Tinubu Must Renounce Greed To Get Nigeria Out Of Abject Poverty

This writer has never been a supporter of Tinubu but accepted that he won more votes in the North and South, fair and square. Regardless of our past reservations about his character, born out by the people of Lagos, his adopted state and Osun, his home state. Tinubu can still join world philanthropists that gave most, if not all their money away, after making it through some vile and dubious means. Tinubu would then restore Nigeria’s glory, taking Africa along.

Nobel Peace Prize donated by Nobel, like other capitalist venturers made their money from the spoil of wars, slavery and back breaking serfs or child labor. When we get to a certain height and age, we realize that no matter how much we make in riches, we cannot take a farthing with us. Though we might have been reckless and even enjoyed the havoc our reckless adventures had caused while making us very rich, at some point we must finally bow to the call of death.

We all get to a point in life where we come to make peace with our Being or Chi that "all the world's a stage and men and women merely players". This is not about getting into hell or heaven but leaving the world a better place than we met it and raising millions of people out of abject poverty. Indeed, it is not about the only shining beautiful house on top of the hill but how civilized and comfortable people around the hill and us are.

What matters is how our legacy is remembered by the generations to come. The "glories of our blood and state" cannot give us the quality of spirit in health or sustain us forever. Whatever the age of Tinubu, the most supporting comforts left for the rest of our life are a room with a comfortable bed and toilet in order to sleep well. The others are secondary. Even good food and wine must be limited if we do not want to choke to death out of avarice.

Therefore, whatever the Pharaohs thought about themselves, how much gold and slaves were buried with them, they became a feast for ants and the inquisition by explorers and bounty hunters. It is very disappointing that all their dreams of afterlife became the spoil of wars or the means of living for gold diggers, skull miners and mere robbers willing to navigate the stench of hundred years. Even if the children of Tinubu are put in control of his humongous wealth, Nigerians will not play dead and allow them to have a peace of mind.

The Military leaders that had the Bar Beach Show with firing squad and jailed Fela Kuti for foreign currency violation yesterday, are the money launderers and robbers of today. As long as African countries, even the poorest ones like war torn Sudan remain money making destinations for those willing to hold their breath until they make enough to live abroad, it will be difficult to convince the Youths to wallow in poverty where they cannot make a decent living. If we ask ourselves the reasons for these, they are obvious. It is not every Youth that is so desperate to get rich that would take to any crime: terror, white collar, soft or hard crime.

People pursue money for different reasons. Making enough money to keep your body and soul is the first and only step for some of us. Many go beyond this to certify their hedonic pleasures. These could be expensive and sometimes dangerous. The pleasure one gets from sexy friends that money can buy is different from the one people get from love the rich cannot buy or the euphoria of psychedelic substances. Though we all know that there are drugs that are expensive, yet toxic and deadly.

The power gained from making money becomes a propensity to control others by ruling many for no other reasons than to bend to their whims and caprices. Acquisition of women, land and weapons to acquire more become a vicious circle. Any obstacle is set for destruction. The worst part is making more and more money out of greed as in Boesky and Michael Milken of Walls Street. It gets to the stage that not making money just for the heck of it, becomes boring. There are no specific needs but to make money like someone addicted to gambling.

Power derived from the ability to buy your way through whatever you want can be intoxicating as consuming excessive or exotic food, not necessarily for good life because they become detrimental to your health. But for a conspicuous and ostentatious show, daring others that cannot. This is what leads to oppression, violence and wars to retain the overbearing dominance of others, territories and hostile takeover of companies that can compete with you.

Take the case of Gas Flaring that Tinubu must guide against. Nigeria had objectives and goals set by both civilian and military governments. They promulgated laws and regulations ignored by International Oil companies that had the technical abilities. After kickbacks and bribes to those enacting laws and regulations, International companies simply could not make enough profit to implement and stop Gas Flaring. We do not expect those they paid kickbacks to, to punish or force them to implement the operation without profit margin. Or the case of Virgin Airlines that packed up and left when the demands for kickback overtook profit margin.

The law makers and regulators preferred to seek the service of Pa & Sons Company that had neither expertise nor equipment to convert Gas Flaring to useful Natural Gas. But the Pa & Sons Company was willing to give maximum kickbacks that the International Oil companies could not afford. Yet, Pa & Sons Companies intended to subcontract the deal from Nigeria law makers and regulators to the same International Oil companies.

Seriously, Tinubu knows that an average Nigerian is smart enough to understand what was going on. The problem is if that average Nigerian had the opportunity to be the lawyer, lawmaker and regulator to defraud their country, they would without any conscience. Fortunately or unfortunately, it is not every Nigerian that has an equal opportunity to represent the Nigerian Government.

We then wondered how a Pa & Sons Co. like P&ID could conspire with Nigerian lawyers representing the Government in Court of Law and get billions of dollars in judgment against their own country, Nigeria! Tinubu was a Senator, a Governor, Party leader leveraged one position after another before he became President-elect. It takes money and desperation not only to survive in those environments and discard opponents but to get to his desired position.

What Tinubu does with the Presidency at the peak of his career is left to be seen. It is one suspected notion that an average citizen would steal if he can get away with it but another that a man that has accumulated more money than a god would change toward a long life for peace of mind. It is a privileged position to represent the Nigerian Government as a politician or one of the cronies. You have to be lucky to come from nowhere and make it. Without money you cannot afford anything but can use terror to gain recognition.