By The Editorial Board
Nigeria is on the precipice of a historic presidential election amid a backdrop of a stagnant economy, enormous foreign debt, high unemployment and inflation, persistent corruption, ever-widening polarization, social disorder and systemic insecurity.
These issues are especially pertinent when many voters are disillusioned, if not downright angry, over the direction of the nation under the ruling APC party, and are calling for a visionary and transformative leader to change course and deliver tangible benefits to long-suffering Nigerians.
This election must, therefore, be a national referendum on the party in power, the APC; the disastrous reign of its president, Mr. Buhari; and the character, vision, ideology and manifesto of the men they’ve selected to replace President Buhari and his Vice President.
In this context, the presidential election carries with it tremendous risks and consequences for Nigeria and the African continent. Nigerians are living through the most dangerous times in their 60 plus-year history. This election, more than any before, will decide if the country can continue as one nation or break into warring factions.
After months of meticulous evaluation of the candidates and their manifestos, we at The African Mind Journal (AMJ) do not, and will not, endorse Chief Bola Tinubu for president.
A preponderance of the evidence confirm Tinubu is unfit for the office of the president of Nigeria, and therefore, he must not be elected.
His toxic character, lack of vision, dangerous ideology and transactional politics will dishonor the office of the president, divide the nation and cause mass suffering more than anything the nation is going through in the Buhari administration.
Therefore, we caution Nigerian voters to avoid the potential death squeeze by the two-headed python embodied in Tinubu and Shettima.
Given his character flaws, hazardous political ideology, and a personal history and professional resume riddled with inaccuracies and purposeful deceit, Chief Tinubu is not the type of leader the country needs in this perilous time of national disunity, social disorder and political instability.
More, he’s an opportunist who has figured out the political usefulness of godfatherism and patronage networks to acquire the APC nomination and now wants to acquire the presidency.
We do not, and Nigerians must not, share his unscrupulous values and self-centered aspirations. He believes that the presidency is his birthright, his God-given inheritance.
As a self-absorbed, self-centered politician, it’s all about him — his ambition, his power and his wealth. That’s why he wants to be president; it’s not because he is committed and determined to solve the nation’s most pressing problems. He claims it’s his turn to be president and he’s entitled to it. The will and interest of the Nigerian people be damned.
Political history informs us that Tinubu’s blind ambition to be president could do more harm to the immediate future of the country — socially, economically and politically — if he’s elected.
In our opinion, Tinubu is not an inspiring man. His vision is backward-looking. He is a divisive figure who would allow his narrow selfish interests to prevail over principles of national unity. From interviewing those who know him well, he is not the man who will lead the nation morally and competently, and in a direction that will avert collapse.
It is no exaggeration that if Tinubu is elected, his divisive personality will widen the chasm between religions, ethnicities and regions. The probability of the nation imploding is not zero. Ordinary Nigerians will suffer. As such, he is not the right man to unite a divided country, solve its numerous problems and deliver benefits to millions of long-suffering Nigerians.
Another key concern is that Tinubu will be a puppet president. We doubt he’ll have the strength of his convictions and the goodwill of the Nigerian people in mind to stand up to the demands of those who will see his presidency as an opportunity to dominate and drastically reshape the nation. Is there any other reason why Shettima was imposed on him as VP in a Muslim-Muslim duality? Could Shettima turn dangerously hegemonic?
With the above as introduction, we now provide evidence to support our decision not to endorse.
Why Tinubu Is Unfit
In making the decision not to endorse Tinubu, we carefully evaluated his (1) character, (2) vision and policies, (3) political ideology, and (4) mental and physical condition.
Chief Tinubu Has Many Fatal Character Flaws
The first of many issues surrounding Tinubu is his character. A president’s character is not only his fate but also the fate of the nation he rules, wrote the Greek philosopher Heraclitus. We are deeply concerned, as all Nigerians should, that if elected, Tinubu’s character will be Nigeria’s destiny.
Tinubu’s character will not only shape his political views and values, but also the goals and policies he sets for the nation; how he communicates with the nation; what he does to solve the peoples’ problems; how he allocates the nation’s resources; who he selects into his cabinet and how they are held to account; how he engages with the world; and how he deals with conflict, and so on. A flawed character undermines all that matter.
Tinubu has gotten this far with untruths about the source of his wealth, his age and education, while offering little about himself to the media and the people he wants to vote for him. About the only thing he has done successfully is position himself as the chosen one, the presumptive president.
Those who were in his government in Lagos State, who spoke on conditions of anonymity to avoid retaliation, told our investigators that Tinubu brilliantly mastered the art of coopting his friends, family and business partners into underhanded financial deals, camouflaged under obscure ownership structures with himself as the ultimate beneficiary.
It is no surprise that Tinubu’s byzantine network of businesses has created ethical questions unlike any Nigerian presidential candidate in modern times.
An official from his time as the Lagos State Governor, who was not authorized to speak publicly about this matter, described his observations on the condition of anonymity. He said: “Tinubu can’t do anything without making money off it. This has been his playbook from his days as Governor and it won’t change if he becomes president.…he owned the Lagos State Ministry of Finance…it was his piggy bank.”
The difference is that the presidency gives him a far more scalable market to trade political patronage for profitable self-enrichment, power and influence.
