Lately it is common news in columns and pages of social media to read venoms, vituperative and verbal attacks on the person of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and these barbaric acts started immediately after his Party APC won the elections and became a ruling party the attacks to me are irrational,inhuman, base less and unreasonable.
But before I’m tagged a Tinubu apologist let me quickly state here, and it is a fact in public fora that l defected officially,openly,and publicly from APC to PDP on January 21st and till now l have got no reason to regret that action and l don’t have plans of returning to APC either now or in the nearest future or am l writing this to curry the favour of Tinubu? The answers to the above questions is NO, but I’m writing this on good conviction with open and objective mind maybe because l cut my teeth as politician with the progressives from the SDP days to AD to ACD to AC to ACN to APC .
In my entire lifetime l have met Tinubu closely just three time and those were in my days as member of ACN State Working Committee and none of the meeting went beyond handshakes but at those times l have seen in Tinubu the great leadership traits that reside in the best of men,Firm,Focus,Kind, Charismatic and decisive.Hence even in my wildest dream l never believe that vilification and persecution can come as result of being an arrow head to a successful outing hence the campaign of calumny and the pull him down project which is coming at quite alarming rate against Tinubu beat my imaginations,The criticism against Tinubu can be classified into three group, namely
(1) Those who feel feel he is too greed and corrupt and that he want to have his hands and eyes in everything
(2) Those who feel it is his family that is getting everything,they will tell you Tinubu was a Senator/Governor,his wife is a
Senator, his daughter is lyaloja and his in-law was a House of Rep member
(3) They are those who feel he is overbearing, over ambitious and that he is a regional leader.
Before l tackle these group appropriately and one by one,my personal investigation showed that those smear campaign to crucify Asiwaju at all cost are been sponsored, mastermind and spread by his hitherto beneficiaries people he installed as governors deputy governors and cabinet members but who envy his new status as the king maker,and with APC victory they became his overnight producers, detractors, albatross and nemesis and they are actively collaborating with outside enemies in harbouring bitterness against their erstwhile benefactor and in the process they are involving in backbiting, subversion, treachery, undermining, lies, deception, greed,avarice, covetousness, morbid and inordinate ambition all in attempt to be relevant in Buhari government.
According to Harold Lasswell: Politics is who get what,When and How? but do we call this Pull-Him-Down Project politics? what is the basis of this forceful hand twisting power struggle and involuntary retirement push? though there is nowhere where power is giving out and up a la carte but there is suppose to be some decorum in this elite game but how successful they will be in this their pursuit remain to be seen in unfolding scenario, because Tinubu himself is a deft fighter,,a consummate strategist,a political warrior with lots of experiences at his arsenal. Or how can people who few years back are known as celebrated sycophants,military apologists and bootlickers will have their memories and eyes shut down by inordinate ambition to compete with Tinubu or have they forgotten Tinubu antecedents, struggle and efforts to bring in this CHANGE in government.
l remember Tinubu in those military days when he put his life on line with others to fight the military juntas just to achieve the democracy we are presently enjoying,what of his days in exile, shutting and roaming many countries capitals using his money to sponsor NADECO and Radio Kudirat or is when he returned to Nigeria with just $2,000,5 shirts, 3 jackets and 3 trousers while all his properties were already confiscated by military government? Or should we talk
about his days in SDP in 1992 when he could have become the Senate President if not for his party and Abiola interest in the Presidency which led to Iyorchia Ayu becoming the Senate President? Or is it in 2003 when PDP swept the whole South West but for his political sagacity he remained the last man standing, He was the Governor who was picking his Commissioners and Special Advisers from other Southwest States so that he can use them to plant his party again in the States and like mustard seed planted in the midst of thorn struggling to survive,from Alliance for Democracy he moved and formed Action Congress and merged with ACD and from there to ACN and from the only surviving state which was Lagos ACN got five other States making six,most of the people Tinubu started AD with had fallen by roadside, ln ACN with all his energy,honour and charisma he merged with other like-mind progressives and formed APC and for the first time in the history of Nigeria he brought the dream of the late sage Chief Obafemi Awolowo to manifestation with opposition becoming the ruling party in the country.
Who can count the number of people Tinubu has made Governors, Deputy Governors,Commissioners, Special Advisers,Chairmen and Board members, Party Leaders and Excos,Contractors? or many he had given appointments in LGAs and LCDAs and lately he just made another of his loyal follower a Vice President of this great country, and most of these people he never knew them from Adams but through recommendations or do people expect him to give appointments to un loyal members? but is it wrong to give to your households the largesse you give to outsiders if they are qualified? ln Yoruba land it is even sacrilegious to send other people’s children an errand you cant send your own children, what is wrong in Tinubu wife being a Senator or his in-law being in the House are they not Nigerians? Don’t they pay taxes? Are they not qualified?
