By Abraham Ogbodo
There is something in theology called anthropomorphism. It happens when God assumes the attributes of a human. I can supply an instance right away. Turn to Chapter 3 of the Book of Genesis and read from verses 8 to 10. It says God came down from heaven to the Garden of Eden and was pacing about the beautiful garden in the cool of the evening searching for Adam who was nowhere to be found. Having tasted the forbidden fruit, Adam, the only man that came by the direct creation of God realised he was naked and ran to hide himself somewhere in the Garden, causing God to look for him up and down. This is as told by inspired men of God who wrote the Bible thousands of years ago. In folklores, the rules are a lot more relaxed. The gods (not necessarily God) swing at will from their divinity into humanity to help situate the narration.
That said, the beauty of the English language is in its completeness. It creates a notation for every conceivable idea. When God becomes a man, there is a name for it which I have just mentioned. What, when man bursts the boundaries to play God? I searched and the nearest to the scenario is a word called theomorphism. What sets the human limit is the fact that the final say lies outside man. If it were not so, we would not have freed June 12 every year to mark the memorial of a botched hope in our chequered journey towards nationhood. Even the Supreme Court which purports finality in judicial reviews, remains an institution of humans who are limited by their humanity. Its finality does not translate to infallibility. The finality is only in the context of the operating legal system which does not permit any appeal to stand beyond the apex court. Nothing else captures this better than the immortal words of Justice Chukwudifu Akunne Oputa: “We are final not because we are infallible; rather, we are infallible because we are final.
Not even in fictional literature are authors ready to recreate a man into God. It is an idea that constrains the poetic licence. Even if men in their fertile imagination, choose to transcend human capabilities, they should end up just being demigods who cannot author and finish our faith. Aiming to be God does not have a description in ethics or religion. And that is because nobody actually does. While as Governor of Lagos State and up until he became President in 2023, Bola Ahmed Tinubu acted within accepted bounds. He only played god and not the one with capital G. Tinubu powers were enormous but he wasn’t all-powerful. He was helpless on a few occasions such as when he could not truncate the second term bid of Governor Obaseki of Edo State and surrender the State to the challenger, Pastor Ize-Iyamu of the APC. He was also defeated in Osun State where the PDP challenger, Ademola Adeleke braved the odds to unseat the APC incumbent Governor, Gboyega Oyetola in the 2021 Osun governorship election. Above all, the 2023 presidential elections showed clearly that BAT perched on a lower rung of the ladder of elemental forces. He had yielded to a higher force in the battle for supremacy in Lagos State.
Notwithstanding, BAT successes were very sweet. He was the only one in the 1999 – 2007 class of governors that had the capacity to change his deputy almost at the same frequency that he changed his underwear. He had three in eight years with the prospect of further changes if the journey had extended beyond eight years. Before him, I had thought the pan-Yoruba socio-political group Afenifere was well made and irreducible. The same Afenifere, that weathered the storm in the difficult years following June 12 1993 with Pa Adekunle Ajasin and Pa Abraham as Adesanya as leaders, dropped sharply in value and ranking. It became as ordinary as a chess board where pawns are traded for a bigger prize. The time-honoured Yoruba group that provided the umbrella from the time of Pa Awo suddenly turned anachronistic and less suitable to contain the challenges of the moment. A renewed version to be known as Afenifere Renewal Group was engineered to meet the challenges as dictated by BAT.
