various arms, levels, and sectors of Nigeria. Findings from a nationwide corruption perception survey I conducted in 2024, which has been published as a book: ‘Nigeria Corruption Perception Data’, show that a vast majority of Nigerians, well over 80%, believe corruption has either worsened or remains widespread. The survey, involving 1,426 respondents across all geopolitical zones, revealed that:

 • 748 respondents (more than 52%) rated Nigeria as “extremely corrupt”.

• Over 90% expressed dissatisfaction with the transparency and efficiency of public services.

• Encounters with corruption were most prevalent in the public sector, followed by the private and social sectors.

• Religious and civil society institutions, once seen as moral bastions, were also implicated, with 88% of respondents agreeing that even religious organisations are corrupt.

 “Similarly, according to a recent NOI-Polls result, 80% of Nigerians believe that their country’s corruption level has increased over the past year, with the police and the National Assembly perceived as the most corrupt institutions. This perception is not unfounded, as numerous high-profile corruption cases involving former governors and public officials have surfaced, highlighting systemic issues within the leadership structure.

 “The ridiculous level of corruption and leadership deficit continues to promote large-scale underdevelopment, poverty, and unlivable conditions for many Nigerians. This situation further moves many Nigerians away from utmost freedom (the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals coupled with access to the benefits accruable from the Universal Declaration of Human Rights).

 “These data present a very different picture from Fashola’s upbeat and all-is-good tone. Like they say, “In God We Trust absolutely, but all Men Must come to the Table with Data”. It is based on these data that we shall begin to examine the basis and reality of the high hopes and patriotic excitements that Fashola tried to propagate.

Patriotism examined: Between love for country and disillusionment

 “It is a disservice to equate blind loyalty in the face of stark realities with patriotism. True patriotism does not entail defending a broken/failed system or remaining silent in the face of injustice and oppression. Rather, it requires a sober critique and active engagement for necessary reforms. It is such critiques that lead to improvement in societies. The silence or ‘siddon look’ towards societal ills, not to mention deceptive praise-singing in the face of stark realities, actually constitutes a disservice to Nigeria.

 “It is not in doubt that ordinary Nigerians deeply love and care about their country, as seen in their resilience and persistent demand for accountability, as well as their failure to organize to throw off the yoke of oppression. What is in doubt is how much love and commitment the people who have been handed the job of managing the material resources, governance, and leadership apparatus of the country truly have for the country. Very painfully, Nigeria’s challenges continue to compound the people’s suffering.

 “A deep analysis would demonstrate the lethal situation of the combined effects of leadership deficit, corruption, and the failure of leadership to make the best of the external environment. Such visionary leadership would be opposed to the current reality of being willing tools for the continued external subjugation of Nigeria. Important is also the failure of leadership to start or maintain the process of building viable institutions and expanding the horizon on the paucity of human and material resources.

 “In effect, leadership deficit remains central to the increasingly unbearable living standard of Nigerians, hence severing the people from desirable quantum moves towards utmost freedom. Even the most passionate patriot is forced to confront the painful dissonance between eulogy for patriotism and lived reality. The lived reality of the average Nigerian makes the Fashola type of call, couched under the pretense of patriotism, sound very hollow.

Realistic optimism and accountable leadership

 “While Fashola appeals for collective hope, Nigeria’s development continues to fail to leapfrog towards development in comparison with countries with similar trajectories, like India, Malaysia, Indonesia, and South Korea. This cannot be ignored in calling for Nigerians to raise their head high in patriotism. Since gaining flag independence around the puerile decolonisation period, countries with relatively better visionary leadership and lower levels of corruption have made significant gains in economic diversification, infrastructure, and human development indices. Clogged by cyclical corruption and poor governance, Nigeria has squandered decades of opportunities for internal consolidation and regional leadership. Love of country does not need to be from the pulpit in those countries (where) people are living reasonably and improving the realities of their life.

 “It is time to move beyond rhetorical hope. True national healing requires hard truth-telling, actionable reforms, and people-centred leadership. The escapist argument that all societies are corrupt should be avoided. Many societies that are meeting the needs of their people through development have effective institutional arrangements to radically reduce the level of corruption, as opposed to Nigeria’s tolerance level for cancer.

“The inverse relationship between the known number of Nigerian billionaires (many are not on the Forbes list as a result of hidden wealth) and the poverty level in Nigeria is largely a result of corruption. It is a result of live and direct outright theft, as well as deliberate policies to gouge the public. The resulting inequalities and inequities cannot build the type of patriotism Nigeria had in the 1950s through to the mid-1980s when oil blocks started being handed over to individuals, thereby privatising the life-line of national patrimony without value addition. The result has been a reduced level of peace and security, development, respect for human rights, and humanitarian resilience.

 “The 2024 corruption survey I conducted shows a population that is engaged, informed, and yearning for transformation. Nigeria’s future cannot be built on beautiful aspirations and emotive patriotism, but must be anchored in a collective demand for transparency, justified expectation, equity, responsible governance, and freedom from want on the many needs of living a good life. At the top of such a governance arrangement must be visionary leadership able to reverse the level of corruption, adequately respond to the external environment, as well as handle institution-building and expansion on human/material resources.”

 I agree with Badejo that “patriotism no be for mouth alone.” And each time I hear Fashola’s name, my mind races to his administration’s ambivalence on the Freedom of Information Act when he was the governor of Lagos state. Even if he washes in Jordan seven times or in the Pool of Siloam…!

Now that the April tax deadline has passed, most Americans have either filed their 2024 tax returns or submitted an extension request. The IRS is now busy reviewing returns and issuing refunds.

