₦airaland Forum

KING Nebuchadnezzar gloried in his kingdom and declared: “Is this not
magnificent Babylon, which I have built as a royal capital by my mighty
power and for my glorious majesty?” (Daniel 4:30). While the words were still in his mouth, a voice came from heaven to inform him that the
kingdom he was boasting about had been taken away from him.
Similarly, Bola Tinubu, “the Ashiwaju of Yorubaland,” surveyed his
kingdom and decided to make a boastful proclamation. Speaking of
himself in the third person, Tinubu declared: “Nobody, no one under the
sun, under the United Nations Human Rights Charter, can stop Bola
Tinubu’s ambition.” Famous last words! The voice of the electorate in
the South-West has answered Tinubu. His personal ambition is certainly
not in the interest of the people.

De-mystification of Tinubu
Tinubu’s claim to fame lies in the strength of his ACN party in the
South-West. The only resistance was Ondo State, which was controlled
by Olusegun Mimiko’s Labour party. But the assumption was that it was
only a matter of time before Ondo too would succumb to the Tinubu
juggernaut. However, in the 2012 gubernatorial election in Ondo, Mimiko
not only prevailed once again, the ACN candidate did not even come
second. He was beaten to a distant third by the PDP.
This indicated that the Yorubas were already getting fed up with
Tinubu; determined that they will not be sold into his slavery. In a letter
to Mimiko congratulating him on his victory, Reuben Fasoranti, the
leader of the Yoruba group, Afenifere, said: “This victory, amongst
other things, is victory over god-fatherism, a rejection of political
imposition and slavery from outside the state.” “We entered into
electoral cooperation with you (Mimiko) in the election to counter an
emerging group under the leadership of few disrespectful, snobbish,
arrogant, ravaging and power-thirsty politicians.”
The obvious reference here was to Bola Tinubu and his ACN colleagues.
In many respects, Tinubu has become the most hated politician in the
South-West. Association with him is increasingly as politically
contagious as leprosy. The emerging consensus in the South-West is
that Tinubu has overreached himself with his heavy-handedness. It is
past time to cut him back to size. Thus, Fasoranti added to Mimiko:
“There is a need for the exhibition of fair play and justice to all and
carry the banner of progressive politics into national politics now that
the eclipse of the ACN is unavoidable.”

Ekiti Waterloo
This prognosis has proved to be prophetic. The defeat of Tinubu’s party
in Ondo has now been followed by its trouncing in the just-concluded
gubernatorial election in Ekiti. Ekiti was presumed to be one of Tinubu’s
South-West strongholds. The incumbent governor, Kayode Fayemi, is one
of the darlings of Tinubu’s new-fangled APC. Indeed, some have been
touting Fayemi as a possible APC vice-presidential candidate. However,
rather than confirm that Ekiti is firmly in Tinubu’s camp, the people of
Ekiti decided to send a loud and clear message to Tinubu. They no longer want to have anything to do with him and with his party.
Tinubu’s Fayemi did not only lose the Ekiti election, he lost it by a
landslide. He obtained 120,000 votes to Ayo Fayose’s 203,000. Fayemi
lost in every local government area of the state. Coming on the heels of
its defeat in Ondo, the APC rout in Ekiti is conclusive proof that
Tinubu’s fabled stranglehold on South-West politics has ended. Indeed,
Tinubu is now a political liability in the South-West. Rather than bring
votes to the APC in the region, he is now more than likely to lose them.
This accounts for the confused reaction of the APC to the election.
Local and international observers declared it free and fair. The losing
local candidates readily accepted defeat, including Fayemi, the APC
candidate. But Tinubu and his APC cohorts from outside the state are
challenging the defeat in a pathetic attempt to make excuses for such
disgraceful trouncing in putative APC territory. Only the gullible will
believe this face-saving charade.

