Midterm: Tinubu goes to France to grade himself

I have said it repeatedly, and I will say it again for the umpteenth time that Nigeria’s president, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu, is contemptuous of people whether they be friends or foes. He cares about nobody except himself. That explains why he’s who he is.

If assuming a name and an identity that’s not his, but which will advance his selfish interests he will do so without batting an eyelid. If it serves his purpose to claim an alumnus of a university at home or abroad of which he is not, he will readily do so. Will his claim of being an old boy of any primary or secondary school feather his nest? If yes, then it is done.



He is not deterred by the possibility that he could be caught sooner or later. This is the life of Tinubu who’s currently the president of our country. For him, nothing is sacred.

For him, the end justifies the means. Everything is profane.His one time buddy, the late Yinka Odumakin, found out this very early and called him out.

But Nigerians paid no heed. Yinka was among the earliest persons who blew the lid on Tinubu. Yinka told us that Tinubu was not his name.

That Tinubu was not Tinubu. He told us that Tinubu was not from Lagos state. Yinka gave us the names of Tinubu’s parents and his Iragbaji roots.

He gave us his name at birth. Yinka even provided pictorial evidence of this person of interest where he was puffing away a cigarette at a public function in his community which today falls under Osun state. It was Yinka who told Nigerians that the pro-democracy bonafides being paraded by Tinubu during the heydays of the national democratic coalition (NADECO) were unreal and affected.

Yinka provided unrefuted evidence in a telephone conversation where Tinubu was running with the hares and hunting with the hunters. But Yinka Odumakin, a relentless critic of Tinubu who also spoke about the ills afflicting Nigeria, died. Suddenly.

It was said that he died of natural causes. There has been no evidence to the contrary.The many uncomplimentary things Yinka Odumakin said of the man who goes about with the name of Bola Ahmed Tinubu have endured.

The man himself has since unravelled. The periods preceding the 2023 presidential election and after were revealing and concerning. Every move and action of Tinubu confirmed that he is what has been said he is.

His being a pseudo-democrat has been on display since his days as Lagos state governor between 1999-2007. That office revealed who he was, and still is. He is contemptuous of people, he is selfish, and a master of the dark art of governance.

He is the only member of the Class of ‘99 governors who had remained the de facto ruler of his state about 18 years after leaving office. He anoints and foists a stooge as governor. He alone determines who becomes the Speaker of the Lagos state House of Assembly.

For this, the evidence is still fresh. Those who have nothing to fear about their stewardship move on after their tour of duty. Not Tinubu.

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display('div-gpt-ad-1718806029429-0'); }); A few days ago, presidential aide, Bayo Onanuga, issued a public statement about the offshore trip of Tinubu. If you needed further evidence about how Tinubu holds Nigerians in contempt just deliberately and intentionally read that statement again. You don’t need to read between the lines.

Onanuga told us that the president was headed to France on a ‘working visit’. Tinubu has been to France about six times, including embarking on a state visit to the European country, since he became president of Nigeria less than two years ago. We were also told that part of the work that Tinubu will be doing in France for two long weeks would be to reflect on his presidency so far, and to grade himself.

He’s going to France in an Airbus plane which is made (assembled) in France and which was bought without appropriation. Some cynics claim that the controversial presidential yacht is currently hibernating somewhere in the south of France’s popular but expensive tourists’ destination. A recuperating ride inside the yacht could just come handy.

For those who alleged that the president’s frequent visits to France has medical tourism undertone, let it be known that the word recuperation is not limited to those who are recovering from ill-health. Two years of (un)governing this country can be demanding and energy-sapping for a man who is officially in his early 70s, but who critics claim might actually be in his late 70s or early 80s.But for his bohemian and epicurean disposition and wasteful tendencies, President Tinubu does not need to travel six thousand kilometres away from this country to assess his own performance, that’s, assuming that the concept of self assessment in this case, is not absurd, gross and grotesque.

Does he need to go to France to know how many jobs have been created by his regime in the last two years? Former president of the United States Joe Biden created over 15 million jobs in four years. Biden had no need to travel outside America to determine that. Will being in France for two weeks convince our Dear Leader that Nigeria is no longer the poverty capital of the world? Probably, the president’s AWOL (because the trip is actually a case of the president being ‘away without official leave’) will stop many more Nigerians from dropping below the poverty line.

How will this trip to France make Tinubu understand that many of our people and businesses are still groping in darkness in the face of an acute energy deficit? Nigerian roads are death traps. This is the situation in the six geo-political zones of the country. Tinubu will appreciate the state of the roads by riding on them and not by flying to Paris.

He’s invited to ply the Sagamu-Benin-Asaba highway to experience what Nigerians go through everyday. If such a road trip is beneath our president, then his minister of works, David Nweze Umahi, should tell him his own experience travelling by road between Abuja and Benin about one year ago. In spite of the passage of time, that road remains in a poor state.

Depending on your source, between 15-20 million Nigerian children are out of school. Could it be that Tinubu needed to be in France to appreciate the enormity of this problem and the fact that it is a ticking time bomb? Does he not know that the security situation of the country is deteriorating on his watch with bloodletting on our highways, and kidnapping for ransom assuming a frightening dimension? A few days ago, serving and retired generals of the armed forces and their civilian compatriots celebrated on a WhatsApp platform how they speedily raised money to spring one of their own, a general who was a director- general of the national youth service corps, from the clutches of kidnappers. The army general spent consecutive 56 days in captivity.

How would ‘visit Paris and die’ help our ruler to appreciate the fact that today’s out of school children will be tomorrow’s kidnappers and terrorists? Or will this trip to France change that inevitability? $(document).ready(function(){(adsbygoogle = window.adsbygoogle || []).

push({})}); In spite of the strong temptation to do so, I do not want to believe that President Tinubu derives pleasure from the contortions on our faces caused by his punishing and misguided and cruel economic policies. Majority of Nigerians are gasping for breath. And Tinubu knows it.

Yet he prefers juncketing or ‘Ajala travels’ to ministering to our needs, assuming that he knows what to do to dig Nigerians out of the hole he dug from Day One of his presidency. Before now the excuse by Tinubu for his globetrotting was that he was searching for foreign investors. That failed because it was a lie ab initio.

You cannot be seeking for foreign investors at a time some transnational corporations which have operated in your country for over 50 years were divesting and leaving in droves because of the hostile business environment enthroned by your regime. Nothing built on lies can endure. In this wise, if our Dear Leader is unwell as many people suspect, and so needs medical attention it will be more honourable to come clean with Nigerians.

There’s nothing wrong with being sick. After all, it has become part of the lot of our people. For instance, Nigeria’s affliction who was the immediate past president, Maj.

-Gen. Muhammadu Buhari, spent much of his eight-year presidency on hospital beds in London. On one occasion he was sick and away from this country for 103 consecutive days.

Buhari left Nigeria in a worse shape but he left the presidency fresher, younger, stronger and healthier. Our loss was his gain. At Tinubu’s age, whatever is the age, being occasionally or frequently unwell, should not be a surprise.

Like machines, human bodies experience wear and tear. And for a man with his past the wear and tear will be physical, emotional and psychological. If you governed, and allegedly still governing a city – state such as Lagos and combining same with ruling Nigeria then the tear should be expected to be telling.

Going away for fresh jabs of a concussion of juices to sustain life and energy levels is the least indulgence that Nigerians should grant their ruler. But Tinubu is on a working visit to France and not sick leave. So granting him any indulgence does not apply.

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