By LANRE OGUNDIPE

Few figures in Nigeria’s Fourth Republic evoke as much fascination, admiration, suspicion and debate as President Bola Ahmed Tinubu. To his supporters, he is a political strategist of rare endurance who built a formidable network of influence and eventually captured the highest office in the land. To his critics, he represents the entrenched culture of power brokerage and political godfatherism that has long complicated Nigeria’s democratic evolution.

Both views exist simultaneously. Understanding how that paradox emerged is essential to understanding contemporary Nigerian politics.

For more than three decades, Tinubu has navigated Nigeria’s shifting political terrain with unusual resilience. His journey has taken him through several identities: pro-democracy activist, state governor, regional power broker, national kingmaker and ultimately President of the Federal Republic. In a political environment where alliances collapse quickly and influence often evaporates once public office is lost, Tinubu’s ability to endure and expand his reach has made him one of the most consequential actors of the democratic era that began in 1999.

How he managed to do so is the puzzle that begins this series.

Nigeria’s political history is often narrated through towering personalities whose influence defined particular epochs. Nnamdi Azikiwe embodied the nationalist mobilisation that drove the struggle for independence. Obafemi Awolowo represented ideological clarity and programmatic governance in the First Republic. Ahmadu Bello symbolised northern political consolidation during the same period. Later came leaders shaped by the military era, including Ibrahim Babangida and Olusegun Obasanjo, whose authority derived from the command structures of uniformed rule.

Tinubu belongs to a different political generation altogether. His rise is inseparable from the democratic environment that followed the end of military rule. In that environment, political authority could no longer be seized through decree or inherited through colonial-era political hierarchies. It had to be negotiated through elections, sustained through alliances and defended within an unpredictable democratic arena.

That environment rewarded a different kind of political skill.

Tinubu’s early political formation emerged during one of Nigeria’s most turbulent moments. The annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election triggered a profound national crisis that mobilised a broad coalition of activists, intellectuals and politicians committed to restoring democratic rule. Tinubu became associated with that resistance through the National Democratic Coalition, widely known as NADECO.

Winning power is an achievement. What a leader does with that power determines his place in history.

Many members of that movement faced persecution, detention or exile during the final years of military rule. The struggle created networks of political solidarity that would later shape alignments in the Fourth Republic. Yet resistance politics alone does not explain Tinubu’s later prominence. Nigeria produced many pro-democracy activists who returned from that period with moral authority but never translated it into enduring political power.

Tinubu did something different. He moved from protest politics into the less glamorous but more consequential task of building political structures.

The opportunity emerged with Nigeria’s transition to civilian rule in 1999. Tinubu became governor of Lagos State at the dawn of the Fourth Republic. At the time, Lagos was already Nigeria’s commercial nerve centre, but it was also administratively overstretched and politically complex. Governing Lagos required navigating intense economic pressures, federal-state tensions and the expectations of a rapidly expanding urban population.

Tinubu’s years in office produced changes that would later shape the foundation of his political influence. One of the most visible developments was the expansion of the state’s internally generated revenue, which significantly strengthened Lagos’ fiscal capacity. Another was the deliberate recruitment of technocrats into governance. Over time, Lagos developed a reputation for administrative experimentation and institutional restructuring.

These initiatives had consequences beyond governance. Fiscal autonomy strengthened the state’s negotiating power with the federal government. Institutional reforms created a generation of technocrats who later assumed influential roles in government and public administration. Lagos gradually evolved into more than a state government. It became a political ecosystem.

That ecosystem proved durable.

Perhaps the most striking feature of Tinubu’s political career emerged after he left office as governor in 2007. In Nigeria’s political culture, former governors often fade quickly once their tenure ends. Their successors distance themselves, alliances dissolve and their influence declines.

Tinubu defied that pattern.

Instead of retreating from the political arena, he expanded his influence by cultivating alliances across the Southwest and beyond. Several political figures who emerged through the Lagos political structure maintained varying degrees of loyalty to the network he had assembled. Over time, this pattern generated a reputation that would define his political identity for years: that of the kingmaker.

The term carried different meanings depending on who used it. Supporters interpreted it as evidence of strategic brilliance and leadership cultivation. Critics saw it as confirmation of a political godfather system that exerted excessive control over electoral outcomes.

Yet both perspectives acknowledged the same reality. Tinubu had succeeded in building one of the most durable political networks in Nigeria’s democratic history.

Political machines are not unique to Nigeria. In many political systems, influential figures have built networks capable of mobilising resources, coordinating electoral strategies and sustaining loyalty across multiple cycles of political competition. Such structures survive not through ideology alone but through organisation, patronage and strategic management of alliances.

In the Fourth Republic, Tinubu demonstrated a consistent ability to operate within this model.

Over time his influence expanded beyond regional politics. His role in coalition building during the opposition realignment that preceded the 2015 general election marked a decisive moment. The merger that produced the All Progressives Congress created the first opposition platform capable of defeating an incumbent ruling party at the federal level.

That development altered Nigeria’s political landscape.

