The rate at which flattery is becoming an article of faith in Nigeria’s governance is alarming. At practically every turn, you hear or read about some flattery being showered on President Bola Tinubu, who is yet to spend two years in office as the helmsman of Nigeria.

Some people argue that this “Kabiyesi” syndrome, whereby excessive praise is bestowed on anyone who is in a position to dispense generous indulgencies, to especially undeserving individuals, is a vestige of the pre-colonial African political culture where kings had near-absolute power.

There is a (probably exaggerated) historical claim that Iku Baba Yeye, Alaafin Oyo of old, could emit phlegm into the waiting mouth of a slave who would feel privileged for such an “honour” as he gladly swallowed the unhygienic indignity and indecency.

As the shameless sycophancy accorded to everyone that has ruled Nigeria from the beginning of this troubled Fourth Republic signifies the near-limitless powers of the Nigerian President, no one would be surprised if the sycophants, who are dressing President Tinubu up in many colours of praises, twist the words of the “Hail Mary” to flatter him.

Imagine if they were to proclaim him as “President Tinubu, full of grace”, pray to him to bless them with the fruits of democracy, and may it please him to do unto them, wretched citizens, what he promised in his election manifestos, and that his grace will abide with them, his fawning followers, according to his pleasure.

They may then end everything with his signature anthem, “On your mandate, we shall stand, Bola.” It will be almost impossible for any human being not to fall for these cheap accolades, no matter how firm and disciplined he may consider himself to be.

On June 12, 2023, barely one year into office, some sycophants displayed a large portrait of the President at Eagle Square as Nigeria celebrated Democracy Day to mark the day of the presidential election presumed to have been won by Bashorun MKO Abiola, but which was cruelly annulled by the government of military President Ibrahim Babangida.

When some Nigerians expressed concern about the baby steps of a project to build a personality cult around President Tinubu, the puerile answer they got was that, well, it was just an enterprise to showcase the talent of some young artists.

Somehow, the sycophants did not realise that the image of Abiola, the acknowledged symbol of Nigeria’s democracy, would have been preferable on such an occasion and not that of President Tinubu, who was only one of those who worked for the actualisation of the June 12 presidential mandate.

The matter is getting to a head these days. After using the meagre funds of his state to remodel the Abubakar Imam International Airport, owned by the Federal Government, Niger State Governor Mohammed Umar Bago, unilaterally renamed it Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Airport.

If observers who have been arguing that this gesture may well be an attempt to further the governor’s desire to transform the airport into a transportation hub are correct, those who also argue that it confirms claims that the dividends of democracy will go only to citizens who can genuflect the most to the President are also correct.

Interestingly, the President, who should protect federation assets from being appropriated by anyone, including state governors, did not utter a word against a brazen near appropriation of a federation asset by a sub-national government.

Even Lateef Fagbemi, with the double-barreled title of Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, offered nary a word. Maybe he did not think it was his business to draw the attention of the President, the Federal Airports Authority of Nigeria and the Ministry of Finance Incorporated, the custodian of the assets and investments of the Federal Government, to the unconstitutional action of the governor.

So, the sycophants got even bolder. After President Tinubu approved the establishment of a polytechnic in Gwarinpa, in the Federal Capital Territory, it was promptly named Bola Ahmed Tinubu Polytechnic. On the heels of that, the spanking new Bola Ahmed Tinubu Barracks was inaugurated by President Tinubu, also in Abuja.

Maybe the civil servants who initiate these things should not be blamed. They probably took their cues from the norm of bestowing the respective honorific titles of Grand Commander of the Order of the Federal Republic and Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger on Nigerians who won presidential and vice-presidential elections, even before they were sworn into office.

Strangely too, all it takes for a Chief Justice of Nigeria to receive the honour of Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger is to be sworn into office by the President and Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces. Nothing more.

The initiators of these sycophancies may have also borrowed a leaf from traditional rulers, who bestow chieftaincy titles upon Nigerians whose only credential is the ability to pay the levies for the titles, which sometimes have next to no significance or meaning.

And regrettably, the dearth of funds in recent times has led many universities to “sell” honourary degrees in the manner of Papal Indulgences that Pope Leo X reportedly began to sell in 1517, to raise money for the construction of St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome.

Friar Joan Tetzel was said to have been the marketer of those Papal Indulgencies that were introduced to raise the volume of tithes paid to the church by the brethren. It took the principled opposition of German theologian and reformist, Martin Luther, to openly criticise that practice with his famous “95 Theses”.

So that things do not get even worse, and lest flattery become a substitute for the substance of governance in Nigeria, President Tinubu may have to have ask for reversal of these sycophantic assaults against his name and reputation.

Such a symbolic gesture by the President should go a long way to sanitise the polity and encourage other state actors to delay their psychological gratifications until when they get out of public office. Honours should not be bestowed on sitting presidents, only to be reversed by their successors.

Yakubu Gowon Street on Lagos Island reverted to its original name of Broad Street immediately after General Yakubu Gowon was replaced by General Murtala Muhammed after a bloodless coup. And the defiant people of Ibadan ignored the renaming of Ring Road as Ibrahim Babangida Way and continued to use its original name in defiance of the military governor, who allowed himself to be persuaded by civil servants to travel the high road of flattery.

President Tinubu should advise himself to let the people, through his successors, honour him after he had left office as President. If the honour of naming projects still came to him, his mother and wife after he had left office as Governor of Lagos State, the same might still happen after his tenure as President of Nigeria.

May he have the courage to reverse the premature honours and halt the creeping flattery, which regrettably started and reached a nauseating crescendo under the military that claimed to have come to set the example for good governance in Nigeria.

One just hopes that Aso Rock Presidential Villa will not suddenly have its name changed to President Bola Ahmed Tinubu Villa!

X:@lekansote1, lekansote.com