Shaka Momodu
THIS REPUBLIC shaka.momodu@thisdaylive.com 0811 266 1654
There is a saying in the land of my
fathers that the party is good and enjoyable while it lasts, but the
hangover can be a real headache. The honeymoon for the party of change
has since run out, we are now in the season of hangover and it is
proving to be a debilitating headache.
The former Lagos State governor, Bola
Ahmed Tinubu, the political godfather of President Muhammadu Buhari, the
Asiwaju of South-west, the “owner” of Lagos and its people, the
irrepressible Jagaban of Borgu, the Lion of Bourdillon, the ingenious
political strategist of our time, the shrewd and cunning mastermind of
strange political alliances, the conqueror of the Peoples Democratic
Party (PDP), “the defender of poor and vulnerable” Nigerians, the
progenitor of propaganda in modern-day Nigerian party politics, the one
who does not tolerate dissenting groups/views, the advocate of party
supremacy when it is convenient, the self-acclaimed democrat but who is
everything but democratic, the one who imposes candidates on his party
and organisations, is at it again.
A fatally flawed progressive democrat,
the “national leader” of this fraudulent contraption called the All
Progressives Congress, (APC) makes or mars the political careers of
friends and foes at will. Loved and loathed in equal measure, his quest
for power and control has put Nigerians in chains of uncertainty and
misery instead of bringing the much-desired change that was promised.
Tinubu, the one who has elevated propaganda to an art form, is not a
happy man. His dream of expanding his political empire to the Sahara
Desert is failing woefully. This was not the plan. However, I must give
him some credit; he is a very smart politician of no mean measure, well
ahead of his peers in reading the political barometer, and who sure
knows how to play the populist card in a dog-eat-dog world of politics
with its shifting alliances and tendencies.
He recently hit Ibe Kachikwu, the
Minister of State for Petroleum Resources and the Group Managing
Director of NNPC with a firebomb. It was a well-timed bomb which
exploded in the face of Kachikwu; primed to cause maximum damage to the
real intended target and it has achieved just that. By latching on to
the lingering fuel scarcity which has grounded businesses, caused
tremendous suffering and frustrations around the country to spew his
latent grievances arising from the loss of political patronage, Tinubu
is indirectly spoiling for a fight for his own political survival.
Yes, many people now spend more hours in
fuel lines that stretch as far as the eye can see, than they spend at
work or with their families. Sometimes, they even have to sleep at fuel
stations just to be able to buy the all-essential petroleum product to
be able to move around.
Yes, we are experiencing the worst fuel
crisis in recent memory in a supposed era of change. To me, all these
are of less concern to Tinubu; it is more about self-preservation. By
speaking up, he is offering a token atonement for the deceit he foisted
on Nigerians as change and perhaps, hopes for redemption from the
traumatised people pointing the finger of suspicion at him. Desperate
Tinubu and his fellow power-hungry conspirators had sold guava to
Nigerians as apples. Now the barefaced lie they packaged and sold to the
public as change is what is unravelling before their very eyes. Just in
case he doesn’t know, it is not only the scarcity of petrol that is
pauperising Nigerians.
Under the APC-led government, the
economy has practically collapsed – industries are shutting down,
workers are being laid off in their thousands, our Gross Domestic
Product (GDP) growth rate has fallen for four straight quarters to a
record low and is set to fall even further in the first quarter of this
year, importation has dropped by over 75 per cent, inflation has
galloped to 11.4 per cent, Foreign Direct Investments (FDIs) have shrunk
by 82 per cent, all because of a lack of fiscal policy direction. To
boot, electricity supply has collapsed. In fact, the economy is at a
standstill. The exchange rate of the naira to the dollar peaked at a
record high of N405 before resting at N325. What about the 2016 budget?
It was riddled with corruption, padding and errors. In summary,
according to Lai Mohammed, even though he later denied it, the economy
has reeled out of Buhari’s control.
The rule of law, one of the pillars of
democracy has lost its meaning, arbitrary detention of people without
trial is now the order of the day, (even highly respected
lawyers/activists and career critics have become dismissive of court
orders and even abuse judges for granting bail to suspects). Normally,
they would shout to the heavens when such violations occur, but “normal”
never seems to apply when abuses are committed by the APC-led
government.
