Since Saturday, February 23, when the Presidential and National Assembly elections held across the country, the media space both offline and online, have been saturated with a myriad of opinions from apologists of various political interests.
This is natural, expected and considered to be in order, given the relevance of the election to the country’s democratic experience and general development. With this, it could be said that we are all enjoying one of the beauties of democracy which allows everyone to air their opinions freely no matter how rigorous or ridiculous it may sound. However, for our democracy and the country to grow, it is our responsibility to promote opinions that can foster peace and enhance development.
It is from this background that one’s attention was drawn to two write-ups, namely, ‘Otoge: Saraki Down , Tinubu Next’ by Dabira Olorunfemi and ‘After Saraki’s Fall, is Tinubu Next’ by Fredric Nwabufo’s. While no one can begrudge them for expressing their opinions on the subject as they have done, it is considered necessary to address some issues they raised and to put them in the right perspectives. As a rule, it is not in my character to rejoice at the misfortune of a fellow human. Only people of small minds gloat over the downfall of others. To this end, I’m saddened that the political career of our Senate President, Dr. Bukola Saraki, suffered a setback on Saturday but I believe the bones shall rise again.
Having said that, one should not be wrong to say Messrs. Olorunfemi and Nwabufo’s goofed in trying to apply what happened in Kwara to Lagos politics. From their names, except they use pseudonyms to push their hatchet jobs, I know they are not from Kwara State. They committed what is known as error of false equivalence in logic. I am not from Kwara State too and I do not have any relationship whatsoever with Bola Tinubu of Lagos. Though from Ekiti, I live in Lagos and well acquainted with Kwara politics as the place is a second home for me.
Between Tinubu and Saraki’s Style
From whatever angle one chooses to look at it, drawing parallel between Tinubu’s politics in Lagos and Saraki’s in Kwara, should be seen as illogical, confusing and dishonest. Like any other politician, it is natural for Tinubu to rally support for candidate of his choice. This, he has religiously been doing since 2007, when he handed over the reign of power as Governor of Lagos State to the current Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola. Yes, he damned the consequence and campaigned for Babatunde Raji Fashola in 2007 against all odds and Fashola won. Perhaps as the captain of the ship, he knows his followers inside out and knows who could consolidate on his achievement in office. Few months after Fashola took over,Tinubu was vindicated for his position as everybody, including his political foes, agreed that Asiwaju had taken the best decision. Fashola did not only succeed as a leader, he delivered on his electoral promises for everyone to see. At a time, many Lagosians started referring to Fashola as the Obama of Africa because of his eyes for details, quality of job done and progressive policies he promoted. By the time Mr. Fashola would complete his two-term as governor, he had become a beautiful bride in Nigeria political space that everybody wanted to associate with. It was not however a surprise that he was considered fit to oversee three solid ministries under President MuhammaduBuhari present administration.
Fast forward to 2015, Tinubu again promoted Akinwumi Ambode, a quintessential administrator and chartered accountant. Again, because Ambode was not known prior to that time in politics, most Lagosians considered him to be a wrong choice. Save for the political intrigues that scuttled his second term re-election attempt; it is on record that Ambode, like Fashola, took Lagos to a progressive level in the area of infrastructural development. This informed why the decision not to feed him for reelection attracted criticism from various quarters. But as explained by Asiwaju himself, the issue was beyond him. Of course, those of us who are not stakeholders in Lagos politics witnessed how top leaders in the politics of the commercial city insisted he would not run. Within and outside Lagos, Tinubu as a leader discovered and produced many political leaders, technocrats and scholars, who cannot be shoved aside anywhere in the world. The list is endless.
If Tinubu’s sin is that he has helped his people to grow politically and help his country to develop economically, then the likes of the late Obafemi Awolowo, late Nnamdi Azikwe and late Ahmadu Bello were the greatest sinners Nigeria had ever produced. Between 1960 and 1983, Awo, Zikand Ahmadu Bello’s political progenies occupied the country’s political space and everybody celebrated them. It is still in history books how Awo singlehandedly settled for Chief Adekunle Ajasin in Ondo state, Prof. Ambrose Alli in the old Bendel state, Cornelius Adebayo in Kwara and Bisi Onabanjo in Ogun State. It was only Uncle Bola Ige that insisted on going for a primary election with his former teacher, the late Archdeacon Emmanuel Alayande before 1979 election in Oyo state. The leader reluctantly accepted, knowing well that the two men were men of quality personalities. Surprisingly, Chief Bola Ige defeated his former teacher, the Venerable Emmanuel Alayande in the primary election. It is also in the history books how the Great Zik of Africa discovered Chief Adegoke Adelabu (aka Penkelemes), an ebullient Ibadan politician of note and used him to expand his political frontiers in the Western region. Till he breathed his last, Adelabu, the grandfather of the current APC gubernatorial candidate in Oyo State, Adebayo Adelabu remained a Zik’s follower. Then what are we saying? Except that the duo of Dabira and Nwabufo were hired to discredit Tinubu’s leadership ahead of the March 9 gubernatorial election in Lagos, their submissions are, at best, a product of bad belle and petty belly aching. Tinubu may have his minuses, we all have, but one thing that cannot be taken away from him, is his foresightedness and ability to discover talents and leaders that can impact positively on the society.