The victory of Muhammadu Buhari in the 2015 presidential election resulted from a combination of factors, including voter dissatisfaction with the incumbent administration and the effectiveness of the opposition coalition. Within that coalition, Tinubu was widely regarded as one of the principal architects of the alliance that made the outcome possible.

His reputation as Nigeria’s most influential political kingmaker grew accordingly.

Yet the kingmaker narrative would eventually give way to a different chapter. After years of shaping political outcomes from behind the scenes, Tinubu himself sought the presidency. In 2023 he achieved what few political strategists in Nigeria’s history had managed to accomplish: converting long-standing influence into direct control of the nation’s highest office.

The kingmaker had become the king.

That transformation raises the central question that frames this series. How did a politician who began as an opposition activist during the military era evolve into the dominant strategist of the Fourth Republic and ultimately into Nigeria’s president?

Answering that question requires moving beyond simplistic narratives that either glorify or condemn. Nigerian political discourse often oscillates between these extremes, reducing complex figures to caricatures. Serious analysis requires a more balanced approach.

Tinubu’s career embodies many of the contradictions that define Nigeria’s democratic experience. He is credited with helping to transform Lagos into a more administratively functional state while also attracting criticism for the concentration of political influence within his network. He is regarded as a master strategist by supporters and as a symbol of entrenched political patronage by opponents.

Both interpretations contain elements of truth.

Such contradictions are not unusual in political history. Many influential leaders have combined institution building with aggressive power consolidation. What matters is not whether contradictions exist but how they shape governance and political development.

That is the broader inquiry this series intends to pursue.

Future installments will examine Lagos as the foundation of Tinubu’s political architecture, the mechanics of his kingmaker reputation, the years of political battles that tested his resilience and the strategic intelligence that allowed him to navigate Nigeria’s volatile political terrain.

Ultimately, the most important question lies ahead.

Winning power is an achievement. What a leader does with that power determines his place in history.

Tinubu has already secured a place in Nigeria’s political narrative through his endurance, organisational skill and strategic reach. Whether that place becomes one of enduring historical significance will depend on the choices made during his presidency and the legacy that follows.

For now, one observation remains difficult to dispute.

In the complex theatre of Nigeria’s Fourth Republic, few figures have shown a greater capacity to adapt, survive and shape the architecture of power.

That is why the Tinubu phenomenon deserves careful study.

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He acknowledges General Akinrinade’s illustrious military service, his significant role in the civil war and his esteemed position as Chief of Army Staff.

The congratulatory message was announced in a press statement by the Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr. Bayo Onanuga.

He said President Tinubu also highlighted the general’s pivotal leadership in restoring democracy in Nigeria following the annulment of the June 12, 1993, election.

Tinubu emphasized General Akinrinade’s instrumental leadership within the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, both domestically and in exile.

READ ALSO: Alake at 68: Thanks for your candid counselling, support –Tinubu

President Tinubu commended Akinrinade for his dedication to democratic governance and unwavering commitment to Nigeria’s development.

“The General was one of those who provided inspiring leadership and direction for us in those difficult moments within the National Democratic Coalition,” President Tinubu said.

He assures Akinrinade and other NADECO leaders of his steadfast determination to revitalise the economy and improve the living standards of the Nigerian people, to make proud all those who fought for the nation’s democracy.

Expressing his gratitude for General Akinrinade’s wise counsel, President Tinubu encourages the elder statesman to continue sharing his invaluable insights with the government and society.

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In a statement on Wednesday in Lagos by the Late OPC Founder’s son, Mr. Remi Fasehun, the family described the omission of the foremost democracy activist in the president’s list as uncharitable, ungrateful and unpardonable.

“The President was a beneficiary of our father’s activism and sacrifice for democracy,” the younger Fasehun said on behalf of the Estate.

“Not only were they in the trenches together, Fasehun helped Tinubu to escape into exile. In fact, it is on record that, when General Sani Abacha’s squad surrounded Senator Abraham Adesanya residence where they held a meeting, Tinubu mounted the back of Fasehun and jumped the fence to flee into hiding and subsequently into exile.

“Several people, who escaped from the country into exile and joined NADECO-Abroad, including Pa Anthony Enahoro, were personally taken by boat and bush paths, through the NADECO Route, by Dr. Fasehun. He was at a point the link between Pa Enahoro-NADECO and NUPENG, the union that played a pivotal role in that struggle.

“He was thrown into prison several times by the General Sani Abacha junta, in Kirikiri, Ilorin and Kuje. At the infamous Inter Centre in Ikoyi Cemetery, he was held incommunicado for several months, an experience that inflicted immense damage on him physically and psychologically, to the extent of leaving his vision impaired for life.

“His family and businesses paid dearly for his struggle for democracy. Today, his wife and children still pay the price of their father’s sacrifice to birth the democracy Nigeria has today.”

They said Fasehun’s hospitality business, Century Hotel, as well as his Besthope Hospital in Lagos, were today a shadow of the flourishing enterprises they used to be before he threw himself into the struggle for June 12.

University of Aberdeen-trained Medical Doctor and Africa’s first Acupuncturist, Dr. Fasehun died December 1, 2018 in Lagos at the age of 83.

