Tinubu: Are we destined for more shege?, By Ugoji Egbujo

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. [PHOTO CREDIT: https://x.com/Opetuyii/status/1762511963974767099?s=20]

The Afenifere can’t condone inequity. Tinubu’s tribalism has been alarming. They are embarrassed. It’s uncultured. The Yoruba are relatively too advanced for such a retrogressive political palliative scheme .They need neither to be pushed like a battery-handicapped kabukabu nor to be fed mashed food like a toothless adult. On no scale are they backward, comparatively.

They are the proud champions of equity, industry and merit. Tinubu’s untiring devotion to sectionalism serves neither the values of the Yoruba nor the interests of the country. On the other hand, Afenifere’s response could be summed up as a disdainful smirk. Perhaps, Tinubu’s tribalism is a glimpse of the long-prophesied denouement. The belated coming out of the shadows. Are we then now condemned to a few more years of startling self-debasing shenanigans?

The name ‘Progressive’ which Awolowo, Bola Ige and Abraham Adesanya cherished has already become almost redundant, a hollow moniker. Perhaps, worse. A useful piece in the paraphernalia of many a Nigerian political sorcerer. Used to bewitch and hold spellbound the famished and luckless electorate thirsting for a democracy that yields development and moral reformation. Tinubu is the last apostle of old school progressivism.

Now, the people must realise that they have been hoodwinked and accept that progressivism in Nigeria politics has been almost irreparably contaminated. It now accommodates all shades of political yahooyahooism. If the nostalgic lovers of progressives remain enthralled with the sentimental idea, then, they can continue to wallow in their delusion that progressivism in Nigeria is moral and people oriented rather than manipulative shallow machiavellianism.

That whole idea of a Sovereign National Conference, it now appears, was an elaborate ruse. It’s erstwhile imperativeness was carefully contrived. Sovereign National Conference, the sort peddled by NADECO activists as the alchemy for national preservation, unity and progress must now be seen as specious sophistry. It has fallen into comical disuse. It has outlived its dubious usefulness. The pro democracy sermons have yielded the long desired fruit. The foil of democracy was used to conceal lust for power and a predilection for rabid opportunism. Is the denouement just beginning? That’s the question. Are we destined for more shege?

The Yoruba elite are cringing. Tinubu’s tribalism has no clothes. Those not cringing are sneering at the nation. The stark nudity suggests benign aloofness or devious shamelessness. They say the electorate is to blame. The finger-pointing is now happening in all directions. Yet a few cannot understand the hullabaloo. They are irritated by the effete sensibilities of their detribalised kinsmen. Power has been grabbed.

Northerners are more fatalistic, they say God gives it. So whether Emilokan, Awalokan or Yorubalokan, it must be attributed to God. So these few have no apologies. Because, it’s turn by turn. “Omo Igbo will be worse”, they say. Though they had a recent turn in Obasanjo, but he wasn’t a turn. It was a forgettable turn, they say. Tinubu, the Asiwaju of the universe, has come to make audacious amends. To give them two turns in one. A reparative double portion. So, he is probably settling many scores. If so, why did Tinubu bother changing the national anthem? Perish the thought that the idea came from the NASS.

Our lawmakers will rather discuss Bobrisky in the plenary. Back to Tinubu. He didn’t revert to the old anthem to motivate the nation. He has been too brazen to bother. At his level of self absorption and indulgence, he could have effected the change to satisfy the urge of nostalgia. The goal was never to rally the riven country or forge cohesion. No, that’s not his current priority. Tribes and tongues may differ all they care, all he wants is for folks to ‘stand on his mandate.’

For grown men to fawn and genuflect and mutter self-deprecating gibberish to lionize the man. Beyond the settling of scores, there could be the other objective of a kinsmen-assisted transmutation into emperorship. A tax obsessed man who perpetually demands sacrifices of the poor while living lavishly. His choices do not reflect any concept of national broadminded brotherhood, but the narrow brotherhood of self perpetuating sectionalism. Nigerians, all Nigerians are proud to serve the fatherland. But it appears, Tinubu thinks more like a prime Sunday Igboho than Tinubu of 2004.

Igboho, before his native charms failed, lost signals, in Cotonou, allowing the Beninoise police to subject him to an impromptu sabbatical . If Tinubu’s tribalism is actually borne of uncomplicated Yoruba exceptionalism, then we must liken him to Nnamdi Kanu, who thinks the Igbo are a special breed and their neighbours, genetically inferior. As it stands, the fatherland during Tinubu’s reign is best served by Omoluabis who can stand on the mandate with religious loyalty. Who knows? When the Ooni went into a frenzy marrying fair women, many hissed derisively. But those in the know say it wasn’t him. It was the oracle. So who knows what’s really driving Tinubu’s parochialism.

We must then be charitable . We must extend pity to all the non Yorubas in Tinubu’s government. They must know by now that they are mere furniture, positioned deftly to satisfy all that is left of a dispensable righteousness. No matter how servile they become, they can’t earn the trust. Technical impostors, all of them, when they speak with any certainty about government policy or direction. They don’t belong. They should tiptoe. They can’t shout. Like black Africans working for the office of district colonial power. Their zealousness is naivety or mischief. They must mew and whisper. It’s not their turn. They are free riders. No matter how important they might feel or how large they once thought they were, they must now contain themselves . When they get to their distant villages, like Agulu, they can drop names. There, they can brag about their ownership of Tinubu and co-ownership of the government. But they must not let it get into their heads. Around Abuja, they must behave. Blood is thicker than water. For this regime right now, blood is trust, blood is intelligence, blood is beautiful. Outsiders must be sniffed. They are potential moles who are potentially slothful. Only a few of them must be given sensitive roles.

Buhari once said he belonged to no one, though many swore that he belonged to the North. It’s difficult to know what he did to Tinubu. Tinubu appears to be saying that everybody belongs to him. He has left nobody guessing. Once you list the critical offices, ministries and juicy agencies, you know the tribe of the man in charge. These are the leaders of the party that enchanted the people with the promise of Change. We rotate power to share sense of belonging and build cohesion.

A man takes the rotated power, out of turn, to settle scores and transmogrify in the Oba of Nigeria. Where will he stop? We can absorb more tribalism. Allow Tinubu select only the Yoruba to head all powerful and lucrative minsteries and agencies to retsore hope. We are that elatsic. We can even embrace some rituals of obeisance, like go round to compel all Radio and TV stations to sing On Your Mandate every morning at 7 a.m. To appreciate his long standing dedication to the cause of democracy and social justice.

We can also allow his business partners start building multi-trillion naira coastal roads all around the country without due process. We can just say that they are the best builders in the country. But will that be enough? At some point we might just adopt Yoruba as a national language and change the title of president to Oba. I will suggest it to Akpabio, Mr President will like that. Then we can change the tenure to ten years. To deepen democracy. That’s a progressive idea.

Ugoji Egbujo writes from Abuja.