However, before a refund can be processed, the IRS must first receive and review your return. Due to recent budget and staffing cuts, some delays are expected this year.

Meanwhile, an IRS tax refund is the money the government returns to you if you paid more in taxes throughout the year than you actually owed. This can happen through paycheck withholdings, estimated tax payments, or refundable tax credits. After you file your tax return, the IRS reviews it, calculates what you owe versus what you paid, and if there’s an overpayment, they issue a refund, typically by direct deposit or a mailed check.

If you mailed in a paper return, your wait may be longer than if you filed electronically. The IRS is just beginning to sort and open paper returns, which must be reviewed manually, so expect a slower turnaround for those.

Most taxpayers now file electronically, which is typically faster and more efficient. E-filed returns are processed almost immediately unless they contain issues that require further review. Suppose you have a simple tax situation and steady employment. In that case, the process should go smoothly, especially with the IRS’s new Direct File program, which allows eligible filers to submit straightforward returns directly through the IRS website.

Refund timing depends on how you filed your return. Here’s the current IRS refund timeline based on when and how you submitted your return:

If you filed between May 1 and May 15, 2025:

• Paper return: Refund expected between June 26 and July 10, 2025
• E-file with direct deposit: Refund expected between May 22 and June 4, 2025
• E-file with mailed check: Refund expected between May 29 and June 11, 2025

If you filed between May 16 and May 31, 2025:

• Paper return: Refund expected between July 11 and July 25, 2025
• E-file with direct deposit: Refund expected between June 6 and June 19, 2025
• E-file with mailed check: Refund expected between June 13 and June 26, 2025
  

Average Refund: Around $2,939

The average tax refund this year is approximately $2,939, though many taxpayers can expect to receive close to $3,000. Of course, knowing how much you’ll receive is only helpful if you also know when to expect it.

Even with an estimated schedule, issues like missing information, small errors, or processing delays can slow things down. That’s why it’s important to track your refund status by visiting the IRS website and using the “Where’s My Refund?” tool. It works for both electronic and paper returns.

[Nigerian Tribune]

Nigerians are so divided and their partisan preferences so cast in concrete that, in most circles, there is hardly any room for dissent or alternative viewpoints. The biting economic hardship which flagellates us all has rendered some people incapable of buying any hope agenda in this season of Tinubu’s “Renewed Hope”. They can’t be bothered with the niceties of whether the glass of progress is half full or half empty.

Quit the sophistry, they’ll charge you. Their pantries are empty, their bellies are groaning — or “Ebi npa wa” (“we are hungry”), as Lagosians once chorused to the president’s hearing. Look into the kitchen of the average Nigerian to see if at all anything is cooking before you inflict your long-winded economic theories on him. A hungry man is allergic to logic.

Economy

Economists have told us that in terms of economic growth, Nigeria’s real Gross Domestic Product (GDP) expanded by 3.84% year-on-year in Q4 2024, up from 3.46% in Q4 2023. The growth was primarily driven by the services sector, which recorded a 5.37% increase and contributed over 57% to the total GDP. The World Bank forecasts a 3.3% GDP growth rate for 2025, indicating that structural reforms may yield more pronounced economic benefits in the coming years.

Tinubunomics may potentially encapsulate the hope for tomorrow, but the taste of the theory is in its practice. The thinking of the common man is this: How can my country be said to be doing so well when I’ve been reduced to bare bones?

In soccer, a game of two halves, the half-time period is spent re-strategising to reinforce the tactics deployed in the first half, or to correct perceived weaknesses that could stultify the overall game plan. It may be necessary to change some players or switch their positions. That is where you know the difference between a boy-coach and a man-coach.

The most obvious difference between the last two years and the preceding eight is that there is a sense of mission among many of the ministers because of the likelihood of a cabinet reshuffle. Under the previous administration, one of the regular jokes on social media was that there was nothing as permanent as President Buhari’s appointments because once your name was announced as a minister, you were sure of running the entire term without interruption.

Petroleum

At last, there was some stirring in the all-important petroleum ministry. The most consequential decision so far taken by the Minister of Petroleum who is also the chief of state, is the change of guards at the NNPCL. For decades, the national petroleum company had been run like a cult. Nigerians were at the receiving end of sharp practices and intermittent shortages. However, since the removal of the opaque subsidy regime and the coming onstream of Dangote Refineries, there has been a measure of stability – even if motorists now have to pay through the nose!

However, it is difficult to appreciate the logic behind allowing petroleum imports when Dangote has built the world’s largest refinery here. The middlemen who used to sell imported products to motorists pretend they’re on the side of the consumers, but if experience, is any guide, all they want is a chance to import substandard petroleum products and maximise their profits. President Tinubu and his petroleum minister (himself) shouldn’t have any problems harmonising thoughts on this matter.

In the next couple of years, the government’s aim should be stopping crude oil theft while simultaneously increasing the number of active wells. A good gauge of progress would be the number of barrels produced per day. The immediate target of 2 million bpd should be realisable before this time next year.

In addition to the loan scheme for tertiary students, the government has to plan a special intervention in teacher remuneration. Happily, there hasn’t been any Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU) or Nigeria Union of Teachers (NUT) strike in the last two years, but a situation where a professor earns less than 5% of a senator’s salary is unjust and primitive.

Tinubu has succeeded in introducing a tax reform law to end the obsolete tax law that made Nigeria one of the countries with the lowest tax-to-GDP rate. The common man’s interest is how this can give him life more abundant as against the historical reality of providing more lucre for politicians.