READ ALSO: FOR THE RECORD: Tinubu’s speech on 2024 Democracy Day

Furthermore, according to the statement, Fasehun specifically founded the socio-cultural group, Oodua People’s Congress (OPC), in 1994, as a vehicle for wresting democracy from the sit-tight military junta.

“To ignore such an inimitable icon as Dr. Frederick Isiotan Fasehun from any so-called list of June 12 and Democratic Heroes smacks of crass injustice and inexplicable vendetta,” his Estate declared.

It recalled that in the struggle for June 12, hundreds of OPC members paid the supreme price, through extra-judicial killings by overzealous and ill-advised security agents.

“We only hope that in the name of fairness and justice, the President will correct this anomaly and place Dr. Fasehun in Nigeria’s democratic Hall of Fame as he very well deserves,” the Estate said.

“Truth should not be sacrificed on the altar of politics, however. Dr. Fasehun should be given his well-deserved historical recognition as a true Nigerian Hero of Democracy,” the statement declared.

While acknowledging that leading a huge nation like Nigeria could be a Herculean task, the Fasehuns urged  Tinubu to put welfare packages in place to ameliorate the unprecedented poverty, inflation and insecurity bedeviling citizens.

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On Tuesday, 13 June, 2023, I was at the University of Ibadan where I delivered a public lecture titled “The task before Nigeria’s 16th Head of State, Bola Ahmed Tinubu” at the 31st anniversary of the Resurrection Morning Star Society, Chapel of Resurrection of the university. Following is an abridged version of the lecture:

“Tinubu is an enigma. To borrow from the words which the self-styled “evil genius” and self-conceited military president-cum-dictator, Gen. Ibrahim Babangida (IBB), employed while describing the sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Tinubu has been “the issue” in Nigerian politics since the current Fourth Republic kicked off in 1999. The return to democracy did not come on a platter but was forged in the crucibles of fire. The rallying cry was for the military to return to the barracks – that military rule had become an aberration worldwide. Tinubu was a senator under Babangida’s planned-to-fail Third Republic, having won election on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP), Babangida’s “a little to the left” political contraption. When MKO Abiola threw his hat in the ring to contest the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Tinubu was in Abiola’s corner. Abiola won the election judged both locally and internationally as free and fair and the most credible in the history of elections in this country; but the results were annulled by IBB. Thus began an epic battle to have the election de-annulled, thereby throwing the country into what came to be known as political impasse or logjam that did not  come to an end until the military heeded the cry to return to the barracks and the country returned to civil rule on May 29, 1999.

The return to democracy did not come on a platter but was forged in the crucibles of fire. The rallying cry was for the military to return to the barracks – that military rule had become an aberration worldwide.

Tinubu played a prominent role in the pro-democracy group called the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) that fought the Babangida and, later, Gen. Sani Abacha dictatorship to a standstill. When the soil of Nigeria became too hot for the pro-democracy activists due to the mindless assassination, arrest and detention of leading June 12 activists, many of them, including Tinubu, relocated abroad to continue the struggle to liberate Nigeria from the jackboot of military dictatorship. The struggle achieved its goal on May 29, 1999 but not before the death of Abacha in unexplained circumstances on 8 June, 1998 followed closely by that of Abiola in controversial circumstances on 7 July, 1998. Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar succeeded Abacha and initiated a return to civil rule programme that birthed the ongoing Fourth Republic, so far the longest-running in the history of the country. Tinubu participated in the process under the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) and was elected the governor of Lagos State. He ruled the country’s most important state for two uninterrupted terms of four years each (1999 -2003; 2003 – 2007).

The momentous events that signposts Tinubu’s unforgettable years as the governor of Lagos state include his epic battles with the then President Olusegun Obasanjo, first in the 2003 General Elections when Obasanjo, leveraging on the ubiquitous “Federal Might”, uprooted all AD governors in the South-west with only Tinubu escaping the political tsunami! Obasanjo’s action was not only precipitated on earning himself a second term in office but also to avenge what had come to be referred to as “the shame of 1999” when he lost scandalously in his, well, home geo-political zone of the South-west to his rival, Chief Olu Falae. The second leg of Tinubu’s tango with Obasanjo occurred in 2005 when, on account of the Lagos governor’s creation of more local government areas in the state, and justifiably so, Obasanjo seized Lagos State’s local government’s federal allocation, an action capable –and, perhaps, actually meant – to financially strangulate the state and force Tinubu on his knees. However, rather than back down and kow-tow to the president, Tinubu stood his ground and engineered a tax system that geometrically shot up the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of Lagos from a measly N600 million per annum in 2005 to the N51 billion per annum that it is today. That quantum leap in revenue generation makes Lagos state, perhaps, the only state in the country that can sustain itself without relying on Federal allocation.

Necessitated by what some say is vaulting ambition while others counter that it is survivalist instincts, Tinubu soon broke ranks with his political godfathers in the AD/Afenifere camp and charted his own course with the formation of the Action Congress (AC), which later became the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN). Archimedes it was who said: “Give me a place to stand, and a lever long enough, and I will move the world” Lagos and ACN became the “place to stand” in Tinubu’s scantily-concealed quest to master Nigeria’s political landscape and bear rule over its people. He took a quantum leap forward in 2014 with the cobbling together of an alliance (the All Progressives Congress, APC) that no one had given a chance of success going by the country’s antecedents. The APC, however, defeated the sitting president, Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, and his ruling party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) in the General Election of March 2015.

