Nigeria does not appear to be concerned about her international or public image. It has allowed itself to be a country where anything goes and where nothing works and everything appears to be a huge joke.
Nigeria has become where citizens celebrate jokes and jokers in power; to wit, expensive joke makers: the drama in the National Assembly where supposed lawmakers were fighting dirty, jumping fence, insulting themselves, padding budgets, etc. are some of the many embarrassing illustrations of their embarrassing moments.
The leadership of the Federal Government and the entire National Assembly of Nigeria have over the years been taking Nigerians for granted. The moment they seize or acquire power the masses and the electorate are neglected and mentally abused until it is time for another general election.
It is during electioneering campaigns that you will see a presidential candidate or a governorship candidate or any candidate at all go to buy roasted corn from roadside sellers and begin to chew in public, or go to female hair dressing salons to pretend to plait hair only to attract public attention and give an impression that they are close to the grassroot or are people oriented messiahs whereas they are wolves in sheep’s clothing’s and naturally anti-people by their subsequent behaviours.
The second week of December 2024, witnessed the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, President Ahmed Tinubu presenting the 2025 Appropriation Bill to the National Assembly and in the cause of the presentation goofed, referring to the National Assembly as The 11th National Assembly and when the few opposition members corrected him to say “The 10th not 11th National Assembly” instead of taking correction, he said, “I promote you and declare you all returned as the 11th National Assembly” All the APC and Pro-APC members started laughing and cheering the President who appeared lost and disconnected from the real deal. The Senate President was visually seen consistently clapping for him.
A week before the President’s drama was a state melodrama of the same magnitude in Edo State House of Assembly where their new APC made governor was at it just like president Tinubu.
The new governor was presenting the 2025 Appropriation Bill to the Edo State House of Assembly. A whole Governor was on Television struggling to pronounce the budget estimate in the glare of the whole world. In defence of him and the shame of his Governor’s naiveté, and abysmal presentation, his party chairman stated that the Governor, a new and young Governor was not good at or with figures.
These was a big international embarrassment and a distortion of the already battered public image of Nigeria. Both the President and the Edo state Governor are products of the APC renewed hope agenda. This kind of thing will not happen in civilized climes. Here, it will be defended that anybody can make mistakes.
That is the way we have been providing a soft landing for our weak and fairly used brains we see as leaders in this country. Party men and women defend their clueless party figures whether good or bad. Politics in Nigeria is played like what goes on in a fool’s paradise. Politics is not seen in Nigeria as a form of sacrifice for the people or service to the people.
The Nigeria senate is now the retirement home for former governors and former deputy governors who may not have done well in their various states except that they used their positions to amass wealth and syphoned public fund into their private estates.
Most of them did not have any good source of wealth except moneys looted from public space through which they became billionaires, sitting in the senate doing nothing but cooling off their fairly used brains. They are the same set of lawmakers who were clapping for a President who did not know what he was saying, “Calling the 10th National Assembly 11th National Assembly”. Has Nigeria become a huge joke?
The suffering of the electorate is never consciously discussed in the Senate. The fuel crisis and the consequential high cost of living, hardship and general poverty in Nigeria is not their concern. They only raise security concern when a bigman, a politician or member of the Political class is involved in any kidnapping or banditry. Other than that, the poor masses are on their own.
Most of them are regularly captured on camera sleeping at plenary sessions. Their collective input in the Appropriation Bill is to raise the budgetary figures to accommodate their greed, avarice and political interest. Their constituents are neglected, ignored and avoided.
The road infrastructure and the fixing of same is not their concern as all of them fly using the air other than roads. It is only when it concerns the aviation sector that they will move random motions to arrest the situation with immediate alacrity because that is the route they use in terms of means of transportation. The air is the road of politicians in Nigeria that is why they have abandoned the road infrastructure since it belongs to the poor.
They are actually fairly used personalities: they have been over-used and are no longer original or „tear-rubber‟ personalities. Most of them started contesting for elective positions since in the 1980s or 1990s yet they continue to recycle themselves in the political space, doctoring and adjusting their age even when their human anatomies are displaying their true age that they are ‘Tokumbos’.
Most of them have lost their memories and their political strength yet they do not want to retire to leave the political scene.
They are the major and fundamental, if not the critical problems of this country. At their age they are still looting more public fund. Most of them are richer than Nigeria yet they have no visible source of livelihood known to Nigerians other than the political offices they have held previously. Politics in Nigeria is therefore a big and lucrative business and investment for those of them who have ungodly and unholy proximity to public fund.
With their intimidating political profiles and biographies showcasing the political positions they have held from Local Government, State, and the Federal level. Yet Nigeria as a country has nothing to show for it. What citizens see are the mansions these unconscionable men have built, estates they have acquired, universities built by them for fellow rich and public fund looters and their children.
Their children and grandchildren inherit the political kingdoms of their looters parents they have profiles of offices they have held without integrity, probity and accountability. Most Nigerian politicians are dunghills of moral decadence, moral quicksand and moral bankruptcy. These are characteristics of fairly used personalities aka Tokumbo leaders. They also fly abroad concealing looted public fund, acquiring paradises in countries where their leaders are level headed, civilized, compassionate, patriotic and morally upright.
These fairly used personalities are the headache of this country: they are the vampires of the Nigerian empire; sucking the blood of poor Nigerians and sucking life off the image and common wealth of this country.
They sit at the seat of power and share our common wealth and bid the poor to follow them to take pittance which fall from their table these poor masses leave at the mercy of these unconscionable politicians who use and dump the electorate year in year out.
They are the “tokumbos‟ in politics who have nothing to offer fellow Nigerians but who manipulate the poor in the name of sharing palliatives. These problem is endemic in Africa where you have ancestors in political power and constantly seeking for re-election in a bid to de-civilize Africa and put it in the global stage of perpetual underdevelopment, eternal slavery and abject poverty. It is therefore time to stop these fairly used leaders from emasculating Nigeria in particular and Africa in general.
