Jesus Christ was not born on December 25. This has been proven beyond measure, but those who want their own religion as opposed to true worship of God continue to observe that day. Heaven is not about religious rituals or observances. It didn’t bother Jesus either; they could enjoy themselves and buy their chickens even with stolen money, money stolen from their offices. They can sing all these good songs, and they can even stage plays; they do it unto themselves but not unto Christ.
The birthday of Jesus is not something that Jesus asked believers in him to celebrate. If Christ came and didn’t die and rise, all those beautiful teachings he gave would be unattainable by anybody. It is the death and resurrection of Jesus that is most important for man. But humans are hypocrites. They like to create their own ways. The death of Jesus Christ has meaning, and his resurrection too. Since we are not in church, we won’t write on that here.
But Christmas has become a problem in Nigeria, especially among the Yoruba, who used to be praised as an example of religious tolerance. Some Yoruba Muslims are preaching that any Muslim who takes Christmas food from a Christian will go to hell. No, they won’t. Whether they eat or not, no harm will befall them. But the Muslims are very scared, and they avoid Christian celebrations. I know one good Muslim who now avoids my house every December. He will rather visit me on the 26th of December and give a reason, which is usually a lie. To avoid a sin that is no sin really, he jumped into another one. I know, like Muslims all do, he would go back home and chant his ‘Astagafurulahi,’ begging Allah for forgiveness. Muslims have a lot of latitude in forgiveness of sin. I envy them. Even their dead, long after they are dead, are forgiven as they pray for them. I envy them because with my religion, once you die and your sins are not repented of—please, I’m saying repented of, not just confessed—you are gone forever into hell. That’s the magnitude of Muslims’ latitude on forgiveness of sins. I love them tremendously.
But my concern today is the great man, Donald Trump of America and the small man of Venezuela, Nicolas Maduro, who was arrested like a chicken from his bedroom as he had a sober moment with his wife in the cool of the night in their bedroom and was handcuffed and abducted to America to be tried. Tried! Under what law? How can the law of America be binding on a Venezuelan? He was not among those who made that law. America is democratic; they respect the rule of law. That is long gone. America has become the most lawless nation on earth too. Nicolas Maduro will be tried under a set of laws that are foreign to him, under which he should not be tried. Who will be the lawyer of Maduro, and what will he plead? Trump is solidly in control of the courts, even the Supreme Court. He has six judges on the Supreme Court. He appointed them during the dying days of his first term. Trump is never afraid. One judge recently resigned, and he said he cannot continue being a judge where ethics forbade him from speaking his mind publicly. Justice has become injustice in America, and he wants to speak his mind, especially in this Trumpian era where the president is a literal dictator. The last time Trump won a case at the Supreme Court, he openly thanked the judges and promised them, “I will not forget.” He did not carry “Ghana must go bags” loaded with dollars as is done in Nigeria, but the judges know they must bend justice to him because that was why he appointed him. Trump, like Nigerian politicians, tells those who think he is not following the rule of law “to go to court.” He is so sure nobody can defeat him at the Supreme Court. Trump is the only government that the US has today. He is in control of the executive, the legislature, and the judiciary. I think a third term will not be impossible for Trump. He won’t need to consult ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo, who did it but keeps denying that he did not till today. The last time I saw Obasanjo and the first lady holding hands like they were boyfriend and girlfriend going inside the Aso Rock, to which Obasanjo and others had been invited, I laughed at this Christmas issue again, this deception that brings hypocrites together, that makes sinners pretend to be sinners. Mrs. Oluremi Tinubu, for our knowledge, is the wife of the president, and she is a pastor, a spiritual daughter of Enoch Adeboye, the General Overseer of the Redeemed Christian Church of God, Nigeria, and overseas. Enoch Adeboye calls President Bola Tinubu his son-in-law because Tinubu is the husband of Oluremi Tinubu.
