Fellow Nigerians, let me start by quickly stating
my admiration for the person and personality of
Chief Tom Ikimi. As a celebrity reporter, Ikimi is
every journalist’s dream. He’s charismatic,
charming, lively, debonair, suave, oratorical,
worldly, creative, affable and absolutely political.
I’ve had the privilege of spending time with him
at home and abroad and found him very warm
and affectionate. Despite our sharp political
differences in those days when I used to visit him,
he never appeared an intolerant soul. He was too
cosmopolitan to disallow a healthy debate. He
never denied being overly conservative or adroitly
capitalistic in nature.
Chief Ikimi could not have been otherwise. He’s a
very successful architect. His profession thrives
on uncommon creativity and some splash of
eccentricity. I’m not sure if he still puffs his
Havana cigars but I certainly recollect the vivid
picture of the cigar-chewing fashionista. I was
surprised when he sauntered from the
conservative party of PDP to the relatively
progressive party of ACN which later
metamorphosed into APC. He was in fact one of
the arrowheads that midwifed that miraculous
birth. Many had dismissed the idea of such a
merger as near-impossible but Ikimi and his team
worked assiduously to make the impossible
possible and they were well applauded for their
brilliant efforts.
One would have thought the ovation received by
the team would suffice and make them work
harder on taking this hybrid party to the next level
but the ways of our politicians are not the ways
of ordinary mortals. In Nigeria, nothing goes for
nothing. It is always a matter of what’s in it for
me and my home. Tom Ikimi, who was Chairman
of the bigger National Republican Convention over
20 years ago wanted to come back in 2014 as
Chairman of APC. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu
who was a young Senator over 20 years ago and
a Governor as recently as seven years ago would
love to run as Vice Presidential candidate to
whomever in 2015. Chief Bisi Akande who was
Deputy Governor to Chief Bola Ige over 30 years
ago in old Oyo State and Governor of Osun State
in 1999, returned as Chairman of ACN after and
almost became a substantive Chairman of APC
having been its interim Chairman. Chief John
Odigie Oyegun was Governor of Edo State over 20
years ago and Vice Presidential candidate (to
former Governor Ibrahim Shekarau of Kano State
under ANPP in 2011 and now Minister of
Education under PDP in 2014) and is now
Chairman of APC out of the blues.
I’m sorry if it sounds all confusing, intertwined
and sticky like cobweb but such is the political
incongruity we are saddled with in our dear
beloved country. Nothing is as straight-forward
as ABCD even if we all we all went through
Primary schools and memorised it off-handed. I
was shockingly astonished that APC never
thought of handing over their party to modern,
colourful, energetic and populist politicians or
technocrats like Tokunbo Afikuyomi, Nasir El-
Rufai, Demola Seriki, Nuhu Ribadu, Dino Menaye,
Dele Alake, just to name a few, to run some
offices at the national secretariat. I thought the
world has moved beyond putting hard-core and
possibly tired politicians to run a party that
requires agile workaholics. Just imagine the aura,
influence and instant recognition that would have
accrued to the new party had a Bukola Saraki
been made the Chairman of APC with his pedigree
as former Chairman of the Governor’s Forum and
a two-term Kwara State Governor. The
Chairmanship of a political party is never a joke.
The world is moving in modern directions and
demands those who understand the new lexicon
of Leadership. That is why the British Labour
Party picked a young bachelor, Ed Miliband as its
Leader. But APC could not identify its first eleven
and put them forward. Today we are left with
mostly unknown and lacklustre players in the field
of play. That is the tragedy of its strategy.
The aborted bid of Chief Ikimi should not have
been contemplated in the first instance. He should
have remained a statesman to the end. The
moment he attempted to run the race, he should
have known anything could happen. Only one
man can win in an election. I’m surprised that as
a seasoned politician, he expected Senator Bola
Tinubu to abandon his old allies and support him
just like that. Politics is always about caucuses
anywhere in the world. I don’t see what Tinubu
has done wrong by supporting his own person for
whatever reason. As a matter of fact, nothing
precluded Tinubu himself from running. Tinubu as
Chairman would have driven the fear of God into
PDP. I shall come back to Tinubu shortly.
My epistle today is largely triggered by Ikimi’s
recent long-winding and well-publicised gospel to
God-knows-who. The epistle was clearly bitter
and written to damage Tinubu and APC to boot.
Ikimi started by stating his credentials, which I
seriously enjoyed. He is a man who served
himself, his nation and his God most meritoriously
and fervently. He stated the reason he decided to
abandon his conservative friends to join forces
with members of the opposite camp. He worked
actively with his new allies to form a new alliance
as a counterforce to those hoping to foist a one-
party State on Nigeria. All well and good up to
then.
Chief Ikimi claims he abhorred the idea of a
Unitary Government but yet exploded just because
he failed to secure Tinubu’s blessing, and he’s
willing to abandon the struggle and head back to
where he came from and work for the
establishment of that same system he claimed to
loathe. I simply find this logic utterly cruel and
ridiculous. As an architect, I won’t expect the
great Chief to demolish his magnificent home just
because a supposed mad man strayed into it.
I’m finally tired of all the attacks against the
person of Bola Tinubu. Tinubu is far from being a
saint but he has definitely contributed immensely
to the Democracy we all seem to enjoy today.
The man has wisely invested whatever he is said
to have acquired on building solid monuments in
the media, business empires and philanthropy,
which most politicians have never been able to
achieve.
Tinubu is often credited with the attributes of a
King Kong and I’m sure the man himself enjoys
the unsolicited appellation and coronation. I really
don’t know how one man can wield so much
power and none of the several Draculas in his
