•How It Will Help Him In 2023
As the race for 2023 hots up, and as many political players await what Asiwaju Bola Tinubu will say in January 2022 as to whether he will contest for presidency or not, quite a lot of political watchers have underated Tinubu, who is one of the strong contenders for the presidential slot, although he has not formally announced his grand entry.
From all the commentaries in the media so far, City People has gathered that many political watchers have suggested that Tinubu has a slim chance of clinching the coveted post. Some of the assumptions are as follows: Pres. Buhari will not hand over to him, that the Fulani won’t support his bid and that some of his Boys who are serving in the Buhari government are likely to betray him. Some have even raised the issue of Age and Health.
But are these valid probabilities? City People asked an insider, who is close to Tinubu. He laughed it off when City People revealed to him all what has been called, the stumbling blocks. According to him, all what they call stumbling blocks are indeed stepping stones to the next level. This, he says, is because Tinubu does not see them as stumbling blocks. He sees them as hurdles to be surmounted. Many don’t know Tinubu at all. He is not called a Master Strategist for fun. He understands the game of Politics. He is a master of the game.”
He revealed that Tinubu has in the last 30 years studied all the big political players on the global scene and he has picked up a few strategies from them. Since his days in the US he had made up his mind to become a Senator, Governor and ultimately Nigeria’s President and he has achieved all these, remaining the last leg of the race.
Many people often wonder who taught Asiwaju Bola Tinubu the A.B.C of politics. Some would say, may be, it’s the late MKO Abiola. Some would suggest that perhaps it’s his years with the grand old men of Afenifere like Baba Fasorantin, late Sen. Abraham Adesanya, late Sir. Olaniwun Ajayi and Papa Adebanjo. Perhaps, but we can authoritatively reveal that it’s a man called Richard Michael Daley, the former Mayor of the City of Chicago. Everybody in Chicago knows Richard Michael Daley. Those who have never met him, have heard about him .
Richard Daley was a former Mayor of Chicago, Illinois. Daley was elected Mayor in 1989. He was re-elected 5 times until he declined to run for a 7th term. At 22 years, Richard Daley was the longest serving Chicago Mayor, surpassing the tenure of his father, Richard J. Daley. Mayor Daley took over the Chicago Public Schools, developed tourism, oversaw the construction of Millennium Park, and increased environmental efforts and the rapid development of the city’s central business district downtown and adjacent near North, near South and near West sides. Daley expanded employees’ benefits to sex partners to be the same among City workers and advocated gun control. Daley was a national leader in privatisation, the lease and sale of public assets to private corporations. Daley was criticised when family, personal friends, and political allies seemed to disproportionately benefit from the city’s award of contracts. Mayor Daley took office in a City with regular annual budget surpluses and left the City with massive structural deficits. His budgets ran up the largest deficits in Chicago’s history.
But unknown to many, there was one Nigerian, who shaped his life after Richard Daley. He is Asiwaju Ahmed Tinubu, the former governor of Lagos State and National Leader of the APC. He was a former student of Richard J. Daley College in Illinois. Tinubu was once the governor of Lagos State, a state that boasts the most populous city in West Africa. His mission has always been about reconstruction, renewal, and the establishment of a new state. His administration strove to improve Education, Healthcare services; Roads and other public services. Although the country is one of the world’s top oil producers and has vast untapped reserves of gas and iron ore, Nigeria is hampered by government debts and widespread poverty.
Tinubu learned about democratic principles while living in the United States (US). From Daley College, he transferred to Chicago State University and graduated summa cum laude.
After graduation, he worked for Arthur Andersen; Deloitte, Haskins and Sells; and GTE Services Corp. before returning to Nigeria in 1983 to work for Mobil Oil Nigeria. At Mobil, he advanced to Treasurer of the company.
Tinubu returned to his homeland when exiles were asked to help rebuild the country and was elected to the Nigerian Senate in 1992. After the presidential election was annulled in 1993, Tinubu became a founding member of the National Democratic Coalition of Nigeria, (NADECO), that mobilised support to restore democracy. In 1999. In the process of restoration of civilian rule, Tinubu was elected Governor of Lagos.
