Forgotten Dairies
The Third Anniversary Of Tinubu’s Renewed Hopelessness -By Hjia Hadiza Mohammed
Tinubu does not believe in the tenets of democracy. He has muzzle the opposition. The main opposition party, the PDP is gone and the other emerging new political platforms are bugged down by litigations. Tinubu want to be the sole candidate to contest the 2027 presidential election. He has systematically weaken the opposition and pushing the nation into one-party state. He signed into law an electoral reform that legitimizes forgery and perjury and electoral malfeasance.
When Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office in 2023, many believed given his hyped performance in Lagos by the Lagos Press and his pedigree as a social critic and activist that he would perform well in office but that was not to be. Tinubu’s manifesto and catch phrase was “Renewed Hope”. But his renewed hope agenda has turned renewed hopelessness for Nigerians. Tinubu’s number one error is the mismanagement of our national economy in the name of reform. From the onset, he left nobody in doubt as to what he was up to. On the day he took office, he switched the nation’s economy in a reverse mode by removing the subsidy on petroleum product without preparation and floated our national currency. Then in the name of reform he went on borrowing spree to finance some white elephants. And the economy has remained in a comatose state ever since, with decayed infrastructure, rising unemployment, galloping inflation and mounting debt burden. Our industries operate below their installed capacities and foreign direct investment is declining. Nigeria remains the poverty capital of the world with over 60% of the population multi-dimensionally poor while Tinubu and his team kept deceiving the nation with phantom reform and tax reform fraud.
Our roads have become death traps and other state amenities are in a deplorable state. Power supply is not just epileptic but the collapse of national grip is the order of the day. Aso Rock where Tinubu lives is out of the national grid. It now operates on solar. During the 2023 electioneering campaign, Tinubu told Nigerians not to vote for him if he fails to them power. And I think Nigerians will do as he said.
There is no problem in the country that Tinubu has been able to tackle in his three years at the helm of affairs. And instead he has created more problem through Apartheid policies and divisive tactics. The security situation in the country has worsened since his coming to power. Before now we only hear of insurgency in the Northeast but today a sizable of Nigeria territory is in the control of bandits and terrorists. A number of top military officers have died in the hands of the terrorists. The civilian casualties are in tens of thousands. Bandits have taken over our forests and highways while kidnappers operate without let or hindrance. The third year anniversary gift to Tinubu was the abduction of 46 school children and 7 of the teachers by bandits in Oyo State.
Tinubu government is the most wasteful exclusionist and revanchist in the history of Nigeria. Tinubu claimed he inherited a battered economy but he assembled a jumbo cabinet of over 40 ministers and has wasted public funds on frivolities when globally the emphasis now is on lean government. Tinubu elevated mediocrity and nepotism to a high level; his appointments were lopsided and are not based on competence but on loyalty and parochial interest. Tinubu has only proved to Nigerians to be clueless, incompetent, and self-seeking and a sectional leader. His tenure is a monumental disaster to the nation.
And there is lack of transparency and accountability and unprecedented high level of corruption in Tinubu’s regime. Tinubu awards contracts to his cronies without due process. The N15trillion coastal high way contract awarded to Hi-tech, a company his son, Seyi, sits on the board was awarded without competitive bidding. The World Bank report released earlier this reveals that Tinubu deducts money from source and spends without reaching the federation account.
Without doubt, Tinubu’s only obsession is to remain in power; nothing else matters. The only project he is interested in is how to retain power. Observers say that: “Tinubu presidency is dismantling democratic values and weaponising the judiciary and the Constitution against Nigerians. the Tinubu administration of using anti-graft and security institutions to intimidate political rivals and force opposition governors into the ruling APC, warning that state power was being deployed not for the prevention of economic crimes but for the systematic persecution of perceived political adversaries ahead of the 2027 general election.”
Indeed, Tinubu does not believe in the tenets of democracy. He has muzzle the opposition. The main opposition party, the PDP is gone and the other emerging new political platforms are bugged down by litigations. Tinubu want to be the sole candidate to contest the 2027 presidential election. He has systematically weaken the opposition and pushing the nation into one-party state. He signed into law an electoral reform that legitimizes forgery and perjury and electoral malfeasance. What we are witnessing today — brazen rigging of elections, using state institutions to intimidate and coerce the opposition, gagging dissent, using the courts to weaken and destroy opposition parties – is an affront on democracy.
Furthermore, in the last three years Tinubu has abused human rights and suppressed civil advocacy. Tinubu would not confront bandits that molest the citizens but would mobilize troops to intimidate and shoot protesters. This government would arrest and jail lawful agitators but would release and integrate captured terrorist into the army. Tinubu is lethal, brutal and unsparing and that is why his cronies and acolytes call him the strategist. But, I want to know the strategy has not worked to improve the fortunes of the people or is his self-destructive? It is revealed that in August 2025, authorities orchestrated the removal of 59 million pieces of content and the shutdown of 13.5 million accounts across TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, X, Google, and Microsoft. A National Youth Service Corps member, Ushie Uguamaye, had her certificate withheld and service extended after refusing to delete a TikTok criticising Tinubu’s economic policies.
Tinubu regime brought Nigeria into international disgrace. Nigeria is regarded as a pariah state and one of the most terrorized nation on earth. This is why the American President Donald Trump classified Nigeria as “a country of particular concern” in November, 2025. Under Tinubu, the ECOWAS split into two.
Hajia Hadiza Mohammed
An actress, social activist, politician
London, UK