Blame not Tinubu for Nigeria’s woes

The #EndBadGovernance August 1 protest was ill-timed to say the least. About time, Nigerians know of both its healing properties and unmatched ability to wear and wound irreparably. National despondence over the state of the country has as one of its central lamentations the fact that Nigeria has had 63 years of independence and 25 years of democracy to at least find its bearing, if not compass. The country has inexplicably managed to find none with the little cheer there is coming from the resilience of its democracy.
 

Should disgruntled Nigerians blame their woes which are many years in the making on a man who has barely had time to settle in office? Nigerians desire and demand a miracle worker, but experience has shown that politics abhors a miracle worker. Time often exposes politicians who pose as miracle workers because as soon as patience runs out, there is nothing left.
 
Nigeria has a legion of problems to contend with, but President Tinubu is not one of the legionnaires. The least Nigerians can do for him is to give him time, especially as he is showing a fairness that previous Nigerian presidents were famished for. It is telling that since Nigeria returned to democracy, former soldiers have done 16 years as president out of a total of 25 years.

President Tinubu, ex-presidents Goodluck Jonathan and Musa Yar’adua who have no military background have split the other eight years between them. But of this trio, President Tinubu is perhaps the only true democrat at heart. He was once exiled for advocating for democracy in the country. 

While the government must at every juncture reiterate the right of protesters to protest, those who protest must heed their counsel that Nigeria deserves better. There are no good leaders without good followers, and good followership means courage and forthrightness. Courage necessarily means a willingness to admit difficult truths one of which is that the president has not had enough time to fix Nigeria’s many problems. Who even says that he is the one to fix Nigeria’s difficulties?
 
Nigerians will fix their country when they are ready to have a country that works. President Tinubu is but one person despite the enormous constitutional powers at his disposal as president of the country. But he remains but a single person. He is not the permanent secretary in the ministry who has continued to steal and stash away millions of Naira of public funds. Neither is he the director who leads the syndicate siphoning all government contracts or the contractor who refuses to execute government contracts despite being mobilised for same. Is President Tinubu the do-nothing state governors who still receive the adulation of their people despite their chilling ineptitude the local government chairman who continues to steal whatever little funds reach him.

It is not the responsibility of President Tinubu to fix the mindsets of Nigerians who have concluded that there is no redemption for Nigeria and are doing all they can to hasten the demise of the country. As long as he remains the first citizen of the country, it will be unconscionable to absolve him of rightful blame, but it will also be unjust to apportion unnecessary blame to him.
 

It is also noteworthy that groups from the North of the country were at the forefront of the protest. The constitution allows protest, and Nigerians should protest certainly. The constitution also forbids discrimination and no one can be disqualified from protests because they originate from one part of the country instead of another.

But in a country where divisions are as numerous as its diversity, it begs the question of why these groups from the North did not protest when Muhammadu Buhari was overseeing one of the darkest periods in Nigeria’s history. Since they never deemed it fit to protest then, what have they seen in less than two years that eight years did not open their eyes to? Surely, there is more to it than meets the eye.

Willie-Nwobu, wrote via [email protected]