Siamese Stars In A Stormy Stratosphere -By Ike Willie-Nwobu

Cometh the hour, cometh the men.
Nigeria’s hour of need duly arrived on May 29, 2023. After eight indubitably disastrous years of the Muhammadu Buhari presidency, Bola Ahmed Tinubu was sworn in as Nigeria’s sixteenth president.

Meanwhile, America’s hour of need was ticking fatefully close. Less than two years later, precisely on January 20, 2025,Donald Trump was sworn in for the second time as President of the United States of America.

Upon inauguration, President Tinubu wasted no time in taking on the fuel subsidy behemoth which had crippled Nigeria for years. Expectedly, the backlash has been fierce. But what has stood out for the former Lagos State governor is his courage and confidence.

For Trump, his inauguration provided impetus for immediate action. Executive orders have quickly issued to reclaim what it means to be truly American. He has cupped a global backlash. But history, his history suggests he will ride it.

Apart from the transcendental alphabet ‘T’ engraved in their surnames and their decisive, all-action approaches to leadership, what else makes both presidents so similar?

Both men are empire builders and massive human capital infrastructure developers.

Both are within the same age bracket, proving conclusively that experience and wisdom are not groceries to be picked off some supermarket shelves.

Both men are dogged fighters and blunt speakers. The manner in which both men ascended to the presidency bear this out, with each of them going against the establishment and winning.

Both men are known for their charismatic and austere lifestyles. They are wealth creators and strategic planners, as well as dealmakers and great mobilizers.

Both men are sticklers for institutions. During his first tenure, President Trump appointed more judges in four years as his predecessor did in eight years. In less than two years since he assumed office, President Tinubu has ensured that for the first time ever, Nigeria has a full complement of Supreme Court justices.

Both men are married to fashionable and stylistic wives who complement their political and personal lives perfectly, even if they are each in their third marriages.

Both men are promoters of the regions in their country, and are unwavering advocates of their country’s regional economic, political and military powers.

Both men are strong believers in mega infrastructure, as well as revolutionaries and sticklers for knowledge.

For all that the two men divide opinion, they have shown a Midas touch in business and politics. For all the storms they have had to ride, they have shown incomparable grit to grind through life’s many hurdles and reach a place of astounding success.

When they speak, there is no hint of complacency in their words. They know what they want, and they go for it with frightening single-mindedness.

For Trump, the mission is to make the United States of America, which is the world’s premier democracy, great again. For Tinubu, Nigeria, the ‘Giant of Africa’ has slept for far too long and must be awakened from its slump, to take its rightful place among developed countries.

With men of such clarity leading the way, Nigeria and the United States of America under Tinubu and Trump respectively, can expect not just to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but to find the bumper harvest that the future promises.

Ike Willie-Nwobu,
Ikewilly9@gmail.com