Tinubu’s mastery of Lagos politics since 1999 has not been in doubt. He saw off the AD/Afenifere leaders not only in Lagos politics but also in the elective political leadership of the entire South-west. He has since firmly ensconced himself in Lagos in particular as the man who decides “who gets what, when and how”, to quote Harold Lasswell. As a politician in Lagos, you disagree with Tinubu at your own peril! He saw off two deputy governors (Senator Kofoworola Akerele-Bucknor and Olufemi Pedro) and has installed Babatunde Raji Fashola, 2007 – 2015; Akinwunmi Ambode; 2015 – 2019; and the incumbent governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, 2019 to date. When, in 2019, he decided that Ambode would not go for a second term in office, no Jupiter, as they say, could change it despite the outcry against the decision.

For Tinubu, however, it has not all been a bed of roses. Virtually everything about him is steeped in controversy: His name, parenthood, state of origin, age, schools attended and academic qualifications attained and, no less so, the source or sources of his immense wealth. His case, however, can be likened to that of the palm frond that luxuriates in the midst of thorns. Controversy and opposition appear as energizers that fire Tinubu to mount with wings as the eagle and overcome adversaries and adversity. Nothing demonstrates this better than the last presidential election where he had to fight tooth and nail to win the presidential ticket of his party.  Tinubu’s famous “emilokan” and “o lule” statements at Abeokuta, Ogun state attested to his frustration and desperation as the stakes appeared stalked against him and his “life-long” ambition to rule the country seemeth in tatters. But like the phoenix that rose victoriously from its ashes, he eventually got the ticket and went on to win the last presidential election. Interestingly, like MKO Abiola in the June 12, 1993 presidential election, Tinubu lost the last election scandalously in the South-east geopolitical zone, whose voters voted overwhelmingly for son-of-the-soil Peter Obi. Tinubu had, fittingly, couched his Renewed Hope 2023 campaign after MKO Abiola’s Hope ’93 campaign 30 years earlier.

READ ALSO: Why the agitation for Yoruba nation…, By Bolanle Bolawole

Now that Tinubu has achieved his life-long ambition of ruling Nigeria, it remains to be seen what he will make of it. If anything, our sour experience with Buhari has shown that it is one thing to thirst after an office; it is another to get into the office and perform well. Buhari got into office after four attempts but messed up real time. A quotation once hung on the office wall of a friend; it reads: “O Allah, when you have prepared a place for me; prepare me for the place” It was obvious Buhari was ill-prepared for office but can we say the same of Tinubu?

Popular columnist, Dr. Reuben Abati, set out eight tasks for Tinubu, namely: removal of fuel subsidy (which Tinubu achieved in his first day in office); widening of the country’s revenue base; enthronement of true federalism; according a special status to Lagos; sanitizing the budgeting and procurement processes; taking a look at the foreign exchange regime (which Tinubu has also done); empowerment of the security agencies, particularly the police (he just changed the Service chiefs, including the IGP); respect for media freedom and the demands of Nigerian youths.

Another way of understanding the task before President Tinubu is to identify what the people wanted but which his predecessor, Buhari, failed to do. According to a former Kaduna state senator, Shehu Sani, Buhari failed to secure the life and property of Nigerians; therefore, security of life and property is one of the tasks Nigerians expect President Tinubu to perform. Sani also said Buhari promised restructuring but failed to deliver. Since Tinubu himself also promised to restructure the country, he is expected to deliver on this promise. Sani accused Buhari of granting waivers to the rich while impoverishing the poor. Tinubu will be expected to pursue policies that will close the yawning gap between the rich and poor and not further widen it. Sani accused Buhari of building magical rice pyramids that disappeared after three days! We all saw the political rice pyramids but they did nothing to bring down the price of rice and other foodstuffs, which kept skyrocketing despite the billions of Naira allegedly sunk by Godwin Emefiele’s Central Bank of Nigeria into the Anchor Borrowers’ Programme. Food security, therefore, is one of the urgent tasks before Tinubu for, as they say, a hungry man is an angry man! When hunger enters a stomach, nothing else finds its way there!

Yet, another way to approach this question is to attempt a comparative analysis of the situation of Nigerians pre-Buhari and post-Buhari and use that to set a template for President Tinubu, if only as a starting point. Data from the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) indicate that in 2014 before Buhari took office, the inflation rate oscillated between 7.7 and 8.5 per cent. By 2015 when Buhari took office, it averaged 9 per cent but under Buhari, the inflation rate hit a 16-year high, in the midst of increase in prices and poor purchasing power. In 2016, inflation rose to 15.68 per cent; 16.52 per cent in 2017 but dropped to 12.09 per cent in 2018 and 11.40 per cent in 2019 before it resumed its upward climb again in 2020 to 12.2 per cent, closing at 16.95 per cent in 2021. In 2022 the inflation rate climbed to 21.34 per cent and now to 22.04 per cent . President Tinubu and his economic team are expected to adopt measures that will not only reduce the inflation rate to the single digit it was under Jonathan but also improve on it.

