· How Bola Tinubu’s former godson swapped him for more influential Ogun governor
Like a cat with nine lives or a wildfire that wouldn’t quench, Muiz Banire, two-time Lagos commissioner, has re-emerged on the political scene. This time around, he reignites like a wildfire in harmattan ravaging the fields of rural farmers. But if Banire is the inferno, who are the rural farmers? His political detractors perhaps.
Against all odds, Banire has been appointed as Chairman of Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), by President Muhammadu Buhari. Banire is the former legal adviser of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC). His appointment is subject to the confirmation by the senate. On Tuesday, Senate President Bukola Saraki read a letter from Buhari, seeking the confirmation of Banire and 13 members of the Federal Civil Service Commission.
It is an open secret that Banire fell out of favour with Bola Tinubu who was a two-time governor of Lagos and incumbent national leader of the party thus arousing speculations that his future is doomed in the country’s social and political arena. But his recent appointment puts paid to such doomsday notions about him.
When the going was good, Banire prospered and profited under Tinubu who was widely recognised as his godfather. As Tinubu’s godson, Banire stepped on toes and ruffled feathers as he pleased. Then he got too swollen headed and stepped on the toes of his godfather, Tinubu. The latter felt outraged. He was infuriated at the sheer effrontery of a man who purportedly rose political eminence by Tinubu’s designs.
Soon after Banire fell out with Tinubu, he pitched his tent with Governor Ibikunle Amosun of Ogun State who was equally at loggerheads with the two-time Lagos governor in a never-ending political duel.
Amosun and Banire became an item and like besotted lovers, they plotted against their estranged mutual benefactor. One of their desperate plots has eventually bloomed into a luscious fruit with Banire’s recent appointment as Chairman of Asset Management Company of Nigeria (AMCON), by President Buhari.
Amosun has been fingered as the major mastermind of Banire’s appointment as AMCON chairman. Does this mean Amosun has become Banire’s new political godfather? Time will tell.
