The men who stuck a dagger in his back
If treachery were, strictly, the taproot of disaster, Bola Tinubu would have come to early ruin. Until Wednesday, March 1, the two-time governor of Lagos and All Progressives Congress (APC)’s presidential flagbearer fought the battle of his life. In pursuit of Nigeria’s most coveted office, the presidency, he sparred with giants and dueled with monsters.
Parrying and weaving with practiced side steps, Asiwaju dueled with the elements; so doing, he gained new friends even as trusted friends and associates deserted him. The jabs of betrayal hurtled at him from anticipated and unanticipated quarters.
Most astonishing, however, were the pockets of hostilities hurled on his path by his closest lieutenants. The latter, in their bid to thwart Tinubu’s presidential ambition, eventually threw caution to the winds and frontally challenged him.
Few people would forget in a hurry, how Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, squared up to Asiwaju, challenging him for the APC’s presidential ticket. Osinbajo conveniently forgot Tinubu’s role as his benefactor and political godfather.
After serving in Asiwaju’s cabinet for eight years as a Commissioner of Justice and Attorney General of Lagos, the former recommended Osinbajo as President Muhammadu Buhari’s running mate en route to the 2015 presidential election.
Pundits interpreted Tinubu’s action as a measure of trust and goodwill for Osinbajo but the latter repaid him with betrayal. Just when Tinubu needed his support, the VP deserted him and dared him to a duel in pursuit of the presidential seat.
In the same vein, former associates and recipients of BAT’s benevolence including information minister, Lai Mohammed and interior minister and two-time governor of Osun, Rauf Aregbesola, left him in the lurch just when he needed their support. They sided with Tinubu’s fierce rivals and antagonists.
A few months ago, the Minister of Interior, Aregbesola, launched a scathing attack on his erstwhile benefactor and national leader of the APC, Tinubu.
Aregbesola, a former governor of Osun State, while addressing party loyalists in Ijebu-jesa said he acquiesced to Tinubu’s handpicked candidate as his successor in 2018 because it was agreed that he would continue the legacies he laid.
Upon assumption of office, however, the said successor, Governor Gboyega Oyetola, failed to keep the agreement, according to the minister. Aregbesola said the same treatment Tinubu and his group meted out to former Lagos State governor, Akinwunmi Ambode, will be given to Oyetola because “he had derailed from the master plan too.”
“That was how it was in Lagos at a time; a governor derailed and the party members unseated him using the ballot boxes,” said Aregbesola, addressing his supporters in Yoruba language.
“As it was in Lagos yesterday, so shall it be in Osun. What is good for the goose is also good for the gander,” he said, adding that, “Only God can terrify us, not man. Go and tell them wherever they are, we own this party. We own this Afenifere group. We own this people-loving group started by our patriarchs Obafemi Awolowo and Bola Ige. This was Elder Akande’s group before he temporarily left us. This is our party.”
In the middle of his speech, the minister launched a song that was, apparently, targeted at Tinubu and Oyetola to drive home his point. He sang “Bye-bye to jagba-jagba, bye bye to rede rede (bye bye to nonsense).”
Launching expletives at Tinubu, he said, “Some people even thought that we were no longer Muslims because of how we cooperated with him. We dealt with him without treachery but we never knew he planned evil for us.
“We exalted him beyond his status and he turned himself to a god over us and we had sworn to ridicule anyone who compares himself to God. God has no competitor; He is enough to be God.”
Aregbesola made the shocking statements in a video that eventually went viral, eliciting wonderment within and outside the APC. Nobody ever imagined that Aregbesola, who was until the incident, the right-hand man of Tinubu would fall out with him in such an ugly manner.
Since his outburst, the interior minister has parted ranks with Tinubu. Further investigations revealed that he wasn’t in support of Tinubu’s presidential ambition.
Information Minister, Lai Mohammed, on the other hand, kept his distance from Tinubu and scoffed at his presidential ambition because the latter refused to back his bid to become a political godfather in Ilorin, Kwara State. Findings revealed that Mohammed fell out with the incumbent Governor of Kwara, Abdulrahman Abdulrazaq, after the latter rebuffed his bid to lord it over him and install functionaries loyal to him (Mohammed) in his cabinet.