Another way of understanding the task before President Tinubu is to identify what the people wanted but which his predecessor, Buhari, failed to do.

The unemployment rate when Buhari took over power in the second quarter of 2015 was 8.2 per cent; it rose to 9.9 per cent in the third quarter of that year but between then and May 2021, Nigeria’s unemployment rate has more than tripled. National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) data shows that currently, the country’s unemployment rate is projected to rise to 41 percent this year! At the 33.3 percent that it was earlier, the World of Statistics had already rated Nigeria as having the highest unemployment rate in the world! The NBS poverty survey also shows that 63 per cent of Nigerians, about 133 million people as opposed to 53 per cent before Buhari took over in 2015, are multi-dimensionally poor. The Multi-dimensional Poverty Measure is an index that measures the percentage of households in a given country deprived along three dimensions – monetary poverty, lack of education, and lack of basic infrastructure services.

The question must then be asked: The trillions of Naira that the Buhari administration reportedly spent fighting poverty in the country, where did it go? (TO BE CONTINUED).

*Bolawole ( turnpot@gmail.com / 0705 263 1058), former Editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of its Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-chief, was also the Managing Director/ Editor-in-chief of THE WESTERNER newsmagazine. He writes the ON THE LORD’S DAY column in the Sunday Tribune and TREASURES column in New Telegraph newspaper on Wednesdays. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.

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Ukwu was said to be planning a press conference with the aim of disparaging and casting aspersions on the credibility of the 2023 Presidential Election won by Tinubu.

In a statement he issued on Thursday, Alake, said Ukwu was out to deceive unsuspecting members of the public, particularly those abroad and should be ignored.

The statement signed by Alake reads in full:

“Our attention has been drawn to an attempt by one, Lloyd Ukwu, a United States-based Nigerian claiming to be the Executive Director of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) to organise a press conference specifically intended to disparage and cast aspersions on the credibility of the 2023 Presidential Election freely and fairly won by the President-Elect, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

“It must be stated emphatically and without any ambiguity that Ukwu is an impostor, hellbent on hoodwinking unsuspecting Nigerians in the diaspora and the international community to further a sinister agenda on behalf of the Presidential Candidate of the Labour Party (LP), Mr. Peter Obi, who came a distant third in the last presidential election.

“That Ukwu is attempting to fraudulently exploit the NADECO platform for Peter Obi against Asiwaju Tinubu  is so  laughable and a grave insult to the sensibilities of Nigerians, who witnessed first-hand the struggle by the pro-democracy group in restoring democratic rule to Nigeria and the roles played by prominent Nigerians, including independence hero and nationalist, Late Chief Anthony Enahoro, Asiwaju Tinubu, Professor Wole Soyinka, General Alani Ipoola Akinrinade, late Commodore Dan Suleiman, Late Rear Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Professor Bolaji Akinyemi, Chief Cornelius Adebayo and several other  pro-democracy activists in exile to birth the freedom from military dictatorship that Nigerians enjoy today.

“We reiterate that Ukwu was very  peripheral to  this group of eminent statesmen and illustrious Nigerians who bore the pain and peril of exile so that our country could be free from the jackboot of military dictatorship of Late General Sani Abacha.

“It is imperative to remind Ukwu and his desperate paymasters that while Asiwaju Tinubu put his life and resources on the line during those challenging times, the likes of Peter Obi were either hobnobbing with the military or nowhere to be found.

“In trying to robe himself in an unbefitting garb, Ukwu’s desperation to confer credibility on his mission by using the  NADECO name is bound to hit a dead-end and ignominy. To hide under the name of NADECO to deceive the international media and interest groups is an act that should be condemned by right thinking people.

“We are of a firm belief that Lloyd Ukwu is an agent of the Labour Party and Peter Obi, who were rejected by majority of Nigerians at the February 25 polls.

“Majority of Nigerians have spoken loud and clear that Asiwaju Tinubu is their choice to lead Nigeria from May 29, 2023. There is absolutely nothing Ukwu and his ilk can do to change this fact of history.”

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Noting that Tinubu’s victory would bring some measure of pride to those who made sacrifices in the struggle for the June 12, OPC, through a statement by its President, Otunba Wasiu Afolabi, recalled that the All Progressives Congress, APC, candidate was in the trenches with its late founder and president, Dr. Frederick Fasehun.

Afolabi, president of the socio-cultural organisation, said in the statement: “OPC congratulates Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu for this historical achievement of being declared winner of the February 25, 2023 presidential elections.

“Leading a 200 million-strong nation like Nigeria will not be a small task. So much hope and expectations are pinned on Asiwaju and he cannot afford to fail.

“As OPC, our prayer is that God will grant the President-elect greater ability to record greater achievements than he did in his eight years as the Governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007.

“May God grant this country peace, progress and prosperity, as it has never experienced, under this coming regime of Bola Tinubu. May God grant him the wisdom and the health to carry out this great task of nation-building.

