Tinubu: The Snake that Bites its Own
Nigeria, under President Tinubu, is teetering on the edge of the abyss of total socio-economic and political wipeout. So, reviving the country should be the immediate priority of any serious government, but Tinubu is busy charging minors for treason when there are bigger fish to fry! To the best of my knowledge, Tinubu is one Nigerian President who brought underage protesters to criminal trials simply because they peacefully protested against hunger and bad governance. This is not typical of a serious President who knows what he is doing. Tinubu has lost his marbles!
The pangs of hunger that most Nigerians feel today was occasioned by Tinubu’s misguided neoliberal economic policies. And as a way of expressing their deep discontent over Tinubu’s inhuman economic terrorism, the citizens resorted to protest, and these kids here joined the protest because hunger doesn’t know anyone’s age. The protest, therefore, becomes the epiphenomenon of Tinubu’s economic meltdown which has enfeebled Nigerians because of the galloping inflation. Sadly, the only creative way to address the protesters’ growing concern is by charging them for treason? Tinubu and his advisers lack the basic logic to lead a classroom, not to even talk of a multi-ethnic country like Nigeria, and it’s obvious!
At the behest, and under the watch of Tinubu, who is an avowed ‘democrat,’ minors were taken to police custody for three months, they were literally starved, dehumanised and brought to court to be tried for an act of high treason! Even Abacha, who was known for his own characteristic callousness and domineering dictatorship, couldn’t have gone this low! In a democratic setting, every individual is constitutionally granted the right to protest, so why is Tinubu infringing on these kids’ rights? Who even caused the hunger in the first place? Is it not this same Tinubu?
Sadly, partisanship makes us condone every complacency. That is why even when Tinubu unremorsefully represses this country with his Hitlerite malignancy, we still have people who defend and rationalise it. It’s very pathetic that some individuals – based on ethno-religious identities, and out of their extremist partisanship – unjustly legitimised this barbaric, terrorist and heinous act of President Tinubu! This throws a dagger into the heart of our democracy! Shame!
Tinubu’s economic tyranny has brought appalling hardship, unendurable hunger, agonising pain, tragic but even preventable deaths! Funnily, he is expecting the helpless, unfortunate victims of his poor economic policies to keep quiet. It’s just like beating a baby, and then threatening him not to cry. So, I implore Tinubu to order the release of those kids unconditionally. Subsequently, they should be rehabilitated for the common good of the country. This is not too much to ask.
A government that detains and prosecutes minors for protesting has proved – without a doubt – that it’s an unmitigated disaster, and that’s exactly who Tinubu is. And the same Tinubu, who defensively said the poor should be allowed to breathe without suffocation, is the same person suppressing, oppressing and depressing us today. Tinubu has become a cannibalistic mother, eating her own children. Oh, what a bitter irony! The sad tale of President Tinubu, the snake that bites its own!
Sule Abubakar Lucky Mark,
Writer and Sociologist.
Email: suleabubakarmark1111@gmail.com
02/11/2024.