Critics

Official figures contend that the Tinubu administration has successfully reduced Nigeria’s budget deficits from 50% in 2023 to about 23% in 2025, a revelation that hasn’t impressed critics of the administration. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar’s verdict of President Tinubu’s first two years is predictably damning.

“Policy after policy under this administration has targeted the poor while providing relief and advantage to the rich. From healthcare to education to identity management and basic public services, Nigerians are now faced with class-based systems where the wealthy enjoy VIP treatment, and the rest are left behind,” Atiku said.

The prime socio-political group of the Southeast, Ohanaeze Ndigbo, also castigated the Tinubu administration over the general hardship being experienced by Nigerians:  “Nigerians are enduring untold hardships as a direct consequence of the ongoing experimental leadership failures propagated by a cadre of incompetent ministers and political appointees,” its statement said.

The Peoples’ Democratic Party (PDP) through its National Publicity Secretary, Debo Ologunagba, challenged President Tinubu to “urgently address the issue of insecurity, reverse all economically suffocating policies and check the wholesale corruption, greed, unbridled profligacy, reckless misdirection of resources, arrogance in failure and totalitarian tendencies in his administration.”

But the ruling party, All Progressives Congress (APC), robustly defended Tinubu’s performance from various angles. Its National Publicity Secretary, Felix Morka, argued that Tinubu’s actions were aimed at saving Nigeria from exploitation, unlike his predecessors who, he claimed, acted only to secure funds for short-term needs.

According to him, “All the Presidents who came before this President preferred to simply postpone the doomsday. We didn’t just wake up in the last two years to realise that fuel subsidy was a destructive device in our country. We’ve always known that.”

Morka’s perspective was reinforced by the Deputy President of the Senate and First Deputy Speaker of the ECOWAS Parliament, Senator Barau I. Jibrin, who declared in his statement that, “The country in the past 24 months under the able leadership of President Tinubu, the visionary leader of our time, has been repositioned. Of course, he inherited a lot of challenges. But he has come up with programmes and policies to surmount these challenges… We have seen how he has genuinely dealt with our twin main challenges: security and economy. We know we are not where we want to be, but the journey has started. It is work in progress.”

Going Forward

The Financial Times waxed positive in its editorial on Tinubu’s midterm:

“Halfway through the first presidential term of Bola Tinubu, Nigeria is in better shape than at any time in the past decade. That may come as a surprise – or even sound like a sick joke – to tens of millions of Nigerians who are suffering the worst cost of living crisis in a generation. Yet Tinubu…  has stabilised the economy and laid the groundwork for a broader recovery.”

Going forward, if you ask me, I would say the three most urgent problems the Tinubu administration must overcome in the critical second half of his current mandate are the following:

Security.

Security.

Security.

One of the memorable moments from the presidential campaign ahead of Nigeria’s 2023 elections featured then ruling party candidate, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at the Chatham House in London in December 2022 allocating to leading members of his entourage responsibility for answering various questions from members of the public. For the questions on insecurity, he called on then governor of Kaduna state, Nasir el-Rufai, to address them. At the time, Candidate Bola Tinubu explained that he did that to advertise the versatility and cohesion of his team. 

Many believed then that asking el-Rufai to respond to those questions show-cased his competence on insecurity. In hindsight, it seems more likely that candidate Tinubu intuited that Nasir el-Rufai embodied the manifestation in human form of Nigeria’s insecurity crisis. 

This past week, a judgment by the Federal High Court in Kaduna, north-west Nigeria, showed exactly why candidate Tinubu’s hunch may have been well-founded. 

The story needs context. When he was inaugurated as governor of Kaduna state on May 29 2015, Nasir el-Rufai identified insecurity as “an obstacle to progress” and promised to “work with law enforcement officials to drastically reduce violent crime” and  “insure safety of life and limb.” Forgetting his inauguration day promise, el-Rufai spent eight years in office visiting the exact opposite to those whom he disliked or disagreed with.

Among el-Rufai’s victims, few were as brutalised as the Adara. The Adara are one of the 56 nations that make up the complex ethnic kaleidoscope of Kaduna state. The lands in Kajuru Local Government Area (LGA) in south-central Kaduna are fertile. The paramount chief of the Adara was known as the Agwam (Agom) Adara. 

In the third week of October 2018, inter-communal violence broke out in Kasuwan Magani in Kajuru, pitting Kajuru youths against their Fulbe peers. It was reported at the time that the casualty count from this violence was over 55 persons. The state government imposed a 24-hour curfew over the affected parts. Thereafter, Nasir el-Rufai summoned a meeting in Kaduna. In attendance at the meeting was the paramount ruler of the Adara, Dr. Maiwada Raphael Galadima, Agwam Adara III, who was accompanied by his wife and aides.

This was Agwam Adara’s last earthly appearance. As he made his way home from that meeting on or about 21 October 2018, the Agwam Adara’s convoy was attacked and some of his aides and security detail were killed on the spot. The Agwam Adara himself and his wife were both abducted. Five days later, the dead body of the Agwam Adara was discovered. His wife was spared. It was later reported that he “was brutally murdered in October 2018 on his way to his palace after accompanying Governor Nasir el-Rufai to Kasuwan Magani to commiserate with the community over violence that claimed many lives.” 

At the time, the government of Kaduna state led by el-Rufai promised to “pursue justice for this revered man…. of peace.” Nothing else was heard about that. The governor meanwhile was too busy to attend his funeral. Instead, he set about ensuring the dismantling of the Adara Kingdom. 

Shortly after the killing of the Agwam Adara, el-Rufai abolished the kingdom, cannibalising it into emirates and essentially wiping away the rights of Adara’s majority of Christians and indigenous adherents to any claims over their community. It was widely believed, indeed reported, that the Agwam Adara “died for resisting attempts by Nasir el-Rufai, Governor of Kaduna State, to restructure Kajuru under the Adara Traditional Council to the Kajuru Emirate.”

