By Dr. Omoniyi Yakubu Adebisi from the USA
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was not near the top of the list of the anti-corruption hopefuls ahead of February 25th, 2023 Elections. In fact, majority of Nigerians lost hope regarding war against corruption after witnessing what the much-celebrated anti-corruption messiah that we all voted in to save Nigeria in 2015 and 2019 was able to achieve.
To making things more difficult for the electorate, Asiwaju Tinubu gave political answer to a political question when he was asked about his plans against corruption in Nigeria if elected as the President and Commander in Chief of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. Instead of committing political suicide that Pa Obafemi Awolowo and others committed when asked similar questions by promising to aggressively go after corrupt Nigerians, Asiwaju Tinubu instead kept his cards to his chest and simply responded that he was going to deploy credit facilities to reduce and or eliminate corrupt practices. This smart political answer seemed to assuage the inquisitiveness of many Nigerians without making corrupt Nigerians be apprehensive to the extent of doing everything possible to prevent him from ascending into power. In fact, many critics criticized Asiwaju Tinubu’s response as clueless.
Going by what we have experienced since Asiwaju Tinubu was sworn in as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu (PBAT) on May 29th, 2023 however, the question making round is that is President Bola Ahmed Tinubu the very Messiah we all have been awaiting in Nigeria?
The anti-corruption scorecard of PBAT in less than 30 days of being the President and Commander in Chief (CIC) of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria seems to be unparalleled and unprecedented in the history of Nigerian democracy.
Right on his first day as the CIC, PBAT removed the so-called oil subsidy that his predecessors promised to remove but failed to remove for decades. Surreptitiously, the daily consumption of petrol in Nigeria crashed from 63 million liters per day to around 13 million liters per day suggesting that the extra 50 million liters per day that were being quoted and paid for were simply lining the pockets of some corrupt Nigerians for decades. Perhaps, the next step would be to find out where the extra 50 million liters per day of petrol had been flowing into prior to May 29th, 2023.
Secondly, right from May 29th, 2023, the anti-corruption war in Nigeria seized being a business as usual. Governor Emefiele, who was a celebrated economic jingo under the immediate past government, was exposed to the whole world as one of the most corrupt Nigerians that ever led that apex bank. This erstwhile powerful governor is currently cooling his heels in the custody of the Department of the State Services (DSS). Soon thereafter, Mr. Abdulrasheed Bawa, the recently suspended Chairman of the EFCC (Economic and Financial Crime Commission) also found himself in the net of the law enforcement agents with a laundry list of corrupt practice allegations.
And within twinkling of an eye, the differential between the artificially controlled official forex exchange rate and the actual street market value in the so called “black market”, which had been infinite source of wealth of numerous Nigerian overnight billionaires as once announced by Emir Sanusi Lamido Sanusi, became the next target of PBAT. With a stroke of his pen, PBAT struck out this conduit of siphoning Nigerian commonwealth by a handful of privileged Nigerians. The list goes on in just less than 30 days of taking the baton as the President and CIC of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
And as if the foregoing were not interesting enough, Alhaji Asari Dokubo, a renown Niger Delta former militant, made a staggering revelation to the whole world about oil theft in Nigeria few minutes after visiting PBAT on June 16th, 2023. Alhaji Dokubo told the whole world that our own military officers, especially the army and naval officers, were the main culprits of oil theft in Nigeria, and that PBAT has promised to arrest this bleeding immediately. Alhaji Dokubo maintained that this high level-official theft of our commonwealth has been ongoing for close to a decade, meaning the last eight years included, and practically nothing had been done to arrest this bleeding. If PBAT keeps his promise of arresting this oil theft right away, Nigeria is truly about to start enjoying the messianic era.
In conclusion, in less than a month, what President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has achieved in his war against corruption in Nigeria have already dwarfed what many of his predecessors achieved in years. We pray vehemently to Almighty God to continue protecting PBAT and continue giving him more courage and wisdom to salvage Nigeria from the jaw of corruption.
Long live the administration of PBAT.
Long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
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