ANOTHER LOOK AT TINUBU’S 2023 RUMOURED PRESIDENTIAL AMBITION -BY ABIODUN KOMOLAFE
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| Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Lagos State and national leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress, APC. |
Rumours are rumours! But, if, indeed, there is any substance or element of truth in the rumoured presidential ambition of Bola Ahmed Tinubu, then, he will have to take some serious steps for it to become a reality.]
Charity, they say,
begins at home! For him
to be sellable to the
majority of Nigerians, Tinubu must metamorphose into that political leader and presidential candidate with the most intense national
outlook, farthest outreach, and most acceptable leadership character! He has to
start working on the homogeneity of the Yoruba aspirations for a start. And there is only one thing that can unite the race, which the
late MKO Abiola got right! MKO, as
he was fondly called, was able
to reach out to the people through objective philanthropism; objective, because he has research fellows who did the subtle underground job for him! That the All Progressives Congress (APC) National
Leader is a cheerful giver, who helps
a lot, has never been in doubt! However, the
notorious truth is that Tinubu funnels lots of money through channels which may not percolate to
the nitty gritty of the people as anticipated! Of course, that’s an avoidable
error! Any distribution mechanism adopted by a campaign organization must be pragmatic, driven and assertive! For
affective effects, the
core-but-voiceless Yoruba people must be reached, and their burden alleviated. Limitation of reach, the concomitant loss of confidence in government, and frustration
of the mass of the people may be veritable reasons why a section of the race seems
unimpressed by his philanthropy.
To make the job easier for Tinubu, the Southwest has to be one; and behind him. Impliedly, he has to
come as the true Asiwaju
of Yorubaland by going
above all the structures to reach the core of the Yoruba race, reconciling
factions, without
necessarily relying on his long-known-but-now-not-so-effective approach.
Impliedly, the former Lagos State governor needs image makers and
people who can do scientific survey explorations that can help him take
decisions that will be hard to fault. Yes, Tinubu remains a visionary and
master planner who can come out
with amazing things. However, he also
has to showcase that true leadership quality and assurances that he can deliver to
the people. On this, he has Lagos State to use as an example. As its Chief
Executive for eight years, he didn’t construct or commission bridges or stadia while his tenure lasted
but he laid the plans for a new Lagos. Today, the ‘Centre of Excellence’ is a megacity to behold.
In 2019, the margin of
victory between APC and the People’s
Democratic Party, PDP, in the Southwest zone of the country was just 51% of
the margin of victory between the former and the latter, incidentally,
Nigeria’s main opposition party, in Jigawa State; and 28% in Katsina State. In
2015, it was much better: 82% and 49% respectively! This goes to show that
Tinubu has a lot of work to do, first, in Yorubaland - which currently looks
like a battleground - before going to other zones. For the party to make any meaningful impact in the 2023, APC, to
which Tinubu subscribes, must embark on sincere internal cleansing. It must
‘conquer itself from itself’ in order to accommodate today's realities and
dynamics.
That the ruling party currently behaves
as if it has exclusive rights over Nigeria; and as if it is the only party
which has solutions to Nigeria’s leadership-inflicted problems is no longer news. This is not only troubling, it is also capable of threatening this
once-in-a-lifetime dream. Yes,
Nigeria might have had leaders who became presidents without home support.
However, with a man like Tinubu and what he has done for humanity in and
outside the zone, a loss at home will not only demean his status, it will also
cast a negative political slur on the collective negotiating capacity of the
Yoruba race.
The truth of the matter
is that all politics is local and political practice in this part of the world
is a game for the highest bidder; which, again, boils down to prebendal
politics currently threatening Nigeria’s fledgling democracy. The ruling party
must rise above the rumblings and the grumblings currently troubling its
Israel, with a view to becoming focused, cohesive and well-integrated. It is
then that it can speak with one voice from the Southwest and negotiate with
other regions on its choice of candidate. Otherwise, the party will not do well
because structural problems and internal frictions within it could ruin
everything!
For Tinubu himself to
make waves, he must also have a firm grip on few of his trusted confidants, or
kitchen cabinet. These men of honour must be willing and ready to work for him
and in his interest. A system that carelessly empowers wrong hands and cronies
who only end up as political liabilities and traitors is not only politically
counterproductive, it is also suicidal. Incidentally, those who knew nothing
about the struggle, or were even perhaps against the progressives when the
struggle for the soul of Nigeria was hot and scorching, have, like a chameleon,
worn the garment of the progressives and are now using our hard-earned democracy as identity vehicle to traumatize, even, demonize the real
guys. And that’s why it can never be real because they were never progressives.
All said, Asiwaju’s rumoured presidential bid, if there is any meat in it,
requires tact and diligent planning. It requires ability to do things right and
do the right things. It demands being efficient and being effective. In this wise, the Jagaban
of Borgu must
consider an urgent need for a
comprehensive Research Centre that has international standard. Nigerians will
no longer tolerate leaders who are bereft of ideas and credible
facts; one who cannotmarshal relevant information at their disposal.
In this digital age, our president can no longer afford to be moving around
with Nigerian Television
Authority (NTA), National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) or those aged, jaded, third-party statistics that have no
bearing on current trends. That is why, many a time, the projections of our
policies are wrong because they are from a faulty premise. The same reason
Nigeria’s president will have to get to Chatham House in London before making
policy pronouncements on Nigeria. Of course, that is why a man, who is going to lose an election tomorrow, will be fantasizing on
how he would be inaugurated as president of the country.
May the Lamb of God, who
takes away the sin of the world, grant us peace in Nigeria!
v
Komolafe
writes in from Ijebu-Jesa, Osun State, Southwest Nigeria.
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