The campaigns are almost here. The political turf in the country is getting heated up. Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), one of the frontline contenders for the job whose candidature has introduced a new paradigm into the nation’s political climate. His person and performance in private and political life appear to be generating intense interest across political divides.
From the Independent National Electoral Commission’s (INEC) record, 16 parties will be fielding candidates for the presidential election scheduled to hold on February 25, 2023. The 16 parties in the saddle include Accord Party (AP), Action Alliance (AA), the African Action Congress (AAC), African Democratic Party (ADC), the Allied Peoples Movement (APM), the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA), the All Progressives Congress (APC), and Boot Party (BP). Others are the Young Progressive Party (YPP), the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Labour Party (LP), Zenith Labour Party (ZLP), National Rescue Movement (NRM), Social Democratic Party (SDP), Peoples Redemption Party (PRP), and Nigeria New Peoples Party (NNPP).
Among the parties, it is generally believed that three are strong contenders. The three are the APC, the PDP and the LP. While the PDP is embroiled with internal squabbles between its presidential candidate, former Vice President Atiku Abubakar and some leaders of the party on one side;the Rivers State Governor Nyesom Wike, alongside with some chieftains in the party, are also locked in a battle, which may affect the fortune of the main opposition party.
The LP presidential candidate, Peter Obi, has been using the social media to connect with Nigerians. However, many political pundits have dismissed Obi style, saying elections are not won or lost based on social media. Interestingly, Tinubu has been using the period to consolidate by reaching out to political juggernauts within and outside his party. Also, he became the first to have a documentary chronicling his educational attainment and his service to humanity both in private and public service.
At least, two eminent Nigerians also testified to Tinubu’s exploits as a student of accountancy at the Chicago State University (CSU) and an auditor with Mobil Oil Producing Company.
According to the documentary, which described Tinubu as a ‘Pathfinder of New Lagos,” described how the APC presidential candidate spent his early life in Southwestern Nigeria. He was said to have later moved to the United States where he studied Accountancy at Chicago State University. He returned to Nigeria in the early 1980s and was employed by Mobil Nigeria as an accountant, before entering politics as a Lagos West senatorial candidate in 1992 under the banner of the Social Democratic Party.
His political journey was, however, truncated after the former Head of State, late Gen. Sani Abacha, dissolved the Senate in 1993. Thereafter, Tinubu became an activist campaigning for the return of democracy as a part of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) movement. Although he was forced into exile in 1994, Tinubu returned after Abacha’s 1998 death triggered the beginning of the transition to the Fourth Republic.
Prior to his foray into politics, Tinubu was said to have performed excellently as a student of the CSU where he graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in accounting. This was confirmed by one of his old associates in the prestigious university. Pa Kunle Adedayo, a fellow alumnus, Chicago State University, United States and a Co-founder, Tastee Fried Chicken, attested to the educational attainment of Tinubu while he was a student in the prestigious university. According to him, Tinubu was a distinguished student, who did not only perform creditably well, but also became a tutor to his classmates and other students in the university.
“Asiwaju is friend of my youth, a brother and a jolly good fellow. Bola and I were fortunate to have attended the same Chicago State University (CSU), United States, but I was a year ahead of him. Bola studied Accountancy and many can attest to the fact that he was an exceptional student so much so that he was a tutor and an academic mentor to his classmates and other students. Bola is a genius. It was not surprising that he eventually graduated with distinction from the prestige university.”
After his completion of his studies, the documentary revealed, Tinubu worked for the American companies Arthur Andersen, Deloitte, Haskins, & Sells, GTE Services Corporation, P&G and GEC. In 1983, Tinubu returned to Nigeria and he joined Mobil Oil Nigeria, where he later became an executive of the company.
Speaking on his outstanding record while in Mobil as an auditor, Pa Pius Akinyelure described Tinubu as a very active, proactive individual who he also possesses the quality to think ahead his peers. Akinyelure, a former Director with Mobil, attested to the fact that Tinubu’s track record while in the employ of the company endeared him to the management so much that the company was not willing to let him go when he decided to resign from private practice to serve the public.
“When Bola Tinubu came to us in late 1983 to attend an interview for the position of an auditor in our audit department, he did the interview excellently well and we had no choice than to offer him the job. He came in and his performances were great and excellent. He is an individual who is very active, proactive and thinks ahead of his time. We appreciated him and loved him.
“But in 1992 when he came to us that he wanted to go into politics, we were surprised because he was doing very well with us. We also told him that he was one of the people tipped to take over the post of a finance director. But, he was adamant. Then, we had to release him. However, due to his sterling performance, we said to him to return to his job in the event that he loses (the election). He left and the remaining is history that we all know today.”
The documentary also featured Tinubu’s foray into public service when he first offered himself to represent Lagos as a senator in the Upper House of the National Assembly. He was said to have recorded the highest vote in the country as at then and he served as the Chairman, Senate Committee on Banking, Finance, Currency & Appropriations.