Beyond this, City People recently stumbled on a few principles that have kept him on top. The 1st is that people often underate him. And he doesn’t mind. He likes it that way. It is when you least expect that he strikes. 2ndly, he likes the element of Surprise. 3rdly, he believes Nothing is impossible. He doesn’t take No for an answer. He will keep trying even if it looks impossible. An insider reveals that it is when you tell Tinubu that something is impossible that he will put his all into it. And he usually comes out victorious.
Unknown to many, Tinubu always likes you to tell him something he believes in is impossible. That is what gingers him. That is what pumps his adrenaline. 4th, he believes you must fight for everything in life. He believes in a life of struggle. He believes in investing in People.
That is why he has been quoted severally that you have to struggle for POWER. Asiwaju Tinubu’s favourite quote is Power is not served a la carte, or freely or by saying let me have my own or give me my own. You have to struggle for it. You have to negotiate and work for it.
He also believes in taking a long term view of things. He usually plans long term, like 15 years, 20 years. He likes to invest in People. He has invested in so many people since 1999 when he became Governor of Lagos. That some of them have turned around to betray him doesn’t matter. This is one trait that has helped him deal with all the challenges he has faced with people and it has helped him deal with all the betrayal is he has faced in his political career as a leader.
He also has a policy of never writing anybody off. He always feels he can make up with them. He always thinks he can still need you. He doesn’t fight to finish. He knows where to draw the line. He always leaves room for reconciliation, For instance, over the last few months, he has told his aides not to quarrel with those rumoured to be ready to betray him in the party. “Please don’t fight with them,” he kept telling his loyalists.
He has repeatedly told his loyalists that they should leave anyone of his Boys who want to confront him to do so, freely.
Recently, City People came across one of his principles. It reads: In everything I do, I look for Talents that are better than me. I’m not afraid to bring on board people with high wisdom because the most important thing to me is to get the job done for the betterment of all. I don’t wait till zero hour to discover the next person to do the job or the next job to be done, from the first hour, I find them.
The 2nd, 3rd and 4th are as important as the 1st…Time waits for nobody…Even the obstacles on my way, I predict them before those that will bring them will start to think about them, I plan for betrayal, I plan for backstabbing. I also plan for reunion and forgiveness long before they happen. In life, I expect nothing. I expect anything. I expect everything…
Joe Igbokwe also revealed what people don’t know about Tinubu. He once said Asiwaju BAT represents a Movement. He wrote: “I was privileged to attend the grand finale of Gov. Rauf Aregbesola’s second term bid campaigns in 2014 in Oshogbo stadium where I saw a crowd that frightened me. I have been attending campaign rallies since 1999 but what I saw in Oshogbo was unprecedented in the history of Nigeria. I was sitting close to a friend and when I sought his opinion on what we are witnessing, he told me that this is no longer a rally but a movement.
After the Ondo Guber elections last Saturday November 26, 2016 many commentators began to celebrate the so-called Buhari Boys in Abuja who they said outsmarted Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. I saw a calculated attempt to whittle down the well-deserved honour and glory the man has recorded even from his days at Mobil Producing Nigeria. Many half a penny commentators said that this may be the beginning of the end of the Asiwaju BAT’s phenomenon. Some said that BAT has been bruised.
But I know enough history to conclude that success is not an event. I know that nobody makes it to the World Series overnight. I know the champions do not become heroes overnight. Throughout history, I have known that history is not drawn on a straight line. This is the reason why I feel that those who tried to use the outcome of Ondo elections to get at Asiwaju BAT missed the point. They know nothing about Asiwaju BAT as a massive movement. They know nothing about BAT as a friend of the poorest of the poor.
They know nothing about BAT as a bridge-builder. They know nothing about BAT as a maker of leaders in Nigeria. They know about BAT as a friend of all and sundry. They know nothing about Asiwaju as a strategic thinker, fighter, and achiever. They know nothing little about his committed, vast preponderance and deep-rooted friends across Nigeria. They know nothing about his deep connection with Presidents and leaders in Africa and the world. They know nothing about the men and women he has brought up across Nigeria as political leaders, Governors, Deputy Governors, Speakers, Senators, Reps, Commissioners, Ministers, LGA Chairmen, businessmen etc including Akeredolu and Alasoadura.
The low thinkers do not know that in 2012 he brought to the front seat, the man of history called Rotimi Akeredolu. Ah, Ah, I wish these people know this sage called Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Oh, how I wish they know what I know? How I wish they had been close to this working history who showed me the freeways, byways, subways, highways and low ways of power. How I wish they know ten percent of what I know about this man of history. When it was difficult for people to understand this man he humbly released this statement to drive home his points.
