Bola Ahmed Tinubu: The Iroko Tree
By Paul Uwadima
In 2003, the Battle Cry was to bring southwest to the main stream of Nigerian politics. Leading the battle was the former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who had made it one of his key mission that election year alongside his quest to be re-elected president.
Obasanjo viewed the ‘capturing’ of southwest as a must, if he could get the respect he craved for, from other parts of the country who were silently murmuring over his lack of home support.
It could be recalled that in the 1999, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was beaten roundly by the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the South West. By that singular fact Obasanjo was not qualified to vie for the presidential ticket of the PDP.
This was because the PDP had made it clear that it is only the party members who were able to deliver victory for the party at the governorship, state House of Assembly, Local Government and wards elections that preceded the presidential election that would be eligible to contest for the party’s presidential ticket during the primaries at its National convention in Jos, Plateau state.
However despite the ineligibility of Obasanjo to participate in the primaries the powers-that-be granted him waivers and he contested and got the PDP ticket with which he won the presidential election.
Despite his show of braggadocio as president he was aware of the sentiment expressed by Nigerians that he was president only by the mercy of other zones of the country. He had to break his pariah status in south-west politics. Here again Obasanjo employed his legendary deceptive tactics. He was able to send dummy to the Alliance for Democracy (AD) that was the dominant political force in the southwest that he want to work with them to ensure that the southwest was not short changed from getting a second term at the presidency.
He made them to understand that if they fail to support him, the southwest would be the loser. To give credence to his plea, at the time, there was pressure in the popular press, mounted on Obasanjo to do only one term. Columnists were piling up the heat that he should do the Mandela. Mr. Nelson Mandela, came out of prison to be South Africa’s post apartheid president and left office after only one term. President Obasanjo was told to do the same, since he had helped to stabilize the country that was teetering on the edge of total collapse after the annulment of June 12, 1993 presidential election that the Late Chief MKO Abiola was, poised to win.
When the agitation was getting too much, Obasanjo jarred at his traducers, saying he cannot do the Mandela because there was no Mbeki to relinquish power to. Tabo Mbeki became president of South-Africa, after Mandela decided not to seek for re-election.
With such political scenario unfolding, it was easy to buy over the AD leaders who agreed to support Obasanjo’s re-election. To show their good faith, the AD, as a party decided not to present a presidential candidate for the election in order not to inadvertently divide the block vote for Obasanjo from the south west. Obasanjo won the presidential election and yet turned round to rig the gubernatorial election and other elections in the zone, with the exception of Lagos state. It was an action that clearly shows that the former President was an untrustworthy fellow.
When the result of the 2003 started rolling in, it was obvious that a big hurricane had hit the south west politically. It could be termed ‘ hurricane PDP’. And like all hurricane, it destroyed everything on its part and by the time it receded, many high profile political careers were shattered into mere debris that till this day has been consigned to the waste bin where debris rightly belonged.
Chief Olusegun Osaba (AD), the governor of Ogun state was defeated by Otunba Gbenga Daniel (PDP) Senator Rasheed Ladoja (PDP) defeated Alhaji Lamidi Adesina (AD) in Oyo State; Mr. Ayo Fayose (PDP) defeated Otunba Niyi Adebayo (AD) in Ekiti; Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola (PDP) defeated Chief Bisi Akande (AD) in Osun. In Ondo state, Chief Olusegun Agagu of the PDP defeated late Chief Adefarasin of the AD. Tinubu, the Lagos State governor became the only Iroko tree that could withstand the devastating hurricane. He retained his seat as the only surviving AD governor.
Not done yet, Obasanjo was determined to cut down the only tree that was left standing in his unbridled destructive quest. Tinubu was challenged by the federal government on the prodding of president Obasanjo for creating new local governments or local council development areas in Lagos State. For that, local government funds of the state was seized by the federal government because he refused to dissolve them and retain only those recognized by the 1999 constitution. Tinubu and Lagos state went to court to challenge the action of the federal government. In the long drawn legal fireworks, the Supreme Court in a landmark judgment ruled that the federal government of Nigeria had no right in the first instance to withhold funds meant for local government councils in any state of the federation, ordering its immediate release. The federal government again went back to court to seek further clarifications on the matter in a manner which has the odour of politics oozing from it. Reprieve was only to come to Lagos state after the exit of Obasanjo.
As Obasanjo’s tenure wound up in 2007 and his third term dream became dead on arrival, the civilian dictator again made Lagos state, the only standing AD, a must win, for the PDP, as his parting got to his party. He was in for a shocker. Tinubu marshaled out a war chest that left the PDP prostrate that even as 2011 election is approaching PDP is almost non-existent in Lagos state. Tinubu ensured that Chief Babatunde Fashola, SAN became the Lagos state Governor in 2007 and Fashola is doing wonderfully well, as most Nigerians could acknowledge.
Tinubu, the only Iroko tree that was able to withstand, ‘hurricane PDP’ in 2003, has been to sprouting out in various ways than one in the South-West today. Its sprouts could be seen now in Ekiti and Ondo states as well as in far flung places like Edo state and still counting. The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the party that emerged from the debris of AD left behind by the 2003 hurricane is now the most popular political party in the south west. ACN’s ascendency is in marked contrast to the political decline of Obasanjo and the PDP in the area. Tinubu has become the undisputed Godfather of South West politics and one man that would have a deciding influence on the outcome of the presidential election in 2011. And any presidential candidate who ignores Tinubu does so at his own peril.
