By Ochereome Nnanna

PRESIDENT Bola Ahmed Tinubu may continue to pretend otherwise in his speeches, but the reality is that the election that brought him to power was the worst since 1999. Let that sink in as we leave the season of politics behind and embrace the new Tinubu era with hope and prayers for a miracle from an unlikely source.

Some still believe that the ongoing Presidential Election Petition Tribunal, PEPT, is a sign that it is not yet over until it is over. That may be so, at least on paper. However, I live for that glorious day when a court can rule to make a sitting Nigerian president relinquish his enormous powers and quietly go home. A system that was bold enough to rape the electoral process in broad daylight and announce an abortion of a result in the dead of the night while people slept, showed how determined the state was to give power to a preconceived “winner”.

And Bola Tinubu, who successfully knocked everyone aside (including former President Buhari) to get what he wanted is now fully in charge of all the realms of state, including the Judiciary. His inauguration on May 29, 2023 essentially reduced the Tribunal’s business to a mere academic exercise, but who knows?

The question on my mind right now is: can a person be a bad politician and a good leader? Certainly, most politicians anywhere in the world are unscrupulous, which is why politics is called a “dirty” game. Bola Tinubu, in his 17 years of methodical build-up to achieving his presidential ambition, showed willingness and ability to do whatever it takes to scale his hurdles, one after the other.

He threw in everything. He supported protests, deployed propaganda, promised everything under the sun, foisted a narrow-minded, incompetent ethnic extremist on our diversity, and thereby ruined the country over eight years. During his own presidential run, he and his media team not only insulted people, their party adopted ethnic profiling, intimidation, disenfranchisements, beatings, arson and even planned Rwanda-like scenarios against Igbo residents of Lagos whose only “sin” was that they were determined to vote for candidates of their choice.

In many parts of the country, especially Nyesom Wike’s Rivers State, Peter Obi’s votes were counted for Tinubu, and INEC’s Professor Mahmood Yakubu fouled the Electoral Act and Election Guidelines to award Tinubu a “victory” that will haunt his government till its last day. In his inauguration speech, he said “subsidy is gone”. It was the same subsidy which way back in January 2012 he was in support of “Occupy Nigeria” protests to prevent its implementation by the Goodluck Jonathan regime. Nigeria went on to spend over N13 trillion to feed the subsidy for the next 12 years.

This was money that could have turned around our social sector, making our health sector so attractive that Tinubu and Buhari would have received treatment for their gerontocratic ailments in Nigeria. On his first day on the job, he ends subsidy in order to channel its supposed proceeds to the educational, health, agricultural and infrastructure sector. He knew that subsidy removal was the way to go but he fought it to weaken Jonathan and pave the way for his party, not minding the price the nation would pay.

All this notwithstanding, however, I would like Nigerians to give Bola Tinubu and his Vice President, Kashim Shettima, a chance to tackle our problems. Nigeria will definitely fare much better under them than we did under clueless Buhari. Muhammadu Buhari was unfit to be our president, but Tinubu used him as a stepping stone to the realisation of his own ambition – at our expense.

Speeches, of themselves, are nothing to go by. The taste of the pudding is in the eating. Let it not be said we did not give him a chance to prove himself. Buhari started with a mindset full of hatred for a section of the country and overflowing love for himself and the Fulani/Kanuri/Hausa Muslim North. Tinubu should do himself a favour and carry every section along, and respecting the Federal Character principle of the Constitution. He should dialogue with aggrieved Nigerians and only bring out the stick when absolutely needed. I wish him and our VP, Kashim Shettima, success.

Why Alex Otti is different

FROM their fruits you 

will know them. Abia State is one of the most backward in the country because the three governors who consumed the last 24 of its 32 year-existence were “politicians” with little or no track record. Apart from Orji Kalu, the others were small time players, with Okezie Ikpeazu a complete waste.

Otti was a high-performing banker who transformed the defunct Diamond Bank before its owners ruined it with incompetent family members, and promptly “married it off”. Otti is one of the most highly-connected Igbo big boys. The presence of the Labour Party Vice Presidential candidate, Senator Yusuf Datti Baba-Ahmed, Chibuike Amaechi, HRH Sanusi and others at his inauguration, said it all. Highly-connected people can reach anybody to solve problems at minimal cost.

Apart from that, Otti comes from the background of setting targets and striving to meet them within stipulated timelines. All he needs is a smart, committed team. He also needs to let his supporters know that his brand of politics is different from the type the PDP used to underdevelop Abia in the past. Those villagers and “support groups” who hung around the Government House for cash handouts must return to their villages and benefit from government policies in health, education, agriculture, infrastructure, employments opportunities and others. 

The prebendary elderly “stakeholders” must know that the time for sharing of the state’s revenue allocation is past.

Abia is a small state with only two big towns – Umuahia and Aba. Fixing it should be a piece of cake for Otti. It is time for serious business!