Within 24 hours of the inauguration of Bola Ahmed Tinubu as the selected head of the Nigerian State, U.S. Chief, Joe Biden, sent his congratulatory messages, endorsing an unresolved victory that emanated from illegitimacy.
Petitions against the outcome of the Nigerian 2023 presidential elections are still being heard in election tribunals in the country. These petitions sprouted from illegitimate processes that found the election results and several reports of electoral malpractices from stakeholders across the country.
There were reports of violence, shootings at polling units, and thousands of voters were disenfranchised. Some law enforcement agents colluded in voter intimidation and snatching of ballot boxes.
Most egregious of all, the APC-dependent electoral umpire, the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) shrouded all petitions and hurriedly announced a winner, against the yearnings and will of the Nigerian people.
All these breaches of electoral ethics were aired and accessible to all and sundry. Even the U.S. Secretary of State confirmed that there were disruptions to due electoral processes by imposing a visa ban on some Nigerian nationals for undermining democracy during the election. For the records, Blinken announced this, 13 days before the said inauguration.
It becomes a great surprise to Nigerians and the world, why Biden should endorse such a sham.
Now, trying to glean insights from the above has necessitated an excursion into the similarities of process and character between the U.S. Democratic Party and Nigerian APC; Joe Biden and Bola Tinubu the Nigerian oligarch.
On the one hand, the DNC and APC are best at undermining democracy and committing electoral fraud. For both parties, challenging election results is nicknamed conspiracy, even with undeniable evidence. Both parties have their way of using their national judiciaries as puppets to legalize their illegalities and enthrone corruption. So far, only the numbers- “2015, 2020 and 2023” are unique for both parties. The difficult puzzle to crack becomes who taught who how to rig elections. The latter or the former? Only the intercountry parties can tell.
On the other hand, Biden and Tinubu as nominees-turned-Presidents have made historical records, being the oldest elected heads of their nations, in addition to assuming their presidential roles with some mental and physical dysfunction. Save for Tinubu’s bodyguards, he would have misstepped and crumbled as twice as Biden. Juxtaposing their public vocal blunders would raise an international investigation to ascertain who is the elder twin, despite their phenotypic differences.
This is a sorrowful comparison of the heads of two great intercontinental nations and the bottom line is that the only reason why Biden congratulated Tinubu is that they are two peas in a pod – in corruption and in fraud.