It is a Christmas where ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo and first lady Oluremi Tinubu became saints suddenly. At least that’s what millions of Nigerians who saw them lock hands thought. There were a few who insinuated that the two big persons held hands like secret lovers. Don’t mind Nigerians; their minds are not clean. But after a good deal of hypocrisy at the Aso Rock Christmas Carol, I hope they are allowed to visit Father Christmas at his grotto. I would have wished to see the behaviour of Obasanjo at the grotto. But it is Christmas, and in the early morning of it, like a thief in the night, the almighty Donald Trump chose to visit Nigeria because of the bandits and terrorists. Why did Trump choose this particular day, the day many Christians deceive themselves, the day that Remi Tinubu just had a swell time with her guests at a lavish party? Was Trump disdaining Nigerian Christians? I don’t think so. Was he disdainful of the president and his first lady by choosing the day of their party to create fear in the heart of the president and to turn their joy into mourning? Discerning Nigerians have since thrown into the dustbin the lie that the strike was a cooperation between the US and Nigeria, between Tinubu and Trump. Only Trump knows why he chose that day. Maybe to deceive the Muslim-populated north that Trump, whom they think is a Christian but is not, would not do any such thing during a Christian day. But Trump struck that Christmas day, killing many terrorists who obviously would have gone to bed with the hope of waking up the following morning to continue to unleash mayhem on hapless Nigerians who could not hope for any protection from their governments, state and federal. Trump struck at the backyard of the Sultan of Sokoto, Saad Abubakar, the most powerful man in Nigeria. That would be a desecration by Trump. Since Trump struck, the Sultan has not spoken. Some have asked if he has gone into hiding; the usually loquacious Ahmad Gumi, a proponent of Sharia and a voice for the terrorists, has not said a word. Some said he had deleted all the vituperative posts he had made against Trump from social media. Gumi alleged his life was in danger because there was a security report that listed him among those Trump would pick on like he picked on Maduro. Who would not fear Trump? Gumi has harassed Nigerians with his posts; he has called the bandits and terrorists freedom fighters. He didn’t tell the world what bondage they were in that they needed to be free from. But when Trump struck at his backyard, he quickly learned that Trump is not Tinubu and that the man can make good on all his threats: he kept quiet. If you know President Bola Tinubu, he would rather keep quiet doing his manoeuvres behind the scenes. So too is Professor Usman Yusuf. He is also keeping quiet. Fear of Trump is the beginning of wisdom. Gumi and Yusuf have wizened up.
A few days after the Tangaza and Jabo strikes in Sokoto State, the US struck again in Kaduna. Again, reports said the strike was a combination of the US in the air and Nigerian boots on the ground. An untold number of bandits and terrorists were killed in that raid. Kaduna is where Sheik Gumi rules from. He has his own laws, which supersede the laws of Nigeria. Who dares question him? His late father was the Grand Khadi of the Appeal Court and the chief advisor of the first premier of the north, Sir Ahmadu Bello. Who dares question him? He wants Sharia, and that’s at all costs. Maybe the bandits and the terrorists are his means of obtaining that. But Trump struck, and he understood that the gun is more powerful than any religious doctrine. He knew the guns of the bandits are nothing before the bombs of Trump.
Trump took a break. He announced to Nigeria that he was not done yet. The bandits cowered, Gumi cowered, and Professor Yusuf went quiet. The bandits began to flee. Then, a few days later, Trump’s soldiers were at the premises of Nicolas Maduro, where in his sleep he and his wife were abducted and flown to the US for trial. Maduro is not a Nigerian; he is a Venezuelan. But he has lessons for Nigerian leaders. The US accused Maduro of leading a drug cartel. America has been fighting him with sanctions, but when the US saw that sanctions did not do the work of getting Maduro removed, it decided to visit him personally and arrest Maduro and his wife alive. Again, as in Nigeria, where Trump praised his soldiers for a precision strike that he said only the US could have accomplished, American forces demonstrated another precision foray into the bedroom of Nicolas Maduro and his wife. “Nobody died on our side, but 32 Cuban soldiers died,” Trump triumphantly told journalists. Those 32 were the personal guards of Maduro. According to reports, for a year, the US, through its CIA, had compromised Maduro’s elite guards. The CIA had gotten three of the elite guards. How they compromised those guards is an important message for President Bola Tinubu and all those that rule Nigeria now and will rule her later. America used the excuse of narco-terrorism to arrest Maduro. And when you hear about narcotics, you know Nigeria is hot on the deal. Brigadier-General Mohammed Buba Marwa is doing a great job, but that’s at the lower level. Not yet in Aso Rock, not yet in all the legislatures, and not yet among the political parties. In Venezuela, all three elite guards were affected by the economic challenges, which had plunged the people into unprecedented hardships. There is hyperinflation in the country. You need a wheelbarrow of Venezuelan money to buy a loaf of bread. The report added that a second guard had a daughter who was sick and needed to be taken abroad for treatment. The elite guard, whose daughter was sick, could not afford the money for treatment. But Maduro flew to Cuba for a health check despite the collapsing economy. Do you remember that our own Senate President, Godswill Akpabio, has just returned from a health check in the UK? However, the report disclosed that the CIA offered to take the ailing daughter to the US for treatment, all expenses paid. To convince the three elite guards, the CIA secretly smuggled their families to America under a different identity. The third elite guard was just disgruntled. He had been bypassed for promotion because he was not politically connected. The CIA got to know and fueled this dissatisfaction and began to use the guards. The three guards were providing information to the CIA. Maduro kept where he sleeps each day a top secret. Nobody knows, but it happened that one of these elite guards was assigned to a night duty in a safehouse where Maduro would pass the night. He informed the CIA. When the Americans came for Maduro, the guards did not put up any resistance. The 32 Cuban guards who did were all killed by the American soldiers.
