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EXPRESSO>>> By Steve Osuji

Scratching Their Brows: Were we in climes where critical leadership positions are earned, President Bola Tinubu would not contemplate a second term in office. After almost three years as the president of Nigeria, he has convinced everyone – even his supporters – that he’s not cut out for the job.
In such climes, his party would have been locked in deep deliberations to ensure that incumbency factor doesn’t trounce party survival and corporate imperatives.
Once it has been determined that he could never win the next election, a more viable successor is immediately tapped for the job.
As it is, the All Progressives Congress (APC) doesn’t need political strategists to advise it that President Tinubu could never win a free and fair election in 2027.
First, he was never a great presidential prospect ab initio. Recall that his mandate was pulled out of the mire of Nigeria’s worst electoral heist.
Though he sits on a wonky mandate, nearly three years down the line, he still hasn’t been able to prove he can lead Nigeria. He is fast turning out to be the most abysmal leader Nigeria ever had at the top. Today, Tinubu’s supporters and even his diehard ethnic jingoists are now scratching their brows in utter despair and disappointment at his lack of capacity and compass.

Not Fit To Lead: It’s common knowledge that President Tinubu is ailing. And it doesn’t seem to get much better. Overtly, he takes health holidays abroad, especially in Paris. Covertly, he virtually sneaks out of Nigeria every other fortnight to augment his health.
This explains why in 2025, he was out of Nigeria for more days than he was in Nigeria (190 days out of 365). Therefore, on health grounds alone, the APC hierarchy should have wrought a replacement already if it were not a shambolic contraption instead of an organic political organisation. But what we have seen is a choir of endorsements by fawning sycophants at every turn.

Person Of Particular Concern: While Nigeria has been labeled a Country of Particular Concern (CPC) by the US, her president may equally be considered to be a person of particular concern (PPC). The president of Nigeria in this age, cannot freely travel to the US and the UK. That immediately confers on him, a certain pariah status. In the course of his legal tussles over certificate forgery and drug dealings in the US, it also came out that he is a bonafide ‘asset’ to the CIA and FBI. This is not a conjecture, it came out of an open court proceeding in the US. President Tinubu didn’t deny this open declaration by personnel of these US agencies.

Confounded By The Economy: Tinubu has clearly been confounded by the economy. He doesn’t seem to understand nary the basics. Neither does he have any economic philosophy or vision of his own. Much unlike his immediate predecessor, Mohammadu Buhari, who was stubbornly nationalistic and refused to dance to the beat of the West, Tinubu is seemingly wind-tossed. He fawningly genuflects to the dictates of the Bretton Wood system. He doesn’t seem to give a hoot about his people’s interests nor does he pause to ponder over the outcomes of his policies. This explains why he would impulsively yank off subsidies, float the currency and tax the very pants off the people without a thought. President Tinubu even hands over Nigeria’s tax data backbone to France!

Reform Without Results: President Tinubu has made a sing-song of economic reforms from inception yet there’s no structured approach to it nor are there stated targets, deliverables and timelines. What we have had so far are uncoordinated actions, ad-hoc measures, propaganda and lies. Hardly any sector of the economy can be held out as a model of success after years of Tinubu’s so-called reforms. Inflation remains high in spite of the underhand shenanigans with national database. Prices of goods and services have gone up by over 200 percent since President Tinubu’s inception and may never come down.

Nigeria Being Degraded And Depreciated: Manufacturing has shrunk; in fact production has not been prioritised. Agriculture has been abandoned. Unemployment has worsened as new jobs are not being created. This has increased poverty exponentially as Tinubu dawdles with his harebrained reforms.
In fact, the economy is near-comatose, budgets remain static and unfunded in the face of unmitigated debts. MDGs are starved of funds for capital projects. The economic situation is indeed dire.

Unbridled Sleaze And Corruption; Bloated Government: Corruption has become the order under this administration. Each day comes with a new tale of odious sleaze. Just a few days ago, news broke that the FG paid out about $9 million dollars to some lobbyists in the US over the ‘Christian genocide’ debate. Meanwhile, the revelation over the Presidential Air Fleet shenanigans is mind-bending. The government is oversized from the outset and gets bigger by the day. Yet government officials live in opulence and ostentation. They engage in fruitless junkets abroad while hunger stalks the land.

Nigeria May Collapse Under The Weight Of Tinubu’s Growing Ineptitude: The reform, yes, yes, the reform! Even the government may have forgotten about its much-vaunted reform as no positive achievement is recorded so far. Since it was more as brainwave than an articulated change programme, the lies and propaganda have run out of steam. Worse, there is no arrowhead driving Tinubu’s economy. The country may well be grounding to a halt under the heavy weight of ineptitude and vacuous leadership. Also, there’s a scant regard for merit and excellence. The executive council is thus a huge lumbering mass with little substance.
There are indeed, a thousand and one reasons President Tinubu must not return to power in 2027, he hasn’t earned a second term.

LAST LINE:

AFTER BARRISTER CHIGBO, WHO’S NEXT? The gruesome murder of Barr. Nwamaka Mediatrix Chigbo in Abuja is a signpost of the anomie that Nigeria has virtually become.
That the renowned lawyer and activist could be grabbed in broad day light and gruesomely extinguished in the federal capital city signposts the quality of life in the Nigerian state.
No one is safe in any corner of the land; we are utterly devoid of security cover … And life is increasingly brutish and short! Who’s next?
May Barr Chigbo’s great soul find repose. Amen.###