party would be able to confront him. No one
should blame Tinubu for the timidity of his co-
travellers. I know Tinubu fairly well. I virtually
lived and operated with him in our exile days.
He’s a man who enjoys healthy debates. He’s a
master thinker who’s brave enough to match his
thinking with action. He and Lt. General Alani
Akinrinade stood out in the fight against military
tyranny in Nigeria. They spent themselves blind
and did not shirk from selling off their properties
in their pursuit of democracy and justice in
Nigeria. Tinubu gained the upper hand against
most of his contemporaries because he was
ready to gamble his entire life for the sustenance
of civil rule in our country while others played
safe.
I’ve had cause to disagree with him in the past
and he never took it personal against me. One of
such occasions was when I challenged him for
not supporting the candidacy of Tokunbo
Afikuyomi and I blasted him in a newspaper
interview. He invited me over to his house in
Ikoyi. He wondered why I was kicking against his
support for Mr Babatunde Raji Fashola and I
replied that I was never against Fashola who was
also our friend and saw me anytime he came to
play soccer in Ghana; but I was opposed to the
way he led Afikuyomi on when he could easily
have told him of his choice. I realised one secret
about Tinubu that night. Contrary to the
allegation of being bullish, he finds it hard to hurt
any of his close lieutenants. It is this coyness
that gets him into constant trouble; the inability
to boldly and openly say No to people.
The second and most recent disagreement I had
with him was when rumour came out that he was
plotting to be a Vice Presidential candidate to
General Muhammadu Buhari. Once I confirmed
that it was a credible speculation, I wrote an
article against a Muslim-Muslim ticket in 2015 for
the following reasons. One, most of our mutual
friends was opposed to it but none could tell
Tinubu not to try. This is the problem with our
people who are mostly waiting on Tinubu for a
favour now or/and in the future. Those who can
talk are those who expect nothing. Two, a
Muslim-Muslim ticket is presently inconceivable
with the current religious configuration and
conflagration in our country. Even if the ticket has
the chance of winning, we should be sensitive
enough to balance the religious equation.
Three, I believe a slot must be automatically
given to the South-South region that lays the
golden eggs for all of Nigeria. It would be wicked
and dangerous to remove President Jonathan and
also selfishly take away the number two position
from them immediately. If the clamour is that
North has been deprived of its number one
position by the accident of the death of President
Yar’Adua then the same argument holds true for
the South South who would thus be deprived of
the number two position by the providential
accident that is the Presidency of Dr Jonathan.
Also, the tenuous permutation that the Yoruba
would not vote unless there is a Yoruba man on
the ticket is self-serving and debatable. What
makes my position even more compelling is the
fact that the Yoruba are always champions of
equity and fair-play. How can Obasanjo spend
eight years as President and another Yorubaman
comes out of the shadow as Vice President eight
years after?
Tinubu never complained. He took the public
missive to heart like a true democrat, made wider
consultations and decided to shelve his ambition
for the sake of his party and the nation. Unlike his
traducers Tinubu has a great empathy for
Nigerians and Nigeria. He has always been willing
to sacrifice his personal ambition for the sake of
the development of democracy and the future of
his country. That he wields tremendous power
and influence in whatever party he has midwifed
in this political era goes without saying. Yet, he
has never sought to be Chairman of such a Party.
In 2011 he saw the wisdom in eventually
plumbing for the candidature of Nuhu Ribadu
whom he thereby rescued from political oblivion
rather than pursue his ambition to be Vice
President or even President. Even if he dumped
Ribadu for Jonathan, he’s said to have seen that
Ribadu was not accepted by his people and thus
opted for a minority candidate.
It is amazing that it is to Tinubu that all those
who demand justice and equity turn when they
have been oppressed and abased by the PDP.
However as soon as they obtain that which they
seek they immediately turn against their
benefactor and rush headlong back into the arms
of their abuser. Tinubu’s has been a thankless job
but it is the measure of this remarkable man that
he continues to open his arms wide to embrace
all those who seek justice and equity not only
because of his love for democracy but also in true
spirit of a man who adheres to the holy injunction
to love his fellow man as himself. The list of
those who have benefitted from Tinubu’s
legendary largesse to retrieve their stolen
mandate or seek retributive justice for perceived
wrongs yet subsequently turn around to betray
him is lengthy and is like a Who is Who of
Nigeria.
It is said against him that he imposes candidates
on his Party and is despotic and nepotistic.
However, it is only fitting that someone who has
deployed such huge and significant personal
resources to the cause when others have shied
from doing so should at least be allowed to
influence the selection of those who would guide
and lead that cause. This is particularly more so
as he has had the singular opportunity of
observing most of the contenders firsthand
because of his ability to sacrifice his time and
person and travel far and near to meet with party
members and interact with them. None of those
who fault him have remotely done a fraction of
what he has done in this regard and if truth be
told his choices have always been quite
successful. Governors Fashola, Adams
Oshiomhole, Abiola Ajimobi, Rauf Aregbesola,
Ibikunle Amosun, and Kayode Fayemi; Aminu
Tambuwal and Abike Dabiri, to mention a few,
have been particularly outstanding.
Tinubu’s monumental work to further ensure the
future of democracy in present day Nigeria is
most laudable and he should indeed be dubbed
‘Defender of the Faith’ and encouraged to do
more.


http://naijaobserver./2014/08/30/the-gospel-according-to-tom-ikimi-by-dele-momodu-delemomodu/

whats d purpose of dis write up?

To condemn IKIMI oR tO PRAISE TINUBU?

He who pays d piper dictates d tune