We must also give it to BAT. Like a vulture, he has the patience to wait for life to end before moving in. The renewal version of Afenifere came only after the archaic version had been used to ensure his emergence as Governor of Lagos State in 1999. Nobody who wishes to be king forever supports the kingmaker to thrive. That was the story of Afinere which fell from a kingmaker to the king’s foot mat. It created its own replacement in Tinubu but refused to yield to the new champion. Since the Monster does not need to recognise Frankenstein, its creator, it has been a single narrative of an uncontainable villain against colonies of victims. Afenifere is as much a victim as any other in the line-up of Tinubu victims. I had noted on this page that Tinubu understands what works for him and he goes for it. Acting like nothing lies above him works for him. He makes and unmakes men and woman. The surprising thing is that after he had been made, somehow, by circumstances of his opaque history, nobody has been able to unmake him. It appears everybody is helpless and at his mercy. Like the privileged Roman Centurion, he says to one person, come and he comes and to another, go and he goes. He even does more than that. He can say to one person die and the person will die and to another, live and he will live. He said die to Akinwumi Ambode and he ‘’died.’’ He was about to say the same thing to Jide Sanolu until he was prevailed upon by some Good Samaritans to hold back.
Tinubu has what the Urhobo call arido. Whatever he says, is established. He has the power to meet his purpose. He said he would be President and he became President on May 29, 2023. He said fuel subsidy was gone and fuel subsidy that couldn’t be discharged from the macroeconomic metrics of Nigeria for more than six decades took flight immediately and has not returned as I speak. The naira that successive governments had spent time and resources to support to stand steady on one spot was ordered by Tinubu to find a comfortable level that could make it stand alone without support. It happened exactly that way. In two years, BAT has created conditions that could only happen where there is no government. Nigerians have endured these conditions and are likely to renew his mandate in 2027 to continue operating the country without a government. Nothing can bring him to account. Just as we do not question God, nobody questions Tinubu. He does what is best in his estimation. Who else, outside God, enjoys this level of single mindedness in a world of interdependency and inter-relationships? It is a single mindedness that abuses the concept of a social contract.
I have read what others have written about the transfiguration of Tinubu. Everyone is calling for caution. I don’t understand. Are my friends including Dr. Lasisi Olagunju, Dr. Reuben Abati, Mrs Funke Egbemode and Suyi Ayodele saying Tinubu should get right-handed at old age? His is a winning formula. Nobody changes a winning formula midstream. Tinubu kills his own ‘’children’’ to consolidate. At the level he has taken himself, blood is the currency of his transactions. Every kill strikes the right note in others that are avoiding to be killed or waiting to be killed. Since he has the sugar to sprinkle around, ants will always troop out to enable him make a point about his generosity on one hand and invincibility on the other. For instance, the way BAT concluded with Babatunde Fashola did not stop Ambode from stepping forth with enthusiasm to endorse the ways of the grandmaster. Sanwo-Olu emerged as the new Poster Boy when Ambode was sinking. The travails of Ambode did not constitute any lesson to his eager successor. The lure to superintend over Lagos and its wealth even as a surrogate is too compelling to resist.
Meanwhile, Tinubu is acting like the typical village witch. He is unaffected by the horrendous sacrifice of his promising children. He is more interested in the power that comes with the sacrifice. He loves to push ahead anyhow with a Mudashiru Obasa and others in that bracket, who are all too ready to obey his commandments without asking questions. His original stock of goal getters has been heavily depleted. The roll call of those he has sacrificed for more power include Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Babatunde Raji Fashola, Akin Ambode, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Dr. Olusegun Mimiko, Rauf Aregbesola, Femi Pedro and even Lai Mohammed. Jide Sanwo Olu is only being tolerated to mitigate the heavy charge of political murder against Tinubu.
In real life, no human willingly gives up on acting God for as long as the plot subsists. Tinubu has reasons to continue. Nigerians are getting to believe his divinity. The saving grace though is that God of Hosts does not share His glory with any other. Also, he, alone, knows how to stop men from sharing in His glory. For now, nothing stands in the way of Tibubu except himself. He has conquered fear because some sorcerers must have told him that none born of woman can stop him from getting re-elected in 2027. Suyi Ayodele’s article in the Nigerian Tribune of June 10, The Powerful Man And His Faeces, says a lot. It takes iron to sharpen iron. What may eventually remind Tinubu of his, humanity, mortality and eternal limitation may not be too far from himself.
