Tinubu’s cabinet reshuffle has finally come through. For me, it exceeded expectations. Tinubu and his Lagos gang of non-indigenous Yorubas dislike the Igbos a lot – no question about that. But over time, they have been clever with it, allowing hate speech and despicable actions to ooze out of the mouths of minions and hardboiled thugs so that one can hardly accuse them directly.
But sometimes, it slips through. Like when the Oba of Lagos threatened to drown Igbos in the Lagos lagoon if they didn’t follow the political direction of today’s President Bola Tinubu. In the outrage that followed, they watered it down that it was a joke. Next was in the 2023 general elections during which Bayo Onanuga, spokesman of then candidate Tinubu and presidential spokesman now, warned ominously that it should be the last time Igbos should ‘interfere’ in Lagos elections. On both occasions, ethnic Igbos were physically stopped from voting in parts of Lagos. Some suffered injuries.
On becoming president, I didn’t expect Tinubu to change. Muhammadu Buhari had set the template of ethnic capture of national power. I didn’t expect Tinubu to back down from that. However, I thought he would deploy the smoothness which the Yorubas are often associated with.
Unfortunately, Tinubu has overtaken Buhari in the matter of ethnic power capture. First, there was scarcely any meaningful representation of the five Igbo states in his cabinet, besides works. Then, he came up with his cabinet reshuffle, an opportunity to right wrongs. But what did he do? He took off the gloves and wouldn’t even give them the inconsequential ministries of dance, masquerade, and science. So deep is the dislike that even a symbolic show of fairness is too much for him, even if the constitution prescribes that.
What Tinubu and his gang do not remember now under the debauchery of power is that what goes around comes around. Tinubu has a maximum of six and a half years at the presidency in the context of a possible second term. He would sooner or later be done and roll over. Another person who is unlikely to be Yoruba would climb up and unless something stops him or her, would be in a position to treat the Yorubas as Tinubu is treating the Igbos now.
When at independence the north which took over power at the centre watered down all standards everywhere, I could understand, but not excuse them. They didn’t have the requisite educational qualifications for anything, including the military. Their solution was to lower the standards repeatedly so that they could have a representation. That was how Buhari and his mates were pushed into the officer corps of the Nigerian Army. A crash course over five years could have helped the north produce qualified and respected personnel for every field.
If I had not done my advanced level at Federal Government College, Ikot-Ekpene and come across young northerners that aced their O’ Levels, I would have presumed that they all couldn’t pass exams. But falling for the easiest path gives the most unserious the chance, indeed the mandate to overtake even the most gifted and make mediocrity a national policy whereas all could compete fairly.
But with the Yorubas, it is a different story. For hundreds of years, they have been competitive. In western education, they held the pole position till the 1950s when the rest of Nigeria started closing the gap. I read that the grandfather (or great grandfather of Femi Fani Kayode) had a master’s degree from a British university by 1875! Till today, the Yorubas haven’t let go on any field of human endeavour.
So, does this proud nation that can hold its own in the global community need a lowering of standards or in-your-face theft of other people’s positions to blossom in Nigeria? I dare say, NO!
Expectedly, Afenifere, the eminent all-Yoruba sociocultural group, has come up to condemn Tinubu’s unneeded parochialism.
“We can never condone the outrageous bias by Tinubu to make Yorubas head of all arms of the criminal justice system (EFCC, DSS, Attorney-General and Chief Justice); the economy (Coordinating Minister of the economy, CBN, Finance, Blue Economy, Digital Economy, Trade, Industries and Investment, Bank of Industry, Solid Minerals); as well as the forces (army, police, customs, immigration, DSS)”, Afenifere said in a recent statement.
“Afenifere can’t use several decades to fight against Fulani hegemony only to support Yoruba or any other hegemony. Afenifere bitterly complained that President Buhari’s northern hegemony can’t remain mute on ethnic hegemony, as being perpetrated by Tinubu”, it concluded.
Of course, Afenifere is confident that Yorubas can hold their own anywhere. So, why are Tinubu’s own Yorubas different, cheating to thrive?
Tinubu and company don’t represent the best of the Yorubas. They come in as perhaps the third or fourth eleven. They would therefore need to have the hurdles lowered for them to clear. They have had the economy to muddle with, all by themselves for some 18 months, but what have they made of it, if not excruciating hunger for all?
Trouble is that even some competitive ones fall for the aroma of this quick kill. The draw of the high offices, stolen or otherwise, eclipses any other consideration. They quickly forget there was an interim government headed by one Ernest Sonekan. His brother, Moshood Abiola had won the presidency but his victory was nullified by the military. Sonekan was given costume jewelry to substitute the real gold won by his brother. Of course, he got people to justify his appointment and formed a cabinet. How many of his ministers will put it in their resume today that they served in the interim government?
The thing about hate is that it blinds the hater. Buhari as a young soldier slaughtered Igbos during the war. As a civilian president, he unleashed waves of military operations against them – Operations Python Dance 1, 2 and 3. But that didn’t finish them off. Their offence was that their young ones demanded peaceful separation from Nigeria. Some young Yorubas also did, but no python danced in their domain.
Besides the sense of inclusiveness, there is little else that ministerial appointments give to geographical areas. Otherwise, northern Nigeria that has held the presidency and prime ministerial appointments for some 70 percent of the time since independence would have been eldorado by now. But we know better.
Now, is Tinubu’s parochialism and demonstrated tyranny towards the Igbos meant to drive their youth into the bosom of Nigeria or radicalise them the more to seek their own nation? Is Tinubu an agent provocateur seeking to drive Igbo youth into violence so as to unleash the Nigerian Army on their homeland? Time would tell, and there would be survivors.
