BAT on BH and security

By

Noel Ihebuzor

Bola Ahmed Tinubu gave a revealing lecture on the 30th June 2014.

Politicians are allowed to mount podiums at will and to try to use every opportunity to score political points against their perceived opponents. But every mature politician is also expected to put national security and interests ahead of narrow partisan and self promotional interests. I am concerned that BAT has not done this in his take on the origins of BH, in spite of this efforts to nuance his views in the said speech. He politicked with the BH issue and because he chose to politick with such a painful national issue, he also deliberately chose to tell a single, simple and flat monochrome story of the origins of this national plague. The single story, an attempt to explain BH origins largely by appeals to misrule and social injustice, is not only inaccurate but is pathetic and patently misleading.

Reading this take on BH, I get this strong feeling that BAT has lost it completely. Becoming an apologist for BH as he does in the main body of this speech is a clear indication of either a willingness to court the “North” at whatever costs or of a deliberate choice to delink with reality and good sense or both. The social and political costs of this choice for him will be major and can only worsen a sad situation created when he stepped on his own tongue by lashing out at the Obas.  Time will tell, but BAT’s handlers need to a better job either in restraining him or in managing his utterances.