Old wives And Their Tales, by Kene Obiezu

Addressing royalty recently at the Palace of the palace of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, Nigeria’s First Lady, Oluremi Tinubu, absolved her husband’s administration of the hardship eating up Nigeria at the moment. Referencing the removal of fuel subsidy and the time her husband has spent in office as president, the first lady declared that current administration was not the cause of the current problems while pledging that Nigeria will be greater in two years time.

It was the latest Installment of the long frankly exasperating attempt by the president to deflect blame for the country’s woes.

For all her exhaustion and exasperation at the excoriation edged towards her husband for Nigeria’s deepening dilemma, the first Lady is yet to tell Nigerians who is to blame for their woes and whether she truly believes that two years will be enough to reverse the trend.

For eighteen months, the first family has been in the faces of Nigerians either raising eyebrows with large donations or just getting in the way, and there is only so much Nigerians can bear.

The first Lady may believe that her husband is not the cause of the hardship hammering Nigerians, but as the first citizen of the country, and the preeminent Nigerian who held up his hand and pledged to lead Nigeria to a new dawn, the buck stops on his table. Any attempt to shift that buck now that the tide is fiercest is disingenuous and even deceitful.

Then, isn’t the first Lady and by extension, the first family, weary already of this tired trope about Nigeria getting better in the nearest future? Nigerians want a better future now, and who would blame them if after years of patience, they are finally waiting with impatience? They are beyond wary of those who are feeding fat on public funds while prophesying that the present famine will end soon.

Among younger Nigerians who make up the generation of Nigerians that is worst hit by the country’s dysfunction, there is a running joke. It is about children being leaders of tomorrow, a line Nigerian leaders are particularly fund of.

Among the generation described as lazy by Muhammadu Buhari, former Nigerian president, are many who were told as children that they were leaders of tomorrow but have arrived in that future not only without leadership entrusted to them, but without leadership provided to guide them. That is the generation Nigeria has left stranded. Many of them make up the audience the first lady sings her message of hope in a better future to, while absolving the current administration of blame. If she pays attention, she would find out that rather than rapt, that audience is raging.

The first lady must understand that the generation she addresses is wary not just of the men who strut Nigeria’s corridors of power, but of the women who stand behind them, supporting them.

She shifts blame from the president for Nigeria’s woes but leaves the blame hanging, refusing to place them anywhere. She asks for two more years for the President without as much as explaining with concrete examples how the eighteen months already conceded have been used and whether there has been any improvement in the lives of Nigerians.

Beyond the generous but rather curious cash donations doled out to victims of Nigeria’s dereliction in Borno and Plateau State, the first lady is yet to demonstrate that beyond the high maintenance expenses of her office which is by the way not recognized by Nigerian law, she has elevated Nigerians in any significant manner.

Eighteen months may seem a fraction of a lifetime, but in the grander scheme of the tyranny of time, it is more than enough time to show that one has what it takes for the biggest stages. So far, Nigerians can’t see anything and it is not because they are blind. If anything, the hunger haunting the land like a gustatorial ghost has ripped the scales off the eyes of Nigerians. More than ever, Nigerians can see.

What they can see is that the current administration is struggling to live up to the promises it made to Nigerians. Crucially, they can see through the elaborate attempts made to whitewash the administration’s struggles. So, instead of doublespeak, subterfuge or sophistry, Nigerians would rather be caught up in the drama that dovetails deliciously with development.

Rather than defending the indefensible, the first lady can direct her efforts towards gender equality and gender justice. With more women and girls in Nigeria falling victim to horrific gender-based violence, the first lady can focus on giving them a voice rather than making sorry excuses for the conditions that are indirectly conducive to gender-based violence.
Anything else would not only salt Nigerian wounds but would do dangerous disservice to citizens already reeling from more broken promises.

Kene Obiezu,
keneobiezu@gmail.com