12-1-2025.

There was tension in the country during President Ebele Jonathan’s time because of the ruling party, the People Democratic Party (PDP).

The gentleman that he was (and still is), President Jonathan conceded defeat on 2014 to Muhammadu Buhari, the candidate of the then leading opposition party, the All Progressives Congress (APC), in order to save democracy and the country in general.

In case some of us have forgotten, then President Jonathan was with some members of his inner cabinet, when he stated, among other things, that he decided to concede defeat to Buhari because, “The consequences of not conceding were only better imagined. My natural instinct for peace automatically surfaced. I was going to make a decision which reflected my commitment to that ideal. 

“In my periodic projections into the future, I did not see how I would be presiding over any kind of chaos. I was prepared to promote the peace, unity and progress of Nigeria. With my mind made up, I knew it was time to inject peace into the tensed polity, especially before INEC completed collation.

“I was in my living room with some ministers, aides and friends. Among them were the Coordinating Minister for the Economy/Honourable Minister of Finance, Dr. Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala, Honourable Attorney General of the Federation and Minister of Justice, Mohammed Bello Adoke, SAN, the Honourable Minister of Aviation, Mr. Osita Chidoka and Waripamowei Dudafa, my Senior Special Assistant on Domestic Affairs.

“My personal interest was receding rapidly and the interest of Nigeria looming large. I excused myself and left the sitting room. I walked into my study. Even here, my mantra was a strong circle around me, supporting and comforting me. Let the country survive. Let democracy survive. My political ambition is not worth people being ‘soaked in blood’.

“I called Buhari and we had a brief discussion. I could sense his relief too. He knew what could have been. Here is a man who had contested three times and lost. Maybe my gesture humbled him against his expectations because he thanked  me, and we talked about the handing over processes.

“Everywhere all over Africa, Asia and other parts of the world, countless deaths have been recorded on the scores of elections and power disputes. I mentioned Cote d’Ivoire earlier, where people died in their thousands during post-election violence. A similar scenario had unfolded in Kenya. African nations are more prone to post-election violence than other parts of the world. Only very few African nations have not experienced post-election violence on a very grand scale or some bitter power tussle fed by tribal or ethnic sentiments.

“My Aviation Minister, Osita Chidoka, sought my permission to tweet my phone conversation with Muhammadu Buhari. I obliged and he did. The country was no longer waiting for the declaration of the election results. The nationwide tension automatically dissipated as though a red hot piece of iron had been dipped in a bowl of water.’’

In Jonathan, we had a caring President who reigned and left office for the country to survive, and it has survived and endured up to this time of retrogression under another leader, when it is threatening to implode from within, no thanks to the massive corruption and cluelessness of the reining regime. 

In the present regime, there is an overwhelming tension everywhere in Nigeria at the moment, because of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who, unlike President Jonathan, is not a gentleman by any stretch of the imagination. He appears to be a raving monster, who is extremely corrupt, alleged to be an addict and pusher of hard substance, and a spy for the government of the United States (US). He is said to be spying for some Western countries, particularly the US, against his country, some selected people, and other African countries and heads of their governments. 

An unliked leader at home, he has clung to his seat, refusing to resign from the presidency, because he is determined to destroy the country if he is not allowed to serve his  masters, and his many bank accounts. It includes selling his country, as he apparently did to France, just to serve some foreigners, and his many foreign accounts.

In many trending video clips, some foreign television stations have aired the claim of the global anti graft organisation, the Organised Crime And Corruption Project (OCACP), that the Nigerian leader was the third most corrupt person in the world in the previous year, 2024. It is a terrible backhanded compliment that Nigerians could well do without.

At the moment, the situation is so difficult that for the first time, the ordinary ‘bloody civilians’ are openly calling on the military to take over, and save Nigeria from total collapse. In the past, military coups in the country were said to be carried out with the help and connivance of some highly placed ‘bloody civilians’. But the facts on the ground for all sincere compatriots to see, has forced some daring ordinary bloody civilians to take the bull by the horns and severally block the roads, taunting the military in the country for not taking over power from the the present corrupt and incompetent regime of President Tinubu.

