Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu in 2023 flew on the wings of the same-faith ticket, which many predicted was irretrievably doomed. Unknown to them, the former Lagos State governor was a member of the kitchen cabinet that ensured victory for the presidential candidate of the Social Democratic Party (PDP), Chief MKO Abiola, in the June 12, 1993 presidential poll that was annulled by the military.
Familiar Terrain
Determined to win the presidential election, which he later described as his entire life ambition, he looked into his bag and became wiser in choosing a running mate of the same faith as him. He has never bothered himself with the inanities of how politicians, egged by street urchins, have weaponised religion to subjugate the masses of the people. Tinubu brought back the past by repeating the June 12 scenario in which a Muslim from the South West paired with a Muslim from Borno State (North East) to run for the presidency. Just like Abiola’s presidential dream was met with stiff opposition, this pro-democracy activist reached out to realise his lifelong ambition.
He forced his political opponents to kiss the dust, as the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) declared him the winner of the 2023 presidential poll. Not satisfied with the process that led to his emergence as President, those who ran against him for the presidency approached the courts to commence legal fireworks in order to invalidate his victory. The Supreme Court in October 2023 declared that Tinubu’s election as President was devoid of his opponents’ allegations.
Changing The Game
Two years after his administration was inaugurated, fears of discrimination and non-inclusiveness that trailed the same-faith ticket have fizzled out. Instead of accusing the President of following in the footsteps of his predecessor, those who stood in his support and expectedly looked forward to reaping from his presidency are crying foul. They are crying of betrayal and being abandoned after they sweated too hard to ensure the reality of the Tinubu presidency. In insisting on competence and fairness, the president has not only changed certain mindsets, but his appointments have revealed him as a statesman not influenced by politics and ethnicity, but on the need to recruit competence in total relegation of ethnicity and religion.
In the midterm report of the Tinubu government, against the fear of non-inclusion of certain sections and across various divides, the president has effectively managed the delicate and complex dialectics of the inter-relatedness of religion and ethnicity within a rancourous polity. Even the president has acknowledged the complex manipulation of ethnicity and religion that has made it an impossible task in wielding the peace and unity of our nation. After making a bonfire of the discriminatory practices that have become an entrenched act, a new horizon of hope seems to be created for people who were once disremembered and plotted against.
New Horizons
The feat achieved by President Tinubu in the last two years has become glaringly obvious when viewed against the backdrop of Nigeria under the eight years of former President Muhammadu Buhari, who was not accused of nepotism but embarked on the deliberate enthronement of northerners, especially his kinsmen, in the running of government affairs.
Tinubu’s rejigging of the security architecture on June 19, 2023 that saw the appointment of new security chiefs changed the perception of many and made it abundantly clear that ethnicity and religion won’t be a cornerstone of the government. True to expectations, within the three months of their appointments, a new wave of change on security matters swept across the country, leading to the recapture of some local government areas in Borno State that were under the control of Boko Haram insurgents. The criminal activities of bandits and kidnappers faced hard times as many of them, running in thousands, were neutralised and their abodes decimated.
In terms of infrastructural development, some areas, once treated as leprous under Buhari’s eight years, got prompt attention. For instance, Southern Kaduna, once a stronghold of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), but now abandoned since 2015 when the APC swept into victory, is now one of the most favoured zones in the country. Apart from appointing General Christopher Musa as the Chief of Defence Staff (CDS), President Tinubu established the Federal University of Applied Sciences, Kachia, and appointed an erudite public intellectual and Bishop of the Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Dr. Matthew Hassan Kukah, as the Pro-Chancellor of the newly created ivory tower.
More to this, the appointment of Professor William Barnabas Quirix, a former vice chancellor of Kaduna State University and Bingham University, Nasarawa, to head the newly established university attests to the president’s goodwill to Southern Kaduna. Additionally, the establishment of the Federal Medical Centre (FMC), Kafanchan, is yet another milestone for the Southern Kaduna people who have suffered neglect without federal presence. In short, in just two years, President Tinubu has achieved for Southern Kaduna what the PDP failed in its 16 years of occupying power.
No One Like Him
As far as inclusion and giving all sections of the country a sense of belonging, no one has surpassed the record set by the President. Unlike former President Olusegun Obasanjo, who was only concerned with fairness in appointments, Tinubu tends to emphasise justice and equity, knowing that certain areas have suffered neglect and need to be given quick and more attention. Even Senator Mohammed Ndume, after recent appointments, has come out clearly to state that Tinubu has corrected some of his observations as they relate to the appointments of Nigerians in all sections. Of course, efforts at combating the challenges hindering peace and development are not terminal but ongoing. Tinubu’s two years in power have demonstrated that nothing can stop a courageous government from delivering equity to all ethnic groups.
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