All of this occurred a mere four months before both el-Rufai and his political benefactor, Muhammadu Buhari, were due to stand for re-election in ballots scheduled for February and March 2019. Kaduna state was a battleground in those contests and the Adara had good reason for antipathy towards the governor. 

Voting in the presidential election was initially due to occur on 17 February, 2019. The day before, on or about 16 February, the governor dramatically announced that he alone had discovered the massacre of 66 Fulbe in Kajuru. No security agency was initially willing to back him up. On the contrary, the state police commissioner accused el-Rufai of having “pre-empted police investigations.” The National Emergency Management Agency, NEMA, like many residents in the affected area, accused him of having lied. The senator representing the affected communities in the Nigerian Senate at the time, Shehu Sani, suggested that el-Rufai was intentional in seeking to provoke the community ahead of highly contentious elections.

The man was not about to be deterred from habitually inflammatory routine, however. The Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) deferred the vote by one week. So, el-Rufai decided to once more convene another town-hall in Kasuwan Magani. Among the participants was Awemi Dio Maisamari, an economist who was also president of the Adara Development Association, (ADA). 

At the meeting, Awemi Dio sought to speak but el-Rufai allegedly shut him down, calling him “part of the problem.” Thereafter, security agents, allegedly on the orders of el-Rufai set upon the man, arrested him and threatened to shoot him if he uttered one word. Quickly, they bundled him out of the venue into a vehicle which drove him straight to the state headquarters of the dreaded Special Anti-Robbery Squad (SARS), where he was initially detained for three days. All this while, there was no warrant for his arrest. 

Simultaneously, el-Rufai ordered the arrest and detention of the leadership of the Adara. In addition to Awemi Dio, the victims included the Wazirin Adara (Vizier) and former commissioner in the government of Kaduna State, Bawa Magaji; former Commissioner of Police, Sani Magaji; National Treasurer of the ADA Joseph Abdallah; Village Head of Maro, Tanko Maisamari; Village Head of Ungwan Gamo, Hosea Danladi; Village Head of Kutura, Joseph Ayuba; Village Head of Aguba, Tanko Wada; and Elder Ulu Maitumbi.

On 20 February, 2019 at the request of el-Rufai, a magistrate in Kaduna consigned them to pretrial detention on charges entirely constituted by his say-so. After three and a half months in detention and wide spread international outcry and advocacy, the attorney-general of Kaduna state advised that there was no case against the nine Adara elders. On 26 May 2019, they were released but el-Rufai had destroyed their lives.

In March 2024, Awemi Dio Maisamari sued el-Rufai in his personal capacity in Suit No. FHC/KD/CS/23/24 through their lawyer, Gloria Ballason, who has fast become el-Rufai’s legal nemesis. Last week, Justice Hauwa’u Buhari of the Federal High Court in Kaduna found him personally culpable for the abuse of the human rights of the Awemi Dio and Adara elders. In a judgment brimming with many telling paragraphs, the judge pointed out that the duty of a governor is to ensure the protection of lives and property and that public office is not meant to gratify the whims, ego or benefit of the occupant.

The court specifically found el-Rufai responsible for abuse of office and held that an occupant of public office cannot assert benefit of official immunities for acts of abuse of office. Even more, the court held that his misconduct in this case amounted to a breach of his duty as governor to protect all persons in the state. 

The court exonerated the office of the state governor from liability, commended the courage of the attorney-general in advising against the executive abuse of office, and awarded damages of N900 million against el-Rufai personally. In good-old Nigerian parlance, the court dared to say to el-Rufai, El-Tufiakwa!

Nasir el-Rufai has sought recently to sell himself as an advocate for good government and against arbitrariness. His record in government belies his recent pretensions. This judgment reminds everyone why his effort to distract public attention deserves ridicule. 

On June 25 2025, meanwhile, el-Rufai is due to take the witness stand in Abuja in his defamation case against two senior lawyers, Silas Onu and Auta Nyata, over the decision of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) to de-platform him in 2020. That should be some spectacle. 

A lawyer and a teacher, Odinkalu can be reached at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

An ice wall initially separated President Bola Tinubu and POTUS Donald Trump. As they sat inside the White House’s Oval Office, Tinubu was the first to thaw the ice. “How are you managing old age, Mr. President?” he asked jocularly. Apparently fazed by the Nigerian president’s boldness, Trump flashed his traditional wry smile and replied, “Same here, Mr. President. How are you coping with age?” They both laughed rambunctiously, laughter which instantly infected some of their aides on each sides of the divide.

The Oval Office gives America a touch of ancient cultural history. It was inside this room that  young John F. Kennedy looked out to see the front panel of his father’s desk; where Richard Nixon spoke on telephone to the Apollo 11 Astronauts. Presidents after presidents addressed America from there, ranging from the 1962 address to Americans about the Cuban Missiles crisis by Kennedy and the Nixon announcement of his resignation in 1974. It was right inside the Oval Office that George W. Bush, almost fidgety, addressed America after the debilitating September 11 2001 terror attacks.

Trump was pleasantly surprised at Tinubu’s boldness. He had met his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, on April 30, 2018, seven years earlier. The exchange was literally unilineal, either due to Buhari’s famous ear defect or his inability to penetrate Trump’s dense English. The Financial Times was to later report that, after meeting Buhari, Trump swore never to meet someone that lifeless again. This was coming after an earlier racist profiling of Africa made by same Trump in his infamous ‘Shithole’ infelicity. Packaged as an image booster for a Buhari who had general elections to weather in February, less than a year from then, the Trump visit became an image fiasco. After the Times expose, Buhari had to make a show of possessing life. In what was seen as an indirect disputation of Trump’s reading of his obviously poor health and maladministration, Buhari had to walk more than 800 meters from one point to the other to prove that he wasn’t lifeless after all.

