The euphoria of his inauguration is yet to fade away. Many of the loyalists and legion of supporters of the President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, are still walking around with a spring in their steps, soaking in the sweetness of the recently held inauguration. Against all odds, the man known fondly as the Jagaban has been sworn in as the 16th president of the federal republic of Nigeria. Many didn’t see this coming. It seemed almost impossible from the very start that he would ever find his way to the seat of power. Not because he was lacking in capacity and popularity to earn the mandate to get into power, but because he had obstacles, tons of it, stacked against him.
Without a doubt, Tinubu was the most villified presidential candidate during the last presidential election. He was disparaged by the old and derided by the young. He has been stabbed in the back quite a handful of times by some members of his inner caucus. He has been betrayed by even his most trusted ally. But he trudged on. Not even once did he lose sight of his target. Everytime the opposition tried to create stumbling blocks in his path, he always found a way to get two steps ahead of them. It is not for nothing that he is widely regarded as the greatest political strategist of our time.
If truth be told, he has quite a staggering battalion of anti-Tinubu soldiers who despise him greatly. From members of the opposition party, particularly Labour Party and PDP, to the ubiquitous Obidients, that vicious mob of supporters whose loyalty lies solely with their hero, Peter Obi, the presidential candidate of the Labour Party, Tinubu has been bruised and battered by all of them. Even from within his own camp, he has had all sorts thrown at him. And it didn’t just start months leading to the elections, it started a few years ago when the Endsars protesters suddenly turned against him, claiming he was the one behind the killing of protesting youths at the Lekki toll gate in Lagos. They proceeded to burn down his business concerns and drew the ire of the youths against him after branding him the number one public enemy of the youths. From that moment, they turned the youths against him, especially youths from the eastern parts of the country. They loathe Tinubu to no end. And strangely, for no reason too, other than the bunch of lies they were fed by their people. It all began to add up when investigation started to reveal afterwards that the detained IPOB leader, Nnamdi Kanu, was behind the senseless attack on Lagos during the Endsars saga.
They wanted Asiwaju disgraced at the presidential election at all cost. They voted massively against him. In the east, they harrassed and publicly humiliated their kinsmen who supported him and voted for him. In some cases, they maimed them or destroyed their properties. The uproar that greeted his victory and emergence as president-elect was unprecedented. The absolutely mindless group called Obidients threatened to burn down the country if Tinubu was sworn as the president. Indeed, they swore he would never be sworn in as the president. They mobilised themselves into various groups, within and outside the country, and began an intense pressure and protest against the victory of Asiwaju. Even pastors of Igbo extraction joined in the madness, calling on the celestials to come down and nullify Tinubu’s victory and change the results of the election to favour their candidate, Peter Obi. They headed to court and began to write letters to the United States and UK governments, seeking that they discredit the presidential election results that produced Tinubu as the winner as declared by INEC and distance themselves from his inauguration ceremony and government as a whole. As they were protesting in Abuja against Tinubu’s victory, they were also protesting in the US. They did everything they could to stop the swearing-in from taking place. They raised their voices high to the heavens. Even the renowned writer, Chimamanda Adichie, also wrote the US government, making the same request as her kinsmen. And while they were doing all these, they were also on rampage on social media, the place where they are at their vicious best.
They are like savages on social media. Once they find you are not standing with them on Peter Obi, or you hold a political view contrary to theirs, they will literally tear you to shreds with insults and abuses. They are regarded as the most toxic group of supporters ever encountered in our political trajectory.They asked the military to intervene and take over power. Rather than have former president Muhammadu Buhari hand over power to Tinubu, they requested for an interim national government instead. As far as they were concerned, an interim or military government was far better than a democratically elected Tinubu administration. But in the end, every single one of their agitations fell apart like a pack of badly arranged cards. Today, the President, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is sitting comfortably on the seat of power in Aso rock as he settles down to begin what will most likely be the beginning of his eight years reign in power. As it is right now, it will take a big miracle to get him out of office before the completion of his two terms. In truth, many of those who despised him have come to admit that he has earned their respect. Others have drawn a lot of lessons from the entire situation.
