When I wrote ‘Tinubu’s albatrosses’ not too long ago, many people thought I was unjustly harsh and probably seeking for my own ‘pound’ of flesh, whatever that means and therefore writing balderdash.

I mentioned Tinubu’s health, his controversial educational back ground, his age vis-à-vis his mobility and morbidity as many of the tides that may count against him in the 2023 general election race. 

So many, especially from his political flank dismissed my write up as mere  ranting of a supposed ‘Pen’ enemy. 

But the events at the official flag-off of the APC Presidential campaign in Jos Tuesday 15th November,2022, were  horrible for Tinubu and somewhat, a vindication of my “insinuations”. 

The happenings of that evening were very embarrassing to both Asiwaju Tinubu, the Presidential Candidate and President Buhari who was present at the occasion as a sitting President and leader of the Party. 

The duo and the entire APC membership and the nation at large were taken aback when amidst proceedings at the highly publicised and advertised  flag-off, a group of youths stormed the venue with various weapons. 

They hurled arsenals across the heavily populated arena wounding many and making many to scamper for safety despite the MCs persistent call for peace to reign in the arena.( kuyi hakuri)

The pandemonium diluted the place and devoured it completely despite the Presidential presence. The President and the candidate were literally taken hostages by those urchins, hoodlums and hooligans who were there supposedly as APC  members.  

President Buhari, as the National Leader of the Party was also naturally expected  to deliver an address at the event but unfortunately didn’t.

This has made tongues wagged and open bare, the possible rift in the APC between the President and the Candidate as often filtered in the media. 

This gap, after the occasion was widened by this unexpected inaction of the President and the ultimate looser is without doubt the Jagaban.

After the intervention of the security services, the aura of the flag-off was somehow restored until towards the end of the occasion when the Presidential Candidate goofed to the embarrassment of all and sundry. Mr Tinubu surprised everybody when he said at the end of his address God bless PD..APC and then immediately changed to God bless APC.

This is one goof too many for Mr. Tinubu who has already been dubbed a  ‘goof master’ based on so many blunders of the mouth he had committed previously. That Mr Tinubu has never been a member of the PDP is never in doubt. 

This also make pundits wonder how sound and balanced his mental health is when juxtaposed with the gigantic responsibilities resting on the shoulders of a President of the most powerful and most populous black nation on earth.

Nigerians at the venue and those who watched via the media were also embarrassed by Tinubu’s inability to remember the correct names of his campaign’s Councils Director General who is also his chief host as the sitting governor of Plateau State and convener of the event. The Presidential Candidate referred  to Chief Simon Bako Lalong as simply Solomon Lalong confusing him for a former minister of Sports Solomon Dalung who had already severed his relationship with the ruling party for long.

This put Tinubu’s health  and mental stability in question as the opposition has always been hammering.  The common understanding here is that the APC is trying to sell a mentally unstable and physically weak individual to Nigerians even when the party is fully aware of this and the Nigeria’s patrimony and common wealth would suffer as a result for future generations.

The above and many others are truly disturbing signs that there is something fundamentally serious about the opposition’s pointers to the ability of the Jagaban to steer the affairs of this ship well, bearing in mind what has been happening so far.

Nigeria has just borne the financial and economic crunch of a sick leader who has travelled dozens of  times in search of his health at the peril of the tax payer within seven years. Nigerians are saying once beaten, twice shy. Make hay while the sun shines. 

*Dr Maishanu is a former Commissioner of Information,  Sokoto State. 

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