Our Elders say if by way of ignorance a man doesn’t know anything of the physical properties of an elephant because he hadn’t ever seen one, couldn’t he understand from the trumpeting sound he heard the animal makes that the elephant has to be a very large animal?
I look back today and I am filled with remembering. Too many of us are of course an unobservant people with low attention span and short memory. So it is usually difficult for us to draw knowledge and wisdom from past events even if they happened right in our presence.
Let me assist you today.
I have been tracking the progress of Bola Tinubu since 1991 when he became a public figure in Lagos and I have the privilege of closely monitoring Lagos grassroots politics through my mother, even before then, so I can tell you a few things that I know.
- Do you know that from DAY ONE in 1991 when Bola Tinubu joined Nigeria’s partisan politics, then practically unknown and from the private sector, he has had his eyes on the Nigerian PRESIDENCY? He moved through the ranks, slowly, steadily and assuredly, painstakingly plotting his schemes, connecting dots and building networks while he FOCUSED on his ambition without been overtly ambitious. He was always just being a single man.
- Do you know that in that same year of 1991, when he joined, he was immediately in the political team of the late Shehu Musa Yar’adua?
He was with men like Chief Yomi Edu, Chief Dapo Sarumi & co.
In that year, a man like Alhaji Ganiyu Olawale Dawodu [G.O.D] was the “GOD of Lagos politics”. His word was law! Prof Agbalajobi, Abiodun Ogunleye & others were top gladiators.
There was Chief Richard Ẹ̀gẹ́ and Alhaji Badmus in the old Ojo LGA. Men of Timber and Caliber. There was Alhaji Hamzat, father of current Lagos State Deputy-Governor. There was Senator Anthony Adefuye in Somolu. These men were powerful politicians who have been there since the time of Kiriji.
It was in the days when former Lagos State Governor, Alhaji Lateef Jakande was in the height of his glory. Bola Tinubu moved in and torpedoed ALL of them. It took Babangida’s cancelling everything of politicking in 1992 to rescue them from Bola Tinubu.
Till this day you hardly hear or even remember the names of all these people in Lagos politics.
But Bola Tinubu has outmaneuvered all of them. One Man!
- Do you know that after than cancellation, being a fresher into Politics of Lagos, Bola Tinubu contested the Senate seat of Lagos West zone, the largest?
Do you know that he contested the primaries and main elections ONLY ONCE and he won?
Do you know that but for Bashorun MKO Abiola, in consideration of whom he stepped down, Bola Tinubu could have become the President of Senate in that years? The One Man.
- Do you know that this same man was a right-hand man of Bashorun MKO Abiola and was one of the chief brains and strategists behind the Jun 12 campaigns?
- Do you that by the time Abacha started his madness, Tinubu’s name was flying about and he was one of the topmost targets of the Strike Force? Do you know that Bola Tinubu was one the major financiers of the NADECO?
He escaped. This One Man!
- Do you know that as at 7th of July 1998 when Bashorun Abiola was murdered, the NCP was very much set to hand over its ticket to Engr. Funso Williams?
When Abacha died, the Afenifere already REGAINED control of Lagos State politics. Alliance for Democracy was already formed and Funso Williams again was ready to take it on a platter of gold. Do you know that Bola Tinubu took that ticket from AD and Funso Williams and went ahead to win the Guber elections AT FIRST ATTEMPT?
Just ONE MAN.
- Do you know that since that election of 1999, Chief Ayo Adebanjo has been on Tinubu’s neck?
Tinubu fought Lagos Power centers until they all caved in. He had focus and a plan for Lagos and NOBODY would be allowed to derail it. He knew he MUST ensure political stability by way of continuity in Lagos State and plotted his schemes through the bandits democracy that Nigeria was. He gathered all the tools of the Godfather and he used them efficiently and effectively.
Bola Ige was taken out in the days leading to the 2003 Presidential Elections. In 2003, Gen. Obasanjo launched the most terrifying campaigns by the Establishment against South West Progressives. Do you know that it was ONLY Bola Tinubu who survived amongst the six Governors of the Yoruba SW? Do you know that for another Four years, the same Obasanjọ was on his neck, deploying the full force of Igbo Zionists on this same man?
On this ONE MAN.
- Do you know that as Obasanjo was pushing from Abuja, bribing and instigating men like Musiliu Obanikoro to sabotage Tinubu’s political structures, funding and empowering the Igbo Zionists and bridging them into Lagos politics to add more pressure, Bola Tinubu continued forging ahead, his eyes on the ball.
This ONE MAN!
- Do you know that this man left Lagos Government house in 2007? He left and for 16years and till today his name is ringing not only in Lagos State but around the federation and beyond the shores of Nigeria.
Very few people will remember the names of Tinubu’s colleagues at the Federal Council of States. They have all gone into oblivion and irrelevance. But Bola Tinubu remained till this day.
