Ordeal Of The Doomed Mandate

Written by Pius Okaneme

How it failed some Nigerians to see that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has passed his prime is a subject for the political scientists to decipher. A man who was often propped up at the podium by his entourage during his election campaign to make a speech is still expected by his supporters to stand to fight for a beleaguered citizenry is a mystery for physicians to unfold. A man who was hospitalized periodically for many months abroad and wired with all sorts of medical tubes is expected to be revived and be coherent to articulate the matters of a rundown government is a puzzle for the philosophers to solve.

Tinubu’s presidency remains a drama of bizarre proportion for protagonists to fathom the plot. A man who has no verifiable record of his educational background and a criminal record that stretched from America and a passport from Equatorial Guinea is expected to be ingenious in managing the murky affairs of a corrupt government of Nigeria is a gimmick for a magician to unveil. A man who cannot hold his thought in a string to form a sentence or pronounce the words eloquently is expected to stand with the global leaders and debate on issues of interest to the country is a jumble that a sophist cannot unscramble without a stumble. 

The citizens are walking perplexed like they were struck by lightning from the thunderous policies of President Tinubu. Some are wondering whether the pronouncements are the maneuvering of a gambler or the clandestine overture of a gangster. Others are conjecturing that they are the convoluting tendencies of a diseased mind. The elite welcomed this speedy engagement with the corruption in the management of fuel subsidy and foreign exchange regime. Only, the masses were thrown into the pit of fire after the implementation of the thoughtless initiatives.

Poverty in the country has escalated to surpass the predicament of Internally Displaced People. Inflation is causing a state of shock to families who are forced to ration their food and pushed back to trekking to their activities like many years ago when the country was not developed. The roads are deserted on a normal business day as drivers cannot afford the astronomical increase in the price of fuel. The foreign exchange rate is skyrocketing to the moon as the currency is floated to the open market and thereby spiking the cost of imported goods. The inevitable implication of these crude agenda is the collapse of the economy.

The president is looking with dizzy eyes at the aftermath of the volcano he has erupted. One wonders if he is alert to the menace he has brought upon the downtrodden. Perhaps he is projecting the detachment of a dictator who gets a thrill from the misery of the dejected. Nothing about his body language shows that he is perturbed or sees the urgency to remedy the plight of the citizens. Nigerians are in a wreck and bound to ride with the president through his doomed mandate.

Pius Okaneme is a Poet and Writer hails from Umuoji, Anambra State, Nigeria.