“Do not follow a person who is running away”.– African proverb

Until Governors come forward, the dust would appear to have settled on the drums rolled out to celebrate two years since the current national leadership was elected. Note that the word ‘achievements’ is not in the last sentence. It was not so much that no attempt was made to actually mention achievements deserving celebration.

President Bola Tinubu made a long speech listing major decisions and initiatives that should fundamentally alter the trajectories of the nation’s political economy, some of them already bearing fruit in the midst of unavoidable pain. Traditional media made small fortunes from congratulatory messages heavy with language of seekers of patronage and public officers seeking favours with public funds. Every voice in leadership position shouted praises of the leadership for its courage and vision, which reminded Nigerians that they are living in awe and admiration.

 What was muted was the voice of the people, although there are Ministers and APC  Governors and party leaders and spokespersons who will swear that they are the true voices of the people. So confident is this category that they may have slept soundly, even happily, after their series of endorsements of the President for another term with two unspent years. If endorsements are going to make PBAT happy, then that is the way to go. The received wisdom appears to be, whatever makes the President happy is best for the President and those in power. It is the same wisdom which suggests that inducing defectors is a sign of popular acceptance by the people.

 It is not exactly correct to say that there were no murmurs of dissent among a large segment of the population. The formal political opposition matched every claim of progress and visionary leadership by the APC with well-crafted denunciation, but who listens to an opposition that is more burdened by internal problems than the challenges of taking on an administration that is content to hear only its own voice? Its tallest member, the PDP, is held captive by two elephants in the room: the embarrassing defiance of Nyesom Wike who sits smugly on its gaping weakness, and the ambitions of Atiku Abubakar and colleagues who secretly see each other as threats greater than Tinubu.

Sections of the media demanded more genuine redress and progress from an administration which insists it is redesigning the future, and only a blind opposition or biased mischief will elevate the negatives over the positives. More subdued voices insist they see only the distant outlines of an administration that inherited a mountain of woes, and had decided to build its own mountains of misery alongside its sorry inheritance.

 The spoilers that rained on the APC parade and muffled its drums were the daily tally of blood and tears of citizens who fell to widespread violence from terrorists, bandits kidnappers and sundry threats to internal security; cost of existence that will offend the word ‘living’; escalating outbreaks of mini civil wars between communities which defy logic or resolution; contemptuous leadership styles which scream the total absence of rule of law, decency, accountability or shame; massive flooding that reminds the nation that nature is angry with the country for being  abused and ignored, and alarming levels of alienation among young Nigerians who expect nothing good from their country, to which they also owe nothing.

 An argument that this narrative is unfair to an administration with much to celebrate could be countered by another which advises a leadership that has covered only half of its journey to show higher levels of modesty and sensitivity to its challenges. Endorsing President Tinubu, APC governors and legislators as candidates owing to good performances with two years to an election sends only one signal: the APC is done with accountability and internal democracy. It panders to a coalescing personality cult around elected officials and governors and, in particular, the President.

Groveling party officials at state levels and massive increases in revenue allocations now available to Governors make them powerful dispensers of assets and other favours, attracting parasitic praise- singers wearing titles as party leaders. If you want to be charitable to President Tinubu, you could say he is being poorly served by his intimate circle and a party leadership that are creating for him an image of an untouchable president around whom every power and ambition rotates. If you are not the charitable kind, you may conclude that the party and the administration perfectly reflect the real character of President Tinubu: unyielding, unforgiving, calculating and comfortable only with total control.

 Neither of these images should be welcome by a president with two or six years to battle all odds to re-design Nigeria. A president at the mercy of handlers, confidants and a party leadership out of touch with realities and inept at the delicate art of managing power will suggest a weakness Tinubu cannot survive with. This will be the Tinubu who would not have frowned at poorly-timed endorsements and a show of power that is intended to kill-off opposition still mutating with two years to go. On the other hand, the image of a ruthless, all-consuming  Maximum President a long way before elections will only stiffen opposition and resistance against a president who will strive to be re-elected at all cost. Writing off whole segments of the country as incurably hostile, or designing strategies outside the political process and the law will be the only way he can be re-elected.

 There is a madness afflicting the ruling party and all others. Its symptoms are political  shortsightedness, faulty reasoning and crass opportunism. Everyone is approaching a marathon with the requirements of a dash. APC will abandon a major requirement needing focus, intelligence and informed management of its mandate to make the elections easier to win. The opposition will ignore the values of building resilient relationships and designing a winning strategy, with panic driving thought and action. One of them could win the 2027 elections, but the price will be paid by the nation in the form of the leadership that will confuse electoral victory with governance.

 …And Then We Lost Two Titans

 In the space of two days, the nation lost two of its best and brightest. Professor Jubril Aminu and Chief Justice Muhammadu Lawal Uwais passed on, making Nigeria poorer in its asset of citizens who excelled in serving it. Their lives should be a study in brilliance, untiring service, exemplary humility, unimpeachable integrity, unparalleled service to the fatherland and  untainted personal dignity till death.

 May God be pleased with them.