I write this in memory of the Nigerians killed during the #EndBadGovernance protests, which began last week.
So that they do not die in vain, the protesters must insist on a full investigation and compensation for their families.
Two days into the protests, President Bola Tinubu had not addressed the nation.
His open display of intimidation and the arrogant pronouncements of some of his henchmen had not deterred anybody:
Nigerians were on the streets in almost every corner of the country, rejecting the menace of what passes for governance.
Tinubu did not appear on the streets in his customary mile-long SUV convoys.
He offered none of his convoluted speeches. He did not hop on a luxury jet and leave the country.
He had clearly identified a fire that could grow worse.
Remember, the protesters want an end to bad governance, and he sits atop the federal government.
It seems safe to say that he had wisely concluded that he understood his BAT administration is the essence of bad governance in Nigeria. It did not start it, but it now owns it.
By BAT, I do not mean Bola Ahmed Tinubu. BAT means “Buhari And Tinubu.”
It is a shorthand description of the menace that is the All Progressives Congress administration, which began in Nigeria in May 2015 with Muhammadu Buhari and continued in 2023 with the arrival of Tinubu.
In his own confession and practice, Tinubu continued where Buhari stopped.
In effect, then, Tinubu is right in behaving as if #EndBadGovernance is aimed at BAT.
It is. At this point, if “Bad Governance” appeared in a dictionary, it would most probably be illustrated with his photograph or that of his predecessor’s.
What are the key elements of Bad Governance?
The first is the history of the regime. A government may be popularly elected but betray the electorate by its performance. That is what Buhari did, becoming worse every year for eight years.
If a government enters office in a shady or controversial way, that government never transforms into one whose methods or performance are popular with the people because that would go against its nature.
That is what the Tinubu regime is. That is BAT.
Second is the place of principle. In the nine years of APC at the center, principle and character have increasingly taken a backseat.
Buhari spent six months claiming he was trying to constitute an excellent cabinet, only for Nigerians to find out that he was simply lazing away at home as he filled up the place with the same characters around him.
Tinubu, following and extending that example, has populated or strengthened the three arms of the government with some of the most questionable people known to independent Nigeria.
Consider the legislature, for instance. Following his service as Governor of Akwa Ibom State in 2015, the EFCC arrested the now Senate President Godswill Akpabio, who was at the time, a member of the PDP, on allegations of stealing N108.1bn in public funds.
By 2018, Buhari’s APC was forgiving sins, no matter how grievous.
Akpabio took APC up on that offer, and Buhari gave him the Ministry of Delta Affairs to go and play with.
In case you have forgotten what Akpabio did at the NDDC, here is a refresher I wrote in 2020.
In that same 2020, the EFCC began another investigation of an N86bn scam it claimed included Akpabio.
The National Assembly also investigated allegations of N40bn fraud perpetrated by the Akpabio-headed Interim Management Committee of the NDDC.
In 2021, the EFCC detained Akpabio in connection with a $350,000 bribery allegation.
In 2022, he featured prominently in the Premium Times Special Report: “11 forgotten cases of alleged corruption by former Nigerian state governors.”
Despite all this, Tinubu’s EFCC has not taken him to court. But if you go back a little bit to 2016, you might remember that Senate President, Bukola Saraki, was dragged before the Code of Conduct Tribunal on charges of false declaration of assets and withholding information between 2003 and 2011 as Governor of Kwara State, and when he became a senator.
Compared to Akpabio, Saraki appears to be a choirboy.
Yet Akpabio sits atop the federal legislature, where he scoffs at the law.
Remember him at his swearing-in declaring that the 10th Senate would “make sure that our constituents are proud of us,” and that “the dreams, aspirations and well-being of Nigerians would be at the heart of legislative activities.”
Despite that, he has compiled an embarrassing record of gaffes and anti-people utterances, including in connection with #EndBadGovernance, boasting, “Those who want to protest can protest but let us be there eating.”
Still on principle, then, remember that a July 2024 survey by the National Bureau of Statistics and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, declared judges to be the kings of bribe-taking in Nigeria.
What does this mean? It means that if you have the money, there is a judge shamelessly willing to sell you justice. It means that in Nigeria today, justice is neither right nor free: it belongs to the rich and powerful.
You can buy an exoneration or an election just as you would buy tomatoes or fruits.
This is the context and substance of bad governance, and it explains why nothing works in Nigeria, including why the EFCC is loud about low-level criminals but whisper-quiet about those who inflict the greatest harm.
Keep in mind that the Chief Justice of the Federation has not challenged the UNODC report, which basically undresses him, his career, his trade, and his legacy.
Bad governance is ruthlessness in public affairs. It is contempt for the electorate, as demonstrated by the spending habits of the presidency.
Various governors routinely spend more on food and travel than on health and education; they fly their families and girlfriends around the world in First Class.
Bad governance is rigged elections determined to send crooks, certificate forgers, and rapists into office.
Bad governance is perpetuating a system in which we deploy our cronies and relatives so that we can continue “to be there eating.”
This is why it is important to remember that #EndBadGovernance is a firm rejection of all BAT purveyors of it.
And if governance is ever to work for all Nigerians, we must support our courageous #EndBadGovernance demonstrators to fight through the pain barrier until bad governance surrenders or collapses. We cannot retreat.
By Sonala Olumhense
