10 things that would likely have happened had Donald Trump been a Nigerian president

Ayo Akinfe

(1) First of all, many Inec officials would have obeyed his instructions to stop counting the votes immediately the president called for it

(2) Leaders from his ethnic group would have held meetings and declared their unalloyed support for him

(3) Troops would have been dispatched to seize all those ballot papers at the counting centres

(4) Troops, policemen and DSS operatives would have been dispatched to seal off any media networks that defied the order and continued reporting results

(5) The youth from the president’s ethnic group would have held solidarity marches in his support

(6) Counter-marches would of course been organised but troops would have been sent to open fire on them as we saw at the Lekki Toll Gate

(7) Those Inec officials who refused to be intimidated, insisting on showing integrity, would have been picked up by the DSS

(8) The EFCC and Code of Conduct Tribunal would have been used to arrest and bring charges against the owners of media houses who keep announcing results, as happened to Walter Onnoghen

(9) There would have been no shortage of sycophants and praise singers taking to the media to back the president. His own party in particular would be solidly behind him

(10) By now, the uncounted ballot papers would have been destroyed prompting calls for a fresh election. Court orders would have been obtained making this legal

We complain about Nigeria a lot but refuse to accept that the only problem with Nigeria is Nigerians themselves. When I see how leaders of the #EndsSars movement are currently being persecuted and how a shameful meeting in Kaduna recently backed the government, I just shudder.

Nigerians are their own worst enemies. What is most scary is the number of sycophants wanting to eat crumbs from the oga-at-the-top’s table who will mortgage their consciences for a mess of porridge.

One other thing that makes my blood boil is the way Nigerians take sides based on ethnicity and religion. I just hope this latest US saga helps debunk the myth that the problem with Nigeria is bad leadership.

Our biggest problem is poor followership. Bad leaders like Trump exist everywhere but how far the people are prepared to go to resist them is what makes the difference between good and bad governance.