Even Jesus said “Food that is made for children should not be given to dogs” ln 1963 ln Action Group days Chief Awolowo was the Party Leader and was the Party gladiator, ln 1979 same Chief Awolowo was his Party Leader and Party Presidential candidate while his son Oluwole also contested and won a seat in the House of Assembly in Lagos did the world come to an end? In 2003 in Kwara State,Chief Olusola Saraki made his son Bukola Saraki the current Senate President the Governor, he made his daughter Gbemisola Saraki the Senator,His son Laolu Saraki the Presidential Adviser to Shehu Musa Yaradua and his son Ope Saraki a Special Adviser to the Governor on Students Affairs,and the earth remains.
In U.S the names like Bush,Kennedy,and Clinton continue to dominate national politics, in lndia, politics is incomplete without mentioning Gandhi,so what of the Ribadus,Yarduas, Obasanjos in Nigeria? so why will Tinubu case be an exception? Though naturally human beings love men who are like candle who give light others while its bottom is in darkness, or like sewing machine who sew clothes for others while it is naked,To the second Group l want them to know that Politics is the biggest investment in the world and it is highly expensive and capitally intensive and on its own politics is a big industry,and to be a successful player and politician you must be a professional,a bourgeoisie or a capitalist,I’m always surprise when people talk of Tinubu wealth and investments,for one,most of his businesses are here in Nigeria giving employments and creating wealth and saving our country a lots of capital flight,can same be said of other politicians?
What about his giving culture, no journalist or pro democracy activist during Abacha junta won’t attest to his generosity infact if it were possible for humanity to return excesses like we have in budgetary situation Tinubu would have too much kindness return back to him.
Lately too I’m surprised at the many overnight disciples of Buhari,where were all these people during the APC Primary and campaigns? if not for Tinubu, Buhari could not have been the President today or was is not the same Buhari who had contested three times previously but then nobody seems to remember all these his integrity and anti corruption stance until APC repackaged and gave him publicity hype, It was the same Tinubu that used his overwhelming influence to move the National Convention
from Abuja to Lagos,.
I was an APC National delegate in the December 10th convention and l also doubled as State Coordinator for Atiku Abubakar for the convention.
l must confess that if not for Tinubu there was no way Buhari would have won the Primary election because most of the delegates from the Northern States were there for Atiku and Kwankwaso and we in Atiku Camp were already smiling in anticipation for victory,lt was the same Tinubu that use his overwhelming influence (which is now called overbearing) to twist and wipe the delegates from the entire South zone on line for Buhari it was that day that l learnt a New Politics ,Hon Abike Dabiri (another Tinubu loyalist) who was the compere set the tune for Buhari victory that night when she introduced Buhari and eulogised him by calling him “an Anti corruption Czar” thereby indicating where Tinubu interest was,then Tinubu was not overbearing.
Also during the Presidential campaign and tour of States all the VIP we were seeing with Buhari are Tinubu, Fashola, Fayemi, Bamidele, Olorunnimbe Mamora , Oyegun,Osibajo and other Southerns, were are all these overnight power blocs and Fulanis blocs,so truly success has many relatives.
To worsen matter is the latest comparison of Saraki with Tinubu this is disgusting and nauseating, apart from the fact that Tinubu first became a Senator 23 years ago, long even before Saraki thought of coming into politics,Tinubu would have even been a Senate President at his first attempt if not for his respect for his party, and even in 2015. using an acceptable channel, his loyalist still became the country number two man.
Let me conclude this write up by quoting from MKO Abiola autobiography “To Make Whole Again” He said when he bought his first helicopter in 1976 and used it to carry his father from Lagos to Abeokuta he said his father asked him “How many people in this country has private helicopter and he said he replied that presently was only him, he said his father then told him “This is novel Idea you will need to exercise a lots of patience because people will always hurl stones and pebbles at tree that has fruits”
so to Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, You are a big tree with lots of fruits so you need to exercise lots of patience as stones and pebbles will be thrown at you because opposition ruling in this country is a novel idea, so you are a pacesetter, My personal advise is for you Asiwaju to critically study this, “is Southwest real cut for the the government at the centre (Federal) because being in the mainstream has never paid us? Won’t it be better if the country is restructured and each zone is allowed to develop at its own pace? Think of this?.
And to all Tinubu critics the indisputable fact remains that “Tinubu did not come into politics as a poor man” and you must start to learn how to believe. in Luck or what will you call the success of those you don’t like,though to me, Tinubu may not be a saint but he is a GREAT Man,continue your work,time and posterity will vindicate you.
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