OPINION: Tinubu Is Infectious! That’s Why Opposition Can’t Handle Him
I have always marvelled at his staying power as a political gladiator long before he became president of Nigeria. Like him or hate him, you must admire Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s never-say-die attitude to life and especially to politics. The man doesn’t believe in setting boundaries for himself or for anyone. To him, nothing is beyond reach if you’re patient and strategic.
Three things happened recently that explain why the political opposition to Tinubu has always failed. I will return to that shortly.
Let me declare that I have only met Tinubu once in my life. And it was in 2008 at the wedding of the daughter of Africa’s richest man, Aliko Dangote, in Kano. He had just left power as governor of Lagos State. But by then, his name had gone far beyond him.
I was among a group of journalists who had travelled to Kano to cover the event. We ran into him among the huge crowd and tried to corner him for an interview, but he politely, almost shyly, refused. He said he also came as a guest to honour Dangote.
Since then, I have never met the man again. But my impression of him that day has not left me to date. I found him a humble, reserved, and almost self-effacing gentleman averse to self-promotion. You can hardly find two major media interviews of Tinubu anywhere. For the past 25 years, he’s bestrode Nigeria’s political landscape.
But he has since then gone on to make history more than once and ended up becoming the president of Africa’s most populous country against every conceivable odd!
I have often wondered how he managed to hold Lagos State in his grip after retiring as governor of the state in 2007. He continued to call the shots and control the machinery of the ruling party in Lagos, with everyone acquiescing to his power and influence. The opposition in Lagos has done everything since 2007 to date to take Lagos away from its grip, but it has failed. One after the other, key opposition figures, wearied by years of fruitless battles, began to cross over to his side.
How is it possible that one man has so much political influence on the most populous and most cosmopolitan state in Nigeria? His adversaries put it down to corruption. They accuse him of using his alleged humongous wealth to buy everybody to his side. Some will tell you his party would never have won any election if not for the alleged rigging of votes or suppression of voters.
I never believed any of those reasons. Money cannot buy everyone. In my coverage of politics as a journalist, I have witnessed voters receiving financial inducements at polling booths but still voting for their candidates. There are also compelling examples in several states where prospective godfathers had spent money to buy votes but still lost. Many aspiring godfathers who thought themselves charismatic have been humbled by the public verdicts at elections. I was strongly convinced that there was something about Tinubu that drew people to him.
Then, on the occasion of his 73rd birthday, Tinubu was unravelled for me and for millions of others who had long admired him from a distance. Three of his most recent aides paid him birthday tributes, which revealed the essence of the man. They helped to solve my mystery about the Tinubu persona!
Let me start with a former aide who left Tinubu in very cloudy circumstances and who you never expected to openly praise the man. Chief Ajuri Ngalele, a former special adviser to the president on media and publicity who was allegedly forced out of the villa, paid Tinubu an unexpected accolade.
In a wordy salute to Tinubu at 73, Ajuri revealed that for the brief period he worked with the president, Tinubu became his “most profound mentor” and a father “in the truest sense of the word.”
Using the metaphor of the Last Man Standing to depict Tinubu’s empathy, loyalty to friends and strength of character, Ajuri described him as “a leader who remains in your corner when all odds are against you, rooting for you and guiding you to success.”
Concluding his acclamation of the president, he wrote, “Daddy, I thank you for making the selfless and deliberate choice to use your life’s candlelight to kindle the flames of those who will illuminate this dark world for generations to come. May God Almighty strengthen you with divine wisdom, peace, health, and all that is required of you to deliver the country of our dreams.”
Then, on the same day at a State House Abuja dinner to mark President Tinubu’s 73rd birthday, Dr. Bosun Tijani, the Minister of Communications, Innovation, and Digital Economy, also revealed another side of the Tinubu persona.
Tijani, who had been a critic of the president and the National Assembly before his appointment, said he had never met Tinubu until after his confirmation as minister. “Before my appointment, I had never met Mr. President,” he had stated. “But after my confirmation, he told me, ‘I have looked at your records and activism, and I have seen there is something in you. I am giving you the opportunity to represent your country and contribute to making it a better place.”
Tijani said he had expected Tinubu to scold him because of his past criticism, but he found a hugely magnanimous man who never feels belittled by criticism but takes it in good faith. He found a man who looks beyond the faces of people. He found a talent hunter.
Recounting his first encounter with President Tinubu, he said, “I was expecting a proper scolding because of my records, but the magnanimity of the President is one that I experienced for the very first time in my life. I remember that in that meeting, some people brought out my record again and told Mr. President, ‘He said this, he did this. But the President said, ‘Shut it. ’”
The last but certainly not the least tribute was the one from Abdulaziz Abdulaziz, a senior special assistant to the President on media. In a “Quick Note” published by major news outlets on the president’s birthday, Abdulaziz also gave his take on the man.
Abdulaziz tried to give his answers to the questions, “What is unique about the president? What do I admire about him? What are the memorable moments with him?” He said observing and working with Tinubu closely had shown him the man’s attributes that many of his critics are unaware of.
He described Tinubu as a leader who is “humble, authentic and true to himself.” He said Tinubu carries no air around himself and exhibits no pride. “He relates well with his old friends, associates and staff in a convivial atmosphere devoid of the haughtiness associated with people in power.”
“President Tinubu is also very humane. As a person, he is generous and compassionate to those he can reach with his hands. He never forgot friends or families of dead associates and colleagues. He kept to that, even with his current tedious job. His good heart makes him the last person to hurt. Instead, he ignores. The president certainly bears no evil intentions against anyone or a collective,” he wrote.
It’s obvious from the testimonies of people who have been close to him that Tinubu’s large-heartedness and authenticity as a leader are the reasons people flock to him and continue to hold him in high esteem even when he held no political position. In a clime where true leaders have become scarce, Tinubu offered himself as a focal point for unity and a rallying point for progressive ideas.
This is the Tinubu that many of his critics discovered and joined him. It is Tinubu who brought one of his strongest critics, a former minister of works and housing, Adeseye Ogunleye, into the All Progressives Congress fold in 2021 after many years in the opposition Peoples Democratic Party in Lagos.
In an interview published in Punch on September 5, 2021, Ogunleye described Tinubu as the rallying point for Nigerian politics. Speaking on why he is now a supporter of Tinubu, he said the president is a knowledgeable and smart politician who needs to be studied to understand his attributes.
He said, “Who in the entire country can install the President, the Vice President, the Senate President and the Speaker? For eight years? One person! Don’t you think there is something in that person we have to admire? He would determine who was going to be governor of Imo State, Yobe State, Ogun State, and Osun State, and he would be correct. He would determine who was going to be ministers, and those people would be appointed. He would determine who was going to get appointed as ambassador, and such persons would get it. Whether you like him or you hate him, just focus on his person.
“How has he been able to get to this level? That is what is amazing to me. You see people groping in the dark: he is this, he is that, but the man has moved on. Are you going to sit down with your frustration? The man doesn’t even know that you are frustrated. This man, one single person, installed a presidency in Nigeria. Who has done so before? He is the rallying point for Nigerian politics today, and he has the background of political development; he has the knowledge. Hate him or love him.”
Need I say more?
– Tajudeen Suleiman is an Abuja-based journalist. He can be reached via tajudeensuleiman@yahoo.com
OPINION: Tinubu Is Infectious! That’s Why Opposition Can’t Handle Him is first published on The Whistler Newspaper