Furthermore, impunity is on the rise as
the Department of State Security (DSS) has become a Gestapo
organisation, invading state government houses of opposition party,
arresting and detaining Ekiti State lawmakers as it pleases.
The judiciary is regularly harassed and
routinely intimidated by the agents of government. We now hear of
opposition to “unmoderated rule of law” by agents of this APC-led
government. Some have even called for the suspension of the constitution
to give Buhari more powers to do as he wishes without the encumbrances
of human rights protection.
But Tinubu’s attack on the minister must
be seen for what it truly was: an opportunistic moment that a man of
his political pedigree and experience could not just let slip through
his fingers. It was not about the love for the people or love of
country, otherwise, the dire economic situation that has turned many
families into beggars would have drawn his attention. It was about
Tinubu’s personal grievances couched in populist rhetoric for maximum
impact.
What perfect opportunity was there than
Kachikwu’s careless and innocuous statement of not being trained as a
magician. Clearly, Kachikwu was not the intended target of such a
comprehensive vote of no confidence from one of the leaders of change.
The minister’s statement merely provided a cannon fodder and a decoy for
Tinubu to attack the government he helped to midwife. Let me remind
those who have forgotten that Buhari is actually the Minister of
Petroleum Resources.
Tinubu is using the plight and suffering
of the people in a very uncanny manner to once again shore up his
weakening political machine and possibly to remind those who have
sidelined him in case they have forgotten, he can still throw a punch or
two. Now, recall that Buhari himself had once told the world that he
was not a miracle worker who would suddenly fix all Nigeria’s problems.
This was after he and the APC had raised expectations and got elected on
the strength of the many bogus promises they made on the campaign
stump.
While it is difficult for anyone to
defend Kachikwu on the lingering fuel scarcity across the country, it is
equally difficult to believe that Kachikwu’s innocuous slip irked
Tinubu so much that he wrote such a lengthy treatise to launch such a
vitriolic attack on the minister. Nearly every sentence in the
1,140-worded treatise was a punch to the guts – an overkill.
My take here is that Tinubu has already
seen the handwriting on the wall that this government is groping around
in the dark on how to manage the economy and seems totally clueless on
the way forward. And since he cannot admit that openly, he is picking on
“soft targets” of the Buhari government to give full vent to his
feelings and his much-talked about alienation in the current scheme of
things.
In case you have been fooled, Tinubu may
be trying to reposition himself for 2019 as the new voice of the
voiceless having seen that his experiment of merging ultra-conservatism
with a deeply flawed progressivism is failing – in the hope that the
people would forget his role in bringing this confused government to be.
I don’t know if he would succeed, but given the gullibility of the
people, he may well succeed. But I am not about to let him escape blame
of the tragedy he brought on Nigerians. He is the father of this
disaster. He cannot disown it.
The APC talking points of “if you see
the mess that was left behind,” “we met an empty treasury,” or “the last
government ran the country aground” have lost their mojo and no longer
impress. For those hooked on APC’s talking points, let me remind them
that in 1999, the “mess” the military left behind was far worse. They
practically raided the treasury before handing over. Every institution
of state was in a shambles. Add that to Abacha’s direct stealing from
the Central Bank of Nigeria, then you would get the picture.
President Olusegun Obasanjo inherited
the “mess” left, cleaned it up and created institutions to prevent a
recurrence. He was not wailing and whining like Buhari and his APC are
doing now, nor did he throw his hands up in the air in surrender. He
governed and set the tone for the economic direction of the country,
laying the foundation for a new economic order. “Memories fade, juries
can be bought.”
Let no one accuse me of supporting looting. Punish the culprits
according to the law. The point here is that this listless “mess”
campaign cannot be an excuse for doing nothing or exhibiting lethargic
incompetence. What Tinubu said was essentially a strong message to
Kachikwu’s boss, perhaps a personal reflection on change and more than
that, it appeared to have some elements of deep personal wounds and
disappointment with the outcome of the change, of which he was one of
the key drivers and architects. Fellow Nigerians, the more they shout
change, the more things stay the same or even turn for the worse.
THISDAY
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