Tinubu reportedly refused to back Mohammed’s bid to lord it over Governor Abdulrazaq. As a result of this, the information withdrew his loyalty to Tinubu.
But while he smarted from the disloyalty meted to him by these close associates, Tinubu encountered greater worries by the machinations of a powerful cabal within the APC to thwart his presidential ambition.
At the 11th hour, the cabal moved to thwart his presidential dream by through all manners of intrigue.
Recall that the National Chairman of the APC, Senator Abdulahi Adamu had during the meeting of the National Working Committee (NWC) of the party announced the President of the Senate, Dr. Ahmed Lawan as the anointed candidate of the party, a day to the primary election.
However, his announcement met stiff resistance from other members of the NWC, as well as northern APC governors who insisted that all the presidential aspirants must be allowed to go to the field.
The APC governors also prevailed on some aspirants from the north, insisting that power must shift to the South. Speaking afterward, in Akure, at the residence of Afenifere Leader, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, during an interaction with the leaders of the group, Tinubu said President Buhari and the APC northern governors proved to him that Nigeria can survive its unity and challenges.
He stated: “The North proved to me Nigeria can survive its unity. Some people want President Muhammadu Buhari to announce someone but the President said No. He insisted the process must go on democratically.
“The President said anyone that would mess up the APC process would see the other side of his eyes. He remained upright and saw the process to the end.
“Northern APC Governors resolved that the Presidency must go to the South and especially South West. Governor Nasir El-Rufai, Abdullahi Ganduje, and others supported me to the end. The battle was tough and at a point, I was in doubt. There were many rumours and I became confused of what to believe.”
Speaking on President Buhari’s forthrightness and affirmation of his full support to make sure he wins the election, Tinubu said: “President Buhari told me I promoted his name with the way I won the primary election because the process was clean and transparent and nobody can accuse him of manipulating the process. President Buhari said I gave him credibility and I deserved to be President. When I asked him to nominate the VP candidate for me, he said I should pick whoever I want and it is the reason I chose a competent man in Kashim Shettima who never lost any election and protected Christians in time of trouble in his state.”
There is no gainsaying Tinubu has endured a tedious march to his destiny. Betrayed by associates and taunted by the opposition, the Nigerian President-elect has come full circle recording unexpected triumphs over challenges thrown his way by fate and dark elements within and outside his party.
And just a few weeks to the polls, he faced a trying hurdle as Nigeria grappled with a curiously contrived fuel scarcity, a poorly implemented currency redesign, and naira swap enforced by the Godwin Emefiele-led Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN) and its resultant naira scarcity. These clearly incited the electorate against Tinubu and almost cost the APC a large percentage of anticipated votes at the February 25 polls.
But through these odds, Tinubu marched and triumphed. Thus on Wednesday, March 1, 2023, after a hard-worn election on February 25, he was declared Nigeria’s new President-elect, in Abuja, the Federal Capital Territory.
As he received his Certificate of Return, his mind was undoubtedly at peace.
“This is it,” he most likely thought, as he marched in measured steps atop the podium of the National Collation Centre of the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC).
While that epic moment manifested his pleasure and in affirmation of his political sagacity, it probably evoked feelings of dread, worry, and shame in the hearts of the trusted associates and friends who tried to thwart him.
While unpretentious lieutenants like the Minister of Works, Babatunde Fashola heartily rejoiced with him, not a few pundits wondered what riot took over the minds of men like Mohammed, VP Osinbajo, and Aregbesola.
Of the trio, VP Osinbajo has made efforts to reconcile with Tinubu. Aside from his belated visit to the Asiwaju’s Abuja home, after the APC primaries, Osinbajo was on the ground to congratulate Tinubu as he received his Certificate of Return from INEC in Abuja.
Amid the gaiety, both men shared big smiles and warm hugs. Beneath the smiles, however, there are a lot of questions unasked, and stories untold.
