Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a name that is not new to many politically conscious individuals, not just because he is a former Senator and two-time governor of the commercial capital of Nigeria, but because he is a very formidable politician with a gargantuan political structure that spans the entire South-West and stretches even beyond the shores of Nigeria.
Political pundits will recall that he played a key role in the election of Adama Barrow of The Gambia in 2016 by deploying the use of his private jet and financial resources to ensure that the then incumbent and self styled strong man, Yahya Jammeh who had been in power since 1994 was roundly defeated; this is aside his major role in the emergence of Buhari, who has since become quite unpopular.
He is that influential and politically savvy that sequel to the 2019 polls, his party, the All Progressive Congress (APC), and President Buhari made him the Co-Chair of the APC Presidential Campaign Council, ahead of the sitting Vice-President, Yemi Osinbajo, who was given the portfolio of the Deputy Chairman.
Among the former Governors of the subsisting Fourth Republic, he is unarguably the most influential as he has determined who sits in the Round House in Alausa since he left office in 2007. He wields such influence and power that he has been dubbed the ‘Governor Emeritus’ of Lagos State.
A BBC documentary which ran on him in 2015 credits his political success to his uncanny ability to spot talents and give them opportunities to shine. His protégés include Wale Edun, former Commissioner for Finance in Lagos who nearly became the nation’s Finance Minister in 2015, Yemi Cardoso, the former Commissioner for Budget, Ogbeni Rauf Adesoji Aregbesola who served in his cabinet as the State’s Commissioner for Works, Babatunde Raji Fashola who succeeded him as Governor and current Minister of Works and Housing, and Sunday Dare, current Minister of Youths and Sports. He nominated Professor Yemi Osinbajo who served in his cabinet as the Attorney-General and Commissioner for Justice when some party big wigs scuttled his hitherto Vice-Presidential ambition by pointing out that a Muslim-Muslim ticket wouldn’t fly.
Tinubu paid his political dues in the heady days of the struggle by the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) to ensure that the Late Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola got his mandate after the June 12 1993 annulment by the then Military Head of State, General Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida.
The Nigerian nation has indeed evolved from those challenging times, and it is trite to note that with each era comes it’s own challenges.
In today’s Nigeria, the spate of kidnappings, killings and rape in the South West majorly linked to some Fulani Herdsmen has elicited wide reactions, with a general outcry against the killer herders. The emergence of Sunday Adeyemo more known as Sunday Igboho as a non-state actor in the fray has also elicited mixed reactions among keen observers of the development.
In the middle of all of this, there has been one man whose silence in the face of it all has been deafening, to say the least, his name is Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Public opinion had berated his continued silence over the siege on his people, with many political pundits ascribing his silence on the issue to a cowardly inaction and how he is a sell-out to the people because of his much touted Presidential ambition, and not wanting to ruffle feathers by offending his political masters in the North.
But would a Tinubu tow that route of publicly speaking against the President of the Party where he is a National Leader?
Let’s analyze two reasons he might not go public with his assertions, viewpoints and disposition to the issue.
First, he knows the situation in the country is volatile and any statement he makes now, whether valid can be misconstrued and interpreted wrongly by any section of the largely divided country, and as a politician who may aspire for future office, he has to be careful of any form of misinterpretation. We were recently availed of a statement he made then in the military junta of Abacha, whence it was headlined and alleged talked about that he did not believe in the oneness of Nigeria. His goof on the murder of Pa Fasoranti’s daughter is still a sore thumb and remains fresh in the memory of many.
The second reason, which to me is the most valid point is that, why go public on something when you have access to the people in power? Should a Tinubu that has access to Buhari, a Tinubu that can directly drop his suggestions, and areas of concern to the government, who can make his observations known on a person-to-person basis go public about them? That would be clout chasing and playing to the gallery.
Seemingly, it is only where all channels of communication to the government have been blocked that he can come publicly with his assertions in a volatile country like ours.
It may be fair to give him the benefit of doubt, that he still has the interest of the Yoruba nation at heart, and that he has not metamorphosed into a traitor or a modern era Afonja, as some of his adversaries are painting him to be.
The English playwright, William Shakespeare said that discretion is the better part of valour. The accountant turned politician may have heeded that saying and is not keen on wanting to overheat the already charged polity.
Time they say is the revealer of all intentions whether noble or ignoble. Tinubu’s case won’t be any different.
Arakunrin Ayoola wrote from Lagos, Nigeria.
faseyiayoola@gmail.com