Everyday since 2007 Tinubu’s name hasn’t left the lips of Nigerians all over the country and beyond.
This ONE MAN!!!
- Do you know that this man was quietly working in the shadows since 2007? For 16 years, he TOOK NO APPOINTMENTS but steadily building arsenals, buying goodwill, solidifying his structures, scheming, focusing and working towards his goals?
He knew exactly where he was headed. He knew what he wanted. He waited patiently for the PERFECT OPPORTUNITY. It came in 2015 and he took it like the man who had been WAITING for it.
He weathered the storm, harassments and betrayals of Buhari’s 8 years. He remained focused and eyes on the ball. They blackmailed him with Yoruba matters and he was constantly on the needles yet he managed the intricate politics.
They visited #Endsars on Lagos in 2020 just to warn him off his dream, a very plan calculated to derail his focus and possibly kill him. He rose to the occasion. At some point the rumour mills said he was in Paris, UK, and different places in the world whereas he had gone “underground” and all the time holed up inside Lagos Island.
He patiently waited like a vulture for the 8years of Buhari. He was deliberate, always calculating, never tried to step out of line but focused on his goals.
This one man!!!!
- Do you know that Bola Tinubu was the VERY FIRST to officially declare his intention for the Presidency while it was rumour machines spreading the intentions of others?
Again he was intentional. He followed well-calculated angles. He went FIRST to President Buhari. He addressed the PRESS. He went straight to ALÁÀFIN Ọ̀YỌ́.
RIght from that day in February 2022, Bola Tinubu’s name was on every lips in Nigeria, enemies and friends.
The country witnessed what was visited on one man the WORST OF HATE CAMPAIGNS NEVER BEFORE seen in our history. NOBODY has gone through such in Nigeria. Not even Chief Obafemi Awolowo was that HATED amongst the Igbos? Tinubu HATRED was just about equal amongst some sections of Yoruba people. It was just too much, the multiple calumnious campaigns.
Yoruba people have NEVER realized the depth of HATRED which oozed from the direction of the South-East of the country. NEPA, CBN, NNPC and all Kimmy centers of the Cabals conspired against him.
The Presidency conspired against him. His own closest confidants, the likes of Osinbajo and Rauf Aregbesola turned their backs on him. It was enough to demoralize any man but not Bola Tinubu.
This man wasn’t derailed. He was FOCUSED on his goal!!! He won the PRIMARIES AND GENERAL ELECTIONS OF NIGERIA’S PRESIDENCY AT FIRST ATTEMPT.
- Do you or can you think about a President or Leader in Nigeria’s 64-year history who has been as much hunted, haunted, vilified, persecuted, hated, blackmailed and harassed for so long and so consistently as this ONE MAN called Bola Tinubu? I can’t think of any!
For 25 years they have been on him. From DAY ONE of his Presidency they won’t give him even an inch of breathing space. Not even Babangida and Abacha combined with the strength of Miliary dictatorship experienced such from day one or were able to overcome it when it eventually came. Till today Babangida hasn’t known peace even out of the Presidency and Abacha won’t sleep well in his grave.
This man called Bola survived it all.
He has survived a gruelling journey of economy reforms, even outright removal of fuel and forex subsidies, stepping on powerful toes everywhere. And he is still there, calm and focused as always.
This ONE MAN.
- This is the man you are aiming to torpedo his Administration, an administration he has been putting in place for 34 YEARS of his life. And you think he has survived for this long being stupid or myopic?The joke is on you all. The man has always been a step ahead of his adversaries.
Have you studied the man? Do you have an idea of his childhood and what made him?
The little we know of his childhood should make any drunken fool become sober. He should be a whole course of study in school of advanced political and social studies
That ONE MAN.
- He is a child of destiny. A man well groomed in the house of wisdom. This man is well-grounded in street wisdom, very intelligent and with far-reaching foresight.
He has insight. He is well “cooked”. A man who dreams with open eyes. I hear he hardly sleeps more than four hours a day.
A man who has been planning for 34years when you were busy misbehaving about. That is the man you have been chasing. I am sorry for you!!!
- In conclusion, our elders say when you pursue a man for too long and you don’t catch up with him, it is best to leave him alone. It is a strong advice from our ancestors. If you don’t leave him alone you just may encounter the spectacle of the proverbial maggots inside bowl of salt.
Àkànbi Ọmọ Olódó ide. He is no ordinary man.
He is the DON, student of Machiavellian school.
He is not infallible. He has his many flaws like all mortals but I assure you, from the little I know of that man, he is not going to be an easy push-over by anybody.
Bola Tinubu will draw the roof over the whole Nigerian contraption before you are able to derail him. And even that will make him one of Nigeria’s greatest.
I say it again, Bola Tinubu will be Nigeria’s BEST PRESIDENT EVER. I salute him. ON HIS MANDATE I SHALL STAND!
Adedamola Adetayo is the Convener of Igbimo Omo Yorùbá Foundation.
