We Have President Tinubu, Do We Have A Country?

By Ikeddy ISIGUZO

Do we have a country? The question might seem trite, but the answers to it may hold the key to understanding who we are and where we are going. Are there any answers?

We have a President. Isn’t that supposed to be important? Isn’t that important why we dedicate so many resources to elections? By 2024, political strategists were already discussing the elections of 2027, 2031, and even 2035, as they entered their calculations. We seem to be all about politics.

Our national focus is consistently on the next election. National development plans, if we even encounter them, are often skewed and marred by projects meticulously driven into oblivion.

Think about it. Take a moment.
What makes us a people? If we are no longer “one nation bound in freedom, peace and unity,” what are we then?

Do equity, justice, and fairness still matter in how Nigeria treats its citizens?

Why are Nigerians increasingly identifying as “indigenes” of their state of origin rather than as “citizens” of Nigeria?

Who are the citizens of Nigeria? Are there inherent benefits, responsibilities, and obligations that come with being a Nigerian? Are resources distributed in a way that reflects our shared citizenship?

In what ways is Nigeria working for some Nigerians, or for all Nigerians?

Who cares about Nigerians and the future of our nation? Why should they care?

Nigeria is regressing with alarming speed. The leadership appears aloof, casual, inattentive, indifferent, cold, lethargic, and apathetic – except when boasting about its invisible achievements and demonstrating a pathetic understanding of leadership.

We have suffered before. But what we are currently experiencing is different. The President seems proud to be the harbinger of this difference, a difference steeped in indifference.

Our people are besieged by anger, hunger, disease, divisiveness, insecurity, and the consequences of the arrogant waste of borrowed resources. The resulting poverty is indiscriminate, affecting all regions and religions.

Nigerians have become so divided that we dwell on debating irrelevant matters: who started Nollywood, who pronounces words better, who cooks better, who will never be President, and who has stolen more. We are mirroring characters in Nkem Nwankwo’s 1975 satirical novel, My Mercedes Is Bigger Than Yours, which explores themes of corruption, materialism, and societal decay.

We carelessly threw our country away in 2015. We gave it to those who see us as less than nothing. We were driven into a dark corner by leaders who treat lives as toys.

Nigerians do not need a peripatetic President who, even when at home, behaves worse than Nero, the Roman Emperor who cared more for his violin than for a burning Rome.

Our first duty is to reclaim our country from the flames. The anger is simmering beneath the surface.

Finally…

Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli of Nepal, on Sunday, September 6, 2025, mocked youth protesters planning demonstrations in Kathmandu against corruption and nepotism. Less than 48 hours later, Oli was the former Prime Minister. Parts of Kathmandu, including the parliament building and government offices, were set ablaze. Government officials were resigning, fleeing the country, and some were brutally attacked. Nepalis were venting their anger over hardship, unemployment, the lavish lifestyles of families of current and former government officials, and a ban on social media platforms that did not register with the government and submit their content for vetting. The social media ban has since been lifted. Hundreds participated in the protests, and at least 31 people died. Are there any lessons here for Nigerian leaders? Apparently not. We had #EndSARS in 2021. Young people protested, and 56 died due to excessive force by security agencies. Police brutality, which was the focus of the #EndSARS protests, is demonstrably worse today than it was four years ago.

Governor Charles Chukwuma Soludo of Anambra State seems to be centering his re-election bid on trivial matters. He has remained silent about his government’s environmental enforcement agents, whose crass and cruel actions have resulted in deaths, most recently in Onitsha last week. Escalating insecurity in Anambra is less important to Soludo than addressing “fake” certificates. Soludo should report the matter to the Independent National Electoral Commission and file a lawsuit. Lying under oath is a criminal offence. In the 2019 Bayelsa governorship election, the All Progressives Congress (APC) won, but the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) candidate because the APC deputy governorship candidate had inconsistencies in his certificates.

Floods are devastating many parts of the country, and more could be coming. The proposed five buffer dams to manage the excess water from Rivers Benue and Niger when Cameroon releases water from the Lagdo Dam, remain merely proposals 43 years after the Lagdo Dam was completed.

Millions of out-of-school children are still just statistics, useful for conference papers, but they do not bother governments that lack care or concern about either the present or the future. Nigeria’s 18.3 million out-of-school children are the highest number in the world. If those 18.3 million children had their own country, it would be the 26th most populous in Africa, ahead of Zimbabwe, Tunisia, Rwanda, and others.

Kebbi State Governor Dr. Nasir Idris on Thursday suspended the State’s Commissioner for Health, Yunusa Isma’il, according to a statement by the Secretary to the State Government, Alhaji Yakubu Bala Tafida. “The Executive Governor has instructed the suspended Commissioner for Health to justify why further sanctions should not be applied, having disregarded the mandate entrusted to him,” the statement added.

Hassan Mai-Waya Kangiwa, a journalist, was detained after posting a video showing the poor conditions at Kangiwa General Hospital. The damaging footage, which was widely circulated on social media, depicted patients lying on bare metal beds without mattresses. Public outrage was evident in the comments. “In this hospital, there are many things wrong and very frustrating. They claim to be providing healthcare services, yet the reality tells a different story. Imagine an elderly man lying on a sickbed with no mattress, no bedsheet, and no pillow – just the bare iron frame. It is deeply upsetting and unacceptable,” the video narrator said.

Speaker of the House of Representatives, Alhaji Tajudeen Idris, raised alarms at the opening of the 11th West African Association of Public Accounts Committees (WAAPAC) conference in Abuja, regarding President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s borrowing practices. “Major borrowing proposals should be subject to public hearings, and simplified debt reports must be made available to the general public,” he said, referring to Nigeria’s foreign debt, which has reached 54% of GDP. The recommended threshold is 35-40%. Alhaji Idris’s hypocrisy is striking. As Speaker of the House, was he not aware of these loans?

The Department of State Services (DSS) is getting involved in trivial matters while bandits and terrorists keep the country unsafe. Why should the DSS be the complainant against Omoyele Sowore in a matter between him and the President? Is this matter more important to the DSS than to the Attorney-General of the Federation? The DSS is also claiming credit for negotiations that ended a strike in the oil sector. The DSS seems to be the new Federal Ministry of Labour. Perhaps the most important principle to follow is to ensure the President’s happiness. He is too busy working and vacationing to be bothered by minor issues.

The countdown to the President’s return should begin. With discounts for the day of arrival and departure, a public holiday, and weekends, the President could be back on September 19th. Days later, the President will address the United Nations in New York. Shouldn’t he just fly directly from Paris to New York instead of Paris-Abuja-New York?

Those opposed to Mrs. Remi Tinubu, the President’s wife, raising funds to complete the abandoned National Library headquarters in Abuja should reconsider their position. The project, a proper reflection of our poor regard for knowledge, has been in the same state of incompletion for over 20 years. The effort to complete the library should be welcome, even if it involves naming the facility after the First Lady: Her Excellency, First Lady of Nigeria, Very Distinguished Triple Sen Oluremi Tinubu (CON) National Library of Nigeria.

*Isiguzo is a major commentator on minor issues