By Abimbola Adelakun
It does not matter whether the excuse presidential aide Bayo Onanuga put up for his principal’s thoughtless remarks in Plateau State during his recent visit is true or not; the criticisms of Bola Tinubu’s goof are valid. Onanuga claimed Tinubu had to meet the attack victims of the Angwan Rukuba district of Jos North Local Government at the airport and briefly, too, because an earlier appointment with the Chadian president ran over.
By the time he arrived in Plateau State, it was getting dark. There was no power at the airport, and since the runway also does not support night flights due to the absence of navigational aid equipment, Tinubu had to leave before dusk.
He could not jeopardise his safety, so they brought the victims to him for him to address them right there at the airport. Onanuga has traded this excuse in multiple media outlets, but if he must know, it still does not make his principal look less obtuse.
When Tinubu said, “You (the people of Plateau) have no light at the airport, and I have to fly back within the next 10 minutes,” he made it sound as if the deficiency was that of the people and not his administrative failure. Power is a basic infrastructure, and not having it, despite Tinubu swearing to provide it to them three years ago, is his own shortcoming.
He did not own that. Also, this is a man who has been in politics for more than 30 years, yet he has not honed his rhetorical skills enough to speak to people in a sensible, respectful way. What else is the primary tool of the politician if not the gift of the gab? Politicians who think of themselves above the people they lead never see a reason to be respectful.
That is why he could give only 10 minutes to people who had waited the whole day for him. Even if he were not there as the President but as an ordinary elder visiting a bereaved people, would he still have spoken so tactlessly?
He could have said he needed to leave early so he would not hold up the security resources that had been deployed to the airport to receive him when they should be somewhere else protecting the people, but that would not sound legendarily self-entitled.
It is equally interesting that Tinubu said, “…to the victims, there is nothing I can give you, whether money in millions, but to console you and promise you that this will not happen again.” This would have been hilarious if we were not talking about a tragedy.
Seriously, what stops Tinubu from giving them money? Money will not bring back the dead, but it will multiply options for the living. When it comes to paying victims of their administrative failure, politicians minimise the role of money. If money does not matter that much, why do you steal so much of it?
In Benue state, the victims of the bandit massacre were given N50,000 per family after almost a year! I am sure the governor spends far more than that on his daily meal. How can Tinubu—who has enough money for multiple lifetimes—say he cannot give victims money but consolation and a promise?
Consolation is not a currency, and the past three years have proven that his promises are not worth that much. If Tinubu extends a mere fraction of the humongous sums he has received in pension from Lagos State for almost two decades to the people, the people of Angwan Rukuba will rebuild their entire community.
They will build schools and employ teachers; they will build a health centre and employ medical staff; they will maintain a well-kept police station; they will even rebuild their community’s social life.
There are many good things the little capital in Nigeria can do if only politicians would stop stealing it.
Now that we know the national energy crisis affects even the airport in Plateau State (and probably most airports in Nigeria), I am genuinely curious about how Tinubu plans to campaign in the state.
If the airport in Plateau lacks something as basic as navigational aid equipment at night, it means many other facilities must be lacking. You can discern a society’s health from symptoms such as power outages in otherwise privileged spaces, including hospitals, educational centres, and the airport. By now, Nigerians are used to hospitals suffering power outages.
A whole UCH, for instance, has gone for more than 100 consecutive days in consecutive years without power supply (which is also why our leaders, and their family members, go to die in London or Egyptian hospitals). Universities’ rationing of energy is no longer even newsworthy.
The billions that should be spent on research in our various academic institutions are instead expended on diesel. By the time airports cannot keep the lights on, you know that even the elites in society are no longer elite-ing.
Most Nigerian airports are built as an ostentatious means for even the most mediocre governor to pretend he has achieved something worth showing off (which is why virtually every state is building one now). Airports have also become necessary because our so-called elites cannot risk road travel. So, like everything to do with them, airports receive many privileges.
Nigerian leaders will deny a million people creature comforts just so they can fund anything that pertains to themselves. If the airport—built for their use—lacks basic amenities, such as power supply and navigational aids, then it shows that all is not well. In addition to the problem of insecurity, what is troubling Plateau State must also include a comatose economic life.
For all the noise government officials have been making about how Nigeria is presently earning more revenue and how much more money is being directed to the states, there is not much to show for it. There is no major ongoing infrastructure development in the state (and in much of the country) being built to boost economic growth, competitiveness, and the overall quality of life.
There is one tarred road here and another one there, but that is about it. Much of the country is still what it was three years ago; not much has changed.
When the campaign season comes around, what exactly does Tinubu plan to tell the people of Plateau State about how much of their hope he has renewed? What is hope renewed in a state where even the airport mostly used by politicians lacks basic facilities?
Many places in Nigeria have suffered violent attacks by bandits and other attackers in the past three years. While the issues are not new, the intensified attacks and the lack of hope that anything will get better are emptying some of those communities. People are fleeing for their lives. What message will he and his campaign team take to states like Plateau?
Yet, when the electioneering season comes around, the same people who have excuses for not leaving Plateau airport for logistical reasons will overcome all these issues just to get themselves to the campaign ground.
The same communities for whom they cannot guarantee security now will somehow receive electoral materials on election day. There are never enough resources in the country to secure people, but more than enough will be provided to ensure they receive campaign and election materials. After their thumbprints have been dispatched to the collation centres, they are on their own again.
