The real Bola Ahmed Tinubu is still unfolding. The #EndBadGovernance protests, which the country is currently witnessing, tell a lot more about Nigeria’s President. He has been leading a clan for more than 30 years running.
They are a boisterous, pretentious and sanctimonious group whose approach to every national question is defined by pig-headedness. The gallery has always been their primary habitat. They are adept in indulging in appeal to the people fallacy. When any national issue comes up for mention, they will stop at nothing to make you believe that their position on the matter has the support of the majority. They use that bait to hoodwink you to join the bandwagon.
This has been the stock in trade of the clan represented by Bola Tinubu. He has been an all-time agitator. He has been folksy in his posturing. Since his days as a chieftain of the National Democratic Coalition, Tinubu has always put up a show. He will always want you to believe that he is the authentic face of democracy in Nigeria. He and his clan will tell you that they fought for democracy; that they forced the military out of power; and that Nigeria owes them gratitude for the return of civil rule to the country in 1999. When they have reason to disagree with you, the clan will not just flaunt its democratic credentials, it will also back up every move it makes with protests. They have been loud in Lagos and in some other southwest states since 1993. The fight for the revalidation of the annulled June 12, 1993, presidential election was their greatest launch-out. Lagos, as the heart and soul of Nigeria, helped them to fight the cause and the entire country heard them. Many Nigerians were taken in by their antics because Lagos was at the centre of the grand show. Since then, they have been operating with a swagger stick mentality. They pass off their viewpoint on any burning issue as the national position and insist on having everyone swallow it hook, line and sinker.
As the leader of the crew, Tinubu converted their national drama to advantage. He became the rallying point of those who wanted change in the way Nigeria was being governed. In doing this, they always create the impression that they are fighting for the common man. This is the grand deceit they have always used to sell their agenda. They had their way when a rookie from riverine Bayelsa was accidentally thrust forward as President. The clan moved in. They swooped on him in the manner of invaders. They dismissed him as a non-starter, leaving him with the impression that he was nowhere when they were fighting for democracy. Apparently, out of timidity, he gave in to their intimidation. The result was that they swept him out of office in no time. Their political grandstanding finally paid off with Tinubu mounting the saddle as Nigeria’s President. The rambunctious clan has had its way. It has seized power in a most spectacular manner.
Nigerians have been grappling with the oddity that the elections of February 25, 2023, foisted on them until the ongoing August protests finally took the scales off their eyes. Those who did not know the true colour of the clan began to see clearly. Now, it is clear to one and all that the grandmasters of street protests are actually intolerant of protests. The tables have turned and those who laid claim to being apostles of freedom have turned out to be its worst violators. The pretense has gone full circle. The truth is now standing nakedly before Nigerians. The people are disgusted. They cannot believe the gory details before them. The only thing they are seeing clearly now is the banality called hypocrisy. The sanctimoniousness of the pretenders has been laid bare. Indeed, the August protests have exposed the fragile underbelly of the rabble-rousers. They never meant well for Nigerians. It is now clear, even to the moron, that the pretentious clan has been feathering its own nest.
But the clan is still digging in. It will not allow the angry crowd to outdo it. It has adjusted its thinking cap to ensure that all loopholes are plugged. The most potent weapon it is wielding at the moment is that of ethnicity. Before and during the protests, the clan ensured that it stratified Nigeria into ethnic components. It sought to give the protests ethnic colouration. The Goebbels of the clan went to town with sophistry. They said the Igbo were behind the protests; that they wanted to boot Tinubu out of office. When the poisonous lie turned ineffectual, the clan got the Yoruba to stay away from the protests. The Yoruba were told that it would be unwise for them to rise against one of their own. That was why Lagos, which has always been the hotbed of protests in Nigeria, suddenly went cold. Tinubu and his clan have removed the plug that used to fuel Lagos into action. What we saw during the August protests was a cold, impotent Lagos.
As if that was not enough, Tinubu unleashed security all over the land. His army, police and other security agencies were fully mobilised. They seized every available space, ensuring that the protesters did not have their way. In the end, the Tinubu clan had its way. Protest has, technically, been outlawed under the Tinubu administration. From being a prime promoter of protests, Tinubu has turned out to be an enemy of any form of agitation that bothers on protests. What an irony.
But the shock that is the Tinubu order is still evolving. Just a day or two after the protests were quelled by security operatives in Abuja, the government went for a full and unspeakable curtailment of the people’s basic rights. The national headquarters of the Nigeria Labour Congress in Abuja was raided by security agencies. They said they were there in search of seditious materials employed and deployed by #EndBadGovernance organizers for the protest. Nigerians have been stupefied by it all. The watching world is aghast at the impunity. What else can Nigerians know about Tinubu and his clan? Hardly anything. But the people are now convinced beyond doubt that these people have been living a lie. The challenge before Nigerians now is how to rescue their country from them. Has Nigeria been sold to them irretrievably or is there a rescue option? The answer to this question will determine the direction and speed of the spiral.
