Nothing lasts forever. This day feels like it took forever and a day to come. But it has come. Today is a good day. It marks the end of the bad years of the cabal and the beginning of the good days of Asiwaju – the statesman from Lagos.
The cabal were a terrible and banal lot: sectional, parochial, divisive, avaricious and sadistic. They inflicted hardship on everyone. The APC survived their onslaught and machinations by the grace of God and the resilience of Asiwaju. They made the Villa a vale of tears for her excellency, the ruler in the other room. She severely suffered in their hands, hence her humble request for severance allowance is totally deserved, at least to compensate for her eight years of suffering.
Today is a good day, even Buhari claimed he can’t wait to see this day. He’s suffering too, maybe. Hear his Excellency: “I assure you, I have been counting the days, I am looking forward to Monday [today] very desperately. I will use the weekend to sign some of the papers so that from Eagles Square, I will fly to Kaduna and eventually go to Daura.” Safe journey your excellency.
Many Nigerians think these past eight years were really difficult for them. They were for me. Indeed, in these years, It never rains but it pours. Yet I have a renewed hope. Because the holy Qur’an tells us this: So, verily, with every difficulty, there is relief: Indeed, with every hardship there will be ease.
I have a renewed hope, not because I’m oblivious to the complexity of the daunting challenges that Tinubu must surmount, but because I believe he is stronger than our challenges. He is tested and trusted. He did it before. He will do it again. In Sha Allah.
Tinubu met the biggest and most complex state in Nigeria at it’s lowest ebb, lifted it up and left it better. He made Lagos the best state in the federation. This is what Nduka Orjinmo of the BBC News, said about Tinubu: “As a two-time governor of Lagos, he revitalised Nigeria’s commercial hub – no easy task”. Like Lagos, Nigeria will be revitalised by Asiwaju.
There’s a Latin proverb that says fortune favours the prepared. (Fortuna Eruditis Favet) Tinubu is perfectly prepared and has planned – this gives me renewed hope. Elder statesman, Tinubu’s best buddy, Bisi Akande, told us that Asiwaju has been planning and preparing for this job for a long haul – it’s his “life ambition”, after all. Unlike Asiwaju, many of our past presidents came unprepared and without plans. They failed to plan and that’s why Nigeria failed under them. But, Tinubu is different.
The last eight years of the cabal have been divisive. Our fault lines were more pronounced. But even before today, Asiwaju has been reaching out to the opposition parties in many ways to build consensus and bipartisanship. He has reached out to Kwankwaso of the NNPP. He has brought former governor Wike of the PDP on board. He has started unifying the nation. We are more united today than yesterday. He’ll not close all the gaps though, because democracy, inherently, tends to polarise.
To be sure, It’s not all doom and gloom in the last eight years. There are few bright spots. For instance, despite dripping with corruption, there is something to show for in the area of infrastructure.
However, when all is said and done, It’s very difficult to fault the BBC’s summation of the past eight years: “Nigeria’s Muhammadu Buhari leaves legacy of kidnapping, inflation and debt”. What a legacy! But it’s over now.
And today is a good day. I’m delighted to see the back of these difficult eight years. Begone cabals, it’s the dawn of a renewed hope.
Saad, a lawyer, is the Deputy Chairman of APC Publicity Committee, Bauchi State and former Director-General of BASEPA.
