A public affairs analyst, Mahdi Shehu, has accused President Bola Ahmed Tinubu of acting out of selfish political interest in the recent reshuffle of Nigeria’s service chiefs.
In a statement shared on his official X handle on Saturday, Shehu claimed Tinubu’s decision was not driven by the worsening insecurity across the nation but by fear and self-preservation following rumours of a possible coup.
Citing the Bible to back his argument, Shehu quoted James 3:16: “For where you have envy and selfish ambition, there you find disorder and every evil practice.”
He argued that the scripture captures man’s natural tendency for greed and selfishness, which, according to him, Tinubu has clearly demonstrated through his actions.
“The scriptural references to man’s selfishness are well narrated and documented, with visible confirmation by man himself,” Shehu wrote.
He added that man’s “greed and insatiable economic desires” further prove his “infinite capacity for selfishness.”
The analyst accused Tinubu of turning a blind eye to the escalating violence across Nigeria while keeping the same security heads.
“The ongoing wanton killings nationwide did not prick Tinubu’s conscience to rejig his security architecture,” he said, listing incidents of mass killings and village attacks in Katsina, Zamfara, Sokoto, Niger, Yobe, Borno, Benue, Taraba, Kogi, and Nasarawa states.
Shehu lamented that despite these tragedies, the President failed to act until the alleged coup threat emerged.
“But the moment his brand of democracy came under what was officially denied yet unofficially confirmed as a coup, he acted swiftly and panicky,” he stated.
Describing the shake-up as “a coup shrouded in darkness and left to everyone’s imagination,” Shehu alleged that Tinubu only became decisive when his own political survival was on the line.
He also criticised Tinubu’s management of the economy, accusing him of keeping what he described as a “wizardly economic team” despite rising poverty and hunger.
“With 139 million Nigerians facing abject poverty and hunger, and other glaring economic failures, Tinubu is yet to sack his economic team,” Shehu added.
He concluded that the President’s actions reaffirm the selfish nature of man, “even in the face of glaring failures, until such a time when he is finally swallowed by the earth.”
President Tinubu had on Friday announced a major shake-up in the nation’s security leadership, relieving several service chiefs of their duties and appointing new ones.