On the contrary, a prescient observer of the APC debacle in Ekiti made
this observation: “Tinubu is no Awolowo and that illusion is being put to
test. He doesn’t have the gravitas of Papa Awo and in fact, many of
these South-West state governors will soon discover that they are more
electable without Tinubu’s name. Tinubu cost Fayemi the election and if
he knows what is good he should stay in the background if Osun State
(whose election is due two months hence) is not to fall in a domino.”

“Useless” Yoruba Obas
It was a long time coming, but Yorubas in general are now fed up with
Bola Tinubu’s arrogance and with his determination to rule the South-
West as his fiefdom. A politician is supposed to be subject to his people.
However, Tinubu believes the Yorubas are subject to him. The over-
bearing influence of Tinubu in Ekiti politics was one of the major issues
of the campaign. The message of the electorate is that this would no
longer be tolerated. This message was superbly championed by Fayose
who presented himself as a man of the people, determined to stop the
hemorrhage whereby Ekiti money was routinely shipped to Lagos.
A smart politician does not broadcast his contempt for his people.
However, with the arrogance of power, Tinubu derided Yoruba Obas as
“useless.” He declared “ex cathedra:” “The good Obas in Yorubaland
who are forthright, firm and stand by the truth are not up to five, they
are just three.” With these words, Tinubu drove a nail firmly into his own
political coffin. While he derided Yoruba Obas as “useless,” he went up
North to Kwankwaso to engineer the installation of a “useful” Emir of
Kano. Therefore, the Ekiti people decided to tell Tinubu that they have
no use for him and that their Obas are not useless.

The success of Fashola in transforming the face of Lagos was sold as
the ACN/APC template in the South-West, and this had some traction
for a while. Fayemi too presented himself as a “performing governor”
with major projects right across the state. But when asked why he did
not build low-cost housing in Lagos, Fashola replied contemptuously that
he could not find any low-cost cement to buy. But as its defeat in Ekiti
now demonstrates; the elitist high-cost APC needs low-cost voters in
order to win elections. What the PDP did mischievously in Ekiti was to
capitalise on the electorate’s cynical preference for pounded-yam over
tarred roads.

Lessons from Obasanjo
The rejection of Bola Tinubu today in the South-West also lies in the
very betrayal of his earlier success. Tinubu championed South-West
resistance to Obasanjo’s determination to sacrifice Yoruba interests on
the altar of a contrived alliance with the North. While that alliance
clearly served Obasanjo’s interests, independent-minded South-West
voters saw nothing in it for them. Foolishly, Tinubu is now presenting
himself as yet another architect of the same rejected alliance with the
Northern caliphate, for the sake of his own personal political ambitions.
Following the crisis that ensued after the annulment of M.K.O. Abiola’s
victory in the 1993 presidential election, there emerged a general
consensus that the 1999 election should be zoned to South-West Yorubas
in the interest of national reconciliation. However, Northerners decided
they would determine who the Yoruba candidate should be. Obasanjo was
fished out of prison and anointed as PDP presidential candidate.
This Yoruba choice by Northerners was rejected by the Yorubas.
Although Obasanjo went ahead to win the election nationwide, he lost
woefully in the South-West. Thereafter, he was derided as a president
without coattails in his own backyard. Obasanjo’s response as president
was to make a play for PDP victory in the South-West in 2003 by hook
or crook. Every trick in the book was employed to bring South-West
states under PDP control.

