TINUBU's BOW TO BUHARI - POLITICAL SUICIDE OR JOKE
Action speaks louder than voice. Nobody knows for sure what Buhari and Tinubu are negotiating on a one to one basis. Usually, negotiation details are ironed out between larger groups before it is passed on to the public. Tinubu bowing to Buhari has revealed what Southwest political thinkers suspected all along. Tinubu would throw his birth mother under the truck to save his neck, keep his loot and even get a respectable post.
Buhari is seen as a cleaner politician than Tinubu. But Buhari may bring back past doubts about $2.8 billion and Petroleum Funds with this association. While Tinubu may serve the purpose of bad boy of the Yoruba sent to fight others’ bad boys, his anointment as the genuine leader in the Southwest is wanting. The fact that Tinubu has risen to such a power broker says more about the difference between meritocracy and corruption in Nigerian than anything else.
How can one blame Buhari? Money made anyhow is worshipped in Nigeria, money no dey smell. When you have someone with the credential and caliber of Bisi Akande and Segun Osoba under Tinubu because that is where money flows from, Yoruba and those that understand their politics must wonder if the curse of Tai Solari on Omoboriowo he turned to Owoboriomo is working again. Tinubu only negotiates for Tinubu and anything else comes second. Ask Nuhu Ribadu.
There are more implications beyond the bowing since most people do not appreciate their leaders bowing to other leaders. Obama’s bow to the king of Saudi Arabia and Diya flat out to Abacha for his dear life easily come to enquiring mind. To avoid such undue advantages, legal scholars use implied covenant of good faith and fair dealings to check overbearing master/servant negotiations deceit. But don’t be fooled, Yoruba also use it to aggrandize, as OBJ did to Ebele.
Buhari is very proud of his Fulani ancestors from Northwest Africa but Nigeria’s Fulani claim direct relationship to Saudi Arabia. So the analogy to King of Saudi Arabia is not farfetched. It is not a secret that sometimes Muslims in the North and South may even disagree on the rules around the end of fasting period while Fulani adhere strictly to those of Saudi. Fulani’s loyalty and advice or order is unflinchingly from there.
Yoruba culture may adapt religions but never adhere wholesale. Yoruba demand certain respect from a junior to a senior party just as many cultures expect a bow to seniors and superiors. Some protocols demand it as well, as men bow or the ladies knell down for the Queen. By that view, Buhari as an elder statesman, is older than Tinubu. One would expect that normally Buhari would do the same for Obasanjo or his seniors. I doubt it.
It is deeper than that. Alimi, a Fulani came to Yoruba land and through some chicanery on the part of Fulani and Yoruba General, an Emir was installed in Ilorin. The details about it go beyond this article. Nevertheless, Yoruba has never recovered from that history. How and when after Ilorin, Yoruba decided that they will rather die than bow flat for Fulani is left to historians to sort out. But Tinubu should’ve known much better.
He could not, because he is blinded by greed and ambition. If African history guides us in Nigeria, we should be looking for ways to work with those who see themselves as pure Hausa in the North rather than those that claim to be nothing but Fulani. The Hausa in the North need a renaissance to gain their rightful place in the Country of their origin. All the alliances with Fulani have not worked in the past because ratification depended on Fulani royals.
In spite of the many so called Fulani heads of state from the North, most of the talikawa have not benefited from their reign. Since the Hausa make up the majority in all the Hausa states, most of them are talikawa but most if not all the royalties are Fulani. Aminu Kanu, a Fulani worked hard to uplift the talikawa and return power to them to no avail. Many of them still troop to the South begging for alms while many Fulani reigned.
Why then go through Fulani alliance to benefit Hausa talikawa when pure Hausa leaders can do more for themselves? If any Southern leader is serious about alleviating poverty in Nigeria as a goal, seek out pure Hausa leaders, not a few Fulani that do not deliver or consider themselves Nigerians first but bound to preserve their royalty and religious adherence to Saudi Arabia. Another Fulani alliance with Tinubu, only entrenches the status quo.
Tinubu bowing to Buhari is an action that speaks volumes by revealing the agreement they are working on. Buhari may have felt since Tinubu’s party is in control of most of the western states plus Edo, a combination of them with his states in the North will assure him the Presidency. Since he tried with a pastor once and failed, he has gone to the wrong politician this time. So Nigerians could not help but ridicule Tinubu’s bow.
There are enough fears out in the political field that any alliance between Southwest and the North cannot be good for other Southerners. Though, each block in the South has allied with the North in the past, except Southwest. As a result, everything from monkey wrench to rocket is thrown in the path of Tinubu and Buhari. Both of them are desperadoes. The bow reveals they want and love power by any means possible.
This fear is misplaced because neither Tinubu nor Buhari can deliver their constituency. The overriding goal of each will “scatter” whatever brings them together. Another factor is how Jonathan plays his cards before election. He has disappointed many people. It is yet to be seen if he could resurrect their confidence. If he cannot, the Southwest must be putting finishing touches by now to a leader that enjoys wider support amongst Yoruba.
Written By Farouk Martins Aresa