During the Democracy Day Celebration on June 12, 2024, to mark twenty-five years of uninterrupted democratic governance in Nigeria, albeit fraught with ineptitude and crass awkwardness, the president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, slips and falls while trying to board the vehicle that will convey him as he makes his way through the parade.
Some have blown the incident out of proportion to the point a video captioned, “Nigeria’s prayer at work” was made. Whatever that caption attempts to underscore is not the primary concern of this delivery. No doubt Nigerians are not having the best of times at the moment, but to dismiss with a wave of the hand what the administration is doing to put the nation on track and get her to be in pole position for recovery will be demeaning. Some of the determined steps taken by the administration are a convincing pointer to a new day. Well, as it is often said, after the storm comes a calm.
The burden of the most populous black nation in God’s world is enough to make any shoulders droop and lead to an eventual fall. The president may have fallen from the weight of worries he contends with. And, anyway, the silver lining in every cloud has inducted the president into the hall of fame of “fallers” where Biden is king. It is important we understand that uneasy lies the head that wears a crown (or cap), especially when the “crown” has the symbol of infinity crested on it.
It is heartwarming that the president rises. Also intriguing is the fact that , unlike Adam, his fall does not impact on humanity in an irredeemable way. Therefore, as we contemplate the fall, the victim makes light of it to mean doing an obeisance to democracy. As he seemed to have prostrated to the molten calf of democracy, let us all never lose sight of the Promised Land.
The metaphor of the president’s fall and rise is that rising succeeds falling and every champion aims at that. If Nigeria is today seen fallen face down, we must not despair.
Nigeria shall rise again!
