Unnecessary Brouhaha About Tinubu’s Chatham House Appearance

By Kola Odepeju

The condemnations which the style adopted by the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu by transfering some questions to members of his entourage to answer at the Chatham House interview, is to me unnecessary, unwarranted and quite mischievous. These condemnations are no doubt a continuation of the negative propaganda we have been witnessing on the political landscape so far against Tinubu. Of course being the most popular of all the candidates in the 2023 presidential race and the one whose chance to win the coming presidential election is the brightest, Tinubu’s haters and their agents will stop at nothing in their sinister motive to de-market him before the electorate.

Forgetting that what will be will surely be and because that’s their stock in trade, Tinubu’s detractors MUST continue to pick holes in whatever he does and that’s why this writer isn’t surprised about the undue negative comments the Chatham House interview has generated. But if l bother less about the negative comments from other individuals and groups; especially from the sworn enemies of Tinubu, the one from our highly cerebral and respected writer, publisher of Ovation Magazine, uncle Dele Momodu, sort of gives me a serious concern as one couldn’t have expected a person of his caliber and exposure not to see Team Work as a positive thing.

Indisputably, what happened in Chatham House was nothing but Team Work which must be seen as a positive development; an innovation. And we can recall that it wasn’t a new thing in governance processes. Of course there’s precedent for it. It happened in the United States where president Joe Bidden adopted the style. And even if there wasn’t a precedent for it, it’s a commendable innovation. Leaders who adopt this style are simply conscious of the wisdom embedded in an adage; “Alone we can do little, together we can do so much”.

Asiwaju Tinubu had for long imbibed the culture of Teamwork. He demonstrated it as the governor of Lagos state and that’s why he recorded substantial achievement then. So going by his antecedent Tinubu doesn’t believe in do-it-alone as a leader. He’s a leader that believes in carrying his team along. He builds trust in his team and this is the hallmark of a good leader. Like Booker Washington once quipped; “If you want to lift yourself up, lift up someone else”. This of course is Tinubu’s philosophy and which, hitherto, has paid off for him.

Thus, what Tinubu demonstrated at Chatham House is to give us an insight into how he’s going to run his government by the time he eventually becomes the president (by God’s Grace). It’s clear he’s not going to run a one-man-show government and that’s what will make him succeed as president. Of course the importance of teamwork cannot be overemphasized. It’s the fuel that allows common people to attain uncommon results and the best way to achieve the best and quickest development. This is why the sense of belonging that Tinubu gave his entourage at the Chatham House should be seen as a good step in the right direction.

On a final note, the fundamental question to ask is; was there any spectacular answer his team gave that Tinubu couldn’t have given? Anyone who watched the second part of that interview conducted upstairs by the BBC Africa Reporter, Peter Okwoche, will agree with me that given the brilliant and intelligent way Tinubu answered those questions, he could as well answer the questions he shared with his team impressively. Therefore, all the negative comments trailing that interview are unnecessary.

Odepeju, a member of Osun APC PCC (Media and Digital Communications) writes via [email protected]