The way it was planned is not the way it
is executed, For the Chairman and the Chief Executive Officer of
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (ABAT) LLC, these are trying times. These
times are sour and very discomforting. The times are painful and full of
regrets. The “greatest political strategist of our generation” as his
employees and ardent supporters would like to<<<<
refer to him is reeling from
debilitating political injuries. There is gnashing of teeth and mopping
of lips in the ABAT LLC. Even, for those who are not fans of the
mercantilism made for profit political outfit called ABAT LLC, the
garish groans oozing out of Bourdillon has been eliciting pores of pity
and chasms of empathy.
The Chairman and the CEO of ABAT LLC is no other person than Asiwaju
Bola Ahmed Tinubu himself. He has been a lonely man in recent days. No
place could be lonelier than a wilderness, especially political
wilderness for someone who lives and breathes politics. From the look of
things, the “greatest political strategist of our generation,” has
strategized himself out of relevance and serious contention in the
political dynamics of the All Progressive Congress, a political party
that was his brainchild to a very great extent.
Through overconfidence, carelessness, naivety, contempt of and for
history, disrespect of elders and odious knack for cold-blooded acts of
political perfidies, he has strategized himself into trouble waters. The
trouble waters do not seem to be ordinary, they are hot trouble waters.
And because they are hot trouble waters, they burn and hurt very badly.
To his credit, he is bearing his cross very silently and stoically. He
is taking the hand that fate has dealt him. He is licking his wounds in
secrecy while putting up appearances of a satisfied and satiated
political godfather. He is pretending that all is well when all is out
of sync. He has become emblematic of the good old saying, “Not all that
glitters is gold!”
The present administration led by President Muhammadu Buhari would
never have seen the light of the day if not for Asiwaju Tinubu. His
contributions in so many ways are public secrets. It is not something
one should dwell over again in this piece. One is just giving this a
mention because it is very telling when someone of Tinubu’s caliber, a
political godfather of no small means, one who has made and unmade many
political careers and ambitions, has been reduced to political invalid.
And from the feelers that are out there, like the Americans would often
say, “he ain’t seen nothing yet!” The extent of humiliation that Asiwaju
Tinubu has been subjected to by the Buhari Presidency he empowered
could only be fathomed when it is realized that Tinubu could not boast
of any candidate in the cabinet of President Buhari.
From Lagos State, Babatunde Fashola, one of the sworn enemies of
Tinubu was appointed to his chagrin. He could not stop it despite all
his efforts. In Ogun State, Anambra born Yoruba retired General Olusegun
Obasanjo – Onyejekwe, nominated the Minister of Finance, Mrs. Kemi
Adeosun. From Oyo State, President Buhari chose the gubernatorial
candidate of his political Party, CPC, in the previous election, Alhaji
Bayo Shitu as Minister. From Ekiti State, former Governor Kayode Fayemi,
the man with a conundrum of fraud allegations around his neck and
ankles, who was another beneficiary of Tinubu’s godfatherism went behind
him to ingratiate himself with Buhari to get a Ministerial appointment,
again to the chagrin of Tinubu.
In Osun State, when Raufu Aregbesola’s second term election was on
the ropes, Tinubu went to prostrate to former Governor Olagunsoye
Oyinlola to get support for his protégé. The promise given to Oyinlola
was to give him the Ministerial slot of Osun State. And indeed his name
was sent to Aso Rock. This was until another powerful politician from
Osun State who had stones to grind with Oyinlola went there behind
Tinubu to complain to President Buhari. President Buhari then asked the
powerful politician to bring in substitution and the rest is history.
Ondo State has never been under the influence of Tinubu and he had no
say whatsoever on who was nominated. Mr. Claudius Daramola used his
Northern connections from his school days in Sokoto, Zaria and Jos to
gain the confidence of President Buhari.
The power base of Tinubu is supposedly the Southwest States. For the
untutored and the gullible, Tinubu is still the most powerful politician
in this hemisphere. But for those who understand the dynamics of
politics, Tinubu is fast becoming what the Yoruba calls “agbunrin esi.”
While things might still take a new turn, which indicators are at
variance with, it is evident that the once stronghold of Tinubuism is
fast dissipating if it has not already dissipated. What is currently
subsisting is a star that is gradually dimming as a result of uncouth
politicking inebriated with absence of etiquette and basic values that
civilized humanity has come to hold dear.
