Within the early years of Nigeria’s return to civil rule, when Bola Ahmed Tinubu was governor of Lagos State, his spouse, Oluremi Tinubu, as soon as supplied a revealing apart throughout an interview. Responding to a query about her husband, she stated with a mixture of humour and resignation, “You journalists see my husband greater than me.” It was an harmless comment on the time, reflecting the consuming nature of public workplace and the space it usually creates between leaders and their households.
About three many years later, that assertion deserves to be revisited, and this time with urgency somewhat than nostalgia. Now that Tinubu is president and visibly weighed down by age, the logic ought to have modified. His spouse ought to not be on the fringe of his public life, nor ought to his care and presentation be left virtually completely to appointed aides, whose pursuits are not often aligned with dignity, restraint, or long-term nationwide pursuits.
Tinubu’s current state go to to Turkey introduced this difficulty into sharp however uncomfortable focus.
On paper, the go to was meant to be routine and productive. President Tinubu was hosted in Ankara by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, with discussions overlaying commerce, defence cooperation, vitality, training, media alternate, and safety. Each governments introduced memoranda of understanding, and Turkey expressed curiosity in increasing bilateral commerce towards a projected $5 billion.
But, diplomacy isn’t merely transactional however performative, because it depends as a lot on individuals, bearing, and symbolism as on signed paperwork. What dominated public discourse was not the settlement however President Tinubu himself (his step, posture, seen disorientation, and evident discomfort). Video footage exhibiting him stumbling throughout ceremonial moments and needing help to regular himself unsettled even sympathetic observers.
Official explanations blamed uneven surfaces and minor missteps. However to many Nigerians, the deeper difficulty was unmistakable. The president seemed frail, tentative, and overwhelmed by the calls for of his workplace and appeared much less like a assured head of state and extra like an aged man struggling by way of obligations that had turn into bodily exacting.
There may be nothing shameful about ageing. Previous age is a privilege denied to many and never an ethical failing, nor ought to it’s mocked. Certainly, some aged leaders retain outstanding composure, magnificence, and authority effectively into superior years. Age alone doesn’t strip folks of polish or presence.
That is what makes President Tinubu’s public awkwardness so pathetic. Should you may bear in mind, this similar Tinubu, as governor, then campaigned with phrases meant to evoke cosmopolitan ease, city sophistication, and familiarity with elite international areas. However the go to to Ankara revealed none of that. As a substitute, he seemed uncomfortable in his garments, unsure in his actions, and ill-prepared for the symbolic calls for of the presidency.
The now-infamous outsized coat he wore was not merely a style mishap; it was like a person seemingly drowning inside a task that had outgrown his bodily capability, as bearing, posture, and self-awareness matter in management. They convey authority, or its absence, earlier than a phrase is spoken.
That is the place the function of Oluremi Tinubu turns into unavoidable. In lengthy marriages, particularly these cast lengthy earlier than energy arrived, spouses usually play essential, casual roles that no adviser can replicate. A spouse sees what aides can not or won’t say. She notices decline early and cares about dignity in a approach political employees not often do.
Most of the folks surrounding a president are invested in entry, patronage, and proximity to energy. They won’t inform him his go well with appears ridiculous or that his frailty is turning into alarming. A partner, nonetheless, has a stake within the sport, a private stake in how her husband is seen, remembered, and judged.
Traditionally, this sort of spousal labour issues. Take into account the distinction with the US beneath Joe Biden. Biden’s age-related stumbles, verbal slips, and step points have been broadly documented. But one fixed was the seen attentiveness of Jill Biden, his spouse. She hovered protectively, usually guiding him bodily, emotionally, and symbolically. Whereas nobody can say how a lot she curated his wardrobe or filtered his appearances, reporting persistently highlighted her vigilance as his vulnerabilities grew.
This isn’t a misnomer however a actuality, as lengthy marriages evolve into pragmatic partnerships the place care tasks shift in keeping with want. Anticipating a partner to assist handle look or wellbeing isn’t any extra oppressive than anticipating the opposite partner to handle funds, schedules, or well being routines when circumstances demand it.
Tinubu’s Turkey look was not an remoted embarrassment. His historical past with Western apparel is riddled with comparable missteps: outsized fits, poor coordination, and an air of neglect that’s baffling for a person of immense assets and entry. With Nigeria’s most interesting tailors and stylists at his disposal, why does he so usually look unkempt?
The absence of his spouse at moments when he seems most susceptible solely deepens the puzzle. Was she in Nigeria through the go to? If that’s the case, why? Nobody ought to be extra invested in defending Tinubu from public self-humiliation than the girl who has shared his life for many years.
Management requires stamina, alertness, and sustained engagement. Nigeria is dealing with financial ache, insecurity, and institutional pressure. A president who appears bodily diminished and mentally strained raises authentic questions on governance.
These anxieties are compounded by Tinubu’s journey patterns. Studies that he didn’t instantly return to Nigeria after Turkey fed a public notion that he governs Nigeria sometimes from overseas. Nigerians joke about him being a French resident or ambassador. Exaggerated or not, such narratives thrive within the absence of transparency.
In contrast to former President Muhammadu Buhari, who formally transferred energy to his vice chairman throughout medical journeys in his first time period, Tinubu has not been recognized to take action. This technique of administration fuels hypothesis. Who governs when he’s away, and beneath what authority?
This argument isn’t a name for cruelty however a plea for honesty and accountability. Nigerians deserve readability concerning the bodily and psychological readiness of their president. They deserve management that reassures somewhat than unsettles.
Age could also be inevitable, and decline could come uninvited, however how these realities are managed by way of care, transparency, and help is a alternative. At this stage of Tinubu’s life and presidency, that accountability can’t be outsourced completely to aides and handlers. It should embody the one that is aware of him greatest and who ought to care most deeply about how historical past remembers him.
As Ashake, a Nigerian musical artist, sang, “Lonely on the high”. We all know energy isolates, however marriage, at its greatest, humanises. If Tinubu is to complete his tenure with dignity, and if Nigeria is to be spared additional embarrassment on the worldwide stage, then the quiet, unglamorous politics of spousal care could matter extra now than any memorandum of understanding signed overseas.
(This text isn’t meant to insult anybody, however we see what we have now to do and do it rightly, and it’s a follow-up to final week’s article.)
