Bolatito Ahmed Akanbi Tinubu is one politician in Nigeria about whom few could afford to be indifferent. You either love him passionately or detest him intensely. He did not jump on the political stage from nowhere, but picked his way carefully from the private sector where he had made a mark in the accounting and oil sectors, before venturing into the public space.
Today, the former Lagos State governor joins the ranks of septuagenarians; the elders club. In the three decades of his political participation, the man popularly referred to by his traditional title of Asiwaju, and hailed by another, Jagaban, bestrides the political scene like a colossus. In 1991, he was elected a Senator from Lagos State, and by the end of that decade, he was, upon the return to civil rule, elected governor of Nigeria’s most populous and most prominent state.
It was a great challenge. How could a state whose progress had been stalled by successive military governments after a foundation of prosperity was laid by the late Alhaji Lateef Jakande be nursed to life again? How could a state from which the federal capital was removed in December 1991 to Abuja without any form of compensation to sustain its development remain relevant in the scheme of things? There was a crisis of expectation and all eyes were on the newly elected governor.
Bola Tinubu swung into action ever before his administration was inaugurated. He set up a non-partisan panel headed by the late Dr. Beko Ransome-Kuti to advise on the way forward in the diverse sectors of the economy and the society. The various sub-committees turned in a beautiful report on what to do. But, first, there was the need to reengineer the fiscal regime. It required courage to force increase in revenue. The governor showed he was a leader when he ensured that within his tenure, the monthly internally generated revenue moved from the N600m he inherited to about N10 billion.
While his wizardry in financial management helped in transforming the state to number one in internally generated revenue that translated into building better infrastructure, funding education and lifting the health sector, it also promoted persecution from the opposition party that had control of the centre. For more than one year, the Obasanjo Federal Government found excuse to withhold the revenue allocation to Lagos State’s local government areas ostensibly because the state dared to create local council development areas (LCDAs) to take development closer to the people. Not even the intervention of the Supreme Court would ensure the release. Again, the governor had to find ingenious ways to keep up the running of local government councils in the state. The Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) did all it could to take over the state during the 2003 election, but fell to the superior strategies deployed by Bola Tinubu.
It was the election of that year that showed Tinubu as a major political strategist and tactician. Unhappy that he was being taunted as a President without support from his zone, President Obasanjo who had lost the presidential election in the six South West states to the Alliance for Democracy (AD), was determined to triumph at the polls there in 2007. He succeeded in five, but lost the most important Lagos State. Bola Tinubu became known as “The Last Man Standing”.
Tinubu has been consistent politically. He was elected Senator on the platform of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) in the aborted Third Republic. The same party metamorphosed into AD in 1998, with the leading lights of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) that fought the military to a standstill following the annulment of the June 12, 1993 election, spearheading the new party. At a point, when it became clear that the AD platform was too narrow to contest for national offices and remain relevant on the political scene, the party changed to Action Congress (AC), and later again, to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) to accommodate break-away factions of other parties willing to cooperate with it. In the entire journey, Bola Tinubu remained steadfast, held Lagos together and ensured that no other political tendency succeeded in taking over.
The coalition of political forces that culminated in formation of the All Progressives Congress (APC) was another attestation to Tinubu’s mastery of the political process. He realised that without such a combination of forces, the PDP would live to its boast that it would remain in power for at least 60 years. He coupled the various parties, including in the main the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) led by Dr. Ogbonnaya Onu, Congress for Political Change (CPC) led by General Muhammadu Buhari, and Tinubu’s ACN. The masterstroke removed President Goodluck Jonathan from office.
Today, as he marks his 70th birthday, a torrent of tributes has continued to pour in. Aside the colour added by his pursuit of the APC presidential ticket, his legacy in Lagos continues to speak for him. He had attempted to start an independent power supply to the state by the ENRON initiative frustrated by the Federal Government, started a traffic police in the form of Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA). He conceived the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) scheme, among others. While some have pointed at the desertion of his group by some former chieftains as a mark of his poor judgement of human character, his knack for spotting and nurturing talents also speaks for him. Lagos State is by far better today than it was in 1999 when Bola Tinubu became governor.
At 70, his accomplishments shall stand as monument that he is one of the greatest politicians and visionaries Nigeria has produced.