“However, because Nigerians have never been this divided and insecure since the end of the Nigerian Civil War, the first task that Bola Tinubu must undertake, when he is sworn in on May 29, is that of reuniting this severely divided, disunited and insecure nation.

“Tinubu must heed to the yearnings of pro-democracy organisations like NADECO and even our late founder, Dr. Fasehun, by laying the foundation of a Nigeria founded on the enthronement of true federalism. We advise Tinubu to embark on the immediate restructuring of this country.

“Taming poverty and inflation remains an urgent task. The country’s four refineries must work before any move to tamper with the fuel subsidy. Other governments failed in giving Nigeria home-refined domestic fuel, Asiwaju must take this as an immediate challenge.

“Tinubu is a product of the struggle. He came from the trenches. He was forced to go into exile by the General Sani Abacha killer-squad, and he remained steadfast to the cause. He deployed his influence, connections and resources to advance the struggle of NADECO-Abroad.

“OPC is proud to have been established in 1994 in the furnace of the fire for the struggle of June 12, just like other groups under NADECO. Our Late Founder and President, Dr. Frederick Fasehun, led our group to the forefront and trenches of that struggle. And we shall be happy to play a role to see to the success of the incoming government of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.”

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Last week as I re-arranged books and old newspapers in my library, I stumbled on a piece of historical evidence that I consider germane to the ongoing discussion on the direction towards 2023. The find was fortuitous because I did not set out to look for it; in fact, I never knew it existed or was there. It was the Vanguard newspaper of Thursday, June 1, 2000. The story, which began on the COVER, was titled “FG tackles Tinubu on June 12” and carried the by-line of the reporter, Rotimi Ajayi.

It reads: ABUJA -THE declaration of June 12 every year as a public holiday in Lagos State may have pitched Gov. Bola Tinubu with the Federal Government in a fresh face off, with the Attorney General of the Federation and Justice Minister, Mr. Kanu Agabi, saying yesterday that the state had no constitutional right to proclaim a public holiday… Mr. Agabi told State House correspondents in Abuja at the end of the weekly meeting of the Federal Executive Council (FEC) that declaration of public holiday was an exclusive responsibility of the Federal Government.

Just as we have experienced with Buhari, we can only come to grief if we allow those who seek to reap where they did not sow to hoodwink us once again. I have taken a stand: They will not have my support.

Gov. Tinubu had, on Tuesday, said June 12 would be observed as a public holiday in the state in view of its importance in the political history of Nigeria. However, Mr. Agabi said: “I heard that one of the states has declared June 12 as a public holiday. You cannot do that because only the National Assembly and the President can do it. If the President declares June 12 as a public holiday, it would be a valid declaration but if any other person in this country does so, it is invalid.”

The minister pointed out that what the Lagos governor should have done was to persuade the President to make the declaration. His words: “The power to declare a public holiday can only be vested in the President because it is an executive function. It is not a judicial function, it is not a legislative function; it is an executive function. We have in existence a law called the Public Holidays Act Cap 378 of Volume 21 of the Laws of the Federation of Nigeria. This law was in existence at the time the Constitution came into effect on May 29, 1999. It is an existing law and all existing laws are valid to the extent of their conformity with the Constitution…”

He pointed out that it was on the basis of this law that the President declared May 29 of every year a public holiday… Speaking on why he did not go to court over the issue of Sharia, the minister stated that there was nothing in the Constitution that empowers the Federal Government to take any state to court over Sharia”

The realities of our present circumstances tell us how the then president, Olusegun Obasanjo, and his A-G/Minister of Justice, Kanu Agabi,  left leprosy (Sharia/Jihad) and pre-occupied themselves with skin rashes (Tinubu’s declaration of June 12 as a public holiday), possibly out of Obasanjo’s alleged inveterate hatred for MKO Abiola, winner of the June 12, 1993 presidential election.

Remember that ever before he became civilian president, the same Obasanjo had, in far-away South Africa, declared that MKO was not the messiah Nigeria desired. Had Obasanjo done the needful when the fire of Sharia/Jihad was freshly ignited under his watch, we possibly would have been spared our current ordeal. So when men like Obasanjo and Agabi point accusing fingers these days, we need to point them in the direction of history.

Now, we all know how June 12 came about: After many rigmaroles and shifting of goalposts which one of my favourite musicians, Orlando Owoh of blessed memory, described as “Babangida don fuck Nigeria tire”, we eventually had the June 12, 1993 presidential election which was free, which was fair, which was peaceful and which, in fact, was the best the country had ever had – and this was attested to by both local and international observers and the winner was MKO Abiola. Abiola, a Yoruba moderate Muslim, like most other Yoruba Muslims, won convincingly in most parts of the country, beating his challenger, Bashir Tofa, even in his ward and state (Kano). Tofa had no qualms accepting defeat but Babangida annulled the election and will forever have that decision as an albatross around his neck. It is a yoke, and a burden, he will carry into his grave and even beyond to wherever he is destined!