And the lessons learnt are quite many. One of such lessons is that every government anywhere in the world will protect it’s democracy and defend it’s democratic process. Trying to discredit the democratic process that brought out Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the winner of the presidential election before the entire world and threatening to burn down Nigeria if Peter Obi is not announced as winner of the election can never go down well with any government. Credit must be given to the Nigerian government for being extremely restrained from exerting the full weight of the powers of the security agencies even in the face of provocation by the overzealous supporters of the Labour Party and the PDP. They vowed the President-elect would not be sworn-in, otherwise they will bring the country to it’s knees. But the Buhari government stood it’s ground and insisted the swearing-in ceremony of the President-ellect will go on as scheduled, unless the law courts decide otherwise. It had a responsibility to defend its democracy and democratic process.
By now, one of the very bitter lessons these supporters of Peter Obi, especially, must’ve learnt is that agitation for power via insulting every opposing voice on social media, showing utter disrespect for everyone except yourself and your kinsmen, going on social media threatening to tear the country apart, will never determine or change the outcome of elections. If anything at all, it only breeds for you more enemies and reduces your support base. Not many politically astute minds will want to be part of a support group that believes only in engaging opposition by insulting and disrespecting people. The only known universally acceptable way to agitate for power and fighting for a mandate you think has been taken from you is by going through the Judiciary and trusting that you will find justice. Not by disparaging other candidates and bullying their supporters on social media because they have chosen not to align with your aspirations. That will never work.
Contrary to the expectations of many of these supporters, the United States government, the British government and the international community as a whole have thrown their full weighht behind the Tinubu administration. Not only did they send high powered delegation to attend the inauguration, they have already engaged the government in discussions that will strengthen relationship between them and Nigeria. What the opposition supporters wanted was a clear distancing by the international community from the Tinubu administration. But unkown to them, things don’t work that way. The United States or the British governments will never intefere in a country’s democratic process. They neither have the right nor the powers to do so. But what they can do is intervene if your democrtatic process has been scuttled and anarchy appears to be on the horizon. But to ask them to come in to subvert the country’s democratic process to favour your own candidate based on nothing but pure sentiments and falsehood will not yield dividends.
With the emergence of Tinubu as President and Commander in-Chief of the Armed Forces, everyone can now see that indeed, the north can be trusted with power. Long before the elections were held, the general notion was that the north will not hand over power to a Yoruba man. The belief was that an average Fulani, like the former president Muhammadu Buhari, will not hand over power to anyother person but a northerner, or preferably a Fulani like himself. Obi’s supporters were also banking on this asumption and hoping that Buhari will betray his friend, Tinubu, by refusing to hand over to him. But all of those expectations have been thrown out of the window now. Tinubu enjoyed a lot of support from the north even before the elections were held and today, the rest is history, Buhari indeed, handed over power to Tinubu.
It can be safely said now that, even Asiwaju’s haters will admit that he is a phenomenon. He is a Master political strategist that has proven to everyone that he is the greatest politician of our time. Not too many people can go through what Asiwaju went through and come out unscattered. From the very first minute he signified his intention to run for president to the very last moment he was sworn in as the 16th President of the federal republic of Nigeria, he was put to the sword. He was called all manner of names, he was condemned, crucified without getting any benefit of the doubt from his detractors.
They probably underestimated him. You cannot blame them for that grievous mistake. Many have underestimated him in the past and paid dearly for it. Their political careers suffered grievous damage. Tinubu’a age and frail look can be deceptive. But beneath that fraility lies one of the most rugged and die-hard politicians you will ever encounter on the political turf. You don’t want to be in opposition of Tinubu. He reads your every move and counters them even before you make the move. He is always two steps ahead of his adversaries. The Obidioents have learned all of these, perhaps the hard way, it remains to be seen how they will put all they have learnt into effective use going into the next elections four years from now.
– WALE LAWAL
(08037209290)
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