Like Bola Tinubu, Let’s Go And Inform President Buhari That…

In case you don’t know the nature of Nigeria’s prebendal politics, Tinubu going to Buhari is a good case study. It is better we open our eyes, they have started again. The excruciating sufferings of the masses is never their problem. How ASO Villa became APC Secretariat calls for serious investigation. When it became a wrestling or boxing ring where political gladiators—like Tinubu—declare their intention to wrestle for power is not clear to us. That is sycophancy or political prebendalism which we window-dress as political strategy. In the political permutations of an average Nigerian politician, voters’ votes do not count; they are as useless as nursery school certificates.

It irks me, pains me, and depresses me when I see Nigerian masses willing to commit suicide on behalf of politicians for crumbs. To say concern for the masses is the least on the agenda of Nigerian politicians is being diplomatic. Do they think of us in the least? We are as good as cannon fodder in the political battle field where absolute powers are fiercely fought for.

One funny thing I read few days ago triggered me to smile, though, sarcastically. The Buhari Support Organization (BSO) publicly and shamelessly expressed their dissatisfaction with the President whom they claimed had used and abandoned them—having worked hard for his victory. If you have any difficulty in understanding what ‘use and dump’ means in Nigerian political dictionary, no time to understand it than now. In the coming 2023 election, let’s play our politics wisely and make intelligent use of our voters’ cards. Do not play into the hands of power-drunk politicians so that you don’t get yourselves mired in the phenomenal cobweb of ‘use and dump.’

As if we are in the season of meeting the President to declare intention, Gov. Dave Umahi of Ebonyi State made his visit too to ASO Rock immediately after Tinubu’s—the king maker and ‘father of all democrats’—who is old enough to be a grandpa of this nation. We should expect many such visits. In his comical reaction to Tinubu’s infantile visitation, Kingsley Moghalu, ADC presidential aspirant, twitted that he forgot to inform the President that he is running for president. Is Moghalu trying to be comical? I like that! Moghalu chose to inform the masses who are apparently much of his concern. I hope other contestants follow suit.

Two things interest me in Buhari’s honest confession in the recent interview he granted Channels TV. One is how torturous it is to work for six hours as an aged president, and two at the end of the interview, he thanked the two interviewers for punishing him. It is punishment indeed, to ask an old man who is already in his second childhood (a state of dotage) such brainteasing questions, on fantastic corruption, unprecedentedly overwhelming insecurity, dying and nose-diving  economy; all these happening under his nose.

Or how better does one put it? Perhaps the President does not know that all these are happening under his nose. Please, ‘dotage’ as used above should not be seen as disparaging. We all have old parents and grandparents and we know how they behave which is natural. Only few people escape this state of dotage at their old age, it shouldn’t be seen as blaming the President over what he has not control.

This said, it will be political hara-kiri—for the President or Nigerian voters—to handover Nigeria, at this critical time, to these official septuagenarians who are probably octogenarians. A year ago in my article titled ‘The Trumped Trump, the Triumphant Biden, and Our Old President’, I wrote; “One of the determinants of retirement age is life expectancy which is currently 55 in Nigeria. It is 79 in the United States. This implies that gerontocracy is very bad for Nigeria; it is not too bad for the United States. In other words if you live beyond 55 years in Nigeria, you are lucky not to have died. You can see why it is wrong to elect old people for general leadership.”

Tinubu’s meeting with the President on his presidential ambition seems to be a political miscalculation. Referring to the President, Tinubu’s statement that “he didn’t ask me not to attempt” is as good as saying “he didn’t ask him to attempt.” In another article published in September 2020 titled “Edo No Be Lagos: Crucifying Godfatherism and the Godfathers,” I wrote; “Though, the Edo’s Tinubu’s misadventure is a major setback, he has been disgraced earlier in Kogi and Ondo State respectively. He seems to the proverbial lost dog who refused to listen to the hunter’s whistle. He has big self esteem which has ballooned to a megalomaniac proportion. It is this megalomaniacally induced posture that cost him this much. I just hope he will stop nursing the ambition of being a president in Nigeria come 2023. Though it is his constitutional right to contest, wishing him good luck will be a waste of saliva. So, I will not waste mine.”

What should be our headache now is not even politics. But politicians know the best way to distract the sufferingly suffering masses from their sufferings. This time, we shall not be distracted. Like Tinubu, let’s go and inform President Buhari that all is not well. Let’s inform him that Nigeria is crying while the North is bleeding. Let’s tell him that an old man like him, Saidu Faskari, behind his backyard in Daura removed his house’s roofing sheet (to sell) to gather N100, 000 to ransom his kidnapped son. Mr. President, this old man was initially kidnapped and ransomed only to have his son again kidnapped for ransom.

Your Excellency, Mr. President, please if you find it difficult—not because you are not willing—to wipe away Nigeria’s tears, and you cannot stop the bleeding in the North, you can at least reach out to this old man behind your backyard in Faskari Local Government of Katsina State.

As you match towards the end of your tenure, think of the legacy you may want to be reminded for. Please, anyone who feels discomfort after reading this article should please thank me for punishing them. May God help President Buhari.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen

salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com

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