It appears there is no limit to the odium Nigerians will suffer at the hands of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who now seems to be no longer content with ruling Nigeria; he appears determined to rename the entire country in his image. What began as a trickle of tribute is now a torrent of narcissistic rebranding; a reckless orgy of self-aggrandizement in a nation reeling from economic hardship, insecurity, and disillusionment. By renaming institutions he did not build, while the architects of those structures are still alive, Tinubu, the Emperor of empty glory, is stealing history. It is an act of intellectual brigandage and moral fraud. A leader who cannot earn the love of the people through performance instead seeks to burnish his name onto monuments, hoping concrete can cover up failure. The president’s approval ratings are plummeting. Discontent is rising, especially in Northern Nigeria. And instead of confronting this with humility and reform, Tinubu has chosen the path of egotistical self-celebration. In doing so, he is building a mausoleum of ego – a towering edifice of shame that will haunt the pages of Nigerian history.
By any stretch of the imagination, Tinubu is obsessed with engraving his name on every stone, plaque, and public building in Nigeria. His monumental narcissism has crossed the line from vanity into dangerous delusion. The latest insult? The International Conference Centre (ICC) in Abuja, built in 1991 by General Ibrahim Babangida to host the 27th OAU Summit, has been renamed the Bola Tinubu International Conference Centre after a N39 billion “renovation spree” ordered by FCT Minister Nyesom Wike. This same center was originally constructed for N240 million, yet over thirty years and countless national crises later, the Tinubu government somehow justifies spending an obscene amount on a facelift while millions of Nigerians can’t afford a basic meal. IBB, the man who built the ICC is still alive; but Tinubu, the man who did nothing to build it now owns its name. This is not just an affront to national memory; it is a grotesque act of self-idolatry. The ICC is an architectural symbol of Nigeria’s international engagement. It was never Tinubu’s to claim. Yet here we are, in 2025, witnessing the systematic colonization of national heritage in the service of Tinubu’s desperate thirst for self-immortalization. This is not honor. This is not history. This is hubris.
And this is not an isolated episode. It’s part of a deliberate pattern; a grotesque exercise in state-sponsored vanity. In just two years, the Tinubu name has been slapped on: Bola Ahmed Tinubu International Airport, Minna – previously named after Abubakar Imam, a revered Northern literary icon. There is the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Barracks, Asokoro; a newly built army facility in the heart of Abuja. Also, there is the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Polytechnic, Gwarinpa; a new tertiary institution in Abuja. In addition, there is the Bola Ahmed Tinubu National Assembly Library and Resource Centre, launched in May 2024 under the nose of lawmakers who should be safeguarding democracy. Besides, there is the Bola Ahmed Tinubu Immigration Service Technology Complex, named while the agency struggles with basic service delivery. As if all these were not enough, a bill for the Bola Ahmed Tinubu University in Abia State is making its way through the National Assembly, pushed by Deputy Speaker Ben Kalu.
What next? Bola Tinubu Expressway to Heaven? Bola Tinubu Cathedral of Redemption? Nigeria is fast descending descending into the cultish pageantry of dictatorship. What Tinubu once refrained from as Lagos governor – when he displayed political grace by naming Western Avenue after slain rival Funsho Williams – he now indulges in, feverishly and without shame. Where does all this nonsense end? Will Nigeria soon become the Federal Republic of Bola Ahmed Tinubu? A democracy becomes fragile when its leader develops a taste for immortality, not through deeds, but through plaster and signage.
This level of self-worship would be farcical if it weren’t so dangerous. In every despot’s playbook, the cult of personality is a prelude to authoritarianism. While former presidents and founding statesmen showed restraint, Tinubu has shown only obsession. Olusegun Obasanjo built the National Stadium in Abuja, but it was not renamed after him. Babangida built the ICC, yet didn’t inscribe his name across its gates. These men had their faults, but even they recognized that a nation’s legacy belongs to its people, not to the vanity of its leader. Worse still, some of Tinubu’s praise singers are indulging in spiritual blasphemy; converting Christian hymns into political anthems, replacing “God” with “Tinubu”. Senate President Godswill Akpabio was recently seen leading one such perverse chorus. Tinubu, a Muslim, may not fully grasp the depth of this sacrilege, but he is now complicit in a dangerous mythology: that of the man-as-messiah. This is not legacy-building. It is legacy-looting.
Why this sudden turn to narcissism? Analysts point to dwindling approval ratings, especially from the North, and the bitter disappointment that has replaced the myth of Tinubu the master strategist. With an economy in free fall, inflation bleeding the average Nigerian dry, and insecurity devouring entire communities, the president appears determined to make history not by leading it, but by labeling it.
This vainglorious renaming spree is less about legacy than about compensating for a failure to lead. It reeks of desperation – a man attempting to burnish his name into stone because it cannot find purchase in the hearts of the people. It is authoritarianism wearing agbada.
To name a monument after yourself while people can’t afford rice is not just tone-deaf – it is tyrannical theatre. It is to play emperor while the Republic starves. In the infamous words of Percy Bysshe Shelley’s “Ozymandias: Look on my Works, ye Mighty, and despair! Nothing beside remains.” Tinubu must understand this: a name on a building does not equal immortality. Nigerians are not fooled by this façade of greatness. The people want governance, not granite; they demand competence, not cultism.
It is not too late for President Tinubu to reverse course. Let him order the immediate reversal of the ICC name. Let him halt this disgraceful campaign of self-glorification and remember that true legacy is not what you name after yourself, but what you build for others. In a country as wounded and weary as ours, the president must decide: does he want to be remembered as a nation-builder or a name-engraver? Let it be known: true greatness is not carved in marble or cement, but in the hearts of the people. Nigerians remember heroes who built, not those who branded. As poverty deepens, the Naira falters, and hope dims, citizens have no need for buildings with names – they need jobs, security, and justice. Mr. President, this is your moment to walk back from this cliff of self-deification. Restore the dignity of public institutions and focus on restoring the dignity of your people. History is watching and history will remember. And it does not suffer fools kindly. And it has no tolerance for vanity kings.
