Buhari’s Commendation of Tinubu Is Tone-Deaf to Nigerians’ Realities
By Matthew Eloyi
As President Bola Tinubu marks two years in office, former President Muhammadu Buhari has extended his congratulations, urging Nigerians to support the current administration’s efforts to tackle poverty and inflation. While such words may sound noble on paper, they starkly contrast the lived realities of millions of Nigerians grappling with deepening hardship.
Buhari, through his former spokesperson Garba Shehu, called for “steadfast support” for Tinubu’s reforms, warning that change does not happen overnight. However, Nigerians are not impatient. They are simply exhausted—exhausted from policies that have, so far, made life significantly harder without a clear, inclusive path to relief.
What Buhari fails to acknowledge is that he speaks from a place of privilege and detachment. As a former president with lifelong benefits, generous pensions, and insulation from the impact of fuel subsidy removals, skyrocketing inflation, and rising insecurity, Buhari is in no position to vouch for the effectiveness or fairness of Tinubu’s economic policies. His endorsement, therefore, is not only unrepresentative of public sentiment but is also tone-deaf.
Ordinary Nigerians are not enjoying the comfort of “reform optimism.” Market prices have doubled, transportation has become unaffordable, and job opportunities are shrinking by the day. The argument that citizens must “not leave the task of reducing poverty and inflation only to the government” feels like an abdication of responsibility. Nigerians are already bearing the burden of economic missteps; what more does the state expect them to carry?
Moreover, Buhari’s insistence that “our expectations from our governments should not get heavy” is an affront to the democratic spirit. Citizens have every right to demand better. They are not asking for miracles; they are demanding responsible governance, policies that ease and not exacerbate suffering, and leaders who listen rather than lecture.
Two years into Tinubu’s administration, what many Nigerians feel is not hope but hardship. What they see is not progress but pain. Former President Buhari’s words may carry weight in political circles, but on the streets, they ring hollow.
This moment should not be one of congratulation but of reflection on the urgent need to recalibrate national economic strategies, prioritise the most vulnerable, and rebuild public trust. Until then, elite endorsements will remain just that: elite, disconnected, and ultimately irrelevant to the everyday Nigerian.
