A Nation Divided

APC’s critics have refused to accept the results. Tinubu’s main rivals, Abubakar Atiku of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), and the Labour Party (LP)’s Peter Obi, have presented petitions to the Presidential Election Petition Court. History, however, allows for quick guesses: all elections since 1999 have been petitioned; no petition has ever been successful. Not surprisingly, the most tangible outcomes we’ve seen so far have been a series of adjournments—the latest as of writing being that Atiku’s petition has been adjourned till May 22, only a week to the inauguration. But here lies the real impasse: if streets aren’t, memories nationwide are still littered with the daylight bigotry that characterized the state and federal elections: from videos of APC stalwarts threatening Igbo citizens to full-blown online and offline adverts that took such narratives mainstream.

APC supporters insist that Nigerians should accept the results and move on. Unsurprisingly, they argue that the failings of the Buhari administration are exaggerated. They point especially to progress made with infrastructure including, only this year, the commissioning of Nigeria’s first deep seaport and the much anticipated Dangote Refinery, which at 32.5 million annual tonne capacity is supposedly the ‘largest-single train crude oil refinery in the world’. Both private sector-led projects (and there have been others through the years), APC supporters argue that Tinubu who is believed to be of a more neoliberal disposition than Buhari will usher in more private sector investment and kickstart economic growth. With, for instance, foreign direct investment currently at under $500 million (compared to $3 billion in 2015) Buhari has certainly left Tinubu some very worn out shoes to fill. In the meantime, APC supporters insist (though unconvincingly) that elections are over and that anything other than acceptance of Tinubu’s presidency is a distraction to Nigeria’s much needed progress. They warn that to demand electoral integrity even through such means as [legal] petitions is to destabilize Nigeria’s democracy and to delay our economic recovery. Foreseeing some grievance on inauguration day, as of writing, spokespersons such as Bashir Ahmad (a special assistant on digital communications to President Buhari) have warned that, ‘If you don’t have any business at or around Eagle Square on Monday, May 29th, STAY AWAY, a strong warning from the security.’

This is the country Tinubu is set to inherit and in our latest issue our authors consider the forthcoming inauguration, the meaning of a Tinubu presidency and the roads that lie ahead. Will a Tinubu presidency unite or further divide us?

Charles Ekpo launches the issue by asking one of the most pertinent questions as the Tinubu era approaches: What can Tinubu do differently? Specifically, Ekpo’s concern is towards Tinubu’s potential ability to unite Nigerians despite the failings of APC, the historical marginalization of the South East and the virulently anti-Igbo campaigns pro-APC agents led during the recent elections. While getting Nigerians to support the Tinubu administration won’t be easy, in the South East especially, where insecurity is on the rise, demand for security and stability, Ekpo argues, could provide avenues for broader, necessary reconciliation efforts. According to Ekpo, ‘The instability in the South East region was escalated by the Buhari government’s negligence and highhandedness in managing its concomitant agitations. Tinubu can remedy the situation with a reversed policy that represents fairness, equity, justice, and fraternity towards the Igbos in the South East and elsewhere in Nigeria.’