By: Okechukwu Edward Okeke
These are no the exact words of any of the headlines on this issue. But this is basically what the former Edo State Governor said on the matter.
To appraise Tinubu and his support to Buhari, let’s refer to the Catholic Church’s doctrines of venial and mortal sins. A venial sin is committed when the sinner is not fully aware that what s/he is about to do is wrong. The deed is not grave. Thus the sin is easily forgiven, after confession and prayer. A mortal sin is more difficult to forgive. In addition to confession and prayer, the sinner has to do other things or refrain from doing yet other things, as stipulated by a priest, before it is believed that a mortal sin has been forgiven. Here is the definition of a mortal sin:
- It must be a grievous deed.
- You know it is would be a grievous deed.
- Despite knowing it would be a grievous deed, you did it.
Let’s go.
Before the presidential election of 2019, it was probably clear to the National Leader of the APC that the man he helped to become President in 2015 was doing badly generally and was doing very badly in the matters of security and (for lack of a better term) reflecting the federal character in appointments and resource allocation. He must have noticed the reluctance of the President to prevent Fulani herdsmen from within and outside Nigeria from using force to take over lands belonging to farming communities in central and southern Nigeria. Indeed, Tinubu must have heard of attempts to establish cattle colonies, to establish so-called rural grazing areas (RUGA), and to pass a bill to handover control of water resources in the country to the federal government. Tinubu must have noticed with concern how the DSS rather easily caught Nnamdi Kanu and Sunday Igboho, outside Nigeria for that matter, but have not caught any of the leaders of the so-called (Fulani) bandits that are in northern Nigeria — bandits in locations whose coordinates can easily be determined, who are collecting taxes in places that are known, and who are extracting minerals at locations that are legally and operationally within the reach of the combat planes of the Nigerian Air Force.
Given that Tinubu knew all these and a lot more that show that Buhari was a bad ruler, supporting him again in the election of 2019 — helping to give him a second term after which he would not need Timubu’s support again — means that TINUBU WAS WILLING TO SACRIFICE THE PEACE, UNITY AND PROGRESS OF NIGERIA FOR HIS PRESIDENTIAL AMBITION. Many that supported Buhari in 2015 withdrew their support in 2029 when they saw how he had run the country between the two elections. Such persons can sincerely plead ignorance. They committed a venial sin: they can say with reason that they did not know that, in a manner of speaking, BUHARI IS LIKE THIS. Tinubu cannot make any such plea. He saw enough in 2015-18 to know that BUHARI IS LIKE THIS . To support the President in 2019 in spite of what he knew makes Tinubu partly culpable for the weaknesses and evils of the Buhari regime.
To conclude, Tinubu’s support to Buhari in 2015 may be classified as a venial sin. His support to Buhari in 2019 is a mortal sin.
