The presidency is not a throne — and Nigeria does not belong to one man
By Kio Amachree
Why Bola Ahmed Tinubu believes Nigeria owes him another term as president is beyond me.
The presidency of Nigeria is not a throne. It is not an inheritance. It is not the private property of one political family, one party or one Lagos political machine.
Tinubu is no Kwame Nkrumah. He is no Jomo Kenyatta. He is not some indispensable founding father without whom the Nigerian state cannot survive.
Nigeria existed before Bola Tinubu and Nigeria will exist after Bola Tinubu.
What I cannot understand is how a country of more than 200 million people — overflowing with educated, articulate and accomplished Nigerians at home and throughout the diaspora — has reached the point where we are apparently supposed to accept that this one man is indispensable.
I find his public communication embarrassing.
Whenever I listen to Tinubu speaking without a prepared script, I struggle to understand how this is the standard Nigeria has accepted for its highest office. His diction, syntax, unfinished sentences and sometimes bewildering remarks are there for Nigerians to watch and judge for themselves.
That is my assessment. Others are entitled to disagree.
But leadership is also about being able to explain yourself.
During the 2023 campaign, Tinubu’s appearance at Chatham House became notorious because questions were passed to members of his delegation rather than answered entirely by the candidate himself.
I found that extraordinary.
A man asking Nigerians to hand him executive authority over one of the largest countries in the world should be capable of standing before an audience and defending his policies himself.
Peter Obi was mocked for talking about statistics.
Think about that.
In a country struggling with poverty, debt, unemployment, insecurity, electricity shortages and collapsing public services, somehow quoting figures and measuring government performance became something to ridicule.
I would rather have a president obsessed with statistics than one frightened by them.
NOW THE COURTS ARE BEING ASKED QUESTIONS
The political argument has moved beyond speeches and social media.
Atiku Abubakar and the ADC have now taken Tinubu to the Federal High Court, asking the judiciary to determine whether allegations concerning documents attributed to the president affect his constitutional eligibility to contest the 2027 election.
Those allegations must be proved in court. Tinubu is entitled to defend himself fully.
But Nigerians are equally entitled to demand answers.
That is democracy.
We cannot have one standard for ordinary Nigerians and another standard for the political elite.
If a young Nigerian applies for a bank job with questionable credentials, nobody tells the bank to forget about it because investigating the documents might destabilise the country.
So why should the standard become lower when the job being sought is President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria?
The higher the office, the greater the scrutiny should be.
WHAT WILL NIGERIANS DO?
That, ultimately, is the question haunting me.
What happens if more damaging information emerges?
Will Nigerians shrug?
Will we complain on WhatsApp for three days and then move on?
Have economic hardship, political intimidation and decades of disappointment conditioned us to accept virtually anything from those who govern us?
Or will Nigerians finally say: enough?
Because there is something larger at stake here than Bola Tinubu.
Nigeria is slowly being taught that nothing matters anymore.
Qualifications don’t matter.
Transparency doesn’t matter.
Accountability doesn’t matter.
Conflicts of interest don’t matter.
Political defections don’t matter.
Extravagance in government doesn’t matter.
And apparently performance doesn’t matter either.
That is how democracies decay.
Not necessarily with tanks rolling through the streets, but through the gradual destruction of standards until citizens become so exhausted that misconduct no longer shocks them.
LOOK AT THE PEOPLE AROUND POWER
My concern is not simply Tinubu.
It is the political ecosystem surrounding his presidency.
Nigeria increasingly appears to be developing a political establishment in which access to the centre matters more than competence, opposition politicians migrate toward the ruling party, and enormous political power becomes concentrated around the presidency.
That should frighten every democrat regardless of party.
The latest election landscape makes the danger even clearer. Tinubu is seeking another term while the opposition remains divided, and the APC has accumulated an extraordinary number of governors through defections.
A democracy without meaningful competition eventually becomes democracy in name only.
And that is why the opposition has an obligation to do more than complain.
Atiku must pursue every lawful and constitutional avenue available to him.
Peter Obi must challenge the government relentlessly on policy and performance.
Civil society must investigate.
Journalists must investigate.
The courts must demonstrate their independence.
And above all, Nigerian citizens must decide what standard they are prepared to accept from the person who occupies Aso Rock.
I REFUSE TO LOWER MY STANDARDS FOR NIGERIA
I make no apology for expecting the Nigerian president to be articulate.
I make no apology for expecting him to understand economics.
I make no apology for expecting him to debate his opponents.
I make no apology for demanding transparency about his background and credentials.
I make no apology for demanding that the people surrounding the presidency conduct themselves with integrity.
And I certainly make no apology for believing Nigeria can do better.
We are not a nation without educated people.
We are not a nation without economists, lawyers, engineers, diplomats, scientists, entrepreneurs, soldiers, academics and administrators.
Look at what Nigerians accomplish around the world.
Then ask yourself the uncomfortable question:
Is this really the best leadership a nation of our extraordinary human resources can produce?
I don’t believe it is.
Nigeria desperately needs competent government, independent institutions and a political culture in which no individual believes himself bigger than the republic.
Bola Tinubu is entitled to seek another term.
His opponents are entitled to challenge him.
The courts are entitled to examine legitimate legal questions surrounding his eligibility.
And the Nigerian people are entitled to look at his record and say:
No more.
The presidency belongs to the Nigerian people.
It is borrowed by its occupant for a limited period.
It is not inherited.
It is not owned.
And it must never become a throne.
Nigeria is bigger than Bola Tinubu.
And Nigeria must remain bigger than every president who comes after him.