Failure of success
The PDP rigged the 2003 elections masterfully and wrested back power
from every ACN-controlled South-West state except Lagos. Even in
Lagos, the INEC went ahead to proclaim a fictitious PDP victory on its
website, before this was belatedly withdrawn with ignominy. The brilliant South-West answer to this PDP treachery was Bola Tinubu.
Tinubu drew a line in the sand, held on to Lagos, and struck back from
this stronghold to win back all the lost South-West states in 2007. He
won because the people of the South-West refused to mortgage their
future to the political interests of Obasanjo and his allies in the North.
It is therefore surprising that, with the arrogance of power, Tinubu is
now following the same failed footsteps of Obasanjo.
Instead of learning from Obasanjo’s blunder, Tinubu too has now
decided to unite his ethnic ACN party with the Northern caliphate. With
the contempt for the people that has come with years of monarchical
control over the ACN, Tinubu presumes South-West people will follow him sheepishly into this alliance with the North, just because his burning
ambition to become the vice-president of Nigeria now demands it. But
what this has achieved is to show that Tinubu’s ambitions are anathema
to South-West interests.
Anybody who thinks Tinubu’s APC will succeed in the South-West does
not understand South-West politics. The Yorubas are too proud and
fiercely independent to agree to play second-fiddle to anyone because
of a man called Tinubu. S.L. Akintola tried the same gambit in the 1960s, and the South-West rejected him. The same rejection has befallen Bola Tinubu.
Lagosians are disgusted that Tinubu has privatised their politics. His
wife, daughter and even son-in-law have been steam-rolled into
vantage political positions. The state’s finances are tied to Alpha Beta.
Tinubu has even gone ahead to anoint Akinwunmi Ambode as the next
governor of the state without the benefit of any election. This is asking
for trouble. If Tinubu is not careful, a big implosion is likely in APC
Lagos State over the issue of the choice of the next governor.
Every which way in the South-West, the message is crystal clear:
“Tinubu’s imperious dynasty is over: long live the sovereignty of the
people.”

By Femi Aribisala

Old news, but part of it coming to fulfilment.

he can't be

He can't be, he is too corrupt and self-serving to fit into his shoes

People like you op who never cease to talk n write long story about him and keep reposting headlines and articles of Tinubu are who gave him the fame is has today . Propagators

Tinubu's interest is above interest of SouthWest .... I think he simply wanted to prove point as the Jagaban instead of aligning his interest with Yoruba interest.

The nemesis of Mulikat Akande in 2011 has gotten him in 2015 ... Tinubu denied Yorubas number 4 position to support Tambuwal ... Tambuwal betrayed Tinubu in 2015 to support Saraki/Dogara

Definitely

Is tinumbu(yellowbar god) still alive?

But the south westerners are like puppette in the hands tinubu. He makes them behaves the way he wants them to. Tinubu is the god of yoruba land.

How can he be Awolowo, Tinubu is Tinubu and Awolowo is Awolowo. Shikenah.

cornoil:
Old news, but part of it coming to fulfilment.

News is News, there's always something to learn

OREMUSSANCTUS:
Is tinumbu(yellowbar god) still alive?

you wan kill am?

OREMUSSANCTUS:
Is tinumbu(yellowbar god) still alive?

you wan kill am? lol

Tinubu cannot be Awolowo like wise Awolowo cannot be Tinubu.
Everybody with their own mentality. Awolowo has done his best for Yoruba race, Tinubu is doing his best right now, it is left for Femi Aribisala, I and Others Yoruba to do our best for the Yoruba race and Nigeria at large.

Tinubu and awolowo are two different being.
And none of them is a saint.
Awolowo did some not so right things also.
Like when he lost the presidential race and force akintola to resign.
When azikuwe was the speaker in lagos. He called his yoruba brothers and Azikuwe was impeached.
That was what really stated all this yoruba, if no sentiment
But above all. Awolowo will always put the interest of the western nigeria first before anything sha.

dridowu:
Tinubu cannot be Awolowo like wise Awolowo cannot be Tinubu.
Everybody with their own mentality. Awolowo has done his best for Yoruba race, Tinubu is doing his best right now, it is left for Femi Aribisala, I and Others Yoruba to do their best for the Yoruba race and Nigeria at large.

Abi? Both men are two different politicians. Awo too had his political battles -- He won some (Twice elected as Premiere of the entire the then Western region, had absolute control of the SW/MidWest party structure), he lost some (he never became President, his party lost Oyo and Ondo states to the opposition in '83 -- though Ondo was later reversed in favor of the UPN). Tinubu also won some and lost some of his political battles. You can't be as big as both men are politically without controversy.