Responsible governments all over the world always act in the overall interest of their citizens. Permit me to refer to my first letter to Bola Tinubu after he emerged as the President-elect. The piece, which was published by The PUNCH on May 4, 2023, read in part, “The kind of leader Nigeria badly needs at this critical moment of its existence is one that has the mind, the will and the strength of character to live above the parochial interest of a few cronies. As the father of the nation, no interest should be higher or more important than Nigeria’s interest to you. You have already made history and please, do nothing to break it.
“May it never be the comments of the majority of Nigerians that you, Bola Tinubu, by your acts of omission or commission, are the last president of a united Nigeria. My candid advice to you is to learn the lesson of history because those who fail to learn from history are doomed to repeat it. In democracy, leaders are elected to lighten the burden of the people, give them freedom, choice and ensure good governance. Leaders should not deceive them, rob, burden, oppress, or render them hopeless and helpless.
“You should do nothing to undermine the tenets and values of democratic principles and practices. You should not take Nigeria and Nigerians for granted. In any electoral contest, we urge you to allow the democratic wish of the people to prevail. As the leader of all, it is imperative you move away from the crude politics of imposition and manipulation of institutions of state. You must be fair, neutral and unbiased. We need to remind you that what became the Waterloo of the first indigenous government is the mishandling of the electoral system and its partisan involvement in the Western Region crisis.”
The president must not allow state institutions that are supposed to be the pillars of modern society to be manipulated for selfish or self-serving interests. I still believe that Nigeria is not yet a failed state and the Nigerian cup is only half-full. However, the unbecoming conduct of some state actors is shaking this belief to its foundation.
Every collective experience is an entity whose actions attract equal reactions, and for this entity to survive and become part of a natural progression, it must be built on three pillars of nature’s foundation, which are equity, truth and justice. Jesus called it ‘building on solid ground.’ Building on inequity, falsehood and injustice is likened, by Jesus, to building on sandy ground that cannot stand the test of time. The events after the Nigerian Civil War and those that followed the annulment 1993 presidential election created a contraction because perceived injustices were allowed. It is baffling that some players in our present democratic dispensation have learnt nothing from our past experiences, judging from the ignoble and unpatriotic roles they are inadvertently playing to scuttle our present democratic experience.
The Nigerian ship is sinking and needs Tinubu to keep it afloat.
Lanre Aminu writes from Ilobu, Osun State