Tinubu and the burden of history by Niran Adedokun

In today’s Nigeria, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, former Governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (whatever that means) is one of those who speak, and everyone listens. Arguably the most formidable political player in what is now known as the South-West zone of the country, Tinubu understands his fortune and deploys it almost without care for what anyone feels. He is the beautiful bride at whose feet every politician desiring patronage in the South-West grovels and the Asiwaju, understanding the game of politics in a way that only few others in the whole mass of Nigeria do, walks and talks power. He loses no opportunity at throwing jibes at political enemies and trumpeting his own credentials essentially comprising his avowed progressive inclination, a wealth that is endless (even by his own testimony) as well as an unbridled ability to throw verbal punches.


The other day, the Lion of Bourdillon, a sobriquet he acquired in recognition of his political prowess, told of his stupendous riches to a traditional ruler from whom he had gone to solicit votes on behalf of his choice of Governor for Osun State.
The logic of this brag was to puncture arguments that Tinubu’s insistence on deciding who becomes the Governor of Osun State was to have his hands on the resources of the state. Rather than take from the state, Tinubu said he was there to help lift its people from penury and give up to their children. Such is the confidence that money, power and influence bring on people with whom they reside.
But another significant, if not ironical, thing attending the power status is the requirement for a large dose of discretion. While money, power and influence envelope their possession with the air of invincibility, they demand a great level of responsibility, wisdom and comportment. It therefore behoves leaders to weigh what they say because those words ultimately carry a lot of authority. Unmeasured utterances very often bear error and when that happens, the human mind, naturally inclined to identifying and dwelling on the errors of leaders is unforgetting and unforgiving.
A living example is the “Money is not Nigeria’s problem but how to spend it” quote that was attributed to former Head of State, Gen. Yakubu Gowon, in the 1970s. Four decades after today, those words still haunt him like a fevered dream. Words, once said the American author, Steven Covey: “are like eggs dropped from great heights. You could no more call them back…”

There is another reason why leaders of Tinubu’s political class should measure their words and that concerns the fact that as there are people like him with oratorical endowments, so do people with the ability to interpret and discern unspoken connotations.

As such, leaders should only speak noble words, be sure of their facts and never give the impression of playing on the intelligence of their listeners. So, last weekend, while speaking at the Abiola Ajimobi Roundtable organised as part of the activities marking the 69th birthday of Oyo State Governor Abiola Ajimobi, Tinubu indicated that unnamed “political prostitutes and robbers” denied Nigeria of a vibrant Senate presidency since 2015.

Although he mentioned no names, the statement is sufficiently plain for everyone who has kept an eye on the politics of Nigeria in the past four or five years. And while politicians are free to throw jibes at one another in their unhidden desire to once again get the better of the electorate, claims like the one Tinubu made on Saturday are impeachable and suggest attempt to distort facts.

The first point to note here is that the same people the respected politician referred to as “political prostitutes” were in bed with the APC and contributed in no mean way to the victory of the party in the 2015 elections. The question therefore is at what point did Tinubu realise that these people were unworthy company, or did he realise from the outset or merely planned to use and dump the so-called prostitutes?

The fact is that these men that Tinubu referred to did not just develop the political promiscuity for which he now accuses them and agreeing to be in their company is itself indicative of the grab power by-all means ideology of the Nigerian politician. The fact that one side got the best of the other is therefore a function of the faster of the two groups of desperate politicians.

By this statement that Tinubu made, he also exposed the unbridled ambition of party leaders who would, rather than let the legislative arm of government choose its leadership, attempt to impose leaders on a branch of government on which the people should ordinarily depend for most accessible representation. It reveals the pseudo- democratic disposition of Nigeria’s most purist politicians.

What is most important however is the deceit in Tinubu’s position and the effect that the failure of the APC to take ownership of its errors and assure the nation of its readiness to be fairer to its people and the country that put it in office post 2019.

There are two things Tinubu and the APC need to do if Nigerians must continue to take them seriously. The first is that the party must watch its company. Although it sells itself as a party of honest progressive politicians, the APC has increasingly become a den of chameleons, who pretend to be one thing but are another. Unless there is a change in the meaning of the word, progressive, the APC by the brazen display of ambition and allegations of graft within its midst, need to do more to convince Nigerians of its sincerity even as it has not stopped taking on anyone who is able to add some electoral capacity regardless of how soiled the hands of such new entrants may be. Would Tinubu or some national leaders wake up tomorrow and describe these people as prostitutes?

The second thing is that the APC needs to be a bit more honest with itself and by extension, Nigerians. Nothing but the failure to administer justice and be fair to all its members denied Nigerians the best opportunity that the 2015 landmark victory of the APC promised Nigerians. If the national project, rather than the expansion of political fiefdoms and preservation of personal interests were the main preoccupation of party stalwarts, Nigeria would not only have had a vibrant national assembly, the country would have had a most cohesive Federal Government and all hands would have been on deck for the development of the country.

What Tinubu should have told Nigerians, if he wanted to be honest therefore, would have been the admittance of the party’s error first for taking on members who did not have the same ideology with the founding fathers, failing to be fair to these people when elections were won and allowing personal interests becloud the very important need to reconcile all sections of the party and move Nigeria forward with the urgency that it required.

These politicians see political parties as mere instruments to campaign for office and win elections. But political parties most primarily should be platforms for national integration and emancipation. Those who claim progressive leanings like Tinubu should do more than offer motivational speeches to impress the unwary. People like him should lead the APC on an intellectual mission reminiscent of the days when parties like the Action Group barely took a step without evidence- based reasoning provided by an intellectual arm mainly centred on advising government. Nigeria’s politics is currently devoid of any rigorous thinking, hence people like Tinubu should worry about bequeathing a political legacy that thrives on ideas rather than emotive outbursts that add no concrete value other than winning elections.

Twitter @niranadedokun