But Trump, not one to be caught unguarded in his lair, unleashed the next salvo. “Last month, I instructed Caroline Leavette, the White House Press Secretary, to  give Americans my Annual Physical Examination Results after being examined at the Walter Reed National Military Center. They include diagnostic and laboratory testing and consultation with fourteen consultants. I had a 62 beats per minute Resting Heart Rate; 128/74mmHg Blood Pressure, among others. I’m good! How about you, Mr. President?” “Yeah! Yeah! I’m good!” President Tinubu replied. Still bent on pursuing this further, Trump asked, “I learnt you’ve had a knee replacement and frequently go to Paris and St. Mary’s Hospital in London. So sorry to hear that. Hope you’re good now?” This time, Tinubu was the one who was caught napping. He merely replied, “Yeah. Yeah”, a bead of sweats welling up his brows.

The night before, the Nigerian delegation, flying in the Nigerian national presidential aircraft nicknamed Air Force One, had arrived Washington D. C., America’s seat of power. It comprised Tinubu, his Chief of Staff, Secretary to the Government of the Federation; three governors from the north, east and western parts of Nigeria; Ministers of Foreign Affairs, Finance, Trade and Investments and Chairman of the FIRS, brilliant Zacch Adedeji; select captains of industry, Nigeria’s First Lady and First Son, Seyi and a few other presidential hangers-on. The next day, at exactly 12.00hrs, Tinubu and a select few members of his entourage were ushered into the Oval Office, West Wing of the White House and the formal working space of the American president.

Dressed in a resplendent black suit and a blue tie that must have cost the Nigerian tax payers some chunk of cash, the Nigerian president looked as if he had hopped out of a fashion magazine. He and Trump sat a few yards apart, on milk-coloured straight-backed chairs with damask-like texture, their aides sitting on each of their sides. The oval room’s three large windows face the South Lawn, the front of which is the president’s traditional desk and a fireplace at the north end, all of which gave the audience an admirable picturesque.

Some of the Nigerian audience kept giving the two built-in bookcases recessed in the western wall admirable looks. The Aso Rock Villa didn’t have this kind of ancient glamour. The Oval Office has four doors; while the east door opens to the Rose Garden, the west leads to a private study and dining room and the northwest door leads to the main corridor of the West Wing. The northeast door, when opened, leads to Trump’s Secretary’s office.

A few weeks before then, immediately the news filtered in that President Trump had invited Tinubu to the White House, the Nigerian press turned the news into a carcass which it flayed mercilessly. You would imagine that leopard, the animal whose fierce and legendary butchering talent earned it Yoruba’s christening and praise-name of ÒgÌdán Olóólà Ijù, (the giant king of the wild capable of using its incisors to make lethal marks on animals) had just seized a buffalo. Press commentaries and analyses became a gourmet. Morbid fear and pessimism that Tinubu would make a disaster of the visit dictated press projection of what lay ahead. To be fair to the Nigerian press, the wisdom in an ancient fable of the lion and the tortoise preached caution to it. It says he is wise who is wary of and alerted by the misfortunes of others.

The Nigerian press based its pessimism on recent previous visits to Trump’s lair. Ukraine’s Volodymyr Zelenskyy and South Africa’s Cyril Ramaphosa got their flesh feasted upon by a man recently nicknamed TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out). Tinubu, they said, would not be an exemption. Some very insolent commentators even predicted a worse fate than Muhammadu Buhari’s.

Rufai Oseni, at his cheeky best on Arise TV, suggested that while at the Oval Office, Tinubu should promise Trump another luxury 747 jumbo jet since the American president was in love with impropriety. A few weeks ago, the Quatari monarch, Sheikh Tamim ibn Hamad Al Thani, had gifted Trump a metallic bird. America however considered the gift a bribe. Connecticut senator, Chris Murphy, was unsparing. He labeled it, “the definition of corruption” which is “wildly illegal”. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer said of it: “Today marks a dark day in history: the president of the United States of America officially accepted the largest bribe from a foreign government in American history”. Perhaps to pacify his critics, Trump eventually announced that the aircraft, 18 feet longer than  than his current Air Force One 747-200B, was too big and would be turned over to the presidential fleet.

The pessimism in the media was so huge that you could have a handshake with it. The presidential media office did all it could to change the colour of the Doomsday predictions. The president was a ‘deals man’ who understands the wiles of characters like King Trump, it says. Yusuff Tugar, Nigeria’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, literally made television houses his domicile. Tinubu would spend the projected one hour visit to the White House to reinforce Nigeria’s bilateral trade with America, he said. Bayo Onanuga asked Nigerians to trust that Tinubu would put up a stellar performance. Apparently exasperated by the mounting cynicism, on a television programme, the old media fox attributed the American visit prophecies of doom to the usual Tinubu-bashing by the media on the payroll of the opposition. Suddenly, he burst into an ancient Yusuff Olatunji’s Yoruba Sakara evergreen song: “In the wild dream of the goat, the butcher’s death should come quickly, so that it could prounce about in majesty…” (l’ójú ewúré, bíi k’Álápatà ó kú, k’án máa rìn, k’án máa yan).

