Bola Tinubu’s Critics: Swimming On A Dry Land

By Rasheed Kola Ojikutu

In recent times, the critics of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, particularly, members of the opposition are in pitiable disarray probably because their reservoir of political ammunition is empty.

The 2023 presidential struggle falls within the subject of game theory in which there are multiple players with conflicting interests.

The pay-off is huge with each player striving to pick the gain with a lot of strategies in the folder. Since the game is played with mixed strategies, each player can only guess what the next move of the opposition could be. This is necessary to enable the maximization of personal gain and continuous minimization of the profit of the opposition. Therefore, there are no surprises so far on the tactics adopted to undermine the front-runner in the presidential game.

This may include exhuming the corpse buried and already decaying to see if it can come to life. Wishful thinking as this may be, one would expect an effective opposition to be realistic enough by dwelling on issues of primary concern to the polity.

Searching Bola Tinubu’s cupboard for a skeleton may not work magic because the man has most of his strategies on his chest. The opposition may be playing the fool by expecting a different result from a fixed strategy that is already overused and overplayed.

Rather than undermine the influence of the rival with superior strategies, the opposition has embarked on pettiness and shallow strategies that would not move the camp of the main rival. That is, Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The recent gaffe is the allegation that Tinubu is wanted in Chicago for drug-related offences.

In fact, one “jobless” critic appeared on a television programme to vouch that he was in Chicago and would confirm that the man was charged with a criminal offence of possessing drugs, probably with the intent to distribute (that is, selling drugs).

These stories may resonate in an environment where most people are gullible and naïve to the extent of not cross-checking the facts. Apart from the fact that these rumours have been foolishly peddled for decades without consequences to the victim, they are stale and ineffective in stalling the electoral fortunes of Bola Tinubu as a candidate since 2003.

The truth is, Possession of drugs or what is generally referred to as “Unlawful Possession of a Controlled Substance” (narcotic and no-narcotic prescription medications) in the United States of America in general and Chicago, in particular, is a felony offence. It is indeed a serious offence.

If an individual possesses less than one gram of any controlled substance, he has committed a class 2 felony offence for which he would go to the Department of Corrections (Jail) for 3-7 years with a fine of up to $200,000. A class 1, felony offense is committed when one possesses 1-15 grams of the substance and this attracts 4-15 years jail term with a maximum fine of $250,000 fine.

The class X felony offence is when one is in possession of 15-100 grammes and the crime is non-probational with a mandatory minimum of 6 years and a maximum of 30 years in prison. The fine can be up to $500,000. Those who possess more than 400 grammes of the substance have committed a super X offence and the punishment ranges from 12- 60 years in prison without probation.

It is understandable that Bola Tinubu is receiving these brickbats because he is the frontline candidate in the 2023 Presidential Election but it also shows the inherent weakness of the opposition instead of devoting its intellectual resources to mapping out and evolving credible points that are saleable to the masses of our people have decided to layback looking for a cheap score.

Obviously, if a football team devote its time to seeking a penalty, it might end up receiving a red card from the referee. The unfortunate issue here is that those on whom the Nigerian society has expended huge taxpayers’ money to receive education are using it more for negativity than to promote the well-being of the Nigerian nation.

They should know that the United States of America is not a docile nation that would allow criminals, particularly, drug barons to roam the streets of the world without monitoring. As early as February 2022, the United States sought for, handcuffed and arrested the President of Honduras, Juan Orlando Hernandez in his home in Tegucigalpa for drug trafficking.

The exploits of the United States of America in Columbia will show all and sundry that the country is uncompromising when it comes to drugs and drug-related offences wherever the perpetrators may be in the world. Rodriguez Orejuela, Dairo Antonio Usuga alias “Otoniel” and others have better stories to tell about the uncompromising disposition of the USA to drug offences.

It is therefore common sense that the United States of America will not openly associate with Bola Tinubu the way it has done in recent times through its officials if he is a drug baron. Let the opposition be more constructive by developing issue-based campaign strategies instead of struggling to blackmail and destroy the reputation of the rival using fake news and unsubstantiated documents.

In the past few months, the opposition has raked-up issues that are insignificant to the well-being of our nation, not because they are not important but because they are fallacious and generally phoney. First, it was sponsored campaign about the fragility of Bola Tinubu’s health, and when that failed, the opposition brought up the certificate saga.

Isn’t it laughable, that a man who worked for Arthur Anderson and Mobil at the highest level could be labelled as one who did not go to school”? Now, it is a drug. To compound it all, a fake letter from the Independent Electoral Commission surfaced with the forged signature of one of its top officials. In a country where things work like the United States of America, the “manufacturer” of the fake letterhead would be fished out and put in goal because that is where he belongs.

It is time the opposition to Bola Tinubu told the Nigerian Nation what it has to offer to the masses of our people. Already, A television station that is blinded by hatred because of which it didn’t do its homework before going on air is prostrating to Bola Tinubu for its excesses and professional incompetence. These indeed are mistakes too many. The Yoruba says “O tu enia si ihoho ni ita gbangba, o wan fi aso bo lara ni koro” meaning that “you stripped a man naked in an open space and wants to clad him in the confine of the home.”

• Professor Ojikutu is of the Faculty of Management Sciences, University of Lagos