Senator Ahmed Bola Tinubu doubtless has been on the front line in the pro-democracy struggle for many years that returned Nigeria to civil democratic rule fourteen calendar years ago. The dark-goggled Gen. Sani Abacha had many pro-democracy activists hit in the gloomy-ridden days of his wicked reign. Some ideological opponents of that regime among whom is the above-named, I can recall from dim memory methodically took an unceremonious exit overseas. These really were dark days in our nation’s political history that spelt out dark vision of the future.
By a sheer twist of fate Gen. Sani Abacha died with his boots on and that marked the end of the wicked reign of a despot masquerading as a liberator. This doubtless could be likened to the Victorian liberal stereotype of tsardom. In 1999 Asiwaju and all others who were exiled from their country by the late dictator returned to chart a new course for Nigeria and we all applauded their return with Tinubu gaining his foothold in Lagos.
Tinubu ruled Lagos for eight calendar years which subsequently provided a springboard for the opposition following the merger that culminated in the All Progressives Congress (APC). From Lagos he proceeded to capture the states of Ogun, Oyo, Osun, Edo until the merger that gave the mainstream opposition other states which were formerly under PDP, CPC and APGA control. This merger doubtless enlarged his dynasty and made him a tin-god and often deified by a good number of his partisans. It would be recalled that immediately after the merger the dynasty under Tinubu became like the Stalinist leadership which rehabilitated pre-revolutionary cultural figures who were first seen as liberators from the ruling People’s Democratic Party’s ”misrule”
Soon after a moment , I saw that the self-styled liberators lacked many of the vital characteristics necessary in proficient rulers. Thus, I foresee the ‘dynasty’ morally doomed to collapse resulting from various internal petty squabbles in the party’s heirachy and in their states that have gone berserk with an arsenal of guns and bombs further compounded by social maladministration , dynastic intrigues , myopic attitude to governance and gross incompetency of the governors in APC-controlled states. The sensational merger has increasingly become a nine day wonder resulting from sheer inability to transform their states to the proverbial El-doraldo of which Nigerians in these states urgently stand in need.
Bola Tinubu’s political alliance with the northern gladiators expressly sent signals to Nigerians that they had come to rescue our country from the throes of PDP ”misrule” characterised by deep political and cultural imperfection which told on the ability to adjust to the cultural and economic increase on the country. Rapid industrialisation , the tsarist autocracy under Tinubu told us , would be seen in the states they control but fortunately or unfortunately these have been none other than airy promises!
Nigerians who sum up courage to claim their promises long after the merger are still being labelled as ”PDPs” – criminals and laggards who do not mean well for the country which is unfortunately not the case but I , for one , really have not seen any giant stride recorded by them which they want to see replicated at the centre or non APC-controlled states.
Having governed the most prosperous state in Nigeria – Lagos – which is a demanding task for even the most passionate and talented monarch, regrettably; Tinubu is neither. We have it on good authority that he was raised in a sheltered world and as a result he was out of touch with the needs of the common people. Soon after the assumption of office by his hand-picked successor a reign of terror commenced with an elitist policy that set him at loggerheads with the hoi polloi that voted them to power. It is an action they have been regretting to this day.
Fashola, Adams Oshomole , Aregbesola and other defunct ACN governors have been ruling in an autocratic manner and are not prepared to make any changes to the organisation and structure of the states they control. The present imbroglio in Edo State is a case in point.
These men in stead of listening to the people unlike the newly sworn-in Fayose of Ekiti State are not connected with their people but take advice solely from Tsar Tinubu, the Bourdilon overlord who sees himself to be ‘chosen by God’ to fill the role as the nation’s leader. These high-ups are doubtless influenced or egged on by a tribe of imbogins .
Empty vessels , they say , make most sound. The public has become bleak with the condition of things and disconnected with these men and Fashola , for instance , has resorted to repression via elitist policy to preserve his control over the public with a roll-out of orders by his boss from his Bourdillon enclave. Half of Lekki axis has been taken over by the self-styled Asiwaju of the Yoruba race while Lagosians continue to thrive in dirt and dirty surroundings.
His Unholy Alliance With A Coup Plotter:
Sometimes in December 1983 a self-acclaim radical and revolutionary sacked a democratically elected civilian government via coup d’ etat which is tantamount with High Treason. Some of our best leaders were clamped in jail without trial among whom were Prof. Ambrose Alli, the first executive governor of the defunct Bendel State, Sam Mbakwe and Lateef Jakande , these visionary leaders without compare were imprisoned without access to medical treatment, this told gravely on their healths which some of them eventually succumbed to in the long run.
Who is this man in question? He is none other than an APC presidential hopeful Gen. Muhammadu Buhari. I shall tough briefly on this man reign of terror which has made him perpetually unelectable. Nigerians did not welcome that coup that brought him to power at the period under review.
Many people who initially supported the autocracy ruling withdrew their support to military junta led by Buhari. The privileged , the elite and the hoi polloi believed that Buhari must renounce his dictatorship to save Nigeria from destruction and impending revolution. The court as well as the army also withdrew their support and this discontent found expression in a palace revolution in 1985. Many of our seasoned journalists who wrote to expose the ills of that draconian regime were hounded and sent to prison. Laws were backdated and people were sent to the guillotine calling to mind the sensational execution of Ogedengbe and two others at the Bar Beach firing range sometimes in 1984 or thereabouts. This is a man who could not account for $2.8 bn at a London Midland NNPC account .
Similarly, what about the missing billions in his days as PTF chairman? As much as N25 bn could not be accounted for by this retired General who again aspires to be the most powerful man in Nigeria. The PTF commenced operations in 1986 with an initial capital of N60 bn which was to be spent on the rehabilitation of roads and waterways , health institutions and connection of the parts of the country to the national grid, extending railways and communications amid others. If I may ask , how many world class health institutions were built with these funds under General Buhari? Frankly, I do not know of any! This is the man who the Asiwaju has been romancing with to impose on Nigerians in order to bring back the dark days of repressive rule when the world is teaming up to reverse the tide of despotism sweeping across the globe.
Nigerians in the defunct ACN-controlled states – the Asiwaju Dynasty – have in deed become wiser and could no longer be bamboozled by the antics of their overlords who impoverish them and make returns to their supreme lord on Bourdilon Road, Ikoyi, Lagos. Motor cycle taxis riders , for instance, provided the bulk of votes that gave Fashola victory at the polls and the large igbo community in Lagos accounted for over 35% votes that saw his re-election to the Oval House at Alausa , Ikeja but these set of people became irrelevant afterwards and were thereafter made a fool for their pains. Motor cycle taxis were banned under the new traffic law and Igbos and other non-indigenes were deported from Lagos which still leaves a scar of distress in the minds of many to this day.
The Asiwaju ought to retrace his steps under the existing circumstances to save him and his aides the embarrassment of an empire he has toiled hard and long to build. Great minds, they often say , are no nuisance. We are wiser now and Nigerians no more suffer the yoke of paranoid delusion and this was demonstrated in Ekiti State a few months ago which forebodes nothing but the impending collapse of the vast Asiwaju dynasty.
Iyoha John Darlington, aka Lington Donovan writes from Turin, Italy.
Email: jamestmichael2003@yahoo.com