- By Keem Abdul
“A leader,” said the great French emperor Napoleon Bonaparte, “is a dealer in hope.”
His greatest strength lies not in the power he wields, but in the compassion he shows to every citizen, regardless of their station in life and background.
In his two years in office, and in previous capacities, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu has demonstrated this understanding in ways great and small. Even as he works to establish a political economy in which macro- and micro-economic growth impacts positively on all classes (including the business and professional elite, and the middle class) he has not forgotten those in the lower classes – and indeed the underclass – for whom living in Nigeria is a daily endurance test and a relentless battle for survival – people that, as we say in these parts, “Nigeria is happening to.”
He should know; as a former pro-democracy activist in the trenches during the days of military rule (when Nigerians squirmed under the jackboots of khaki boys as they strutted across our national landscape and trampled on the basic rights of all but a small and privileged few), he saw firsthand how a people could inhabit one of the most lavishly-endowed nations on the planet, and yet live below the bare minimum of human dignity and wellbeing.
His subsequent political odyssey has over the years reinforced the commitment that led him to those trenches – i.e. the restoration to Nigerians of the rights and freedoms that make life and dignity possible. In a world where true, principle-based leadership has become a rare commodity, Tinubu’s example shines like a steady beacon.
This commitment was on display in the aftermath of the tragic events that took almost two weeks ago in Eruku, a community in Ekiti LGA of Kwara State, which came under a violent attack, leaving two people dead, and over 30 others abducted. When the shadows of tragedy descended on Eruku, the President responded with a resolve that turned fear into relief.
His swift coordination of rescue operations – defined by an alacrity that, stakeholders agreed, had not been seen in over a decade of Nigeria’s struggle with criminality and insurgency – saved innocent lives and reminded Nigerians that it is possible for a government in this country to act with urgency and heart.
On his instructions, authorities temporarily shut down schools in five districts of the state in a bid to forestall similar attacks by armed gangs.
Read Also: Tinubu: $1tr Economy depends on productivity, innovation, others
In the same spirit, the rescue of 25 school pupils abducted from a girls’ boarding-school in Kebbi State, and that of 100 children in Niger State – part of the over 200 students (along with 12 staff members) kidnapped from St Mary’s Catholic Primary and Secondary School, Papiri – have underscored Tinubu’s conviction that no child should be left behind.
Soon after the Niger abductions, the President canceled a planned foreign trip and dispatched his National Security Adviser, Nuhu Ribadu, to Papiri, where he assured residents, local leaders and clergy that the children would be rescued and reunited with their families before long. And so it was – via a series of coordinated, intelligence-driven and multi-agency operations. Government has also responded in like manner to other crimes since then, in a series of operations that are still ongoing.
Although the administration has since rejected allegations of an exclusively ‘Christian genocide’ by international stakeholders such as the US government, it has not in the least downplayed the gravity of the current security crisis – and has acted accordingly. This President is fighting back – quietly, deliberately and consistently – and the results are unfolding across our national landscape. In moments when hope wavered and hearts grew weary, he has stepped forward, offering steady hands and a calm voice.
Add to that his recent appointment of a new Minister of Defence – a General widely-regarded for his competence and dynamism – and it is clear that there is a firm hand on the nation’s security wheel, and a heart that acknowledges the human cost of the tragedy, and empathizes with its victims.
Moments like these, though brief in the national narrative, and therefore easy to overlook, have etched themselves into the collective memory as symbols of decisive and humane leadership.
They also resonate with the overarching vision of the President’s ‘Renewed Hope Agenda’ which aims to encompass the length and breadth of Nigeria with the benefits of his reforms and policies without exception on the basis of religion or region.
Tinubu has being heard to speak of a “United States of Nigeria,” a concept that, far from erasing the beautiful diversity of our people, weaves it instead into a stronger, more cohesive and more inclusive tapestry. To him, being Nigerian is not a matter of chance, but a shared destiny – a promise that every voice, from Lagos’s bustling markets to the quiet villages of the N/Delta, has a place at the table of progress.
Leadership, he has shown, is not a buffet where one can pick and choose what or whom to serve. It is a full‑course commitment, a mirror that reflects both the aspirations and the anxieties of our nation.
The President’s reputation as a nationalist and pan-Nigerian leader (as opposed to an ethnic irredentist, as claimed by some of his critics) was a matter for discussion and debate at a meeting earlier this year of critical stakeholders from the old Northern region, the focus being on whether he has lived up to his promises to that region prior to his election in 2023 – namely, to run an all-inclusive government, to utilise the vast natural resources of the country through strategic investment in infrastructure, to protect the national interest, and to be fair to every part of the country.
At the end of the meeting, interventions by Governors, government functionaries and other knowledgeable stakeholders – who reeled out impressive strides recorded by the Tinubu administration in infrastructure, social investment programmes and security – yielded an overwhelming approval rating and an outright rejection of politically-motivated allegations of marginalization. Whatever underdevelopment may exist in the region, they contended, should not be attributed to him, but to local leaders themselves, who have long neglected the region.
As in his country, so he has done beyond its borders – i.e. advance the ideal of African integration and the cohesion of its western axis in particular. As Chairman of the Economic Commission of West African States (ECOWAS), Tinubu has demonstrated his opposition to the rising spectre of military takeovers in the region, seeing it as a negation of its people’s yearning for participatory rule – one in which they have a voice (and a vote) in the decisions that affect them. His response to the recent attempted coup d’état in neighbouring Benin Republic – following his dispatch of Nigerian forces to prevent the overthrow of President Patrice Talon’s government – is an emphatic demonstration of his anti-junta stance, honed from his own experience as a pro-democracy activist. Benin, he recognised, was not a foreign entity, but a next-door neighbour whose fortunes, for good or ill, are intertwined with Nigeria’s.
As poverty threatens to encroach on our dignity as individuals, families and communities, and as insecurity threatens our very existence, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu is fighting battles on multiple fronts at home and abroad – and winning, thereby rekindling hopes that have over the years been replaced by fear and cynicism. May those hopes continue to flourish. May his unwavering dedication inspire Nigerians of all stripes to also play their part in the great work of nation‑building, as we strive shoulder-to-shoulder towards a future defined by shared values, shared responsibilities, and shared benefits.
Keem Abdul, a public relations guru, publisher and writer, hails from Lagos. He can be reached via Akeemabdul2023@gmail.com
