For many Nigerians, Mr. Ahmed Bola Tinubu is the quintessential Nigerian politician: cunning, calculating and ruthless when he needs to be.
As Nigeria returned to democracy in 1999, Mr. Tinubu was elected as governor of Lagos State, Nigeria`s center of excellence. He quickly proved himself as no slouch in the increasingly treacherous game Nigerian politics have become. Nigerians remember the defiance with which he took on the Federal Government when allocations due to his state were withheld for months by Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo as president in spite of a subsisting judgment of the Supreme Court.
He did not only lay the blueprint for the excellence Lagos State today enjoys in so many areas, Mr. Tinubu was also able to cultivate extensive political roots that today form the base of a strong political network of people who will do anything for him. This would have been unsurprising if it was limited to Lagos, traditionally Tinubu`s forte. However, that support for Mr. Tinubu cuts across the entire southwest is a marvel in itself.
Indeed, in the buildup to the historic 2015 general elections, Mr. Tinubu played a crucial role in the formation of the All Progressives Congress which handed the ruling Peoples Democratic Party a surprise defeat to completely change the dynamics of Nigerian politics. Many of his ardent followers consider Mr. Tinubu a political juggernaut for good reasons.
Ahead of the 2023 general elections which is less than 365 days away, Mr. Tinubu has made no secret of his intention to succeed Mr. Muhammadu Buhari who has entered the twilight of his administration. In fact, so open has Mr. Tinubu been about his ambition that he can be said to have begun a campaign that is anything but subtle. He usually of few words has already had some choice ones in support of his ambition as well as in rebuke of those who think he does not have what it takes to lead Nigeria, and there are many of them.
Mr. Tinubu`s ambition may only be at an embryonic stage because he still has to scale the formidable hurdle of obtaining the ticket of his party, the All Progressives Congress, but already, it is one which is sharply dividing Nigerians.
Many Nigerians have stridently questioned his age, source of wealth and dreams for Nigeria if he eventually becomes president given how badly a party he helped form and ease into power has faltered not just at the national level but across many states in Nigeria.
Questions about Mr. Tinubus age are valid. When Nigeria elected a 72-year-old Mr. Muhammadu Buhari as president in 2015, it was because the cyclonic force of the mans personality cult and the crying need to do away with the abysmally poor Peoples Democratic Party had rendered many valid questions about his health and temperament redundant. However, in the course of seven years marked by countless medical trips abroad and a cabinet of curious decisions, many have come to reflectively rue the choice they made as they stood under the sun in 2015 and again in 2019.
With advancement in age comes deterioration of mental and physical capacities. This is the reality of nature`s tyranny and so far, man has been unable to stop or even slow it down. At sixty-nine, Mr. Tinubu has clearly begun to feel the nibbles of age as life serves him its twilight. Because everyone will eventually walk that path, crudely uncomplimentary jokes about his age and health must be seen as rather unfortunate. But there is no escaping the fact that in 2023, Nigeria needs a president who is the very picture of health.
Questions about Mr. Tinubus source of wealth are just as valid. Unverified sources peg him as one of Nigerias wealthiest politicians, if not wealthiest men. The question then naturally becomes, where did all his wealth come from? Apart from politics through which he gained access to humongous public funds which accrued to Lagos every year while he was governor, what else did he venture into? What else does he do today?
If questions about his source of wealth seem uncomfortably invasive of his privacy, it has to be pardoned because in a country where corruption publicly contests the rights of certitude and rectitude to superintend over public affairs, those who occupy public office must be above board if Nigeria is to beat back intractable corruption.
There are rumours that Mr. Tinubu has Lagos State in his pockets. If Nigerians are to line up behind his bid to go to Aso Rock, the air must be cleared on this.
With Mr. Tinubu angling for the presidential ticket of the All Progressives Congress and former vice president Mr. Atiku Abubakar vying for that of the Peoples Democratic Party, a battle royale is very much upon Nigeria.
However, the ambitions of both men make for particularly uncomfortable times for Nigerias young people and the Not Too Young To Run Act so dear to many hearts. The handwriting on the wall is that the much-vaunted legislation which held effusive promises for Nigerias young people to fill up the corridors of power is poised to become one more item in Nigeria`s copious and conspicuous heap of toothless legislations.
The rights the Constitution of the Giant of Africa gives to the every Nigerian hardly discriminates along the lines of health or age. However, those who seek to lead Nigeria must be well advised that the Giant of Africa cannot be effectively led by the frail and infirm whose cupboards may just be crawling with skeletons.
Kene Obiezu,
keneobiezu@gmail.com
