Yes, I know him. Yes, I trust him. Yes, I believe in him.
My interest in Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the decision to follow him as my political leader and mentor was forged in the furnace of lofty political conviction and not out of desire for opportunistic personal reward nor unbridled ambition for public office.
I saw this man on his campaign vehicle at Agidingbi, Ikeja, sometime in 1992. He was a Senator. Until then, I had not heard much about him. On that campaign trail, I was impressed and got convinced that this was a political asset to our society. By the time he contested for the governorship of Lagos, following years in the trenches as defender of democracy and fighter against tyranny, he had, indeed, emerged as a political phenomenon who could no longer be ignored amongst the emerging new breed politicians of the time. He was a strong political ally of Chief Dapo Sarumi, who was boss to my friend at Data Flex.
Fast forward to when he eventually won the election into the office of Governor of Lagos State. My dear elder brother became his Chief of Staff, a novel office introduced into the Nigerian public administrative structure by the highly politically innovative leader and financial and administrative wizard. What impressed me most and further endeared this great leader to me was his financial wizardry which soon turned a state with a meagre N600 million monthly internally generated revenue to a state that was soon to be generating billions in IGR, making the state to become the first to become truly financially autonomous. Also impressive was his Administration’s infrastructure renewal programmes, even in those early beginnings of his tenure when adequate revenue was still a challenge, a great departure from the past where previous administrations had excused their inability to deliver on infrastructure on budget constraints. Tinubu changed Lagos the way no one had seen before: the area boys menace was curbed, refuse disposal, which was a sore point and a major embarrassment to the State of Aquatic Splendour, was frontally tackled, after initial challenges. City roads such as Adeola Odeku, Bar Beach, Ojuelegba-Yaba, Adetokunbo Ademola, Ozumba Mbadiwe were tarred and converted to dual carriages, Lagos Island became Superb Business District, even as the annual Lagos internally generated revenue strategy had become the template for other states and, even the Federal Government.
In 2008, my firm organised the Nigerian Telecom DEVELOPMENT LECTURE Asiwaju was invited along with Father Kuka to speak. He was meant to speak on Developmental Democracy, a topic we carefully chose for him in recognition of his his earned status as the father of developmental Democracy… He came. and spoke.
He had won my heart ever since, and I vowed to work for him and with him.
The opportunity presented itself in 2015, I related with him closely, curious to know him at close range. For three years, between 2019 and 2021, we were strategising day and night for his presidential bid.
Today, he is the President of NIGERIA and has started replicating the miracles in Lagos at the federal level.
Four factors are deeply in his favour :
*NATIVE INTELLIGENCE
*POLITICAL STREET CREDIBILITY
*KNOWLEDGE. OF CORPORATE GOVERNANCE
*KNOWLEDGE. OF *PUBLIC FINANCE
With those four divine endowments, it is tough to beat Bola Tinubu.
Happy independence
Godfather.
Happy independence.
NIGERIA.
