Tribute to Tinubu at the Diamond Age
No question, therefore, that the former Senator in the Third Republic, the leader and main sponsor of NADECO Abroad, the former Governor of Lagos State and the unmistakable leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) deserves to be celebrated and decorated in plumes and garlands as he arrives at the late Autumn season of […]
No question, therefore, that the former Senator in the Third Republic, the leader and main sponsor of NADECO Abroad, the former Governor of Lagos State and the unmistakable leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) deserves to be celebrated and decorated in plumes and garlands as he arrives at the late Autumn season of the Diamond Jubilee of life.
My encounter with Ahmed Bola Tinubu is most recent—beyond my from-a-distance acquaintance which had produced a mixture of marvel and curiousity—at his personage in all the years of his public and political life. I have wondered from a respectable distance what manner of man this irrepressible political moving train is; his shy visage and demeanour when you move close to him belies his startling bluntness, frankness and directness. His dreamy, rolling eyeballs behind large frames give you the mistaken impression of quietude, even timidity, again rebutting his history of political activism and explosive delivery style. His external simplicity cloaks astute managerial, even magisterial skills as a leader, a political thinker and an astute business entrepreneur—attributes which he has brought to political leadership most manifest during his eight-year tenure at Alausa as Governor of Lagos State, and now as the leader of ACH who has reclaimed the South West (indeed, the old West including Edo State) from the clutches of reactionary power.
I find Tinubu a dogged fighter and a highly principled individual, who once he is persuaded of an idea, will give his all and dare to achieve it. In 1999, his Lagos State was the sole survivor of the rampaging sweep of PDP politics. It took indomitable courage and selflessness to do battle against the Federal Government led by un-brook-able power machine of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. On the issue of constitutionalism, the rule of law and true federalism, Tinubu fought victoriously and triumphantly against the centre winning twice at the Supreme Court. First was the issue of separation of powers regarding the power of states and the federal government. His creation of the 57 Local Government councils was upheld by the Supreme Court but was brazenly ignored by the Federal government through the application of financial strangulation of the State. In spite of what the ace columnist of The Nation and my younger brother, Sanya Oni, aptly defines as OBJ’s ‘scorched earth’ vicious tactics, the Jagaban Borgu maintained his stand and shouldered on with the Local Government Areas, as upheld by the Supreme Court. As a staunch and dogged believer in true federalism ( principle of federalism) and the interrogation of the National Question discourse, Ahmed Tinubu led the battle and the resolution of numerous cases at the Supreme Court.
There is ample need to celebrate this man on clocking 60, who has led the re-invention of progressive and purposive governance in the South West, having first set the transformational foundation and model in Lagos State through his radical ideals and ideas—the taxation regime and the BRT transportation scheme are some of his foundational visions that his successor, Raji Fashola, has carried to exponential heights. We must first, by way of justifiable digression, acknowledge the vision of the choice of Fashola as his successor against formidable resistance from the party gurus. It takes a man of vision and a believer in continuity of positive governance to bring forth a man of Fashola’s mien and carriage to power. No doubt, Tinubu laid the solid foundation, through visionary leadership and entrepreneurial acumen, of modern Lagos which has truly become the model centre of excellence for the nation. At the head of ACN, Ahmed Tinubu retrieved most of the South West from the bondage and shackles of the PDD—bringing committed men to the fore of governance in those States—Oyo, Ekiti, Ogun, Oshun and Edo, with progressive intellectuals and politicians of the stature of Ajimobi, Fayemi, Amosun, Aregbesola and Oshiomhole at the helm of affairs. No matter the observed short-comings of these men, there is no questioning their patriotism and ideational leadership in attempting to bring direction, purpose and value to governance in their various states.
Ahmed Tinubu’s parade in the market of ideas, his sound principles and philosophy of change, and crusade for freedom, equity and justice, had a solid foundation in his selfless defense of June 12, his eventual self-exile in order to continue the anti-annulment struggle of NADECO against Abacha’s gulag. His leadership of the politics of opposition transcends the South West political landscape and terrain. It is a great pity that the national spread of the forces of opposition in the 2011 fell due to narrow and parochial search for personal political gains to the detriment of the nation’s well-deserved opposition culture for a thriving democracy to grow. The details of why and how the ACN and the CPC, as well as other opposition parties could not close ranks to give the PDP an impressive close-marking in that election have not been fully told, but the fresh effort that Ahmed Bola Tinubu has embarked upon across the country is a demonstration of his strong belief in the one-ness of this country and the struggle for a truly federated nation with a robust, knowledge- driven economy.
After twenty-three or so years in politics, with as many crushed landmines as imaginable, Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu has yet numerous fights to conclude, including the battle to resolve the nation’s sovereignty, which the advocates (like him) of the Sovereign National Conference insist upon. It is not certain whether the SNC is a battle that can be won, or indeed, as many have argued, need to be won. What is certain is that the nation needs and deserves men of honour, courage, integrity and humaneness like Tinubu (he is additionally a notable philanthropist) to steer its transformative (I do not refer to the transformational agenda whose indicators as blurred as previous governance ms-visions) engine. The nation needs great men of ideas, sound economic and political philosophies, and structured leadership vision to bring its dream of nationhood to realization in the twenty-first century. If Bola Tinubu continues with his manifest genuine and fearless patriotism, commitment to the national ideal and pragmatic drive toward the attainment of a truly federated nation, then there is tremendous hope of regeneration and rebirth for this traumatized country.
It is therefore rife and apt to join his numerous admirers, including those, like me, who will not be at the wining and drums-rolling arena this weekend, to wish Asiwaju a blossoming and blissful autumn season as well as a bloodless Diamond jubilee. It is also important that those who genuinely love him, and this nation, which he manifestly believes in and eloquently campaigns to rebuild, to continue to give him a critical and constructive support, being only a mere mortal with numerous surmountable faults.
Happy Diamond Jubilee, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu.