Except, perhaps, the President Elect, Muhammadu Buhari, there is no other
Nigerian politician whose person has been cruelly maligned as the National
Leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
There is no other politician in the current dispensation that has been such
an object of vicious and groundless attacks as Tinubu. Since his emergence
as a major pillar of progressive politics, Tinubu has had to live with many
callously cooked-up stories that are clearly meant to disparage his person.
The recent damning documentary that was aired by the African Independent
Television, AIT, in the run-up to the 2015 General Election is, possibly,
the height of all lies and propaganda being peddled to tarnish his image.
Tinubu’s bashing has so much become a calling that many who never really
know the man bear false tales about him; sometimes authoritatively claiming
to have ‘evidences’ to back up their unfounded claims. Some just hate him
out of vicious envy and unashamed jealousy. They couldn’t just fathom how
it is possible for a Nigerian politician to tenaciously and jealously hold
on to his political beliefs and principles in a polity where politicians
change parties like they change clothes.
As far as his adversaries are concerned, there is nothing good about
Tinubu. Unfortunately, they are dead wrong. Today, many speak glowingly
about how Governor Babatunde Fashola, SAN, has been able to transform Lagos
State. That Fashola has performed well in Lagos is an incontrovertible
fact. However, one indisputable reality that some don’t just want to hear
or speak about is that it was Tinubu that laid the foundation of the modern
Lagos that has so much thrived under Fashola’s able leadership. No doubt,
the eight years spent in office by Tinubu, Fashola’s predecessor and
Governor Emeritus, set the pace for the birth of this modern Lagos. The
Tinubu administration laid a solid foundation for the new Lagos that has
now become a model for good governance in Nigeria. It was Tinubu’s
government that set up enduring institutions such as KAI, LASTMA, LASAA,
LAMATA, to mention just a few. This is aside putting in place a creative
and ingenious template that has institutionalized governance in Lagos
State. It was the Tinubu administration that began the systematic fixing of
the State’s infrastructure. The complete regeneration of the Lagos Island
Central Business District took place under Tinubu’s watch. Many roads
across the State such as Kudirat Abiola Way, Lawanson-Itire road,
Ikotun-Ijegun road, Ikotun –Igando road, LASU-Iyana Iba road, to mention
just a few, were rehabilitated and expanded by the Tinubu administration
while a comprehensive program for resuscitation of public schools in the
State was also put in place.
Perhaps, more importantly, the Tinubu administration put the State on the
trail of economic independence as it shored up its revenue base. Tinubu
inherited a failed economy from the Marwa administration, by the time he
was leaving office in May 2007, his administration has increased the State
revenue base from a meager N600 million to over N8 billion. That the
administration survived the Obasanjo’s onslaught was mainly due to its rich
revenue stand. BRF’s performance so far is a vindication of the precise
political mast and sound aptitude for human judgment of Asiwaju Tinubu and
the defunct Action Congress, AC, leadership that recommended him to
Lagosians. It is partly because we have not been able to replicate same at
the federal level that our nation has for long been at a critical
crossroad. While Lagos remains politically and economically stable today,
same cannot be said of the PDP led government at the centre.
Unfortunately, today, mischief makers and incurable Tinubu’s haters
disparage this architect of the new Lagos, but mischievously celebrate the
Lagos model of people-oriented governance put in place by the same man. Not
acknowledging Tinubu’s contribution to the Lagos project is impish,
stereotyping him with corruption is rather puckish. After they have failed
to pull him down politically, it has now become the past time of professed
Tinubu’s haters and bashers to stigmatize him with the unproven label of a
corrupt politician. These days, every prime property in choice locations in
Lagos and other parts of the country is owned by Tinubu. Indeed, according
to the tale bearers, the whole of the Lagos economy is now under Tinubu’s
control. He owns every new hotel and eatery in town. All shopping malls in
Lagos belong to him. Tinubu has now become such a mysterious money bag that
‘owns’ what Dangote, the popularly acclaimed African Richest Man could
not
boast of.
The truth of the matter is that a check with the Corporate Affairs
Commission would easily reveal that most of the business interests that are
being falsely linked with Tinubu actually have nothing to do with him.
Corporate organizations such as First Nation Airways Support Services Ltd
and Oriental Star Restaurant and Hotel Ltd widely linked with Tinubu,
investigation reveals does not have anything to do with the man. A scroll
through the lists of Directors showed that these are corporate
organizations with well defined profiles. The lie represented by linking
these companies to him is enough to convince any rational and sensible
person that, the hues and cry about the ownership of choice holdings are
nothing, but lies manufactured from the innermost recess of hell. If the
man is as corrupt as he s being tagged, it is difficult to understand how
none of the anti-corruption agencies, under the control of the PDP led
federal government, have not been able to pin him down to any financial
crime. Being a leading opposition figure, in the past sixteen years, if the
man is actually as corrupt as he is being painted, he ought to have been
behind bars by now. It is an open fact that Obasanjo and Tinubu were not
the best of friends. So, if the Obasanjo government could not nail Tinubu
on alleged corrupt tendencies, it goes to show that something is actually
missing in the whole jig saw.
However, there is a fact we should not ignore. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is
that proverbial man with the Midas touch. He is a national brand that every
business wants to associate with to become an instant success both in
government and in the private sector. The belief is that the name would
sell their business anywhere in Lagos and beyond. A classic example is the
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu Central Business District; a public-private
partnership arrangement by Ibeju Lekki Local Government.
It is the same principle that has defined his political leaning. In 2003,
when the Alliance for Democracy, AD, lost all its controlled states in the
south west, except for Lagos, the only attractive option for Asiwaju Tinubu
was to jump ship and move to the ruling PDP. He could have made instant
gains. That is the natural path in African politics because playing
opposition politics in this clime is hazardous and unattractive. However,
such choice is for men with blatant opportunistic disposition, not Tinubu.
Those that are privileged to know Tinubu are conscious of his
unquestionable patriotic zeal and uncommon commitment to the emancipation
of the downtrodden. As for those who peddle unsubstantiated falsehoods
against him, like it is often the case at weddings, the onus is on them to
come up with the body of judicially acceptable proofs or shut up forever!
*Raji is Special Adviser, Information and Strategy, Lagos State.*