President Bola Tinubu And The Stormy Waters Of ECOWAS
By Taiye Olaniyi
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, GCFR epitomizes combined honors as the President and Commander of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and the current Chairman of the Economic Community of the West African States.
His ascension to power has been borne out of the desire, political struggles, and ambition to be either noble or inordinate.
No doubt that President Tinubu has proven to be dogged and rugged in his ambition to attain the peak of his career as Mr. President, Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces in his charge, "Emi lo kan, E gbe kini yi fun mi". This in a nutshell signifies it is now my turn, to let the opportunity and power therein be mine.
Of course, Yorubas have long realized the power, respect, fame, and affluence associated with being in a position of authority because right from childhood a song keeps resonating and thus, we sing: " Ipo ola wu mi o, ipo ola, ti ori ba joba lola o, mo si ma de be o. Ma di eni atata, ma di eni olola, ti ori ba njoba lola o, ma si ma de be o". The question then is, is being a king a product of effort, destiny, or of Divine fiat?
If in the affirmative in whatever way, can it obliterate the uneasiness on whose head that wears the crown and the filthiness associated with how such a person is perceived and treated in the public glare?
Yorubas don't just name their children anyhow but try to align with the unrefuted laws of correspondence. Bola means " Bo si inu ola", experience, feel, and swim in affluence. Tinubu, "Ti inu Ibu" is a phenomenon inside the stormy and rippling raging water such as it obtains in ocean waves.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu as President, the 16th in Nigeria's political history depicts a man wriggling through innumerable fronts just as the attacks are getting frontal from many angles and fronts too.
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu with all his political and socio-economic pedigree still faces the accusations and counter-accusations of an election won, unrigged, rigged, and the associated legal disputes and battles.
The promise and inclines earlier made that the fuel subsidy would be removed, his stubborn insistence in such a difficult and suicidal position which many have tagged on his neck as an unforgivable sin. Unpardonable because of the great hike in the prices of fuel and allied goods and services, their crunch on every sphere of transportation of people and goods, and the untrustworthy nature of palliatives in whatever form it would take if ever it is provided by the government.
Now the submission, and attestation to the credibility and testimonials of those to be approved for ministerial appointments but of which many have and should successfully fail their tests of heart honesty to God their Creator and to us fellow Nigerians who are in the phylum of "The more you see, the less you know." Many have successfully failed their "Worthiness in character and learning" going by their fictitious credentials and alleged dubious characteristics that manifests in the manifold.
From within, President Tinubu has numerous battles to fight but like a spiritual battle fought with wisdom without the jot of the blood of a single soul.
Should Nigeria engage in any form of war with any country in the West African sub-region, especially the fellow member nations of the Economic Countries of West African States, the ECOWAS?
Would the accusations and counteraccusations of coups in Burkina Faso, Mali, Niger, and other West African States justify again sinking the nation's unavoidable and debt-infested regime in Nigeria into the purchase of weapons and lining up of our military men on another suicide mission?
To what extent have the Nigerian soldiers eliminated the antics of the bandits, herders, and farmers' daily slaughtering, slitting throats, and engaging in skirmishes of wars of attrition? Tribal and ethnic skirmishes are getting romanticized in the destruction of Nigeria while religious differences are daily escalating into infernos and conflagrations in the 21st century AD.
I have never partaken nor physically witnessed the fallouts of lethal weaponry of war but with my volunteer as the Chairman of the F.C.T Abuja Branch of the Nigerian Red Cross Society for almost ten years, I have seen and heard the gory tales of bomb blasts, the blight of famine, plights of indigence in Abuja and the Internally Displaced Persons camps and the sorrow therein.
To the powerful and rich Nigerians who seem protected and ward off from direct contact with those who do not have food and worse enough cannot eat, the immediate concern is recouping the money expended on elections while others can die in sorrowful circumstances.
Could President Tinubu who is also the Chairman of ECOWAS please tarry in waging war but seek wisdom from the God of his understanding so that no bloodshed nor weapons of war be fashioned against fellow creatures of God both in and outside the Nigerian?
There is also the dire need for President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and his fellow powerful men to seek wisdom, understanding, and inspiration from God so that for the first time the fortune of the black race be turned around for good from the present socio-political and economic morass the geopolitics of the advanced countries of Europe, America, and budding Asian countries are daily predicting us as the wretched of the earth.
I remember as if it were yesterday, the lyrics of Brother Peter MacinTosh on "Arise Blackman Arise" the excerpt of and the thoughts which they impart I hope our African rulers would find the time to ruminate on.
"Arise, Blackman, arise
Arise and denote thyself right now
Arise, Blackman, arise
Arise and denote thyself
Every man on earth is a man
And every tub has to stand on its bottom
No matter where you're from, Blackman arise"
So arise Blackman, arise". Yorubas are apt in the saying, "Oro sununkun, oju sununkun ni a ma fi nwo," the world of mystery has to be unraveled with the mystery mind's eyes.
God bless Nigeria.
Taiye Olaniyi, a retired Postman of the Nigeria Postal Service, is based in Lagos.