Tinubu opponents: Why should we trust you?

Are Nigerians really sure democracy is for us? Are we really sure quadrennial presidential or general elections are not some Pyrrhic civilian victory? I mean, we still must wait eight more days before we can say it is two years since the last presidential or general election. Yet, everywhere you turn in this country, that we all agree is overblessed by God but overcursed by man, the discourse -nationally, subnationally and locally- focuses from start to finish on the 2027 ballot.

Exactly what is going on? Why do Nigerians live permanently in the future which goalposts they keep shifting? Who has bewitched us? Who did we wrong?

Something has to give, and now is that time. Someone has to wake us up from this slumber. If that something or that someone doesn’t show up, then we must by ourselves take our fate in our hands. The spirits of the prophets are subject to the prophets, right?

Except you are an empty vessel. Except you do not recognise your immense powers having been created in the image of the only Creator. Except you do not know that you are not only a physical being, you are at the same time a spiritual entity, a known quantity. To stop our nation’s perennial motion-without-movement reality and move it forward, Nigerians must learn to deploy our God-given capacities.

There is far too much we should be doing that we aren’t. We are not thinking. We are not patriotic. We are not united.

Conversely, there is far too much we are doing that we shouldn’t. We overtalk, and, to make matters worse, all of that oral overkill is on what Global Ba’aba, Dr Abel Damina of Power City International, calls non-essentials. We are too selfish, too clannish. Above all, we are too hateful of our very own compatriots.

The foregoing mannerisms capture in a nutshell why Nigeria has become not only an African sleeping giant but also a global laughing stock. Nigerians are the main problem of Nigeria. We don’t care about this country. We take advantage of it with abandon: we rape and suck it even during off seasons, never doing anything in turn to nourish or replenish it.

The fact that Nigeria is still standing is a miracle and indeed an incontestable proof that God is a Nigerian. I mean, which other country would go through this much untold savegery from within as Nigerians have dealt Nigeria and still exist? Only Nigeria. But, for how much longer?

Notwithstanding, to save as well as return Nigeria to the path of modernity and sanity is a task that must be done. And, it is up to all of us. North and south, west and east, all must work together and in unison. The first step on this journey of a thousand miles is to kill and bury ethnic suspicion which has reduced our otherwise very strong country to a mere paper tiger.

We are first and foremost Nigerians before we are Ibibio, Hausa, Yoruba, Igbo, Ijaw, etc. Injustice has forced minorities to see ourselves more as south southerners, southeasterners and middle belters rather than as Nigerians. This has proved to have a defining backfire effect on the country. Both it and its people have suffered enough for our trademark negativistic self-loathing.

Nigerians should agree on a national rebirth. Henceforth, we should only do what we weren’t doing. We should think and more about and for this country. We should be patriotic and more plus we should unite and more.

Simultaneously, we should going forward not do what we were fond of. We should not overtalk, and not on non-essentials. We should eschew the selfishness, the clannishness and all the other ishnesses which have been at best nothing short of a shot in the foot. And, let’s us today obliterate from our hearts the disdain we hold for our compatriots from other ethic groups, the disdain we hold for excellence, the disdain we hold for justice.

This roadmap might seem simplistic but it is inevitable. Let even political conversations be both pan–Nigerian and pan-capacity.

Beyond just being Ibibio or Annang or Oro, or Hausa or Fulani or middle belter, or Yoruba or Igbo or southerner, the Nigerian ampling for political office should also put forward their credentials or pedigree complete with their plans and expected deliverables. We are sick and tired of compatriots wanting public office simply because politics is a ding-dong all-comers affair or simply because they don’t like the face of the incumbent or simply because they think it is the turn of their zone.

Specifically, Nigerians who hail from the north should forget the presidency in 2027. They should stop using politics to raise the already deafening decibels of division that echo beyond our national boundaries at a time we should unite behind the current man to accentuate or expedite the delivery of dividends of 2023. And, if any southerner wants to challenge President Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2027, such a one should step forward noiselessly -very late this year or very early next- to sell themselves to the electorate. We are interested in what they have done before, what they plan to do better than the current man and even most importantly, how they plan to do it.

This also applies, subnationally. Opponents who believe they can outperform serving governors should, rather than act like student union nuisances and risk alienating the same voters they seek to woo, work underground until time comes for those electioneering distractions. In the meantime, we should all rally behind the president, governors, lawmakers and all those holding public office. It is the country that loses when we elect to distract the very people we elected to serve us. It is we the people who suffer when we allow our political paymasters to put us in a permanent election mood.

It is wrong. Either we widen the electoral window to every six or seven years or we use one year to play politics and three to enjoy the dividends. Anything contrary, we are Kobo wise and Naira foolish. Election is a huge part of our collective leakage and the less frequently we hold it the richer we would be as a people and the better for our country.

Finally, what Nigerians yearn for right now is governance -good governance. It is our inalienable right. That is not too much, is it? Electoral purveyors can go on though, having their say but we, the people, shall doubtlessly have our way in 2027.

God bless Nigeria!