The Godfather of Lagos
Bola Tinubu becomes the new President of Nigeria. He has been in politics for decades – and questions about his age and the origin of his wealth have accompanied him for just as long.
In the weeks and months leading up to the elections in Nigeria, quite a few commentators already described going to the polls as a great success because the election campaign had mobilized the masses. Because young people in particular have gotten involved again instead of falling into apathy in the face of all of Nigeria’s problems, from terrorism to poverty to corruption.
It sounded good what could be read there, but it didn’t correspond to reality. The country has about 225 million people, making it the most populous in Africa, 96 million of whom were eligible to vote on Saturday, but only 24 percent of them actually went to the polls. It is the lowest turnout in the country’s history and one of the lowest in the world.
The result shows what citizens expect from their politicians: next to nothing. One of the youngest countries in the world is once again ruled by an old man.
For decades there has been a debate about what is genuine about the new president’s CV
Bola Tinubu, 70, was celebrated as Nigeria’s new president on Tuesday evening. He received 36.6 percent of the votes, which still sounds reasonably convincing. Not even ten percent of those entitled to vote voted for him. What legitimacy does a head of state have that 90 percent didn’t want?
Tinubu doesn’t really care at first: “Now it’s my turn,” he said to his followers. The sentence was also his campaign slogan, an allusion to the fact that Tinubu has had a great deal of influence on the country’s politics in recent years, had careers started or ended, but was not in the front row himself. They called him the “godfather of Lagos” ever since he was governor there, now the godfather is president.
It is a presidency that begins with many question marks. Then there’s the age: Tinubu wants to be 70 years old, he often looked a good decade older and in poor health, which reminded many of his predecessor Muhammadu Buhari, 80. He seemed to spend much of his two terms in deep sleep, interrupted by lengthy hospital stays in London for an ailment that Buhari never made public.
Tinubu thinks so too, for decades he has been accompanied by discussions about what is real about his vita and what is not. He made various statements about his education, he claims to have laid the foundation for his wealth at the tax auditing company Deloitte, which, however, denies having ever employed Tinubu. In 1992, the US government charged him with laundering proceeds from the heroin trade in a court case, prompting him to settle and pay $460,000. That would be a problem elsewhere. In Nigeria, the entire political class is considered corrupt and criminal.
The most important competitor had no chance in the countryside
The candidacy of Peter Obi, 61, gave hope to many in Nigeria that there might be a break with the old elite. Obi, who was governor for many years, was not entirely far from this either, but young and urban voters in particular saw in him someone who makes politics honestly and openly, who does not only think about his own advantage.
Some surveys even put him in the lead, although a large proportion of those questioned did not want to reveal their own preference. In the end, Obi got 25.4 percent of the votes, he even won the metropolis of Lagos. In rural areas, however, his small Labor Party stood no chance against the well-organized major parties PDP and APC, which have been influencing Nigeria’s politics for decades.
However, the result shows that a change could be possible in the next election if Obi succeeds in anchoring his party in all those regions where it has hardly had any infrastructure so far.
But Obi doesn’t want to wait that long, he doesn’t recognize the election result and, like Atiku Abubakar from the PDP, who lost 29 percent, calls for a new election. Both losers speak of gross irregularities in the counting of votes, the electronically uploaded results from many districts did not correspond to the actual votes on site.
The Nigerian Christian Association is displeased that the President and Vice President are Muslims
The Christian Association of Nigeria (CAN), the umbrella organization of Christian churches, said: “The electoral authority, despite many assurances about its preparation, has fallen short of the expectations of the masses.” The Christian churches also dislike the fact that Tinubu, like his future vice president, are both Muslims.
This has never happened before in Nigeria’s history, Christians and Muslims each make up around half of the population. For a long time it was an unwritten law that the presidency rotated between the more Muslim north and the Christian south, or at least that the vice-presidency rotated Religion Belongs to as the President. Now the Muslim Buhari is followed by two Muslims at the top. No problem for Tinubu either. He called on the opposition to cooperate, they were the opponent, but not the enemy.
Many in Nigeria are now eagerly awaiting which of his campaign promises Tinubu will keep. His announcement that the subsidies on petrol will be abolished, or at least reduced, is particularly sensitive.
Although Nigeria is one of the largest oil producers in the world, it hardly has any refineries of its own. Gasoline has to be imported at high cost, the subsidies amount to around 13 billion dollars a year, around two-thirds of the income from oil. Tinubu wants to invest the proceeds in education and healthcare. Not a bad decision. But he won’t make many friends with it. Similar attempts had always led to unrest in the past.
SOURCE: Sueddeutsche
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