Our ears hear aplenty about Nigeria; the country I love. We hear the good; and the bad also doesn’t buzz us past. We hear of the generalised despair among the people; the kidnapping madness giving the government sleepless nights; the buckling to bandits and brandished-begging in Katsina by the state Chief Security Officer who is unable to secure his people. We hear the general dispiriting news that has always been part of the country’s way of life from way back before the nation’s Independence.
In today’s Nigeria, good news may be scanty and surpassed by the bad, but we hear a few of them too. Yemi Osinbajo’s Tradermoni may be mocked by some and given bad names by others, but that move has put smiles on faces of many indigent traders all across Nigeria. The National Homegrown School Feeding Programme providing nutrition meals to 9.8 million pupils in over 53,000 public primary schools in 32 states; and the creation of over 106,000 jobs, we also hear. Great strides by Seyi Makinde in Oyo State, Mohammed Matawalle in Zamfara; and Jide Sanwo-Olu’s silent and suave strides in Lagos, have also come to our hearing attention.
We are also hearing that certain men are set to jump into the murky, messy, and maddening waters of the 2023 presidential election. The Ekiti State Governor, Kayode Fayemi, has been mentioned, so also are the Minister of Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola; and VP Yemi Osinbajo, among many others from the South-West alone. Others will soon come out; and they will be from across all regions and ethnic blocs. But one name that buzzes big and boisterously in the ears of Nigerians is Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Jagaban of Borgu!
At the turn of times and seasons of life vested in the exclusive knowledge of God, Nigeria experiences some special breed of beings who have been marked to carry out specific assignments. These men have emboldened their footprints on the interlock of history. They raised disciples who in turn raised other votarists in a combined effort to make the country more wholesome. Tinubu is in that league of towering men. He is phat, strong, solid, savvy, hated, beloved, and an unassailable political horsepower. As hushed talks around his presidential ambition are hitting louder decibels in many circles, Nigerians now ask: Has Tinubu been sent by God to crown kings, or be crowned as one? Is he a kingmaker, or king?
His die-hard acolytes call him Asiwaju because of his leadership role in the South-West. The one-time political activist, one-time senator, one-time Lagos governor; present-time leader of the ruling party All Progressives Congress; and godfather to many politicians in Nigeria, Tinubu may be on a roll towards clinching the Nigerian presidency. It will be a long rough and torturous road where anything can happen in the process. He has not spoken a word about the 2023 election, but I have always known that Tinubu will one day throw his hat in the ring.
Those who love him are very many; and those who despise him are innumerable. I have stumbled on a few people in politics who believe their lives wouldn’t have had meaning if their paths never crossed Tinubu’s. I have also parleyed with some who loathe him and wish he were not in the big picture of Nigerian politics. If you are a greenhorn or an old, experienced horse who wants to get ahead in the cruddy game of Nigerian politics, after talking to God, you must talk to Tinubu; and God may not be angered.
Jagaban holds a two-edged sword. One side soothes, nourishes, nurtures; discovers, grooms, and grinds. The other cuts if you betray the loyalty. With Tinubu, just like many influential leaders around the globe, you must be loyal till the end. For different reasons, many people are already quietly rising up in arms against Tinubu’s yet-to-be-announced presidential foray. Many of them are members of his party. But remember that this man has been in the politicking business for a while. He is not called the “master-strategist” for nothing. The heat has now been turned up on his perceived opponents in the South-West. By Jove, they’re feeling it. Even all the way to the presidency; the heat is cranked on. It may be subtle; but it’s sweeping, swerving, and unnerving to those who see the APC leader as a stumbling block to their dreams. Ain’t that politics?
The drama I salivate to see unfold is a possible head-to-head collision APC primary election between Tinubu and Osinbajo. As sitting Vice President, Osinbajo is travelling all corners of Nigeria pushing government agenda for his boss; making friends and building networks home and abroad. The opposition against him are hydra-headed; and many from unexpected quarters. I predicted his ascension to power on August 24, 2014, in a published opinion even before Nigerians knew about him, and before he knew he would become the VP. I met him once, spending about six hours in his company. Osinbajo is loyal to his boss; committed to his country; respectful to all; and reverenced by not a few. My Pastor is humble to a fault; but be afraid of quiet and humble men. They are as tough as a nail. Some believe Osinbajo doesn’t have the balls to go head to head against Tinubu in an election match-up. They may be right; and they may be flat-out wrong. You don’t know the strength in a man until power comes. You don’t know a man’s fortitude until it’s time to express and exercise it. Unpretentious men carry some indescribable intestinal vigour. Osinbajo who walked out of a smoky, crashed helicopter without a wobble, without a limp, without a bruise, and without an excuse to stay off the campaign trail, must be tough. This pastor strutted out of a wind-torpedoed propeller helicopter as if nothing had gone amiss. Is that a man you think can be walked over by every Tom in town? Think again!
Incidentally, Osinbajo is a graduate of Tinubu’s Academy of Politics and was regarded a good student and disciple. That’s why he was recommended by Tinubu, himself, to become the VP. But will he step out to run for President in the APC primary against his mentor-benefactor-big brother, Tinubu? And will Tinubu who raised this man politically also race with him in a party primary election? A big drama is unfolding. Tinubu has an imperviously tenacious political structure that only a handful of individuals can match in all of Nigeria. Osinbajo is who he has become politically because of Jagaban’s massive machinery of men, money, and meandering of politics. Political structures aren’t built in one campaign and election cycle; they are over a long period of tough, trying, turbulent, and sacrificial time. Tinubu himself is a one-man structure. Readers, the man has paid his dues in Nigerian politics.
Should Tinubu run? Desires and ambitions are not iniquities. God wants us to have desires. But only wise men are able to separate between desires and covetousness. The call to run or not is Tinubu’s to make. In my opinion, Bola Ahmed Tinubu is bigger than a president. I believe his divine assignment is to raise men; not to race with them. I may be wrong. Love him or hate him, Tinubu is an equal match with many who went ahead of him in history. In some cases, he is more legendary. That’s why I expressed earlier that he is bigger than a president. If the final primary election push towards 2023 comes down to Tinubu and Osinbajo, I believe one will rally around the other. And who will rally around whom? Political circumstances and the general mood of Nigerians will determine that when the time comes.
Twitter: @folaojotweet
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