The Fall and Rise of President Tinubu While Boarding Presidential Motorcarde:Relevance to Nigeria's Democratic Journey

OPINION

By: Olufemi Orunsola

The Fall and Rise of Tinubu While Boarding Presidential Motorcade: Relevance to Nigeria's Democracy Day

President Bola Ahmed Tinubu on Wednesday, slipped while boarding the presidential parade vehicle at Eagles Square for the 2024 Democracy Day celebrations.

In a viral video sighted by Open Television Naija on Wednesday the President, had approached the vehicle shortly after he arrived at the Eagles Square, Abuja day venue of the programme.

Open Television Naija like other media platforms had reported that in the process of mounting the motorcade, the President momentarily lost his footing, resulting in a brisk fall after which his security details swiftly helped him rise. The President subsequently gained his balance, took his stand and discharged all his presidential duty to review the parades at the national event and all the ceremonial rounds without any deficiency thereafter.

The event at Eagles Square was part of a series of events to mark the country’s annual Democracy Day celebration and the silver jubilee edition of the democracy day at that.

Expectedly, many netizens have taken to different social media platforms to express a wide array of opinions, criticisms and all sorts of sarcastic reactions, mostly emphasizing the fact that the President's age is responsible for his fall or momentary slip, which to some, is some sort of pointer to the incapability of the President or an indication of his fragile health as though such falls are only peculiar to the aged.

Yoruba elders, known for their philosophical wits expressed via Proverbs have a consensus submission that a fall is not an experience exclusively reserved for the aged. Hence, a Yoruba proverb says:

"Bi omode ba subu, a wo iwaju. Bi agba ba subu, a wo eyin wo", meaning that a fall compels a youth to use his foresight while it drives an elderly person to deploy hindsight. 

Some people have also blamed the President's fall on the inefficiency or lapses of the President's security architecture.

However, it is expedient for Nigerians to focus on the relevance and significance of the President's mis-step for the country's democratic sojourn within the last twenty five years of uninterrupted democracy. 

As the county moves to celebrate democracy amidst the slippery, harsh socioeconomic realities of the times, marked by the falling drifts of our Naira against the dollar, the country must harness its internal pool of available resources,both human capital and otherwise, to ensure that the country rises again and take its rightful place among the commity of nations.

Nigerian leaders and the generality of Nigerians must realize that the downfall of a man, as they say, is not the end of his life. Hence, leaders and followers alike must make conscious efforts to make the country to rise again.