By SUNNY IKHIOYA

It is no more a cause for debate that successive Presidents of this country have since the reintroduction of the civilian rule in 1999 let down the people at critical times of their leadership. Each time, they have come with huge expectations but end up giving excuses when they are leaving office. Obasanjo, Yar’Adua/ Jonathan, Buhari, all of them took us through this route; rigmaroling and still remaining on the same spot with power, security, food and agriculture, education, manufacturing, real productive sectors and others, all begging for solutions. They all succeeded at whetting our appetites and in the end falling short. 

Is Bola Ahmed Tinubu going to be different? It is important to make the point that our analysis is targeted at avoiding the pitfalls of our past if our leadership is ready to listen. We sounded the note of warning with former President Muhammadu Buhari, highlighting his proclivity for religious fundamentalism and nepotism, but people who will partake in the lootings classified us as wailers. But at the end  the supporters ended up wailing more than those of us they tagged as wailers. That is why this analysis of Tinubu’s renewed hope must be viewed dispassionately and for proper remedial measures to be instituted where necessary. 

Discussing the Nigerian situation with a group of senior politicians recently, one thread stuck out while discussing the leadership of the past years: the state of health of our Presidents. It was very glaring that we had a sick Umaru Yar’Adua, but we egged him on to become the president of the country and he ended up dying while in office. It was also a fact that Buhari was health-challenged when he took over government in 2015 and he ended up spending over 200 days on medical tourism outside the country and this affected his overall performance a lot. The tough, agile, stern looking, strict military general we were expecting to see perform turned out to be powerless in a nation that was already adrift. 

Tinubu is now being viewed from the same prism. When I watched and listened to him speak in 2017, his vibrancy, clarity of speech, intelligence, quick wittedness and over all cerebral presentation were evident. But you will notice a marked difference with the Bola Tinubu that has just achieved his lifetime ambition of becoming the President of this country. Anyhow you look at it, age is a factor in leadership, either for good or for bad. Every age grade comes up with its own characteristics. We have just seen a President Biden of the United States of America fall down on the stage at the US Airforce Academy function. So, people rooting for an agile and youthful president for this country are not far off the mark. The concern became more pronounced when we see a picture of the President’s wife sitting in a meeting with key officials of the government. Some people have explained that she needed to be there to attend to his emergencies  – whatever that means – whether the story in the media is true or false, it really calls for concern as such speculation will not be there if we have a younger man as President. 

That is my only point of concern for the Tinubu presidency and we need to state it clearly from the get-go, so that his handlers and himself will know how to go about it as we journey through his presidency. Umaru Yar’Adua did not come out of it alive, Buhari survived it and came out healthier and stronger but the country suffered from it. It is our fervent hope and prayer that President Tinubu will see through his tenure in good state of physical, emotional and psychological health. One way for the President to achieve this will hinge on his choice of personnel to man key positions of his government. 

Mr President must avoid the temptation of appointing old men into his cabinet. In fact, anyone above 60 years should not be considered; that should be the cut-off mark; too many old men in the cabinet of an old leadership will lead to slow march for the nation and its citizens. He has promised the youths that he will do something about their case: this is the time to prove it. With the pace at which things are changing all over the world, there is no alternative for this if we are to keep up with the developed world. There is also the confusion about the first lady, first daughter and son respectively, each trying one way or the other to exert influences. They must be reminded that the Federal Republic of Nigeria is not Lagos State; if they want the President to be focused and succeed, they must rein in all of these contending elements. They tend to remind us of the over-repeated fear of the President’s state of health. Aside from his health, what should we be expecting from Tinubu? He is intelligent, daring, open to innovations, generous to friends and very fierce enemy to foes. He also has the knack for picking the best brains. 

If we are to judge him with his Lagos performance, the country should be ready for a radical change. He is in a hurry to keep pace with the United Arab Emirates,UAE, and other countries of that standard, if you are a lazy citizen it will be difficult for you to keep pace, because the development that he is seeking for will require sacrifices from everyone. You will have to pay your bills and for tax, that is another matter altogether. If we are to go by his Lagos trajectory, the civil service will be restructured, after which the workers will be properly remunerated and given the tools to carry out their jobs smoothly.

He claims to be in the progressive mould, but from what can be glimpsed from Lagos, he is also a capitalist; he is ready to clear any obstacle in the way to bring about development to a place, even if it will require people to be displaced from their places of birth. He knows how to generate income, so the country should expect more prosperity. But like I stated earlier, we must be ready to make the required sacrifices. The judiciary will undergo transformation to the standard of the developed world and he will tackle the insecurity issue. 

Tinubu is not a tribal and religious bigot, when judged by his appointments; however he must demand result of the highest standard from his team. Let’s be rest assured that the security situation will improve unless the people at the helm of affairs do not want to retain their jobs. He will not remain aloof the way Buhari did in the past eight years. The challenge for him will be the various tribal, ethnic,and religious tendencies like we are witnessing in the selection of leaders for the incoming 10th National Assembly. Again, in this area his political sagacity will be tested but he will come out good.

There are so many personnel involved with the rot of the past, clamouring for positions in the incoming government; it is hoped these ones will not become his archilles heels, because, as they say, leopards do not change their skins. There is a lot to be done, including the onerous task of bringing unity to a very fractious nation, but he has asked us not to pity him. Some have said that he is the most prepared for the job, amongst all of the presidents that we have had. One would want to believe this is true and therefore, let us look towards a renewed hope for the country.

Ikhioya wrote via southsouthecho