The twists and turns in issues concerning President Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s “drug file” have lingered for decades. Even as the August 28 deadline set by American Judge Howell for the government defendants and Tinubu has passed, the world still waits for the last word on the matter. Judge Howell, we believe, is now examining the file in private — to avoid “endangering lives” and “irreversible damage” — and he will determine whether the FBI has a legitimate legal basis for withholding particular information. President Bola Tinubu has also filed a challenge in a U.S. court to prevent the U.S. Department of Justice, FBI and DEA from releasing the records to the public.
There is little left to be revealed, however. By fighting for the records to remain secret, the Nigerian president has indirectly admitted his guilt. No surprises should be expected even if the records are laid bare in the public domain today. At least he has never denied that he forfeited $460,000 in 1993.
President Tinubu should resign, now that he has lost the moral authority to serve as Nigeria’s No. 1 citizen. He must not drag the country’s reputation down with him, if he has any sense of responsibility or dignity left. For Nigeria’s sake, he should just get out of the way.
This scandal has been hurting the country’s reputation in unimaginable ways. At airports, holders of Nigeria’s green passport are sneered at and searched thoroughly. Just a day or two after INEC’s Mahmoud Yakubu declared him winner of the presidential election, in March 2023, some foreign newspapers including a Polish tabloid reported that a drug baron had been elected Nigerian president. During the electioneering, a number of reporters such as investigative journalist David Hundeyin published facts about Tinubu’s drug deals that are verifiable. Several witnesses’ accounts on social media have convicted him, not just for drug trafficking but also for certificate forgery and identity theft. Controversies around his actual age, the schools he attended and his state of origin are legion.
At home, efforts by compromised judges and hired spin doctors to change the narrative have failed to convince anyone. On X, WhatsApp, TikTok and every platform else, Nigerians at home and abroad freely describe the Nigerian leader as a drug baron, an identity thief and a certificate forger. Nobody has feared litigation because everybody knows that Tinubu’s handlers are only struggling to conceal the truth. The truth has been so glaring that, this year, Tinubu could not submit his primary and secondary school certificates to electoral body INEC. The authenticity of the Chicago State University degree certificate and the NYSC discharge certificate he submitted are currently being challenged in court.
The country should no longer be subjected to torture on account of its president’s alleged forgery, perjury or past deals. Our scarce resources should no longer be used to pay lobbyists in foreign countries and at home. If he has any iota of integrity left — or love for the country — Tinubu should tender his resignation letter without delay.
Rather than escape to Europe this Sunday for a “three-week holiday”, he should have resigned and then begun to enjoy unlimited rest period. Age is no longer on his side. Dignity is not on his side. Character is not on his side. Yet, despite all these shortcomings, he clings desperately to power. Those surrounding him and encouraging him to continue do not mean well for the country.
When he resigns, the APC will have a chance to nominate his replacement who will contest the January 2027 presidential election. If he refuses to resign, the tainted judiciary might still redeem itself by one act of courage: throw him out. The legislature has enough reasons to impeach him, but we know it is toothless and crippled — we don’t expect the redundant lawmakers to stop standing “on your mandate”.
President Tinubu has brought enough shame to the country. There is no reason for him to keep his job, having performed poorly as president in the past three years. Too many Nigerians are dying from untold hardship, as poverty rules the roost. The drug trial in the U.S. is one scandal too many.
Ultimately, sovereignty rests on the people. And the people demand Tinubu’s resignation. He either jumps or gets pushed.