In 2003, the Battle Cry was to bring southwest to the main stream of Nigerian politics. Leading the battle was the former President Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who had made it one of his key mission that election year alongside his quest to be re-elected president.
Obasanjo viewed the ‘capturing’ of southwest as a must, if he could get the respect he craved for, from other parts of the country who were silently murmuring over his lack of home support.
It could be recalled that in the 1999, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) was beaten roundly by the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the South West. By that singular fact Obasanjo was not qualified to vie for the presidential ticket of the PDP.
This was because the PDP had made it clear that it is only the party members who were able to deliver victory for the party at the governorship, state House of Assembly, Local Government and wards elections that preceded the presidential election that would be eligible to contest for the party’s presidential ticket during the primaries at its National convention in Jos, Plateau state.
However despite the ineligibility of Obasanjo to participate in the primaries the powers-that-be granted him waivers and he contested and got the PDP ticket with which he won the presidential election.
Despite his show of braggadocio as president he was aware of the sentiment expressed by Nigerians that he was president only by the mercy of other zones of the country. He had to break his pariah status in south-west politics. Here again Obasanjo employed his legendary deceptive tactics. He was able to send dummy to the Alliance for Democracy (AD) that was the dominant political force in the southwest that he want to work with them to ensure that the southwest was not short changed from getting a second term at the presidency.
He made them to understand that if they fail to support him, the southwest would be the loser. To give credence to his plea, at the time, there was pressure in the popular press, mounted on Obasanjo to do only one term. Columnists were piling up the heat that he should do the Mandela. Mr. Nelson Mandela, came out of prison to be South Africa’s post apartheid president and left office after only one term. President Obasanjo was told to do the same, since he had helped to stabilize the country that was teetering on the edge of total collapse after the annulment of June 12, 1993 presidential election that the Late Chief MKO Abiola was, poised to win.
When the agitation was getting too much, Obasanjo jarred at his traducers, saying he cannot do the Mandela because there was no Mbeki to relinquish power to. Tabo Mbeki became president of South-Africa, after Mandela decided not to seek for re-election.
With such political scenario unfolding, it was easy to buy over the AD leaders who agreed to support Obasanjo’s re-election. To show their good faith, the AD, as a party decided not to present a presidential candidate for the election in order not to inadvertently divide the block vote for Obasanjo from the south west. Obasanjo won the presidential election and yet turned round to rig the gubernatorial election and other elections in the zone, with the exception of Lagos state. It was an action that clearly shows that the former President was an untrustworthy fellow.
When the result of the 2003 started rolling in, it was obvious that a big hurricane had hit the south west politically. It could be termed ‘ hurricane PDP’. And like all hurricane, it destroyed everything on its part and by the time it receded, many high profile political careers were shattered into mere debris that till this day has been consigned to the waste bin where debris rightly belonged.
Chief Olusegun Osaba (AD), the governor of Ogun state was defeated by Otunba Gbenga Daniel (PDP) Senator Rasheed Ladoja (PDP) defeated Alhaji Lamidi Adesina (AD) in Oyo State; Mr. Ayo Fayose (PDP) defeated Otunba Niyi Adebayo (AD) in Ekiti; Prince Olagunsoye Oyinlola (PDP) defeated Chief Bisi Akande (AD) in Osun. In Ondo state, Chief Olusegun Agagu of the PDP defeated late Chief Adefarasin of the AD. Tinubu, the Lagos State governor became the only Iroko tree that could withstand the devastating hurricane. He retained his seat as the only surviving AD governor.
Not done yet, Obasanjo was determined to cut down the only tree that was left standing in his unbridled destructive quest. Tinubu was challenged by the federal government on the prodding of president Obasanjo for creating new local governments or local council development areas in Lagos State. For that, local government funds of the state was seized by the federal government because he refused to dissolve them and retain only those recognized by the 1999 constitution. Tinubu and Lagos state went to court to challenge the action of the federal government. In the long drawn legal fireworks, the Supreme Court in a landmark judgment ruled that the federal government of Nigeria had no right in the first instance to withhold funds meant for local government councils in any state of the federation, ordering its immediate release. The federal government again went back to court to seek further clarifications on the matter in a manner which has the odour of politics oozing from it. Reprieve was only to come to Lagos state after the exit of Obasanjo.
As Obasanjo’s tenure wound up in 2007 and his third term dream became dead on arrival, the civilian dictator again made Lagos state, the only standing AD, a must win, for the PDP, as his parting got to his party. He was in for a shocker. Tinubu marshaled out a war chest that left the PDP prostrate that even as 2011 election is approaching PDP is almost non-existent in Lagos state. Tinubu ensured that Chief Babatunde Fashola, SAN became the Lagos state Governor in 2007 and Fashola is doing wonderfully well, as most Nigerians could acknowledge.
Tinubu, the only Iroko tree that was able to withstand, ‘hurricane PDP’ in 2003, has been to sprouting out in various ways than one in the South-West today. Its sprouts could be seen now in Ekiti and Ondo states as well as in far flung places like Edo state and still counting. The Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the party that emerged from the debris of AD left behind by the 2003 hurricane is now the most popular political party in the south west. ACN’s ascendency is in marked contrast to the political decline of Obasanjo and the PDP in the area. Tinubu has become the undisputed Godfather of South West politics and one man that would have a deciding influence on the outcome of the presidential election in 2011. And any presidential candidate who ignores Tinubu does so at his own peril.
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