It’s rare to see a politician, an elected President of his country for that matter, take pleasure in using gushy, sarcastic, sadistic words in describing festering crises in opposition parties on a unique day when the citizens, already on the edge and frustrated, were expecting uplifting words that will give them hope and strengthen democracy rather than weaken it. But these are not typical times in which we live in Nigeria. We are living in the era of ‘strongmen’ in politics. If you’re looking for the meaning of a strongman, go beyond the literary meaning.
According to Wikipedia, in politics, a strongman is a type of authoritarian leader who exerts unrestrained control. Indeed, strongmen typically claim to have widespread popular support. They portray or push a narrative that they alone have the capability to solve their respective country’s problems and wish to be admired, ‘not just for their strength, but also their morality and intellect’, which of course, they don’t possess. Strongmen in politics often espouse distrust or disdain for liberalism, democracy and contempt for the rule of law, but at the same time utilise the law as a weapon against their political opponents.
That’s exactly where Nigeria is today under the leadership of President Bola Tinubu. If you are not aware, what is unraveling before us is not just about Tinubu tightening his grip on power, it’s part of ‘Project 2027’, a Donald Trump’s version of ‘Project 2025’ , produced by Kevin Roberts, Head of the Heritage Foundation Think-tank, a far-right blueprint that ensured Trump got a second term in the White House. It’s also part of the blueprint that has sustained the strongman of Hungary Viktor Orban for his 15-years in power in that landlocked country in central Europe with a population of 9.5 million people.
In the months ahead, details of Tinubu’s Project 2027 will come in full force. Like Trump and Orban did in America and Hungary, respectively, Tinubu’s State of the Nation address last Thursday at the National Assembly, was the lowest, most polarising speech lines ever made by an elected President since the present democratic dispensation. It was an empty rhetoric and a show of force to deride and intimidate the opposition parties. In a sneering tone of voice, he said, “don’t blame defectors jumping off sinking ship. Political parties fearful of members leaving may be better served by examining their internal processes and affairs rather than conjuring up demons that do not exist. For me, let them burn, I enjoy their confusion. It’s, indeed, a pleasure to witness you in such disarray”.
Imagine that! Despite his denial, that he is plotting a one-party state, deep down his soul, President Tinubu knows he’s the unseen hand stoking the crises in the two main opposition parties -the People’s Democratic Party(PDP) – and Labour Party(LP). That’s what strongmen cherish doing in their country’s democracy, demonising political opponents. Again, that’s reminiscent of Trump and Orban. Recall in the 2020 presidential primaries, Trump regaled his crowd, denigrating then Democratic presidential aspirant and former New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg for his height. Bloomberg is just 1.7m(5ft.4).
It’s uncommon that a politician’s height enters into presidential race, but that is Trump for you. He also called another democrat, Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts “Pocahontas”(a racial slur) for those who claim to have Native American heritage. For Trump, like war, all is fair in politics to grab power. It appears to me that since Trump began his second term in January, the admiration of his style by Tinubu’s inner cabinet has seemingly turned to emulation at a frenzied pace.
That’s the script that is inspiring President Tinubu in mocking rival politicians. That’s part of what we saw in his State of the Nation address last Thursday. He has seized on state power to pursue rivals, embraced dark rhetoric to ridicule political opponents. He has found another strongman in the Minister of the Federal Capital Territory Nyesom Wike. He adores him. A strongman, indeed! Call what we have in Nigeria today as ‘Tinubunisation’ democracy, you may not be wrong.
Wokeness has been purged from our democratic institutions, no systematic commitment to challenging injustice, no conscious efforts to strengthen democratic ethos. Institutions that should support democracy are either under threat or already compromised. There’s an eerie parallel of what is happening now and what is going on in America, Hungary and Turkey under the leadership of another strongman, Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Everywhere you look, there’s a cauldron of anxiety and anger sweeping across these countries.
Even within Tinubu’s henchmen, there’s palpable fear of what lies ahead. The position of the vice president Kashim Shettima is under threat. Have you paused to ask, what is behind the move by Senate Majority leader Opeyemi Bamidele to introduce a bill that will henceforth, make the inauguration of future presidents-elect to take place at the arcade of the National Assembly, instead of the usual Eagle Square, in Abuja?
In the midst of all this, opposition political leaders have alleged, without proof, that in the past two years, there is little that Tinubu government has not tinkered with, including lining the pockets of loyalists and rewarding pro-government media outlets to transform them into government mouthpieces, and ‘starve’ those critical of its policies.
If some media outlets are handsomely patronised in these very hard times amid harsh economic conditions triggered by government policies, I see nothing wrong with that, provided they don’t go outside the provision of section 22 of the Constitutional in holding government responsible and accountable to the people, and checking excesses of strongmen in our democracy. As 2027 draws near, Nigeria could be in a dangerous position for anyone who stands in the way of the strongman. More smear campaigns, and perhaps physical intimidation of opposition politicians and their supporters may be in the offing. That ‘strangle and starve’ strategy should be of great concern to everyone who loves what is left of Nigeria’s democracy.
