They were opponents at the last presidential (s)election, their supporters are usually at each others’ throats on social media, but President Bola Tinubu and Peter Obi, who ran what look like an insurgent campaign for president, have quite a lot in common – just like most Nigerian politicians.
Despite pretenses to the contrary, Tinubu and Obi have more in common than they each have with their respective supporters currently groaning under severe hardship caused by the maladministration of Nigeria’s rulers, that include the current president, governors, legislators and so on.
Both were governors, Tinubu in Lagos and Obi in Anambra, with little to show for it in terms uplifting the lives of their people. Both had allegations of corruption following them around and petitions against them with the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission (EFCC). Both faced allegations of operating offshore accounts. Despite Obi’s posturing as being as clean as a whistle, only the most deluded of his supporters believe this to be the case. While it is widely accepted that Tinubu turned Lagos State’s public funds into his private accounts, some Obi supporters grudgingly accept that “no politician is clean” and Obi “didn’t steal as much” as the others.
But what is quite remarkable is the similarities in other behaviours such as both Tinubu and Obi getting involved in who succeeded them as governor. Tinubu is derided on social media as the “longest serving governor” of Lagos state because after his two terms from 1999 to 2007, he has continued to govern the state via proxy using handpicked puppets. Obi deployed the same tactics by anointing Willie Obiano as his successor in Anambra State. However, Obiano fell out with his godfather and derailed Obi’s plans to institutionalise the Tinubu godfatherism model in Anambra.
Obi failed when he tried to dethrone Obiano by backing Oseloka Obaze against the governor’s re-election. While campaigning against Obiano, Obi washed his hands off Obiano’s misrule going as far as apologising and begging for forgiveness from the people of his state for foisting a clueless Obiano on them. His lack of judgment was dealt with here.
In a similar vein, Tinubu was instrumental in elevating the patently unsuitable Muhammadu Buhari to the presidency. This was after stating, according to Wikileaks cables before the 2003 presidential (s)election that Buhari’s “ethnocentrism would jeopardize Nigeria’s national unity. Buhari and his ilk are agents of destabilization who would be far worse than Obasanjo”. Tinubu knew all these but backed Buhari for the presidency in 2015 and 2019 because of selfish interest. That was also the reason why Obi backed the flawed Obiano.
Both Buhari and Obiano were bad news for Nigeria and Anambra, and while Obi apologised, Tinubu is yet express any public misgivings for visiting Buhari on Nigerians. He has left that to his hired hands. Finance minister Wale Edun lamented “we met a bad economy”. Left unsaid was how Buhari’s bungling made the economy “bad”, and why Tinubu backed someone who couldn’t improve Nigeria’s economic performance for eight years. National Security Adviser Nuhu Ribadu also dumped on Buhari stating that: “It is important for you to know that we have inherited a very difficult situation, literally a bankrupt country, no money, to a point where we can say that all the money we’re getting now, we’re paying back what was taken. It is serious!”
The “serious” matter of who did the heavy lifting and serious rigging that ensured Buhari, “the agent of destabilization”, became president for two terms, bankrupting the country in the process, once again, wasn’t mentioned.
The common thread that binds Tinubu’s backing of Buhari, notwithstanding the crocodile tears of Edun and Ribadu, and Obi’s backing of Obiano, was selfishness. Nobody with the welfare of their country or state in mind would have wanted Buhari or Obiano in charge of anything, maybe a beer parlour in Obiano’s case.
The tendency to put self before nation is at the heart of Nigeria’s problems and was clear in the actions, not the words, of Tinubu and Obi. They clearly sacrificed the country and their state at the altar of personal advancement and enrichment. Martin Luther King Jr was clear on the sort of leadership lacking in Tinubu and Obi: May I stress the need for courageous, intelligent, and dedicated leadership…. Leaders of sound integrity. Leaders not in love with publicity, but in love with justice. Leaders not in love with money, but in love with humanity. Leaders who can subject their particular egos to the greatness of the cause. God give us leaders. A time like this demands great souls with pure hearts and ready hands. Leaders whom the lust of office does not kill. Leaders whom the spoils of life cannot buy. Leaders who possess opinions and a will. Leaders who will not lie. Leaders who can stand before the demagogue and damn his treacherous flatteries without winking. Tall leaders, sun-crowned, who live above the fog in public duty and in private thinking. This is one of the great needs of the hour, but as we move on all over this nation we will need dedicated, courageous, and intelligent leaders.
