Nigeria: Renewed Wailing!

 By Ochereome Nnanna

Femi Adesina, Muhammadu Buhari’s star-struck admirer who later got employed by the Daura politician when he achieved his presidential ambition in 2015, left us with a number of acidic soundbites as a presidential spokesman. Two of them stood out.

*Bola Tinubu

The first was not exactly a soundbite, but was summarised for him into that by his colleagues in the media. Reacting to the Fulani herdsmen terrorism which his boss, Buhari, allowed (some say he facilitated it and protected the culprits with his presidential powers), Adesina shocked Nigerians with his coldblooded dismissiveness of the massacres, displacement and occupation of farming communities by the invaders.

Said he on AIT: “Ancestral attachment? You can only have ancestral attachment when you are alive. If you are talking about ancestral attachment, if you are dead, how does the attachment matter…what will the land be used for if those who own it are dead at the end of the day?”

The Independent (8th July 2018) aptly summarised that scandalous statement thus: “The Abuja Ultimatum:Your Land or Your Life?”

That statement, coupled with the regime’s refusal to declare armed herdsmen as terrorists, showed that their determination to conquer indigenous farming communities and take over their lands had official backing.

Another enduring soundbite Adesina dropped for all posterity was his description of those who lost the 2015 to his boss as “wailers”. To be frank, I felt physically ill when former President Goodluck Jonathan congratulated Buhari. It was a very noble gesture for him, but in my soul, I knew that Nigeria was heading into doom. I was indeed a “wailer”, that much you could ascertain from my work on these pages. I was not wailing because Jonathan or his party lost.

My heart was heavy because I was a survivor of Buhari’s first missionary journey in 1984/85. I knew Buhari as a religious extremist and unpretentious tribal and sectional fanatic who had no clue as to how to run a country productively. I also saw him as a Nigerian copy of Sudan’s Omar Al Bashir who armed the pastoral Arab Janjaweed to massacre black Sudanese to take over their lands. After eight years, Buhari not only proved me right, he exceeded my expectations in corrupt ineptitude, cluelessness, ethnic bigotry, mass killings and rape of our democracy.

By the time he left power in May 2023, the multitude of people who had become “wailers” as a result of his rapacious tenure had spread to all the six geopolitical regions of Nigeria, including his native Katsina and Daura. Nigeria was bleeding more profusely, economically and security-wise, than he met it.

And so, the transitional elections of 2023 offered Nigerians the opportunity to sweep away evil leaders and their bad ruling party. With four major presidential candidates – former VP Atiku Abubakar (PDP), former Governors Bola Tinubu (APC), Peter Obi (LP) and Rabiu Kwankwaso (NNPP) in the race, there was a clear choice before the electorate: recycle the discredited deadwoods or elect a new leadership with shining track records.

Nigerians, especially the youth, were deceived by Professor Mahmood Yakubu and his fellow travellers at the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) that technological innovations would guarantee the fidelity of the 2023 elections. I was one of the Nigerians who believed Prof. Yakubu and used this and other forums to encourage the people to register and vote.

In all honesty, I did not take Tinubu’s candidacy very serious until he won the APC primaries. Tinubu outsmarting Buhari within the APC and getting the Northern APC governors to support him to pick the party’s ticket was monumental and race-deciding. APC was way ahead of the rest in terms of party grounding, structure, strength and financial capacity.

Buhari fought back with his presidential powers. He tried to use the so-called naira policy and his coercive powers to torpedo Tinubu’s ambition, but he suddenly realised that allowing free and fair elections could mean the APC would lose power, and his own life in retirement would be a restless misery. Buhari not only relented to Tinubu’s ambition, he also pulled all the executive stops for him – INEC, the courts and all.

It was with mixed feelings that I watched Yakubu handing over the INEC’s Certificate of Return to Tinubu on 1st March 2023. On the one side, I looked at our incoming president, his health, his personal reputation and the things we saw during the campaigns. It was Buhari all over again, but this time wearing a different kind of cap. But I also looked at his other side.

His ability to meticulously plot his way to the presidency, scaling all the hurdles, braving all odds, making uncommon sacrifices, spending lavishly from a bottomless kitty, outwitting his powerful political partner and getting the North to abandon their precious Buhari for him. These put Tinubu in a class all by himself. If he could achieve this outside power, perhaps he could do much more in power to put Nigeria right. Unfortunately, we haven’t seen anything to give us “renewed hope”.

When Tinubu said Emilokan, he really meant it. It is his turn to indulge himself as Buhari did. The only thing Tinubu is not doing is supporting any armed group to kill and grab other people’s lands. The nepotism is “pro-max”, the cluelessness is shocking, the squandermania in the midst of a “dry well” stupefying.

Femi Adesina’s “wailers” are now everywhere. Karma is a cruel joker. Those crying, protesting, cursing and raining abuses on the president and his government are the same people that supported him to win the APC primaries. They were the ones who gave him majority of their votes. Instead of the renewed hope he promised them, renewed wailing is what they are getting. In just nine months, Tinubu hardship is driving Nigerians nuts.

What a way to celebrate the first anniversary of 25.02.23!

*Nnanna is a commentator on public issues