“What a country and what a people”. An exasperated man bellowed at his friends, who were gathered across the fence at a rendezvous, as they settled down to a few cups of drinks. I personally could not see the need for such irritation; after all, ours has become a country of inexactitudes and logic-defying histrionics. Anything is possible here. A diasporan mutual friend of ours has a derisive refrain to describe the absurdities that characterise our reality: ‘only in Nigeria’. It is only in Nigeria that a first lady, who is not recognised by our laws, will issue stern warnings to a democratically elected governor of a state who is vested with full executive power that comes with the plum gubernatorial office he occupies.
These absurdities and abnormalities have become the enduring features and characteristics of our politics and governance. And we were once again treated to another sorry and undignifying spectacle yesterday at Ile Ife, where a clash of egos and personalities highlighted the incongruous balance of power between a ceremonial first lady and an executive governor of a state. During an event marking the 10th coronation anniversary of the Ooni of Ife, Oba Adeyeye Ogunwusi, a squabble ensued between Osun State governor, Ademola Adeleke, and the first lady, Oluremi Tinubu. To be honest, it was not so much a confrontation or a squabble but a pure denigration of the governor by the first lady.
Matters came to a head when the governor stepped onto the podium to give his speech and, in his usual manner, danced for a few seconds before he segued into singing a worship song. No sooner had he begun to sing than the first lady, who was conferred with the chieftaincy title of Yeye-Asiwaju of Ile Oodua at the event, walked up to him and warned him not to waste time and that she gave him five minutes to finish up. Expectedly, the encounter sparked outrage among Nigerians with many condemning the actions of the first lady.
The actions of the first lady are not only pathetic and distasteful, it is despicable and diabolical. However, not many were taken aback by his invidious show of power and the calculated humiliation of a sitting governor. Long before her husband was elected the president, she had acquired a reputation for being an abrasive, cold, uncompassionate, overbearing and menacing character. If she is not threatening voters whose electoral choices she opposes, as she deemed them a threat to his political interests and goals, then she would be found having a go at her colleague in the federal parliament.
Even though the position and title of the first lady are largely ceremonial and inconsequential in the grand scheme of things, we’ve had wives of presidents who have made it a valued and significant office without losing themselves or arrogating nonexistent power to themselves. They carried themselves with elegance, grace, poise and above all compassion and empathy. They treat those below them in every sphere of life with dignity and respect while those above them politically and government-wise are accorded the reverence and honour they deserve. Even the much vilified Patience Jonathan, who is considered unlettered and unsophisticated for the first lady position, shows more tact, common sense and diplomacy when dealing with matters of the state or relating with other important government officials.
More importantly, it must be stated here and now that the public ridicule that the first lady subjected Governor Adeleke to is partly his own doing. He brought such shame and humiliation on himself with his embarrassing obsequiousness and fawning of President Bola Tinubu and the All Progressives Congress. One of the unsettling conclusions that anyone who has dispassionately followed Nigerian politics since the return to democracy in 1999 is that the current crop of governors and lawmakers is the weakest. They are spineless, pusillanimous, lilliputian and chicken-hearted. When governors squander their goodwill, treat the mandate of the people who elected them into office as insignificant and render themselves impotent by watering down their power or even outrightly relinquish it to keep or retain their position, they easily open themselves up for ridicule and humiliation by those who are ready to weaponise their desperation for power.
Furthermore, when governors turn themselves into an appendage and slavish follower of the president, when they see the president as the only one who can guarantee their re-election and not the people who elected them in the first place, then they open themselves up to brutal denigration and subjugation from those who see through their shenanigans. And this is where we are with the current set of governors. Of course, no one is asking governors to become unnecessarily adversarial and combative in their dealings with the president. However, what they must not become is a shameless coward, an unthinking sycophant and a doormat that can be trampled upon anyhow. Unfortunately, this has been the case with many of the current governors. They praise the president, they genuflect before him. We’ve seen governors threatening to punish commissioners and civil servants if they don’t show loyalty to the president.
The first lady sees all this and sees how the majority of the governors have turned themselves into a pliant and amenable lapdog of her husband, making her feel they are unworthy of the kind of respect and reverence their office deserves. And for a pompous, mean and nasty character like her, reaching such a conclusion is very easy. However, no matter her perception or views of the politics of the governor, she does not have the power or right to speak to Governor Adeleke condescendingly and disparagingly. Remi Tinubu is not an elected officer of government and her position is not recognised by the Constitution of the Federal Republic. It is utterly unacceptable and reprehensible to openly disgrace the Chief Executive of Osun State before a global audience, including his own wife. She went too far. She must know that her position does not give her the licence to insult and bully a governor. Her eccentricity and egotism should not make her forget her place.
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