The irascible Peter Obi social media soldier ants were even more unsparing. One of them, on X, inflected a statement credited to Barbara Perry, a presidential historian at the Miller Center, University of Virginia. While Perry had said, “Like all things with Trump, it’s unprecedented,” the Obidient said, with Tinubu, all things were unprecedented as well. “He is the first Nigerian president to inflict hunger of this magnitude on Nigerians; the first president with drug issue history in America; the first Nigerian president to bring this level of misery and frightening ethnic relations in Nigeria.” The silly fellow then concluded that the invitation to Tinubu to be a guest of Trump was America’s own way of getting our president arrested. What a logic! But he cited examples to back up his claim.

Ricardo Martinelli, billionaire businessman former president of Panama was his first example. Martinelli was arrested in Miami in 2017 and, a year later, got extradited to Panama. He faced charges of illegally wiretapping fellow politicians, journalists and Panama business leaders while in office from 2009 to 2014. The insolent Obidient also mentioned Juan Orlando Hernández, Honduras’ ex-President. On the charge of enabling drug traffickers to make use of his country’s national police force for shipment of tons of cocaine into America, Hernández got a 45 years in the slammer. Not only did US federal judge, P Kevin Castel, sentence him to term in a US prison, he also fined him $8m.

David Hundeyin, the tiny fish bone stubbornly trapped inside Tinubu’s esophagus, also dug up his oft unrelenting narrative. On his X page, Hundeyin alleged that the president’s invitation to America was a “home boy come home” trip. Since he commenced the battle to get then presidential candidate Tinubu indicted for alleged drug couriering in the United States in the 1990s, Hundeyin has consistently maintained his stand. When the CIA, FBI and DEA filed a memorandum opposing his’ and another colleague of his’ motion for summary judgment in the FOIA disclosure case about the president’s drug trafficking investigation records, the duo sought to have redactions removed from the partially released files.

Hundeyin has also consistently insisted that the president is a CIA agent who is working hand in glove with America. He based this on a CIA file which recently claimed that the CIA “will do everything in (our) power to prevent the public disclosure of (our) cooperation” because, “confirming or denying the existence of records on a particular foreign national, like Tinubu, reasonably could be expected to cause damage to US national security.” On the same X page, Hundeyin claimed that the Tinubu visit was an invitation for the Nigerian president to give the US a report on his effort at frustrating the Burkina-Fasso military government led by 37-year Head of State, Ibrahim Traore.

Serial presidential candidate, Atiku Abubakar, was similarly unsparing. Coming on the heels of a recent Financial Times’ assessment of Tinubu, upon which the Villa has gone on a celebratory binge, Abubakar alleged that the newspaper’s seemingly complimentary review of “the pains” of Nigerians was meant to wet the ground for Tinubu’s meeting with Trump. He also claimed that the newspaper was merely celebrating the easy access to Nigeria’s capital by foreigners and the ease of access Tinubu has made for his western collaborators to repatriate their easy money in Nigeria. This, he said, was what the Financial Times erroneously tagged Tinubu’s ‘stabilization of the Nigerian economy’.

“The American newspaper had no words about the pang of hunger an average Nigerian goes through under Tinubu in the last two years, nor the hopelessness that has become a familiar sight. It didn’t talk about how this government has pauperized the people; no words about the electricity war it is waging on the mass of our people, the endemic poverty, the migration from Nigeria of manufacturing companies, the consistent dearth of exports and how Tinubu and his acolytes have suddenly become as stupendously wealthy as Mansa Musa of the Mali Empire,” Atiku Abubakar said.

Indeed, Mansa Musa was reported in history to be exceptionally and inconceivably wealthy. Maybe his closest rival is Nigeria’s Bola Tinubu. The Time magazine said of Mansa Musa: “There’s really no way to put an accurate number on his wealth.” While the source of Musa’s wealth was principally from Mali Empire’s control and taxing of the trade in salt from northern regions and gold mined in Bambuk and Bure, it is said that the Nigerian president’s source of wealth is Nichodemus.

Then, as he did to Ramaphosa, as Trump and Tinubu were talking, a big television screen beamed live video of killings in Benue, Plateau, and other Northeastern parts of Nigeria. “Why are you killing Christians in Nigeria, Mr. President?” Trump asked. Apparently briefed on the possibility of this question, Tinubu acquitted himself admirably. He told the American president that though he was a Moslem, his wife and key members of his government were Christians and that in his family, he was probably the only standalone member of that religious persuasion.

Trump then told Tinubu how the news of Nigeria descending into ritual killings was becoming mind-boggling to America. South Africa, he said, was on same pedestal with Nigeria and in both countries, ritual killings had become almost a pestilence. He cited the case in Cape Town where a South African woman, Kelly Smith, was last week sentenced to life in prison for selling her 6-year-old daughter, Joshlin. The girl went missing in February 2024. There are fears, said Trump, that Smith had sold Joshlin for about $1,000 to a traditional healer who wanted the child for her body parts. “You have to do something about this concerning trend, Mr. President,” Trump admonished.

Both Trump and Tinubu later went into the Oval Office lunch room where they discussed bilateral matters. Almost immediately after the Nigerian entourage left the White House, the X page of Onanuga literally went on fire, beeping red. His tweets gloated about the Villa White House victory. Many non-Yoruba who read Onanuga’s post, with a music Emoji, found it cryptic and impenetrable. It simply read, “Yègèdè won ò gée o! Yègèdè won ò gée o! Esè t’e pé wón gé, l’a fi ńrìn yìí o! Yègèdè won ò gée o!” It took a Yoruba respondent on the page to do an interpretation. In the respondent’s words, Onanuga’s post was the line of a song sang by Yusuff Olatunji who died in 1978. Diagnosed with an unhealed diabetic foot wound, the initial medical advice was to amputate Olatunji’s leg. Second medical examination however said cutting of the leg might be bypassed. The second examination gave birth to the Olatunji gloat in the song which, translated, meant “Blimey! The leg you announced would be cut wasn’t. Isn’t it what I still use to walk?”

