Democracy & Governance
Tinubu And The Burden Of Legitimacy -By Hajia Hadiza Mohammed
Without doubt, Tinubu has in a very short while demonstrated that he cannot be trusted with power. For what we experiencing now is a foretaste of what Tinubu’s presidency will look like if we are unfortunate to have him in power – violence, intolerance, vendetta, xenophobia, impunity, lawlessness, hooliganism, ethnic and religious tension.
It is often said that a man who is inordinately ambitious is a dangerous man. Nobody in the history of Nigerian politics has demonstrated this more than Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu whose vaulting ambition to rule Nigeria has turned the country upside down. His unguarded utterances and those of his overzealous supporters have stoked xenophobic attack on the Igbo in Lagos resulting in violence, arson, looting, loss of lives and property and the disenfranchisement of voters in Lagos. Tinubu’s undemocratic posturing and desperation is the biggest problem confronting the nation at present. Tinubu vowed to fight dirty ab initio and we have seen that play out right from the APC presidential primaries, campaign of calumny that characterized his electioneering campaign, the tacit endorsement of hooliganism and other unorthodox conducts exhibited by his supporters during the general election and the post-election shenanigans aimed at covering the electoral fraud committed by INEC in his favor.
Tinubu is blinded by his inordinate and imprisoned by his obsession for power and his stooges work like people without conscience. Since after the election, they have made the life of the so-called non-indigenes especially the Igbo in Lagos unbearable through acts of violence. Many have been attacked, bloodied, killed; properties destroyed, markets burnt and arbitrarily locked. What was their offense? It was for daring to exercise their civic franchise. This is exactly what to expect from the Tinubu presidency if Nigeria is unfortunate to have him power. Today, it is the Igbo, tomorrow it may be extended to all Nigerians.
Tinubu and his group claimed to have won the presidential election and yet they are restless fretting and fidgeting looking for recognition. What a pyrrhic victory! It shows that they did not win and hence the hasty acts to cover up their acts through distraction, intimidation and blackmail.
Agents of the state are being used to harass and hound hapless protesters, broadcast stations are being threatened with sanctions for airing peoples’ opinion about the charade that was the 2023 election while Tinubu’s camp revel in making inciting statements and pushing up false allegations against others. Why does Tinubu’s camp claim to be democratic and yet want to scuttle democratic process? Why do they want to stifle civil advocacy and lawful protest while his cronies heat up the polity with their unguarded and inflammatory utterances? Among other things it is insinuated that there are plans by pro-Tinubu group to launch a violent attack on protesters in order to discredit the lawful protests organized by aggrieved Nigerians.
My message to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is that legitimacy cannot be obtained by force, or intimidation. It can only be conferred by the people through free, fair and credible electoral process.
Nigerian are disenchanted by the ignoble and flawed electoral process through which he emerged as the winner of the February 25th Presidential election and are unanimous in their resolve and call for a review of the process. Anything short of that is not acceptable to the generality of Nigerians who have resoundingly said to imposition and subversion of the will of the electorates.
Indeed, Nigerians are disenchanted about the conduct, the outcome of the just conducted general election and the violent conduct of Tinubu’s camp and they have reasons to be. The general feeling locally and internationally is that the election was marred by gross irregularities and does not reflect the will of the electorates. The election has no positive review anywhere. Nobody rejoiced when the election result was announced. Some people have committed suicide, some have torn their Nigerian passport, and some have taken to the streets to protest their displeasure. Some of those recruited by INEC have made voluntary statements purporting that the election was rigged and yet the authorities did nothing, only asked the people to go to court.
Thus, I do not condemn the call for interim government neither do I condemn those who advocate for it. If interim government is undemocratic, is election rigging, suppression of free speech and lawful agitation democratic? Why would you criminalize agitation and then celebrate illegality? It is hypocrisy! Therefore whoever speaks against the call for interim government and yet turn blind eyes to the electoral fraud perpetuated by the INEC and APC is nothing but a hypocrites. If the self-righteous critics condemning the agitators did not want interim government, they know what to do. The APC government should know what to do to prevent the gale of protestations and impending revolution. Those who do not want revolution or interim government should prevail on the government to do the right thing—sack the INEC chairman, Prof. Mahmood Yakubu, remove the CJN, Olukayode Ariwoola and settle all electoral disputes before May, 29th inauguration. INEC cannot select our president; only the people will select who superintend over their affairs. The corrupt judiciary under the Justice Olukayode Ariwoola cannot be trusted to fairly adjudicate over the electoral dispute. If he is a man of integrity, he is supposed to have resigned when his integrity, authority and neutrality are being questioned. In saner clime, where there is real democracy, INEC chairman and CJN would have long resigned when their integrity is being doubted.
Without doubt, Tinubu has in a very short while demonstrated that he cannot be trusted with power. For what we experiencing now is a foretaste of what Tinubu’s presidency will look like if we are unfortunate to have him in power – violence, intolerance, vendetta, xenophobia, impunity, lawlessness, hooliganism, ethnic and religious tension. Nobody will trust a bigot and an ethnic demagogue in power. Nigeria needs a unifier, a patriot, a statesman and not an ethnic irredentist.
It is therefore condemnable the attempt by Tinubu and APC government to try to use the agents of the state to stifle civil protests. Under the law aggrieved parties have right to peaceful protest. The APC government has continued to use poverty, religion and ethnic sentiments as invidious tools to continue their stranglehold on power but this time, I think they have bitten more than they can chew. The only thing that cannot stop the agitation right now is the declaration of the rightful winner of the election or the cancelation of the fraudulent election and not force or violence.
On this note, I will say urge the security agencies to leave the protesters alone to exercise their rights. The security agencies should not turn blind eye to violence perpetuated thugs loyal to Tinubu and APC in Lagos and want to stop peaceful protests and lawful agitations. If there is anybody to arrest, it should be MC Oluomo and others in Lagos who have declared war on the non-indigenes. The DSS should turn their search lights on the electoral offenders and instigators rather than the agitators.
Hajia Hadiza Mohammed
An actress, social activist, politician
London, UK