But this is not an unexpected outcome for a for money/profit
mercantilist organization like ABAT LLC dubiously appareled in political
garb. An organization that is founded on the sole principle of money
making through the appropriation of political power for individual ends
as opposed to the peoples’ interests and the advancement of the society.
The individualism that forms the basic tenet of Tinubuism and the
operational philosophy of ABAT LLC is functionally related to the series
of treacheries that define its character and form the seeds of its
destruction that is presently unraveling.
The apogee of Tinubuism was 2012. In the years leading to that point,
Tinubuism was riding the waves. It had displaced and replaced the
original Afenifere leadership and branched out to sponsor and control
Afenifere Renewal Group. Tinubu had undercut the Alliance of Democracy,
betraying those who paved the path to Lagos governorship victory for him
and became the godfather of Action Congress. He deceived the former
Vice President Abubakar Atiku and dangled the AC presidential ticket in
his face only to sell him out at the last minute. He repeated the same
perfidy with Nuhu Ribadu who became so frustrated he had to go and join
PDP.
Before that time he had faced down the political vampire called
Olusegun Mathew Okikiola Obasanjo-Onyejekwe. Tinubu fought
Obasanjo-Onyejekwe to a standstill and refused to be bullied. He was the
lone survivor of all the AD governors during the reelection of 2003.
With his AC and control of Lagos, he had strategically conquered Osun
State, followed by Ekiti State. Oyo and Ogun were later to be added to
the price. The success was pulsating. He imposed governors and senators
across the land. He imposed members of Federal House of Representatives.
He disregarded the grassroots and the feelings of the voters who did
not seem to have a better alternative to the PDP as he forced a lot of
unpleasant candidates down the throats of the Yoruba voters.
He began to feel his own sense of invulnerability. He began to see
himself as something other than ordinary. He felt and began to act like a
god. His confidence became imbued with ebullience to the point that he
publicly insulted all the Yoruba Obas calling them unprintable names. He
was walking in the clouds when he liked and walked on water when he
preferred. He was riding high beyond his own expectations. He has found
himself where he did not expect to be. Tinubuism became the domineering
philosophy on the political landscape of Yorubaland with pockets of
spineless opposition here and there.
When Ondo State resisted the advance of Tinubuism with the help of
Dr. Segun “Iroko” Mimiko, in 2012, Tinubuism in the Southwest started
receding like a jaded and fading “Ankara cloth.” From that year, cracks
in Tinubuism began to show for those perspicacious enough. At that point
in time, the crises between him and Kayode Fayemi had begun to fester
to where Tinubu decided to raise a protest candidate against him for
re-election. The crisis led to the weakening of the APC that Governor
Ayodele Fayose came to exploit to kick the party out of Ekiti State.
Tinubu’s woes became metastasized by Aregbesola’s messing up of Osun
State to the best of his ability. He did everything to please his
godfather. He even destroyed historical schools allegedly to pave way
for the ever-expanding business of his mentor in defiance to the crying
and wailing of the people of Osun State. Governor Abiola Ajimobi was
glad to be part of the ACN but did his best to maintain his
independence. He refused to lick the boots of Tinubu and was not
enthused about paying homage at Bourdillon. Governor Ibikunle Amosun
also did not seem to enjoy bootlicking. He maintained his dignified
distance from Tinubuism while working diplomatically with Tinubuists.
Fashola was getting into trouble in Lagos for trying to be his own man.
It was the same thing that got Fayemi into trouble in Ekiti.
This was the point at which the need to get rid of the hapless
President Goodluck Jonathan became imperative. The “greatest political
strategist of our generation” had the legitimate ambition to become Vice
President. He could not trust former Vice President Abubakar Atiku as
the flag bearer of the APC. The fact that Tinubu had previously betrayed
Atiku after Atiku had done him the biggest favor of his career was
scary to him.
He was afraid of payback. But Atiku
was not and still is not that kind of a man. In spite of all his
failings, Atiku has a big heart. Regardless, the sinner would always run
when no one is in pursuit. So in Buhari lies Tinubu’s alternative.
Buhari too had some hard feelings. The hard feelings had been about
alleged act of treachery on the part of Tinubu. But Buhari was willing
to be patient to get what he wanted.
Tinubu schemed. Buhari too schemed. As soon as Buhari got elected, he
declared “he belong to everybody and belong to nobody.” He courted all
those who disliked Tinubu and made them his close friends. He sidelined
Tinubu and turned him into a spectator as the administration took off.