Opposition to the annulment was massive and universal at first but as it is with all human affairs, human factors gradually set in as some people began to compromise and negotiate away the popular mandate freely and overwhelmingly bestowed on Abiola by the people. At a point, the June12 struggle was, in the words of those who traded it away, reduced to a Yoruba ethnic agenda, which they now gave as both an excuse and a reason for their treacherous and lecherous act.

I still remember Dozie Okebalama, one of my correspondents at the time (I was editor of The PUNCH/Saturday PUNCH), who wrote an opinion page article in The PUNCH using an Igbo proverb which so irked the then Chairman of the PUNCH, Chief Ajibola Ogunshola, that he ordered the summary dismissal of Dozie; but I convinced him we should not, even though the then Admin. Manager, Chief Olukolade, had promptly signed and delivered Dozie’s sack letter to my desk.

Dozie said in his native Igbo land, when you hear the sound of gunshot in your father’s compound, you do not call on someone else to go and help you find out what was happening there. You go to find out by yourself! June12, he said, was a gunshot fired in the compound of the Yoruba; so it is their duty to go and find out what happened there. In other words, it is their cup of tea and they must drink it! With that, he appeared to justify those abandoning the struggle for the de-annulment and revalidation of June 12 while entrusting the arduous task solely to the Yoruba. Thank God, the Yoruba did not disappoint! They fought on bravely! They weathered the storms – and they were many! They heroically paid the price! Did not the German poet, Henrik Ibsen, say the strongest man is he who stands alone? Those who must go into exile to wage the struggle from abroad did so – the likes of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Prof. Wole Soyinka, Dr. Amos Akingba, Dr. Kayode Fayemi, Comrade Opeyemi Bamidele, etc. If I forgot any name, kindly remind me!

Ex-Lagos State Military Gov. Ndubuisi Kanu, retired Commodore Dan Suleiman, foremost politician Alfred Rewane; Anthony Enahoro, the mover of the famous “Independence Now” motion during the colonial era, were other prominent names who continued the fight despite that the gunshot was not fired in their father’s compound, as it were!  Again, if I skipped any name, kindly remind me!

The exiles founded “Radio Kudirat” and battled the evil military junta to a standstill. Those who remained at home founded NADECO, PRONACO and many others to demand an end to military dictatorship. The likes of former governor of old Ondo State and my school principal, Pa Michael Adekunle Ajasin; stormy petrel, Chief Gani Fawehinmi; Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti, Femi Falana, and many others.

Space constraint will not allow us to mention all the names but kindly help add additional names on your own list! How many of the martyrs do we even know? What of the hundreds, even thousands, mowed down on the streets of Lagos and elsewhere by Abacha’s armoured tanks?

Abiola died in controversial circumstances in the unjust and wicked incarceration of the military while the struggle to revalidate the mandate, described by him as sacred, was still ongoing. The Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar/Admiral Mike Okhai Akhigbe military junta carries the burden of that guilt forever. Why, for instance, did that junta release other detainees of Abacha but inexplicably left Abiola behind?

In the end, however, the June 12 fight was not a total failure: First, we saw the back of the military and, secondly, when the country was to return to civilian rule in 1999, the presidency was conceded to the Yoruba (South-west), ostensibly to placate them over the loss of June 12, the death of Abiola, and the many other terrible things done to the region as a result of its single-minded struggle for the revalidation of June 12.

But were the Yoruba sufficiently placated? They were not because their manifest choice for president, Chief Olu Falae, was denied them in favour of ex-military dictator, retired Gen. Olusegun Obasanjo, whose administration’s demonstrable bellicosity, even animosity, towards the Yoruba and their interests justified the Yoruba’s opposition to his ascension to power in the first place.

So, the struggle continued, as they say! While no one could raise Abiola from the dead, the agitation that justice be served him in his grave raged on all the same. That goal was achieved on June 6, 2018 when the incumbent president, retired Major-General Muhammadu Buhari, another vile dictator in his own military days, declared June 12 as Nigeria’s Democracy Day, effective 2019, as against the subsisting May 29th.

If it is true, as some have posited, that Buhari did what he did in his quest for a second term in office, he did well. If it is also true that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was instrumental to Buhari arriving at that decision, Tinubu has done better. Tinubu’s declaration of June 12 as a public holiday in Lagos was precursor or forerunner to the FG’s declaration of the same June 12 as Democracy Day and a public holiday all over the country.

For eight years, Obasanjo, a presumptuous Yoruba and fellow Egba man like Abiola, was president and never wanted to hear anything positive said about Abiola and June 12. So, then, is the Yoruba saying fulfilled before our very eyes that “Ajumobi o kan taanu; a f’eni t’ori ba ran si ni” Oh yes; that someone is your blood relation does not mean he or she will be your destiny helper; except him whom God had so mandated!

For my highly esteemed readers asking why it appears I am in support of Tinubu’s quest for the 2023 presidency, this is one of the reasons. There are many others!

