Will State Governors Respond To Tinubu’s Challenge?By Bola BOLAWOLE

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This appears to be a season of anomy. Controversies, conflicts, and chaos wallop the atmosphere. People are still discussing and arguing over President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s state visit to London. Who were the gainers? And who were the losers? The economics of the visit, as some critics have argued, suggests that the British merely used us to feather their own nests.

The measly amount Tinubu brought back home – which is less than a billion dollars in loans (more debts), not grants – will almost entirely find its way back into the pockets of British manufacturers and business people! Mugu! But do we blame them? Didn’t our own elders say if you fail to scoop the footprints of a mad man, is it a sane person that will be careless with his own footprints? How dare you think London will roll out the drums and lay carpets for you, prepare a table before you and allow your cup to run over (Psalm 23:5), and you won’t pay premium for it one way or the other? In most of the Western world where everything is calculated finni-finni and costing is itemized to the brass farthings, there is no free lunch!

Leopold Sedar Senghor, one-time president of Senegal and one of the leading lights of Negritude posited that reason is Hellenic (European/Western) while emotion is African (Black)! Aime Cesaire, however, counters that both reason and emotion reside in every race. It all depends, if you understand what I mean!

No stone was left unturned by the UK to satisfy our emotion as far as Mr. President’s state visit was concerned while they, on their own part, cold-bloodedly calculated the gains that would accrue to them from the visit. We rode in horse-driven chariots. Their businesses made the kill. We have the photo-ops to show to generations of Nigerians. Their bank balance will convince their people it was worth their while! What a win-win situation! We got what we wanted and they got what they wanted. Case closed!

Next are the English’s neighbours, the French; the alleged unofficial personal physicians of our president. Tinubu announced that we have turned to France for help as the raging insecurity ravaging the country keeps gathering momentum rather than abating. Many will not be surprised because this president appears beholden to France, just like his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, was beholden unto Britain.

United States’ President Donald Trump, who raised Nigerians’ hope of a helping hand to tackle insurgency, is bogged down in Iran, the Persian country of majority Shia Muslims that is feeding the tough-talking American leader more than he can chew. Who can blame Trump if he carries his own load on the head but uses Nigeria’s as hand luggage? That, in itself, is the wisdom of our elders.

The terrorists and their backers are mocking Nigerian leaders and Trump! Little wonder, insecurity runs riot all over the place. Sympathizers and backers of the terrorists had earlier warned that Trump’s threat to stop the genocide against Christians in Nigeria would not only backfire but that it would also worsen matters – which prophecy now appears to have come true! So, if France or any other country for that matter can fill some of the gaps, so be it.

In the past few weeks, the terrorists appear to have grown in confidence. Their supporters must be grinning from ear to ear. We told them, they should now boast to whoever cares to listen! But did they not say that American soldiers were already on ground here before Iran broke? Maybe they are still trying to settle down! They should quickly do and get cracking.

According to reports, the terrorists have sent an alert that they would soon be coming to ravage Yoruba land! They were audacious enough to even set a date! At about the same time, a statement reportedly made decades ago by the self-styled evil genius and military dictator, Ibrahim Babangida, ostensibly casting the Yoruba as cowards and fickle-minded people, also began to trend. Is this a mere coincidence or a deliberately calibrated signal that Yorubaland will be easily run over by the Fulani terrorists?

My only worry – and pain – is that the Yoruba at this point in time do not appear to have many political leaders conscious enough, alert enough, and patriotic enough to their historic duties and responsibilities of safeguarding, protecting, and advancing the interests of their own people. Their focus, attention, and interest appear to be somewhere else! The “yoboke” hand with which they have handled the south-west’s security situation leaves much to be desired.

Where are the forest guards? Why is Amotekun still crawling after many years? And how prepared is the South-west for state police? We demand an assurance that will defuse the tension and apprehension that have enveloped Yoruba land over the alleged Fulani threat of invasion and carnage.

Now to the issue at hand, which is Tinubu’s call on Nigerians to stop riveting attention on the Federal Government alone but should also focus attention on state governors. What are the governors doing to ensure that the dividends of democracy percolate to the grassroots? I whole-heartedly endorse the president’s call.

We have three tiers of government – Federal, State and Local – and each is mandated to govern a specified space for the good governance and betterment of the Nigerian people. No one should be allowed to abdicate or shirk this responsibility.

The constitution of the country assigns powers, roles and responsibilities to each tier of government and backs these up with resources. Every month, the three tiers of government converge in Abuja to share funds accruing into the Federation account. The purpose of this fund is not for private or personal aggrandizement but for the provision of facilities needed by the Nigerian people.

Since the coming of the Tinubu administration, funds allocated to states and local governments have ballooned, more so now that all oil receipts go directly into the Federation account. So, the question must be asked what the states and local governments are doing with the humongous sums they are collecting on a monthly basis.

This question arises because everyone says there is nothing on ground to show for it. Infrastructure is still decrepit. Wages are still very poor. Pensioners are still being owed in many states. The minimum wage is not being paid in many places. No jobs. Power supply is epileptic. No safe drinking water. Schools and hospitals lack basic amenities and equipment. Cost of living continues to gallop beyond the reach of many. Where, then, is the money going?

Interestingly, the governors and council chairmen are not responding to these complaints. They are not offering explanations. At the very least, they should explain what they are doing with the people’s money. How are they applying or misapplying it? Does their silence mean consent? Or are they telling us that silence is the best answer for a fool? Truth be told, this is one occasion when silence is not golden, especially after Mr. President has called the governors out!

But, then, the President must also realize that the problem is both structural and systemic and until we holistically address those problems, not much will change. This country does not need 36 states and 774 local governments. We were better off in the First Republic with four regions, each of them determining, creating and funding the number of local governments it deemed fit.

Let us reduce the number of states to not more than 6, 8 or 10 regions or geo-political zones at the most. And let each determine the number, structure and funding of its own local councils. That is federalism properly so-called; not the “amulu-mala” or contraption of quasi-military and quasi-federal system that we operate at the moment.

The presidential system, apart from the fact that it is costly to operate and maintain, focuses too much attention on the Centre. It also invests the president – and, by extension, “executive” governors and council chairpersons – with undiluted and difficult-to-challenge powers. Let us return to the parliamentary system where the leader of government is also a member of parliament and where accountability and openness were easier to come by. A non-performing government at any level can more easily be questioned in a parliamentary system than under the presidential system.

In the meantime, let the people themselves stop being lethargic. We must all become activists. The task of holding government at all levels accountable cannot be left solely in the hands of “professional activists and agitators”, as someone called them; rather, all of us must brace up to become activists and agitators.

Slave trade abolutionist leader, Frederick Douglass, posits that “Power concedes nothing without a demand. It never did and it never will. Find out just what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong which will be imposed on them.”

Those words were as true in 1857 when they were first uttered as they are in 2026 Nigeria! Do we not often say, laughing at ourselves, that when you push Nigerians to the wall, rather than turn and fight back, they break through the wall? Even goats will do better!

Therefore, Cassius’s statement to Brutus in William Shakespeare’s Julius Caesar is germane here: “The fault… is not in our stars/But in us that we are underlings”. And this will remain so until we arise and begin to fight for our rights like Bob Marley, Fela, and many other radical artistes have sensitized us to do.

If docility has failed us thus far, let’s try rebellion! It may be that our leaders will understand that language better!

Former editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, BOLAWOLE was also the Managing Director/Editor-in-chief of The Westerner news magazine. He writes the ON THE LORD’S DAY column in the Sunday Tribune and TREASURES column in New Telegraph newspaper on Wednesdays. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.