he news broke on November 26, 2013 that 5 of the 7 Governors that make up the faction of the ruling People's Democratic Party (PDP) called the new PDP had defected to the All Progressives Congress (APC). This news did not come as a surprise to some, but the news got this writer thinking about the man Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Senator of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, former member of the anti-Abacha regime organisation called National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), former two-term Governor of Lagos State on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy, former national leader of the Action Congress, and now a chieftain in the APC.

You might want to ask why? Why has this piece of news got me thinking about Tinubu?

The answer is not far-fetched. Anyone who is conversant with the politics in Nigeria especially as played out in this 4th Republic which commenced in May 1999 will agree with me that the way the parties at the time were lined up, there was no real opposition party that was big enough to wrest power from the PDP. The All People's Party (APP) which later came to be called All Nigeria People's Party (ANPP) was seen as a Northern party and even at that, only won elections in one or two states. The Alliance for Democracy (AD) was seen as a South-West party. The party had modelled its policies after those of the Action Group (AG), the party of the Late sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo and it made no pretences about the fact that he (Awolowo) was seen as the mentor of the party (AD). Chieftains and indeed most candidates of the party adopted his style of dressing and his popular slogans in their campaigns. The East and the rest of the North were held firmly by the PDP. So in all, the combined strength of the opposition at its peak was 9 - 10 states at most out of the 36 states that make up Nigeria!

Then the unimaginable happened in the 2003 elections. AD lost all its states save for Lagos. Against all odds, Tinubu had managed to withstand PDP's political tsunami.

While serving as Governor of Lagos State, Tinubu was widely acclaimed as an achiever. If nothing else, he will be remembered for building institutions. Previously, what had obtained in Lagos, and other parts of the country was a situation where the leaders introduced schemes which never outlived the government. Bola Tinubu however introduced Agencies/Schemes such as LASTMA, LAWMA, KAI, the BRT and others which are so entrenched, they will in all likelihood remain even where another party won Lagos.

From being the lone Governor of his party in 2003, Bola Tinubu formed the AC. The party reclaimed the South-West save for Ondo state. Then the party went a step further and won elections in Edo state.

This year, AC was able to seal a deal which it had been working on for sometime; a merger with the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) led by Muhammadu Buhari, ANPP and the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA); at least a faction of the APGA. Bola Tinubu had realised a long time ago that to wrest power at the centre from the PDP, the parties which had hitherto been content to be regional parties, had to pool their resources for that common interest.

This was not an easy feat. In fact, the deal had been stalled for so long because the leader of the CPC had a presidential ambition which saw him run several times for the office of president and lose every time to the PDP. If his party was to be part of any merger, it had to be one that produced him as the presidential flag bearer. Buhari is indeed popular, and many people feel that he is just the type of selfless person to steer the ship of the Nigerian state out of the tempestuous waters of corruption and bad leadership. However, the way the political landscape of Nigeria is set out, the people vote along party lines and not necessarily for candidates. As such, Buhari's CPC with its stronghold in the North-west of Nigeria was no match for the PDP. Even with this reality, it still must have taken some clever persuasion by Tinubu to convince Buhari to compromise his presidential ambition and join the merger.

Having achieved this merger, the APC set out to woo members of the PDP to join the APC in order to build a party with the clout to match the PDP at the presidential polls. That is why upon reading the headline that the APC had successfully gotten 5 of the 7 rebel PDP governors to join its fold, this writer could not but wonder in awe at what manner of man Tinubu is to have gotten this far in his political career. To be sure, the rebel Governors could have gone ahead to register their own political party and hope that they would do well at the elections, but they fancied their chances as being better if they pitched their tent with the APC. This, coming from a party that evolved from an AD that only controlled one state in Nigeria as at 2003 is no mean feat.

This piece though seemingly eulogising the man Tinubu, was however not written for that purpose. I have constantly been in heated debates with colleagues that what is needed in Nigeria is a person who understands the political landscape and is willing and able to play the game as the PDP has played it. For now, Nigeria is not ready for the politics of ideology. There is voter apathy among the elite (educated electorate) who would understand ideology. The mass of voters are the poor and uneducated. The politics they understand is votes buying, political thuggery and chanting of campaign slogans. What we see among the states so far won by the AC is a party that has matched PDP at its game and won, and then set up performing governments in those states. The AC states are seen as some of the most progressive in the country, radically changing the way Government was hitherto run. So we see a Tinubu who has realised that you have to be in it (in power) to make the much needed change and having proved this in the states, has now set his eyes on delivering Aso Rock (the seat of Federal power) to his party.

So I ask, what manner of man is Bola Tinubu?

this are the institution apc and pdp built all over nigeria


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Hallelujah

walescounis: Hallelujah

^^^You beat me to it!

Light years ahead of Orji Kalu

Ojuyobo is on track to becoming the John D. Rockefeller or the Andrew Carnegie of Nigeria, he is certainly royalty. Tinubu is the Agba-Akin Adinni of Ijeshaland, the Chief Anosare Bugije of Ondo Kingdom, the Erelu Aare Ago of Egbaland, the Asiwaju of Lagos and the jagaban Borgu!!

He is still working on cleansing the stains from his youthful exuberance.

Time will tell.

He is the type of man that takes food out of the mouth if starving APC controlled states while telling them to "go and die !"