What is the lesson for our venal and selfish leaders in Nigeria who think that their guards are not Nigerians and are immune from the economic malaise? No matter what you do to your personal guard, they suffer what other Nigerians also suffer. If they don’t, they have relatives who do. They are not happy with the current situation, as millions of Nigerians are not happy with the administration. The administration has built a system that rewards incompetence, where the best of jobs go to the worst of people. They see and know everything, and they can be easily recruited into rebellion. Recall that the president’s personal military aide was recently recommended for promotion to the rank of brigadier-general. The retired generals cautioned the president, saying it may jeopardize discipline in the military. President Tinubu has a way of bribing everybody to support him. But this cannot go too far. It is all Nigerians that ought to be bribed into good living so that there can be peace. The generality of Nigerians ought to be bribed by an improved economy. The president had to reverse the promotion of his military aide, which is said to be the second in two years. How many are around the president now that were not recruited on merit? Senator Ali Ndume cried against the president for ordering some staff of the Central Bank (CBN), Abuja to be posted to Lagos because CBN was overstaffed and because they constituted a threat to the CBN building. Senator Ndume cried himself hoarse because his daughter was involved. He threatened that the north, to which he belongs, will not vote for the president in the coming 2027 election. Nigerians read that and took note of it. The ground is being prepared for a revolt, which, if it happens, Ndume and others like him will regret. The ground is being prepared for a Trump visit. We might have another Maduro on our hands.
There is inequality in Nigeria, and Nigerians know it. Those who toil in the universities and come out with good grades have no jobs. I met one a few days ago in Ibadan who was riding the popular Marwa tricycle. When we began to discuss politics in Nigeria, I saw that his contribution was well informed. It was then he told me he is a graduate of political science. He is very well informed, and he can never be loyal to Nigeria in his present situation. President Muhammadu Buhari called the youths lazy, but I met one who rides a Marwa tricycle. They are making money, but they know their education and skills have prepared them to be better engaged. I was curious to know why Venezuela became poor in spite of being the country that has the biggest oil deposit under its soil, so I asked Gemini AI. And it gave me an avalanche of information. As I read the story, I felt I was reading the story of Nigeria, which I’m familiar with. Venezuela had earned so much from its oil, and with the money it made, it stopped producing anything; rather, it imported everything. Doesn’t Nigeria read like that? Do we produce anything? Even the clothes our leaders wear are imported. The news outlet, Sahara Reporters, observed President Tinubu wearing a wristwatch that cost over 400 million naira, during the recent Eyo festival in Lagos. For the poor Nigerians who cannot afford new clothes, the rags, the used clothes imported from America, have become popular all over the nation. Chief Obafemi Awolowo worried about it and promised he was going to ban it. The Igbos who started wearing it said they will not vote for him. They did not. But Awolowo’s people, who were proud of the promise to ban the used clothes, now proudly wear them. It’s not that they love it, but that’s what they are left with. Seyi Tinubu, the son of the president, gallivants around in expensive clothes and cars. Seyi Tinubu has not done more than his age mates; in fact, he has done less, but he earns more than his contemporaries. Seyi Tinubu is contributing to the fire that may lead to the downfall of the president; he and Tinubu’s daughter, Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, imposed as Iyaloja-General of Nigeria, who dictates the pace in all markets in Nigeria, are the cynosure of all eyes, but they are lighting a flame because Nigerians are observing everything they do, and they don’t seem to like what’s going on.
I hope Donald Trump will not decide to come here like he did to Maduro in Venezuela. Americans are discussing that Africa and Latin American countries should be recolonized because we can’t govern ourselves. You can flaunt all your theories of sovereignty. The sovereign nation today is the one that has the power to defend itself and whose people are readily supporting their nation and their leaders because they are receiving good governance. Building a nation on equality, fairness, and justice is what captivates the hearts of the people to love the nation. President Tinubu wants to make more money from tax but has done nothing to justify that tax increase. If Trump decided to come here today, what the elite guards did to Maduro they will do here also. Who helped remove General Yakubu Gowon from power? It was then Colonel Joseph Naven Garba, who was from the same place in Plateau State as Gowon. He was Gowon’s commander of the brigade of guards. Tribal sameness or political loyalty is not an assurance in the days of trouble. Competence, equality, justice, and fairness build a sense of nationhood into a people. According to the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, the only visionary national leader Nigeria has had, “Our problem is in our attitudes and our sick and lame leadership.” Let President Tinubu hear this and stop thinking his political manoeuvres can save him in the day of trouble. It is righteousness, as the Bible says, that delivers from death. “Righteousness” is big old English, but it simply means “right doing.” Nigeria is not too far away from Maduro and Venezuela.
First Published in METRO
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Tunde Akande is both a journalist and pastor. He earned a Master's degree in Mass Communication from the University of Lagos.
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