Hear ASIWAJU BAT : ‘I set my goals and objectives in accordance with my vision. I study them and strategically execute them. My detractors discuss my successes and failure because they have nothing to execute. I am in the news more because I’m working, Nigerians discuss active men in the field. Mentioning any negative news about me will double the wealth of any news media that published it. My name today is a financial market for journalists. Not even elected politicians get the publicity I am enjoying. My comrades, go and work till mentioning your name becomes a source of increased wealth for someone. Even my weakness creates wealth for vendors’.
Andy Andrew tells me that “Everybody wants to reach the top of the mountain, but there is no growth at the peak. It is in the valley that we slog through the lush grass and rich soil, learning and becoming what enables us to summit life’s next peak”.
Niccolo Machiavelli teaches us that “The first method for estimating the intelligence of a ruler is to look at the men he has around him” Take a look around BAT and see the men and women around him and it is only when you know this that you will begin to understand this man. Asiwaju is not without blemishes. Asiwaju is not playing God. Asiwaju did not preach to us that he is the best God ever created. Asiwaju did not tell us that he knows it all. He never said so. Asiwaju is an ordinary mortal like every one of us.
I pray that the East and the North will try to produce one person each like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. This country will be better for it. Let me say it once again that it is difficult for 20 – 30 people to gather anywhere in Nigeria without you discovering that one person may have been touched by Asiwaju’s magic. This is what makes BAT a massive movement.
Now, let me close with this” celebrate great men and women and you too will achieve greatness. The one who serves a people is their master. It is good to be important but it is more important to be good. I am celebrating Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu today because I want to be a great man like him. Case rested!
Again, another Commentator revealed this about Tinubu: “On this Jagaban issue, every 4 years people come on social media to yell and castigate the man over his political decisions. There are over 18m people in Lagos, over 1000 politicians yet they cannot unseat him. Is this his fault? Are you expecting him to raise his legs and say “hi guys come and screw me over”?
He left the AD, formed the AC then ACN, Afenifere, Obasanjo could not unseat him. He lost two deputy governors, Kofo Bucknor, and Femi Pedro to the opposition party, I Lost Obanikoro, a man he single-handedly made a senator to PDP, he lost Jimi Agbaje, a close ally also to the PDP. They tried to unseat him, they failed. Obasanjo and GEJ tried, they didn’t succeed. Lagos State had the Minister for Works, Ogunlewe, PDP BOT Chairman Bode George, Minister for Defence Obanikoro, Olusegun Agagu. Trade and Investment but while these notable men go to bed at night, Jagaban stays awake scheming and planning his next move at Bourdillon, rallying the grassroots and then he comes with either the stick or the carrot. Obanikoro, his sworn enemy is back, Pedro is back, Salvador, former PDP chairman is back to his camp.”
“He did not put a gun to anybody’s head to wine and dine with him. Why can’t they form an alliance to finish him off? We have a choice not to associate with him, don’t we? He has successfully built a battalion of loyalists from 1999 till date. From Fashola to the councillor in the smallest ward in Lagos. Fashola, Osinbajo, Fowler, Lai Mohammed, Ben Akabueze, Ojudu, Ade Ipaye, Rauf, Hamzat,”
“GOS, Gbajabiamila, Faleke, Yayi, Ashafa, Opeifa, Tunji Bello, Leke Pitan, Jide Idris, Dele Alake, Mamora and a whole lot of other young brilliant minds. For every one person he empowered, he got thousands more in return. He identifies the best and uses them to his advantage. Can Bode George or Ogunlewe roll out a list of comparable loyalists to Tinubu’s? Why haven’t they been able to create a formidable opposition to kick him out? They had the federal might behind them for 16 years to their advantage.”
“To be honest, is he at fault? What do we expect him to do? Crawl under his duvet at Bourdillon or watch Africa Magic? Why can’t other politicians form a consensus?” “He is the Lion of Bourdillon and when he roars, his lionesses and cubs will respond. Unless a stronger pride emerges, he will continue to rule this jungle. It is the law of nature, sentiments don’t matter. He is already scheming for 2023, 2 years ahead of other docile politicians.”
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