By Zainab Suleiman Okino
What played out at the APC national policy summit a fortnight ago can safely be described as a theatre of the absurd and a public display of the arrogance of power. A government is elected (or is it selected?) to serve a four-year term, and less than one year into their tenure, what seemed like subtle calls by jobless hangers-on coalesced into full-scale campaigns and endorsements everywhere until the “victor” was crowned at that summit. Welcome to the APC government of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who “won an (s)election for a second term” even before the whistle for the electioneering campaign began and more than two years before handover. This novel coronation ala Tinubu style, code-named policy summit, is unprecedented. It is worrisome. It is not democratic.
The president said he was inspired by the way his party swept away our dirty past, but the policy summit was short on governance and the lives his government has changed positively, and long on politicking, considering the number of people who have been plunged into poverty and how the previously affluent and comfortable are now barely surviving or living on the margins. Instead, the president used the moment for triumphant condescension engendered by the euphoria of defection frenzy to formally admit new members to the “progressive crusade”—whatever that means.
It is absurd for a man who rose to prominence through opposition politics to now glamourise a one-party system, although it is hard, at surface level, to blame the president for the collapse of the opposition. “Is one party ruling and driving the aspirations of Nigerians? You don’t blame people bailing out of a sinking ship when they have no life jacket. I’m glad for what we have, and I’m expecting more to come. That is the game. We are in a constitutional democracy; don’t forget freedom of movement and freedom of association are not criminally punishable. Welcome to the progressives; sweep them clean,” the president boasted at that summit. Perhaps, no one should blame him for thumping his chest, seeing the level of desperation in the country, though the desperation was brought about by his government. Truly, if one party serves the country well as it does in China, Nigerians will not complain. Unfortunately, Nigeria is not working.
This indeed is an interesting time. We all know that our political environment is devoid of ideology and politicians move from one party to another to curry favours and seek power. But never in our wildest imagination did we fathom the pacification of the opposition and political parties under a once leftist progressive Tinubu. So much for meaninglessly playing to the gallery just for the purpose of acquiring power.
This creeping civilian autocracy under the watch of the progressive president was pushed back by him (Tinubu and co.) when President Obasanjo used his office to coerce the opposition (including Tinubu) to fall in line. Tinubu was also on hand in his opposition to military dictatorship. And now…Undermining multiparty democracy is not smart, and using a combination of blackmail, subterfuge, coercion, and unnecessary scrutiny by EFCC and ICPC to create an atmosphere of fear, playing the north against the south, one religion against the other, and using the carrot and stick approach is also not the best way to win fair and square.
Imagine what Tinubu would do and say if he were on the other side of the divide: unleash the media on those in government with powerfully written editorials and fiery speeches to set the agenda for “national discourses” until that government falls. This was Tinubu’s pastime. Their opposition and “occupy Nigeria” protests against ex-President Goodluck Jonathan’s attempted fuel subsidy removal in 2012 remain a point of reference. He said Jonathan broke his “social contract with the people” who desired to be governed by “someone more humble than elitist.” I wonder what is humble about the current government. That what is happening today will form a prominent chapter in history books is not conjecture.
Tinubu accused Jonathan of unfair policies which he (Jonathan) executed with an “arrogant wave of the hand.” Tinubu is now revealing his own contempt for the people because all his policies, especially fuel subsidy removal and devaluation of the Naira, were executed without consultation.
While behaving like the only wise man in town, why does Tinubu think Nigerians don’t feel ‘betrayed’ and ‘angry’ about his style of governance, yet these are adjectives he used to qualify and undermine the Jonathan presidency? Fast forward to today, the “progressives” are in power and the people have lost their power of dissent, and celebrating victory before an election that has not been conducted has become the new norm.
At that same event, wrongly tagged policy summit, our representatives played politics with the weight of their office and did not pretend about their alignment with the executive. Instead, both arms of government treated the electorate like conquered people. The Senate President and Speaker of the House of Representatives officially endorsed Tinubu as candidate and president.
I suppose they should know that a day is long in politics, but for now the optics of endorsement are exciting. Akpabio talked of Tinubu’s political sagacity such that he should be the sole candidate for the 2027 election. “I want to move, and let it be moved, that not only will President Bola Ahmed Tinubu be a sole candidate for the presidency in 2027, but he will also be a sole candidate for the whole Nigerian population,” he reaffirmed. Why then should there be an election? Is it just for the optics?
Yes, sycophancy is at play here, but the absurdity of a sole candidacy in a democracy should scare even the most compromised politician. It is a bad omen and an ill wind that does no good. By 2027, will the welfare of the people still matter? And to think that this same National Assembly is contemplating compulsory voting or risk of jail term for Nigerians who refuse to vote cannot be more curious. By the time the subjugation of the electorate is complete, we can safely rename Nigeria the Tinubu republic.
…And then wipe out the poor!
It is this form of reckless impunity that made a power-drunk senator, supposedly elected to serve the people, want to cast away the vulnerable and poor. The sort of arrogance that will make an elected individual seek to dispense with some category of people because they constitute an eyesore to his delectable life should be concerning.
Senator Onyekachi Nwebonyi representing Ebonyi North Senatorial District recently came up with a motion that sought to relocate poor people and local houses around the Nnamdi Azikiwe International airport because they constitute an eyesore when his airplane descends into Abuja, and replace them with skyscrapers to give the impression of prosperity. This level of impudence and ignorance can only rear its head during a rubber stamp and completely subservient legislature.
A senator whose state is one of the poorest in Nigeria! A senator who himself was not born with a silver spoon in his mouth. A senator who should defend, speak and stand for the vulnerable is mooting apartheid-like legislation. A senator who cannot checkmate presidential excesses is now behaving like a drunken sailor. Surely absolute power corrupts absolutely. A constitution that gives so much power to a few individuals, including the legislative arm of government, certainly needs remodeling and should be replaced with one imbued with more checks and balances to avoid this high level of excesses.
Zainab Suleiman Okino is a syndicated columnist. She can be reached via: [email protected]