The number one citizen, who cunningly pretended to be, (also became a president) a civilian, has shown his true face to be anything but what he has been presenting himself as. President Tinubu is clearly not the democrat that most Nigerians thought him to be. He has been exhibiting his dictatorial tendencies, acting like a military dictator, shortly after he became president of the country. He singlehandedly awarded a road contract worth N15.6 (about $13 billion) to a company said to be half owned by the ‘First Son’, Seyin Tinubu, without the knowledge and approval of the National Assembly (NASS).

But because members of the Military High Command, in active service, or in retirement, have  been taken good care of by the unserious present regime, have refused to take up the challenge, for the non-patriotic fear that their action might rock the boat, and allow the cash cow they are milking free to run away from the stable.

In the immediate past article I wrote, it was stated that even the infamous Gani Adams, a rabid tribalist, who hated the so called Hausa/Fulani to the extent of personally KILLING many, and supporting the murder of many more in Yoruba land, for which he was ‘rewarded' with the title of ‘Are Ona Kakanfo’ of Yoruba land, he was compelled to write an open letter to President Tinubu, categorically calling him a failure. A failure indeed, on account of his many bad economic policies, which only result in increasing hardship for most Nigerians.

The defenders of the clueless Tinubu regime, who are themselves beneficiaries, including the National Chairman of the ruling APC, Dr. AbdulLahi Umar Ganduje, and some very illiterate ones, cannot not in all honesty, claim to be unaware of the overwhelming poverty and pervasive hunger that are in the country. Clearly, claiming to be ignorant of the situation is to be totally in the city of denial. They are simply living in denial of the abject failure of the regime that they are frantically defending, but always getting the defeat of their lives by the reality on the ground.

The national chairman of APC has the misplaced arrogance to tell all Northern presidential aspirants to shelve their ambition in 2027, and allow the first term failure to finish his second term, before power rotates back to the region. The Secretary to the Government of the Federation (SGF), Senator George Akume had made exactly that same arrogant call, simply because he was said to be among the three northern politicians pencilled down to replace the sitting Vice President, Senator Kashim Shettima, ahead of the 2027 presidential election.

But who says that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the only ‘qualified’ person to be good enough to represent the Southern region in 2027? There must be many other qualified presidential materials who would definitely perform much better than the present occupier of the Presidential Villa. If Mr. Chairman is in doubt, let him ask Charlie Boy, a.k.a. ‘Area Fada’, what he thinks about President Tinubu juxtaposed with the numerous presidential materials in the South. The only expertise he will have over them is his corruption and cluelessness.

Dr. Ganduje should also tell his compatriots the number of people on the dining table eating the ‘National Cake’ out of the more than 230 million people in Nigeria. If he is comfortable with the situation on account that he occupies a prominent position on the table, many others are only worried, because the way things are careering fast, the rulers may have to go to the cemeteries for the voters to cast their ballots for the APC’s presidential candidate in 2027. 

That is exactly how terrible the situation of poverty and hunger is in Nigeria at the moment, and it is not the view of this writer, but the view of millions of people, even outside these shores, who believe that the present President Tinubu led regime does NOT deserve a second term in office. Check out the facts in the social media.

The present regime is only good at visiting more hardship on the poor citizens, who, not unlike every nation, constitute the bulk of the population of the country. Ever since its inception on the 29th of May, 2023, and a little after the honeymoon, life continues to progressively become very hard for most citizens.

By the Grace of God, sooner than later, some people would have no place to hide, because all others would maintain a safe distance from them, like the proverbial nine-foot pole. Their immediate past would look and smell that dirty, filthy and stinking.

May God remove from Nigeria all the warts that are sucking it dry, and replace them with people who are not concerned with the next election, but their concern is their present compatriots, and the future generations.

Malumfashi wrote from Katsina.