Back to Saraki, much as I will not like to run the Senate President down, the outcome of last week’s election simply showed the angst of a people that were determined to let-off the hook of political dynasty. He is an achiever too and he reached the peak in his choosing careers; medicine, banking and politics but anybody who is familiar with Kwara politics will attest to the fact that he took his people for granted. Saraki got carried away with the dogmatic following of his people. He forgot to learn from history that people get wiser every day, especially when education and exposure are factored in. He compared today’s Kwara with the Kwara of 70s and 80s, when the number of educated elites in Ilorin could be counted on the finger tips. Rather than re-jig his political strategies, BukolaSaraki still stay glued to his late father’s template of giving out handouts to his followers. He relied on his popularity among the talakawas, mostly women and praise-singers who thronged his Ilofa Street, Onikanga, GRA, Ilorin for a cup of Elubo (yam powder) and N500. His failure at the polls didn’t start on Saturday, it dated back to few years ago but Saturday was only the day of reckoning. Three months ago, after returning to Lagos, following a week visit to Kwara, which took me to many towns and villages on a research, I told those who cared to listen that with or without any federal might, Saraki and his candidates would fail in this year’s election.
Development in Kwara under Saraki
While writing on Tinubu in the opening of this write-up, I have dwelt a little on the developmental strides in Lagos. I do not know if the writers of the two write-ups under reference have visited Kwara in recent time but I have traversed the state many times in the last 20 years. Between 1999 and 2000, I ran a coaching class on Taiwo Isale, Ilorin and I lived in Balogun Gambari House at Gambari area; and as a Journalist, I have been to Ilorin on many occasions to report culture, politics and government activities. At every occasion, I could not but ask myself if the people were doomed. Kwara State, from which Kogi State was later carved out in 1991, was created in 1967, while Ondo State, from which Ekiti was later carved out in 1996, was created in 1976. Today, I say it without any apology that the infrastructural developments in Ilorin, Offa and Omu-aran put together cannot match what successive administrations in Ondo State have done to Akure in the last 15 years. From Owo to Ondo town, Ikare-Akoko to Okitipupa, everybody sees cities but from Oro to Ajase, Lafiagi to Oke-Onigbin, you see people living in squalors. Yes, under BukolaSaraki as governor, there is an evidence of a state university, a diagnostic center and an aviation college. Under Governor Abdulfatah Ahmed, a Saraki’s protégé in office, some of these structures are still being referred to as the administration’s achievement as if the two administrations are one. But Ahmed aides are always quick to refer to the Geri Alimi’s tunnel under construction as a major achievement. It’s only a sadist that will dismiss the argument but the fact that it has remained under construction for over six years has defeated whatever value it would have added to the administration. In Lagos, under four years, Ambode conceived and completed overhead bridge in Abule-Egba and Ajah axis while the Agege’s own is nearing completion. In Ekiti, former Governor Ayodele Fayosealso conceived and delivered an overhead bridge in less than four years. In Ondo,Mimiko conceived and commissioned about 150 projects within eight years. In Osun State, Aregbesola did the same thing and changed the face of Osogbo, Gbongon, Ikire and other cities under eight years. In the same manner, Governors IbikunleAmosun and Rotimi Akeredolu of Ogun and Ondo Stateshave achieved more than Saraki and Ahmed’s 16 years, put together, in infrastructural development in Kwara State. Under Kayode Fayemi as Ekiti State Governor, between 2010 and 2014, one infrastructure or the other was built in all the villages and towns across the 16 local governments in the state. It is therefore pointless to argue on the pole apart world of Kwara and Lagos. Are Kwara people jinxed? Don’t they deserve good roads as in Ogun, Ondo and Osun? I charge Olorunfemi and Nwabufo to go to Kwara civil service commission and make enquiries about welfare and salaries of workers. I am sure they will recant their submissions on finding out that Kwara civil servants received the lowest salary in the country. What offence have they committed? Of course, it will also interest the promoters of the anti-Tinubu’s story that roads in Kwara are nothing to write home about. It is on this note that the people of the state have continued to commend the Federal Government for the construction of Mokwa-Jeba road and the ongoing work on Ilorin-Omupo-Ajas-Ipo roads.
On a final note
I do not need anybody to tell me that the recent attack on Tinubu is a calculated attempt to de-market Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Lagos new poster boy. It will be counterproductive because those who know Sanwo-Olu closely have promoted him through words of mouth to the extent that any attempt to run him down will only make him more popular on the street. Since 1999, Sanwo-Olu/ Hamzat candidature is the first team that receive immediate buy-in from Lagosians without stress. Despite the huge acceptability, they have never allowed that to go into their heads, they are daily on the streets campaigning for votes through continuous showcasing of their manifestoes.
Olorunfemi, in his attempt to appeal to emotions even dragged in Ambode as if he is fighting for the Epe born politician. “For Ambode’s sake, many voters in Lagos will not sleep. They will avenge the injustice melted to the governor with their thumbs” he had said in his article. For me, this is nothing but a self-serving statement, sent out with the purpose of setting Lagosians against the ruling party. Like the two writers and many commentators have pointed out, no political dynasty lasts forever. I agree too but one of Tinubu’s staying powers for now is that unlike Saraki, he doesn’t sees or treats Lagosians as 2nd class citizens.
Finally, instead of calling a dog a bad name in order to hang it, why shouldn’t the writers appeal to their sponsors to go out there and campaign to win the election? Blackmail will not do it but strategy.
Akingbolu writes from Lagos.