Seyi Tinubu and the Politics of Ramadan Feeding Program -By Abdulkadir Salaudeen

The month of Ramadan is a special month to the Muslims. It is that season of the year that every Muslim feels the need to communicate with their Creator (Allah). Even nominal Muslims who hardly perform the five daily prayers suddenly appear saintly by virtue of the noble month. It is also glad to note that some non-Muslims are beginning to identify with the Muslims in the month of Ramadan by providing iftar (a meal taken by Muslims for breaking fast after sunset). It is actually a season of giving, spending, and sharing. May Allah reward every sincere giver with abundance.

While feeding people in Ramadan is a worldwide practice especially in countries that are predominantly Muslims, it has been politicized in Nigeria. Its politicization is made possible because of the widespread poverty in the land. It should be noted that feeding in Ramadan in some countries is not about the poor. It is not because the people are poor or could not feed themselves. Rather, it is an expression of love, a social function, and an entrenchment of “there is love in sharing” philosophy. In Nigeria, in most cases, it is because the poor—who are now in the majority—could actually not feed themselves.

Where the poor exist in large number, like in Nigeria, it is religious obligation upon the rich to feed them. But the feeding must be for the sake of Allah. It should not be used as constituency project; neither should it be unnecessarily televised or used as bait for votes. However, it is unfortunately observed that some lawmakers use this occasion of Ramadan to distribute food to the poor in their constituencies to score some political points. These are the same people they have abandoned throughout the year. And because poverty and hunger have done a lot of damage to our thinking process, these self-serving politicians are praised to high heaven whenever they dole out their usual Ramadan crumbs. In some quarters, Ramadan feeding has become a yardstick for good governance. Best performing governor is also determined by the extent of the huge amount of money a governor is able to earmark for Ramadan feeding.

In normal climes where elected leaders discharge their responsibilities, Ramadan feeding using state resources would never be seen as a commendable act. A praiseworthy act would have been to empower people to feed themselves. It is hypocritical and even ungodly to feed people in Ramadan and deliberately allow them go hungry after Ramadan. This is an ill-intentioned seasonal ‘generosity.’ While generosity should be intensified in Ramadan, it should not be limited to Ramadan. The Prophet SAW— from whom we learn—Islam was said to be generous not only in Ramadan but more generous in it. That is to say, the Prophet’s generosity is an all-year-round gesture.

This year Ramadan feeding was even more politicized as we witnessed one Seyi Tinubu who is said to be President Tinubu’s son at the center of Ramadan feeding program. He, on the third day of Ramadan fasting, joined some Kano residents and political leaders to break fast. He reportedly used that occasion of ‘special’ Iftar to launch a feeding program for the less privileged. The program was said to be part of Seyi Tinubu’s Renewed Hope Youth Engagement (RHYE) initiative, aimed at supporting vulnerable groups, including persons living with disabilities. In addition, The RHYE was conceived to provide community service and social welfare package, particularly during Ramadan to the hungry Muslims.

After the formal launching in Kano, Tinubu had toured many other states in the North. The President-like reception he was given in some of the states he had visited—with his Ramadan feeding program—is superlatively ridiculous. He was graciously received as if he were a top government official on official visit. And what was the purpose of the visit? It was to empower the youth by distributing ‘danwake’ among other things. ‘Danwake’ is a common street food made from a mixture of flour, potash, and some other additives. Well, I think that is what the northerners deserve anyway.

No one should tell me it is politics o! I no go gree. Seyi Tinubu’s Ramadan feeding is for the sake of Allah. It is due to the genuine concern he has for Nigerian masses whom his father’s policies have thrown into the seething cauldron of poverty. His feeding empowerment program even has the blessings of some clerics. Thus, the food was packaged in plastic bags adorned with pictures of President Tinubu and Seyi so that Allah will know that it is from Seyi Tinubu, not from any other Seyi.

Although many northerners criticized the feeding program which they condemned as a ploy to fool them again in 2027. But this was only after some had collected the packaged food which looked like packaged crumbs that cannot satiate their hunger-induced rumbling stomachs. To add insult to injury, he recently claims his father is the greatest president ever in Nigeria. No one should disagree with him. Truly, his father is the greatest president in the history of Nigeria. Is there anyone among Nigerian presidents that had a son that ruled the country together with his father like a kingdom? If this doesn’t make President Tinubu the greatest president ever, I don’t know what would. The unelected Seyi with no constitutional role now outshines even the Vice President in ruling Nigeria. I think it is high time we had First Son Office.

Addressing some youth in Adamawa State few days ago (perhaps after he had fed them to ’empower’ them) he went beserk, claiming that all former Nigerian presidents tried to enrich themselves, except his father. In his words, he claims his father is: “The only president that created an economy that has benefitted everybody, the only president that is not trying to enrich his own pocket.” I think he needs some tutorials in public speaking.

His assertion that his father is the greatest Nigerian president ever is obviously a jab at the former president Olusegun Obasanjo who recently labeled the Tinubu administration as corrupt. Although Nigerians do not need an Obasanjo to tell them how corrupt Seyi’s father’s administration is, yet it needs to be said that this regime reeks of corruption of monumental proportion. If you want to find out, just go through its budgets. No one, no matter how patriotic, reads the annual budgets of this administration since inception and remains hopeful.

All said, it is clear to the northern youth that Seyi Tinubu’s Ramadan feeding is all about politics—2027 election. Though there is hunger in the North and in Nigeria at large, northern youth should learn how to be principled (even while hungry) to say no to cooked rice and ‘danwake.’ What the youth need is job not ‘danwake.’ Seyi should tell his father with whom he seems to co-rule Nigeria that the northern youth would not take anything but a demonstration and evidence of good governance. It is not too late, there are two years to the next round of elections.

Finally, our politicians—elected and unelected—should leave us alone with Ramadan. Enough of the politicization of Ramadan feeding. What the youth need is  job creation that is befitting to human dignity with a sustainable wage, not an occasional Ramadan feeding given to some selected hungry Muslims that are driven back to the seething cauldron of poverty and humiliating hunger after the month of Ramadan.

Abdulkadir Salaudeen

salahuddeenabdulkadir@gmail.com