Though his service alongside others was truncated due to military incursion, Tinubu joined forces with others to resist the military government and enthrone democracy in Nigeria. During the struggle, the documentary revealed how the military junta reached out to him to jump ship and support the government, but it said that he declined such offer and insisted on democracy. This, according to the documentary, made him to be one of the politically exposed persons during which he nearly lost his life after losing property to the struggle.
nrelenting, Tinubu joined the struggle with others to support the presidential bid of late Moshood Kasimaawo Abiola (MKO), who flew the ticket of the Social Democratic Party (SDP). Sadly, the democratic rule never came to be as the military government cancelled the election described as the freest in Nigeria. Tinubu, as one of the arrowheads of the struggle to actualise Abiola’s mandate, the military junta reached out to him several times to jump ship and come over to their side, but he refused to betray his principled commitment to democratic struggles.
This made the military to go after him with others who stood against the said annulment. Tinubu was charged with treason, detained and his house was fire bombed. He eventually had to flee the country for his dear life. His wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu and her children had to be flown to exile. While in exile, he remained committed to the struggle, making several sacrifices to help in ending military dictatorship.
Tinubu has remained true and loyal to MKO Abiola even till date to ensure that his memory never fails. One of Abiola’s children, Hafsat Abiola, at a public function spoke glowing on how Tinubu has been supportive to bereaved family.
The documentary also noted how Tinubu returned to Nigeria in 1998 to heed the call for all Nigerians to come together to rebuild his fatherland. A year later, he began his two-term service as a governor, Lagos State, on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). Tinubu’s governorship service brought Lagos alive and that showed that he was fully prepared for the job. As Lagos governor, Tinubu took Lagos from a jungle to a mega city. He came prepared to serve; he came with a plan and blueprint to succeed. Tinubu inspired a 25-year Development Agenda of Lagos, which helped to build the infrastructural renewal, revenue breakthrough and related reforms in the state. One of his core priorities as the governor was security. To achieve this, he retained the initiated Rapid Response Squad (RRS), which was a joint patrol team consisting of the army, navy, air force and the police. He repositioned the team through training and supply of equipment. These boosted the morale and competence of the men of the RRS.
Also, the documentary revealed that Tinubu brought vision, vigour and vitality to governance that made him to improve on some of his predecessors’ achievements, including Col. Mobolaji Johnson (rtd), late Lateef Jakande and Gen. Buba Marwa (rtd), among others. The documentary concluded that his contribution has made Lagos to be a model of good governance.
In his words, Tinubu said: “When we came in as a democratic government in May 1999, the situation was precarious. We came into a jungle and an uncivilised environment. There were mountains of refuse all over Lagos; schools without roofs; no single ambulance to save lives. You can imagine where we had hospitals without single oxygen to save lives. Civil service environment was chaotic. The state was in total chaos and disorganisation.”
But, due to his managerial acumen, Tinubu was able to transform Lagos with a lot of societal ills to a mega city, increased its internally generated revenue and set in motion developmental plans for the state, the documentary said. When he assumed office in May 1999, Tinubu promised 10,000 housing units for the poor. During the eight-year period of his being in office, he made large investments in education in the state and also reduced the number of schools in the state by returning many schools to the already settled former owners. He also initiated new road construction, required to meet the needs of the fast-growing population of the state.
Tinubu said: “I have been an individual with an irreversible commitment to democratic rule and the rule of law. This will continue to be my abiding principle.”
At the inception of his administration in Lagos State, Tinubu inherited a state that was almost bankrupt with a total budget size of a little above N14 billion, while the state internally generated revenue was approximately N600 million monthly. Yet, the public sector wage bill was N800 million. The implication was that Lagos State was largely depending on the allocations from the federal government. This was grossly insufficient to rebuild the state that has been largely neglected for a long time.
On why he had to rejig the state’s revenue, Tinubu said: “No matter how brilliant you are and no matter how brilliant your idea is, it dies on the shelve of thinking if you cannot back it with revenue.” This, he said, made him to go beyond the box and turned around the financial fortune of the state from a meager N600 million in 1999 to N8 billion in 2007 when he left the office.
Governor Babatunde Fashola, his successor, built on Tinubu’s performance and the IGI of Lagos became N15 billion monthly. Through meticulous financial prowess of Tinubu, the N14.2 billion budget size of Lagos grew to N240.86 billion in 2007 when he handed over. It is significant that during Tinubu’s time, the budget performance was always above 60 per cent.
On governance, he said: “I have converted the liabilities confronting Lagos to assets of great value. Along Ozumba Mbadiwe, we used to pick dead bodies. People have forgotten truck pushers along that corridor. That corridor used to be the dirtiest all through Lekki Corridor. I brought private investors to turn many refuse dumps to goldmine, which created economic recovery path for Lagos.
The idea of a light rail project was originally conceived by the first governor of the state, the late Alhaji Lateef Jakande. However, the project could not be consummated before the civilian administration was terminated by the military in 1983. When he took over as the governor of Lagos State, Tinubu revived, reviewed and expanded the idea to not one but seven light rail projects in Lagos State to reduce over-dependence on road transportation and traffic congestion. He said: “What I set out to achieve for myself, I’m achieving it. I’m achieving success. I’m an architect, a builder, a developer. I know it very well, the architecture of the vision in public sector governance. I left Lagos better than I met it,” Tinubu added.
The documentary that was produced by Tunji Bello, Segun Ayobolu, and Louis Odion, was directed by Dele Alake, former Information Commissioner, Lagos State
Credit-THE NATION