All of this brings us to another unanswered question by Chief Tinubu: What is the source of his enormous wealth? An expert in forensic accounting who investigated Tinubu’s wealth will soon publish the findings in a separate article on AMJ. But his changing tales is just one case that adds yet another degree of suspicion about his truthfulness and trustworthiness.
Having numerously failed to fully and truthfully disclose how he got enormously rich so quickly as a politician confirms that Chief Tinubu is fundamentally deceitful and untrustworthy. And, therefore, unfit to be president.
Of all his numerous weaknesses and disqualifies, his toxic character stands out like a sore thumb.
Chief Tinubu Is A Man Without A Vision
His vision for Nigeria published in the RENEWED HOPE 2023 manifesto has no substance. It’s backward looking and a regurgitation of the last 8 years of Buhari’s train wreck. His vision statement is laden with cliché and meaningless phrases: He envisions Nigeria as “a nation transformed into greatness” … “the pride of Africa” …” respected and taking rightful position among the comity of nations” … “a prosperous nation with a fast-growing industrial base.” How he will transform Nigeria into greatness is not clear to us.
For all that Tinubu’s manifesto talks about the economy, security and social impact, it is remarkable that none of his listed policy positions offered anything like a real solution to the economic stagnation, high unemployment and depressed wages, high income and health disparities, chronic corruption, epileptic electricity supply and persistent insecurity that continue to plague Nigeria.
For the millions of Nigerians who remain unemployed, Tinubu has no solutions. For those terrorized by extreme criminal organizations and kidnappers, Tinubu’s manifesto is clueless on solutions to keep citizens safe.
Rather, Tinubu doubled down on the failed policies of the Buhari years, particularly borrowing more money to feed a blotted bureaucracy and the corruption machine run by the APC.
His manifesto suggests that Tinubu has no concrete plans that would take the extraordinary measures required to grow the non-oil economy and create new jobs that pay a living wage to long-suffering Nigerians. In fact, he has no plans to address the immediate and long-term structural problems in the economy.
If Tinubu’s manifesto is any indication, Nigerians shouldn’t expect anything better than their current miserable conditions. Tinubu’s tenure, if elected, will be worse than the nightmares of the past 8 years of Buhari’s incompetence and governance malpractices. Without a clearly articulated vision, Tinubu will likely lead the nation down the precipice of ruin.
Chief Tinubu Has A Dangerous Political Ideology
Three of Tinubu’s dangerous political ideologies raise alarm and further confirm why he shouldn’t be elected. His published statement in ThisDay Newspaper of April 13th, 1997, in which he was quoted to say, “I don’t believe in one Nigeria”, and his public declarations and position on “true federalism” (see Sekoni, 2013) and “ethnonationalism” during his time as leader of NADECO (National Democratic Coalition) threaten the unity of the nation.
He is an enthonationalist who believes in loyalty to his ethnic group rather than to the nation. In the multiethnic environment of Nigeria, however, ethnonationalism will cause relative division between various ethnic groups and at the same time weaken the ties that hold us together as one nation. This is a dangerous and divisive ideology for a multiethnic and multireligous nation.
The concept of true federalism as constructed by Tinubu involves a reckless and radical restructuring of the nation, allowing each state, by law, to own, arm, control and deploy its security forces, including para-military units, to serve the narrow interests of the state, without federal oversight.
In a divided and turbulent nation, as we currently live, these ill-conceived political ideologies will doom the country and lead to painful disintegration. These ideologies are certainly dangerous, especially from a man who does not believe that Nigeria should be one country.
Here’s the bottom-line: Chief Tinubu’s political ideologies, combined with the power of the presidency, makes him a risky choice.
Chief Tinubu Appears Mentally and Physically Frail
As his mental and physical health has deteriorated with age, Chief Tinubu struggles to complete a coherent sentence even when he reads from a device. For evidence view his recent presentation at Chatham House and his interview with BBC. Not a week goes by without noticing his frailty and loss of mental acuity and physical stamina, raising questions about his fit for the demanding and stressful office of the president of Nigeria.
The experience of President Buhari’s many health issues and several leave of absence for overseas medical treatment should concern Nigerians, should Tinubu be elected. If elected will Tinubu serve out his tenure in office? It is inconceivable what a Shettima presidency will look like given all that we know about him and his extreme and radical ethnoreligious ideology of hegemonic destiny and territorial control.
If Not Tinubu and Atiku, Who?
Nigerians must make a choice in this important election. Our best advice to them is to select a man of good character, a man with the vision of what Nigeria can become, a man with a plan to change the direction of the country, and a man who can solve Nigeria’s problems and restore the dignity of all Nigerians from the indignities of the Buhari administration and the ruling APC party.
If the lost decade is prelude, we must vote differently this time. We must not vote for Tinubu or Atiku. They are opposite sides of the same valueless coin. They are both waist deep in the Nigerian swamp of malfeasance.
Nigerians must choose vision over myopia, character over entitlement, pragmatism over antics, agility over docility, compassion over wickedness, unity over division, youth over frailty, thoughtfulness over recklessness, and integrity over deceitfulness.
We Wholeheartedly Endorse Peter Obi For President
With absolute confidence in his abilities and our nation’s bright future, we enthusiastically endorse Peter Obi for president.
With every Nigerian he meets, every crowd he inspires, and everyone he touches, Peter Obi creates new hope that our greatest days are still ahead, and all Nigerians from all tribes and religions, can unite to rebirth a nation of freedom, peace, prosperity and justice for all.
