Tales emerging from the corridors of power paint a troubling picture these days. It reads like a narrative of plunder and excess, with those at the helm treating public resources as personal fiefdoms.
Stories of brazen misconduct, negligence and greed dominate the discourse. The question haunting many is whether President Tinubu knows what's happening under his watch.
If he does, it's deeply unfortunate. These are the very abuses he spent sixteen years criticising during the Peoples Democratic Party administration.
If he's aware and doing nothing, it borders on stunning hypocrisy. Tinubu understands Nigerian psychology well—he knows citizens have remarkable capacity to endure governmental wrongdoing without revolt.
But there's a breaking point. The PDP discovered this truth too late.
Scholars Daron Acemoglu and James Robinson argued in "Why Nations Fail" that robust institutions and the rule of law separate thriving nations from failing ones. As Lagos State governor, Tinubu himself weaponised the courts against federal overreach under President Obasanjo, taking his battles to the Supreme Court and winning.
He used constitutional processes to secure the Osun governorship for his party, ensuring Aregbesola's swearing-in. Where is that principled Tinubu now?
During a recent media engagement, a political party leader recounted visiting the president to discuss upcoming elections. They urged him to guarantee a free and fair process.
His answer was blunt: he'd fought established parties to reach the presidency and wouldn't make opposition victory easier. There's logic in that position, he said.
Yet Tinubu could have assured them that elections would follow constitutional rules, period. That assurance would have cost him nothing.
When a government dismisses constitutional limits, when it weakens oversight mechanisms, when it resists accountability, it travels the road to state failure. Acemoglu and Robinson identified this pattern clearly.
"The key differentiator between countries is institutions," they write. "Nations thrive when they develop inclusive political and economic institutions, and they fail when those institutions become extractive and concentrate power and opportunity in the hands of only a few."
Tinubu and his circle understand this framework. Why they've chosen opacity over openness in governance remains baffling.
One cannot claim contemporary politicians lack the competence for democracy, not after what the nation has weathered. Yet troubling allegations persist without adequate response from this administration.
The security crisis alone demonstrates how far we've fallen in that critical area. These are matters demanding urgent attention and transparency.
