• Making sense of the APC leader’s far reaching influence
• His other notable exploits as a Kingmaker
By Tola Ogundipe
There is no gainsaying Bola Tinubu’s influence; be it in politics or the country’s business circuit, the national leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), looms large in the nation’s psyche, as the galaxy’s Milky Way above stratus-cumulus clouds. As the clouds and blue expanse of the skies arouse questions about their vastness in every curious heart, Bola Tinubu provokes inquiry and endless streams of speculations about the limits and otherwise of his affluence. At the backdrop of claims and counter-claims about the vastness and quality of his character and political affluence, fresh rumours emerge to buttress claims of the invincibility and influence of the two-time governor of Lagos.
Just recently, it was revealed that after the recent tsunami that engulfed Skye Bank, new appointments to the bank were made and influenced by political considerations. The bank’s new Managing Director (MD), Tokunbo Abiru, was allegedly nominated and installed at the helms of affairs of the bank by Bola Tinubu. This is because Tinubu still has some interest in Skye Bank as a carryover from his investment in the defunct Bond Bank. As a newspaper editor recently noted in her brilliant piece on the issue, Prudent Bank, Eco Bank, Bond Bank, Co-operative Bank Plc and Reliance Bank merged in 2006 to form Skye Bank thus Tinubu’s interest in the affairs of the Skye Bank, particularly the quality and depth of its new management.
Although two other directors of the bank were allegedly appointed an installed by powerful characters in the Presidential Villa in Aso Rock, Abuja, Federal Capital Territory )FCT), Tinubu’s nominee and incumbent MD of the bank, generated greater buzz due to the APC leader’s alleged penchant for influencing the installation of his underlings and political associates into key positions across the country’s political and business sectors.
It would be recalled that Tinubu recently influenced the appointment of his friend and associate, Pius Akinyelure, into the management board of the Nigeria National Petroleum Corporation (NNPC). Pundits speculated that with Akinyelure’s appointment as a member of the newly constituted board of the NNPC, the presidency, led by Muhammadu Buhari, had commenced measures to woo Tinubu and seek his goodwill following the strained relations between Buhari and Tinubu over the former’s initial neglect of the latter’s nominees in key appointments in the country’s public institutions. Also Babatunde Fowler’s recent appointment as the boss of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS) has been persistently attributed to his godfather, Tinubu’s reach and political might.
And very few people will forget in a hurry that Tinubu, painstakingly facilitated the emergence of his wife Remi, as a two-time senator in the National Assembly and Muhammadu Buhari as the APC’s consensus presidential candidate. Buhari’s subsequent election into Aso Villa, Abuja, as Nigeria’s president, has been widely attributed to Tinubu’s crucial belief in his candidature and passionate support of his campaign.
