Reporting News and opinions
On the surface, it sounds like great news for infrastructure. But listen closely to the phrasing: "The Governor has told me that he’s going to construct so many roads… The Governor has even approved the construction… Another road that the Governor has said he will also do…"
In the southern forests, priests and priestesses of the goddesses in the rivers that run through them, are known to demand bottles of Fanta to open consultations or before any water infrastructure project commences. In the northern forests, gangs of bandits - usually ethnic Fulani - who use them as operational bases, crave bottles of Fanta as well.
The flight from London had arrived. I was waiting for the Chief Judge of Kwara state. An elderly man wheezed past me imperiously like he owned Ottawa Airport. Like he personally appointed the Mayor of Ottawa. The unmistakable trade mark of the Nigerian. I was going to hail him and ask if he was my guest.
The performance requires a villain. Africa has been performing that role for free, and at some cost to itself for considerably longer than it should have.
In that sense, Tinubu may be regarded as the most “Nigerian” of Nigerian presidents—not necessarily as a compliment, but because he appears to encapsulate many of the contradictions, ambiguities and controversies that have long defined Nigerian politics.
Centre for Nigeria Progress 