2023: Tinubu Has Nothing to Offer Nigeria

By Our Correspondent

With our election year just around the corner, some politicians are already being projected as contenders for the number one political seat in the country. 

Bola Tinubu, amongst them all, seems to be the only one who is showing no pretense about his desire to run for the presidency come 2023. 

Apart from his posters, we have seen bags of beans branded in his name for distribution to 'hungry' Nigerians. He has gone up north, something he hadn't been doing before now, to make donations to victims of fire disasters. 

That Tinubu has his eyes on the presidency is an open truth. But what should be our concern as Nigerians is if Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the strongman of Lagos politics, will make a good Nigerian president. 

In my candid opinion, from what I know, having been around and following political events in the country since the advent of the Fourth Republic in 1999, Tinubu can never make a good president; he has nothing to offer Nigeria and Nigerians. 

I lived in Lagos state throughout Tinubu's two terms as governor (1999 - 2007). I knew how Lagos was in the area of development when Tinubu's predecessor, Buba Marwa, handed over in 1999. I also know how much Lagos developed under Tinubu (if there was any development at all) after he left office in 2007. I was in Lagos. I observed it all. I wasn't observing from outside Lagos. 

The only thing Tinubu did in Lagos was the increase in the state's IGR (Internally Generated Revenue); and this is not really an achievement considering that such increased revenue comes at a heavy burden of tax on the inhabitants of the state. And also because the need for increased IGR is born out of the avarice of getting more money to expend on especially buying political loyalty and support of the elites of the state, an act Tinubu is a master at. 

It is always baffling that when Tinubu's scorecard is read, some paid writers will still proudly count increase in Lagos state IGR as Tinubu's core achievements, when it is glaring that such revenue didn't translate to improved standard of living for Lagosians. 

Apart from this IGR, assess Tinubu's tenure as governor on infrastructural development and you will see that his eight years as governor was a glaring waste. 

Public health care in Lagos didn't improve under Tinubu. Despite the celebrated huge revenue, Lagosians didn't have access to quality health care service. You can't go to public hospitals in Lagos and get free anti malaria drugs. Tax payers still paid for everything like they were doing before the heavy tax regime of Bola Tinubu came on board. (In fact, like his ilk PMB, he proved this true when he recently went abroad for medical treatment. If he had built any good hospital for the Lagos public as a governor, he wouldn't be going abroad for treatment today). 

No public pipe borne water for Lagosians. The IGR could not make treated water available to Lagos residents. All the houses run on boreholes like most states in the country with paltry IGR. 

As Lagos governor, Tinubu was master at using the media to get the people to look away from his underperformance and focus on the failures and witch-hunts of the federal government against Lagos state. He would make sign posts on federal roads, telling Lagosians that the roads are bad because they are on the Exclusive List and thus the responsibility of the federal government. But the state roads in Lagos and the streets remained untarred. He would sing it to our hearing everyday that the government of Obasanjo siezed Local Government allocation for Lagos state, and have us all believe it was president Obasanjo's witch-hunt that was responsible for his non-performance. 

Lagos remained thesame, under Tinubu. There was no development. He was master of propaganda - and our people are always cowed by government propaganda. 

The only kind of politics Tinubu know how to play is SHARE THE MONEY politics. He has nothing to offer Nigeria. He knows how to buy loyalty of the elites - and the touts and the thugs as well - which some people have mistaken to mean that he is good at grooming human resources. Those politicians that are with him all ate and stole without retraint, that's why they are attached to his apron strings like their lives depends on it. 

Tinubu represents the kind of politicians that we do not wish to see lead Nigeria as president, whether in 2023 or beyond. He has nothing to offer this country except a perpetuation of the old politics of sharing of money to further expand his political empire. 

Obasanjo failed at third term attempt, but this Tinubu, master money distributor, might get it if he gets to that position. There's nothing Tinubu cannot offer to get what he wants. Absolutely nothing. That is the kind of politics he knows how to play. He is an heir to late Adedibu, the Amala politician. He will mortgage Nigeria to make himself politically formidable. That's the only thing he knows how to do. 

Tinubu for Nigeria in 2023 or after 2023 will be a worse mistake than president Buhari. The picture is in 3D, it so clear for all to see.