It was about ideas. In two sessions in Kenya and Kigali, President Bola Tinubu showcased his acumen to the world in the presence of the diplomatic crème de la crème, business mavens and presidents. I did not see much of the Obidient crowd in their reign of vituperations. They were looking for stumbles of feet and rhetoric. Since they saw none, they kept mum. There might have been a few murmurs. It goes with their territory.
They could have engaged the ideas he canvassed. They might have looked at what he said about leveraging Africa by introducing an exchange platform for its markets. It is, I think, what we must canvass, especially those of us who want the sovereignty for our patrimony. For our goods and services. It is also an assertion of market pride.
They might as well have interrogated the point that he has galvanised $20 billion in investment. What of the distribution of cash to the vulnerable and food to the low? This is what governance is about. It is the art of the possible. He was articulate. Not only that, he was systematic. Being systematic, his ideas were simple. He projected the charisma of office and the Nigerian pride. When was the last time we had a Nigerian leader go to the world and expound the intricacies of world finance and at the same need to assert African autonomy? It was Murtala’s “Africa has come of age,” speech four decades ago. The president made a great point about how imperialist West rates low countries with abundance of resources and investment indices. For a summit of ideas, he was at his summit.
