Cry the beloved Nigeria, a Country that has lost its head

Tony Abolo

As I saw a video of Tinubu’s convoy as it sped from the Lagos Airport to his Bourdillon, Ikoyi Home, in a convoy of 73 cars during the 2024 Salah, I knew that the man they call Ahmed Bola Tinubu, the Emilokan Nigeria President has clearly lost it!! A convoy of 73 cars, in a Country of maximally hungry people, a Country undecided about a minimum wage, a Country that the 36 Governors say they cannot pay N60,000 minimum wage, it is clear that the current Nigerian political class are deaf and dumb and have no iota of what time Nigeria is in.

Such a pitiable brazen display of an arrogance of power and insolent display and flaunting of profligacy and “I could not care less” attitude is to be decried. Do we have sane leaders left in Nigeria? And all these are happening as I had just finished scrolling down my May 2023 whatsapp messages on what the hopes were and statements genuine Nigerians made.

The fervent hope then was that we can upturn the system and renew the nation, by throwing off these bunches of rent seekers and state capturers whose only idea of making and having wealth and how to be relevant in life is to forever dip their hands inside the National Treasury.

Prebendalism rules okay!! Whether Tinubu and his cohorts like it or not, we have come to the end of this silly game of monkey dey work, baboon dey chop. How on earth can those who claim they run the country, people who insist on forever global borrowing ($2.2b is coming from the World Bank any time now) and when the inflation is in an all time high of 33.8%, the highest since 1996, open their eyes and commission a N21bn Vice President House and justify it before a public so angry and sick of the odd behavior of the very clueless behaviour of a so called political elite whose concerns are not whether Nigeria continues, survives or works for all.

There is a proposal for a $80m new Presidential Aircraft, by the same people N40 billion has been approved for, for a Senate building renovation. It is all such a shame!! All happening against the backdrop of workers agitation for wage increase.

Meanwhile a distant Tinubu is saying he can only pay what the country can afford and what he can afford. Even that statement is insulting to the sensibilities of Nigerians who are discerning. How dare he say – he can only pay what he can afford, as if Nigeria’s money is his? Is the Emilokan mentality run riot? Isn’t it had enough that N90 billion subsidy has been offered to 2024 Hajj attendees and a N15 trillion contract for a Coastal road that leads to nowhere awarded in the greatest hurry in Nigeria?

The Nigerian situation has gone beyond daily lamentations in our little corners. The political class is now at the end of its wits. It cannot think out how to recover the economy and the Country. This Administration sat by and allowed all the ruination of the Buhari years. And now the fallouts are upon us, the middle class, the poor and the many who once were very rich but are now seeing their hard earned investments shrinking.

Alibaba the comedian noted just a few days back that many Nigerians are selling off their investments and are fleeing.

Every statement made from the Presidency is nothing but cooked up stories to create false hope to the undiscerning. Thank God there is beginning to be an awakening. On June 12th 2024 Lagosians ran “out of the kitchen” to demonstrate on the streets chanting in anger about poverty. There is no remedy in sight.

The hope we had in 2023 to upturn the trajectory of Nigeria has been derailed. We must seek to get back our sense of “Obedient” push for a new order. Any journey with these set of transactional class is to increase our torment and will ensure that Nigeria’s exceptionalism never gets realized.

They have proven that Nigeria has lost its head for creative thoughts and how the people can escape poverty. See what our Francophone neighbours are doing?

The Nigérians, Malians, Burkinabes and the Guineans have driven the French out and are resetting their country on a true path of Independence.

The question is – while we all sit and wail and wait, how would the ordinary Nigerians set about taking back their country from those who are least deserving of leadership positions? Are we going to find a way to organize against 2027, despite the hurdles already set against us?

It should be clear that a wasteful leadership class, as we have now, can never make any prudent investments on our behalf.If you want a clue, see that Dangote Refinery cannot have a drop of crude oil from Nigeria to distill. All the crude that we have, have been mortgaged and sold for loans for infrastructure that we cannot see.

Must the people die, be subjected to mental health challenges, commit suicide, go into fraud, or be at the airport on their way out of Nigeria, before this class of “I do not care” leadership wakes up? The time is well past noon for the downtrodden to unite and chant like the French in the storming of the Bastille on July 14th 1789 – Egalite, Equalite, Liberte” (Justice, Equality before the law and Liberty).