2023 and Bola Tinubu’s tall ambition

2023  and Bola Tinubu’s tall ambition

By Okofu Ubaka

If Nigerians knew their history very well, 2023 shouldn’t be all  about Sen.  Ahmed Bola  Tinubu and his gargantuan presidential ambition. But then there are far pressing issues to look into than the presidential ambition of any individual. To have a president who governs her, there first  has to be an existing Nigeria. Presently, the country is on a brink, as if it is sadly waiting to collapse. If anything, Nigerians need a president from  the other side of the bloc, not a Yoruba Muslim who had, and still hobnobs with every other person who had at one time or the other  played  infamous roles that had  culminated to the sorry state we have found ourselves today.

The former Lagos state governor  may be very popular, but not very many have genuine respect for him. From the days of his alleged certificate falsification  to tinkering with his real age and the inglorious roles he played in denying former  Governor Akinwunmi  Ambode of Lagos state a second term in office over the  ‘sharing‘ of  what ought to be committed into the further development of the state , many Lagosians, nay Nigerians grouse his continuous relevance in Nigerian politics, and indeed some would rather have another northern Muslim rule over them than have President Tinubu  who is neither here nor there.

2023 will pose a far more bigger challenge than the pedigree  of an Ahmed Bola Tinubu and his present cult-like personality in the All Progressive Congress ( APC)  put together. If Nigerians are looking anywhere for solutions to the present leadership ineptitude, political mistrust and imbalance, it should be in the direction of  the Southeast, a region that  had never produced a president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria since the ill-fated civil war between the people of that region and the rest of Nigerians.

I want to align with the views of  discerning Nigerians who are of the opinion that Sen. Bola Ahmed Tinubu should have jettisoned his presidential ambition after all that have befallen this country under the leadership of  the All Progressives Congress, (APC) which Tinubu is a prominent member.  What makes him think he could do it differently if the leadership of this country is eventually thrust on his laps?

It sounds like an unusual coincidence that the ambition of   Sen. Bola Tinubu to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari as the President of the country is coming at a time when Lagosians and indeed, Nigerians are still brooding over his infamous roles in the tragedy of October, 2020 which is  known today in our collective history as the ‘Avoidable  Lekki Massacre’. Unarmed Nigerian youths who had gathered at the Lekki tollgate- a symbolic borderline between the haves and have not in Nigeria to protest the prostate state of the Nigerian state were shot at after it was alleged that one of the Tinubu’s gave the order for the flood light at the Toll gate to be put off to provide a cover for the October 2020 ‘bloodletting.’

Not only the concession of the Lekki Toll Gate,  several other properties belonging to  Lagos state  government   over the years had  allegedly found their way into the hands of the  Tinubu’s dynasty, and in controversial circumstances too. From choice land to revenue collection contracts, its either Tinubu himself  is in possession or  his adult children. In years to come, it will be difficult to have Lagos without a quick mention of Tinubu’s dynasty.

Its’ either Sen. Bola Tinubu is ignorant of this fact or he is pretending not to know. Most  Lagosians, and indeed Nigerians are not in support of his presidential ambition.  The Jagaban needs to ask himself a few questions to understand why his presidential ambition will crashed: Why are his kinsmen, the Yorubas asking for an Oduduwa Republic at a time when one of their own is interested in the presidency of the country? Why was the building of  TVC News  and several properties believed to be his properties torched during the  EndSARS protest in Lagos? Why were protesting Lagos youths calling out his son, Seyi Tinubu? Is Prof. Yemi Osinbajo not good enough to succeed his boss?

Charity, they say begins at home. Its also said that home enemies are the most dangerous. There are telling insinuations that Sen. Bola Tinubu is not liked by some of  his own kinsmen. Some persons are of the opinion that those who had refused to acknowledge Tinubu political sagacity were only envious of the former’s achievements. This may sound logical but its’  the true state of things.

Going by his political antecedence, Tinubu cannot be trusted. He is still being accused of having betrayed several Yoruba statesmen to get to the height where he is today. The likes of late Chief MKO Abiola, Late Yinka Odumakin  and so many former NADECO chieftains  have sorrow tales to tell of Tinubu’s unholy political escapades.