Now, those who, by choice, did not fight for democracy cannot defend it. Those who worked against Nigeria’s return to democracy but sided with vile military dictators cannot extend the frontiers of democracy or enlarge its coast, as it were. If I may ask, on which side of the June 12/fight for democracy divide was Atiku Abubakar, Peter Obi et al? We have all seen the role played by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

For my highly esteemed readers asking why it appears I am in support of Tinubu’s quest for the 2023 presidency, this is one of the reasons. There are many others! I, too, was in the trenches fighting for June 12; barely escaping with my life. Those who, like biblical Esau, sold June 12 for a mess of pottage; who, like Judas Iscariot, negotiated it away for filthy lucre; and those who, like the Sadducees and Pharisees, did not lift a finger in its support cannot move our democratic experiment forward and in the right direction. Just as we have experienced with Buhari, we can only come to grief if we allow those who seek to reap where they did not sow to hoodwink us once again. I have taken a stand: They will not have my support.

*Bolawole (turnpot@gmail.com /0705 263 1058), former Editor of PUNCH newspapers, Chairman of the Editorial Board and Deputy Editor-in-Chief, was also Managing Director/Editor-in-Chief of The Westerner newsmagazine. He writes the ON THE LORD’S DAY column in the Sunday Tribune and the TREASURES column in the New Telegraph newspaper. He is also a public affairs analyst on radio and television.

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He was 79 years old.

The announcement of his death is contained in a statement signed by his first son, Adeboye, on behalf of the family.

Adebiyi was the bishop of Lagos West Anglican Diocese from 1999 until 2013 when he retired having clocked the mandatory 70 years retirement age.

He was born on April 27, 1943, to Chief Samuel Ogunmola and Madam Alice Fatinuwe Adebiyi (both of blessed memory) from Osi-Ekiti, Ekiti State.

The late Adebiyi lectured at the University of Ado-Ekiti, UNAD, now Ekiti State University, EKSU, for many years before his call to the ordained ministry.

He was ordained a deacon in 1970 and a priest in 1971 and served as a priest at the Holy Trinity Anglican Church, Ilawe Ekiti.

Adebiyi was preferred a canon in 1983 and was the Vicar of Archbishop Vining Memorial Church, Ikeja between 1987 and May 1993.

He was collated an archdeacon in 1990 and consecrated Bishop of Owo Diocese on May 26, 1993.

In 1999, Bishop Adebiyi was translated to the See of the Diocese of Lagos West.

As the Bishop of the Diocese of Lagos West, he made a great impact by building the diocese from the scratch.

He worked tirelessly to build and transform the Diocese into an enviable and formidable institution.

During his tenure, the Diocese hosted all the Bishops in Africa at an event known as “African Anglican Bishops Conference” in November 2004.

He also carried out many strategic projects and reforms in the diocese.

His pioneering efforts were indeed legendary and unmatched.

Before his retirement, Bishop Adebiyi, through his evangelical activities, church planting, and youth development programmes made the Diocese of Lagos West (Anglican Communion) a model which was the vision and mission of the church.

This earned him the name “Peter the church planter”.

The late bishop was greatly burdened by the socio-political challenges in the country and was actively involved with the progressive forces to enthrone democracy and good governance.

He contributed immensely to the development of his hometown, Osi Ekiti, which he loved so much.

He touched many lives both at home and abroad.

Adebiyi joined the league of those who battled the military in the post-June 12 annulment years.

This earned him the tag, “NADECO Bishop”.

He wrote several papers and was a regular face in the media calling on the government to be sensitive and respond to the critical questions in society.

Burial arrangements will be announced by the family.

Source: NAN

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Kanu who was the chairman of the National Democratic Coalition, NADECO, died at the age of 77 on Wednesday, at a hospital in Lagos after a brief illness.

Muhammadu Buhari, in his condolence message issued by his media aide, Mallam Garba Shehu, prayed for God’s covering over all his loved ones.

The statement reads in part: “The President condoles with all professional colleagues of the gallant military officer, who distinguished himself in all positions and responsibilities during service, taking up more daunting, but historically rewarding challenges like speaking up for the weak and vulnerable, and the struggle for the country’s return to democratic government.

“President Buhari believes late Rear Admiral Kanu’s credentials in serving the nation, as a career military officer and as an activist with NADECO in actualising the June 12, 1993 mandate, remains commendable and will continue to inspire younger generations on patriotism.

“The President prays for the repose of the soul of the elder statesman.”

The statement by Sanwo-Olu as issued by his Chief Press Secretary, Gboyega Akosile, reads in part: “On behalf of the Government and people of Lagos State, I want to express my sincere and heartfelt condolences to the family, friends and comrades of late Ndubuisi Kanu as well as the Nigerian Navy, Civil Society Organisations (CSOs) and the country in general.

“As one of Nigeria’s advocates of good governance, restructuring and true federalism, the late Ndubusi Kanu will be sorely missed by the people.”

He added: “The death of Rear Admiral Kanu is a colossal loss to the country. He made lots of positive impact and contribution during his lifetime to the growth and development of Lagos State and Nigeria. He fought, along with several other patriots tirelessly for a united Nigeria during his days in the Nigerian Navy as well as a member of pro-democracy group after he retired from service.

“He wrote his name in gold as a tireless fighter and an advocate of democratic government. He played a leading role as chieftain of NADECO in the agitation for the actualisation of the annulled June 12, 1993 presidential election and return of civilian government in May 29, 1999.”

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