When Rotimi Amaechi insulted Tinubu at one of their meetings, Buhari did
not dissuade him. He allowed him to do so without let or hindrance.
Though Nasir El-Rufai brought Amaechi to Lagos to prostrate and
apologize to Tinubu in Bourdillon, it was to ensure the Southwest votes
and the victory of Buhari.
Buhari, without engaging in a public fight with Tinubu reduced Tinubu
to a spectator without any influence in this administration. Not only
did Tinubuists lose the Senate Presidency, but they also lost the
Speakership of the Federal House of Representatives along with some
principal offices. The Tinubuists have no one in the cabinet. The Vice
President Yemi Osinbajo nominated by Tinubu has been turned to an
ordinary passenger by the Buhari handlers. He is an outside insider in
the administration. Osinbajo has been locked out of security meetings
and made to understand that he does not belong. Though, this has been
denied to save Osinbajo, and by implication, Tinubu his mentor, any
embarrassment. But the truth is Osinbajo was actually locked out.
When Tinubu nominated Mr. Femi Falana for the position of Attorney
General of the Federation, there was a groundswell of opposition not
just from Tinubu’s enemies in the Southwest but also his detractors from
across other regions. This was not because Falana had so many enemies
or was unqualified, but it was simply because he was nominated by
Tinubu. If Falana had pursued that office on his own without the
albatross called Tinubu around his neck, he might have succeeded.
Everything Tinubu touched became ashes. Everyone he supported became a
loser. It became a big problem for ambitious politicians to identify
publicly with Tinubu at the national level. Everyone began to be
diplomatic in the manner and way they distance themselves from the God
of Bourdillon.
Across the Southwest, the only governor still faithful to Tinubu is
the man called Aregbesola. Yet he has more than anyone inflamed hatred
for Tinubu in Yorubaland because of his incompetence and mismanagement
of Osun State. Already, Governor Akin Ambode is complaining in private.
Hopefully the bubble would not burst into the open. A mention of
Tinubu’s name now is met with hisses. And some curses in most places.
Now with the existential crises facing Nigerians across the country,
Buhari has become unpopular. For every minute that Nigerians remain in
darkness because of lack of electricity they rain curses on Buhari.
For every additional naira they have
to pay for petrol they rain curses on Buhari. For every additional
naira Nigerians have to pay for a “congo” of gaari, rice, beans or dawa,
they rain curses on Buhari. This is more especially so when majority of
Nigerian workers have not received salaries for several months. As for
the people of Southwest, every time they rain curses on Buhari, they
have never forgotten to rain curses on Tinubu and all those who helped
him to impose Buhari on Nigeria.
In the crannies of Bourdillon, there is bounteous regrets and moping.
There is gnashing of teeth, mopping of lips and zapping of noses. There
is finger biting and sweat wiping. There is a nagging disbelief that
all this could happen.
There is a lot of pinching to nudge
themselves into reality if this is a dream. But all this could have been
prevented if they had listened to advice; if they had taken history
more seriously and learnt from it. It is evident that the Tinubuists
have miscalculated. They have not only miscalculated, they have been
inflicted with double jeopardy. The first jeopardy is that they lost out
on everything and have no substantive post in this administration. The
second jeopardy is that Buhari is not performing and this has made
Tinubuists objects of passionate anger, deep disgust and rueful curses
from amongst the people.
Some have insisted that no one should grudge all those who benefited
from Tinubu only to betray him. They pointed out that the old guard
Afenifere who paved the path to Alausa government house for Tinubu was
betrayed by him too.
It was noted that other than the
betrayal of the old guard Afenifere who have been subjected to serious
campaign of malice from Tinubuists, Tinubu also betrayed a lot of others
for his own personal benefit. Victims of Tinubu’s political treachery
were said to include former Vice President Abubakar Atiku, Mallam Nuhu
Ribadu, President Goodluck Jonathan (from whom he allegedly got so many
sweet business deals), President Obasanjo-Onyejekwe (himself a
born-again traitor), and President Buhari himself among several others.
All these are being contextualized in the aphorism “He who lives by the
sword dies by the sword.” By implication, “He who lives by treachery
dies by treachery.”
“In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been
granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I
do not shrink from this responsibility – I welcome it.”
– John F. Kennedy, in his Inaugural Address January 20, 1961