Does Onanuga realise that the Tinubu, sorry, Olatunji leg was eventually amputated?

Dyna.Ai, a global leader in AI-as-a-Service (AIaaS), has launched its operations in Nigeria with an exclusive closed-door ‘Nigeria Dyna Day’ event in Lagos, which saw the introduction and orientation of its suite of AI-powered products and solutions to Nigeria’s emerging financial ecosystem.

The event, tagged ‘Nigeria Dyna Day’ and themed “AI Unleashed: Revolutionising Nigeria’s Financial Future,” brought together leading voices from the country’s AI, financial, fintech, telecom, and other key sectors, including representatives from government agencies and major enterprises.

In his opening remarks, the Chairman and Co-President of Dyna.Ai, Tomas Skoumal, emphasized the strategic importance of Nigeria and the broader African market, stating, “For us, it makes sense to start in Nigeria.

There is no bigger country in Africa—this is where the momentum is.” He noted that Africa is no longer just “the future,” but is actively transforming today, driven by rapid digitalization and fintech innovation. “This is the perfect time to be here,” he added, highlighting that Dyna.Ai sees technology as a vital bridge to financial inclusion and long-term growth across the region.

Skoumal introduced Dyna.Ai’s advanced Agentic AI solutions, including its proprietary Agent Studio and industry-specific language models, designed to power intelligent automation across customer service, marketing, collections, HR and more. He also underscored the company’s long-term ambition to invest in local talent, stating, “We’re not just here to sell a product—we’re here to build infrastructure, create local jobs, and scale innovation from Nigeria to the rest of Africa.”

Dyna.Ai also showcased its advanced AI technologies at the event, including AvatarGPT, an AI digital human delivering interactive experiences; VoiceGPT, a voice agent featuring authentic local accents for seamless communication in Yoruba, Hausa, and Igbo; along with live demonstrations showing how these innovations empower customer engagement and employee experience.

Delivering the keynote address at the event, Tokoni Peter Igoin, Special Assistant to the President on ICT Development and Digital Innovation, underscored the Federal Government’s vision for a secure and forward-thinking digital ecosystem.

“The government of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, under the visionary leadership of His Excellency, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is fully committed to responsible innovation. Our approach to AI and financial technology is rooted in a positive framework. It encourages creativity while ensuring transparency, data protection, and digital security”, he said

Also in his remarks, the Lagos State Commissioner of Innovation, Science and Technology, Olatunbosun Alake gave insights from the government/regulatory perspective. He announced that the Lagos State government is also taking steps towards the wide adoption and regulation of artificial intelligence in the state with the planned release of the first AI guidelines for the deployment and management of AI in the coming weeks.

[Leadership]

It was just a harmless one-liner, but it became the most memorable part of that historic speech. “Subsidy is gone and gone for good.” That was President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR, on his inauguration at the iconic Eagle Square, Abuja on May 29, 2023.

Besides being the most memorable part of the speech, the phrase became a vivid metaphor for all the bold reforms that followed. President Tinubu was merely sending a signal about his strong conviction and resolve to make hard choices.

From the get-go, President Tinubu left no one in doubt that he meant business as far as tending to the seemingly intractable problems of Nigeria was concerned. He came on board with all the gravitas needed to change the Nigerian story and fix her concerns for our collective good.

With requisite but rare confidence and the willpower to make crucial but difficult choices, he gave a clear inkling of what serious leadership means right from his inauguration at the Eagle Square.

That one-liner – subsidy is gone and gone for good – was to later set the stage for several other revolutionary game-changing decisions that are fast altering the narrative of our dear nation, dipped in a truly genuine Renewed Hope Agenda.

Critics are quick to remind the nation, nay the world, that the President once opposed fuel subsidy removal. Truth is, such individuals are too short-sighted to understand the place of time in decision-making. Only a leader in the cast of Asiwaju does.

Subsidy removal was an idea whose time had not come, when it was first mooted. That was why to even muster the political will at the time was in itself herculean. Besides, it was all obscured by other environmental elements. 

When the time eventually came, Tinubu who, as a realist, would not miss such an opportunity, embraced the idea, not just as a Nigerian, but now as the President. Of course, the consequences of this tough choice have hit the masses so hard. It was so because subsidy removal was sudden – and shocking. Understandably so!

But with compassion and magnanimity of leadership, the President has so far managed the fallout very well, with the otherwise scathing effects now gradually thawing, giving meaning and clarity to the decision. 

He has not only invested in Compressed Natural Gas buses to cushion the effect of subsidy removal, Asiwaju Tnubu has also provided palliatives for us, the subnationals, as development partners, just so we could collectively attack the consequences from all sides and give reprieve to our people. 

The CNG initiative, launched to power the transportation sector and reduce costs, has saved the nation over N1 trillion a month, hitherto used to import PMS and AGO. Added to this is the fact that while oil production has increased, agreements for Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) of well over $500 million have been signed. These indicators are positive. 

From subsidy removal, our President hopped on the next assignment. He floated the naira against other currencies. This was done to enable the naira  find its level against stronger currencies, especially the dollar.

By terminating multiple foreign exchange systems, which, like the President once noted, had “constituted a noose around the economic jugular of our nation and impeded our economic development and progress”, there was a projected relief, albeit not in the region of what the President ultimately wanted. He kept the pace still.

For a nation surviving largely on consumption, the naira had seen the worst of days but had marched on regardless, with the hope that something would give, and indeed, it did. Thanks to our foresighted President.

While the naira is evidently not there yet, the spiral slide has been halted, and it is definitely going to come around with a rebound, more so that the dollar has also maintained reasonable stability. The indicators are positive. No doubt.

The overall economic overview is an encouraging one. The massive and bold infrastructure renewal is too evident for even the President’s worst enemy to ignore or downplay. From the South to the East, West and North, the balance is not omitted, and work has continued, in spite of deliberate sabotage by some enemies of progress.

For instance, some of the ongoing major projects, such as bridges, railways, power, oil and gas developments, as well as crucial road construction, notably the Lagos-Calabar Coastal Highway and Sokoto-Badagry Highway, are the real positive indicators for investment purposes.

Launched exactly a year ago, the first phase of the coastal highway, for example, has totally shocked the naysayers, who saw nothing good in the project other than their insinuation that it was going to end up a white elephant. How wrong they have been proven!

In addition to this are the Tax Reform Bills, which a section of the media initially tagged “controversial”, just because some people were opposed to change. The good behind the idea is too much for any progressive mind to reduce it to mere politics or ethnic fisticuffs. Interestingly, the bills have survived their deadliest traps. 

Also noteworthy is the fact that external reserve has continued to swell amid the multi-faceted challenges that the administration of our President and his party, All Progressives Congress (APC) had faced from inception. 

Trade surplus has been reported time and time again, while some of the hitherto moribund refineries have started working, with the Dangote Refinery championing the idea that change is indeed possible. 

What’s more? There has been a steady increase in government revenues, whose aggregate has more than doubled, increasing by over N9.1 trillion in the first half of 2024, compared to the first half of 2023. These indicators are really very positive.

Seeking financial autonomy for the local government administration is not a decision by the President to further orchestrate personal interests or needs, but grow the nation and her choice of democratic system. 

While the Constitution places the soul of the local governments in the hands of the state governments through their state legislatures, it is not at the detriment of development closest to the people. We have successfully experimented this in Lagos and can boldly say that nothing compares to a truly autonomous council system.

This is why the financial autonomy of the closest tier of government to the people has become a matter of necessity, if development must cut across and trickle down. After all, much of the decisions that directly impact the lives of the people are not taken at the state or federal level, but the local government. 

From the look of things, I can say boastfully that the glorious years of council administration are back in full swing – thanks to the moves made by our dear President. The indicators are positive and, with this, Mr. President deserves eternal gratitude.

The idea of the Student Loan Scheme, under which over N95.6bn has been made available to students, cannot be underplayed. The Consumer Credit Corporation was also established with over N200 billion “to help Nigerians acquire essential products without the need for immediate cash payments, making life easier for millions of households”. Still, these are humongous positive indicators.

Shall we forget, also, the Digital and Creative Enterprises designed for the empowerment of young people and creating millions of IT and technical jobs? The Skill-Up Artisans Programme, which introduced the Nigerian Youth Academy and the National Youth Talent Export Programme, is another positive indicator.

In livelihood support, the government has released over N570 billion to the 36 states to support their citizens while 600,000 nano-businesses have benefitted from the administration’s nano-grants. These are novel ideas with positive projections.

The initial reduction in revenue to debt service ratio, which came down from 97% to 68% in just 13 months, speaks to a progressive mindset and purposeful leadership. The creation of 240,000 jobs through 10 Micro, Small, and Medium Enterprises is equally a point to note.

The signing into law of the new National Minimum Wage of N70,000 (Lagos, the President’s home state, pays way more than that), and payment of N1 billion each to large manufacturers is all the more too positive to sidestep.

Yanking off tariffs and import duties on certain food items, such as rice, wheat, maize, sorghum, drugs, and other pharmaceutical and medical supplies for six months was borne out of compassion, stimulated by emotional intelligence, as much as the incentives to farmers, geared towards increasing food production and reducing  prices.

The President Tinubu-led government has procured mechanised farming equipment, such as tractors and planters, worth billions of naira from the United States, Belarus, and Brazil, to further aid food production and get the nation out of the woods. This, too, is a huge positive indicator.

Taken together, while it is arguable that the nation is still some distance away from the promised land, what cannot be denied is the fact that the train has since May 29, 2023 left the station, and is moving at a reasonable and promising pace to a better destination.

To those who may say why celebrate two years of the President Bola Tinubu administration, I say take a look around and get your facts right before diving into this conversation. After all, “comment is free; facts are sacred”. 

Needless to say, it is not yet uhuru as there are still some challenges – there will always be; that is the nature of life. For example, in security,  the remnants of the heavily decimated anti-social elements have been battling to create anarchy and divide us, but the capacity of the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces and the resolve of his security team to get a hang of this, are quite evident. It is a matter of time. The last of these criminals will be cleared off the surface of the earth. 

It is on the strength of these and more that true patriots and progressive elements alike cannot but congratulate our dear President Bola Ahmed Akanbi Tinubu GCFR, and also urge him not to drop the ball on account of fleeting distractions.

What is more – we have begun to see results in the gale of defections of key personalities from pivotal states into the APC. These are not defections coerced by anyone but out of the freewill of the individuals who have chosen to identify with a team that is determined and means well for the ultimate good of the country. 

Overall, the truth of the matter is that with these positive indicators capped with the “Nigerian First” policy, the ship of state is definitely berthing safe, with a decorated captain and political war general – Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu – who has been tested and trusted in times of crises and challenges.

•Mr. Sanwo-Olu is the governor of Lagos State