By Sunday Odeleke
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s victory in the 2023 presidential election has evoked the memory of the hope dashed in 1993 when former military President Ibrahim Babangida annulled the mandate of Bashorun MKO Abiola.
Both elections shared many characteristics. Abiola and Tinubu are from Southwest Nigeria and they both belonged to the same political family. MKO was an accomplished accountant. Tinubu also is. The peaceful religion of Islam is also another thing between them. Both picked their Muslim running mates from Borno State, specifically from the Kanuri lineage. To cap it all, MKO had 8.3 million votes while BAT scored 8.7 million to emerge the winner.
HOPE 93 was MKO’s electoral slogan while Tinubu named the 2023 slogan of his campaign RENEWED HOPE. These are not just nomenclatures; rather they are well-thought-out ideologies. Abiola had street credibility and corporate sensitivity. The same can be said about Tinubu.
Nigeria missed the golden opportunity that Abiola’s presidency would have delivered because the nation had been deprived of having a leader with corporate and street politics.
Corporate politicking entails circumventing the formal organisational structure, understanding informal networking, building connections, developing people’s skills,bravery and neutralisation of negative politics. Both Abiola and Tinubu would not have risen to the level they got to in the corporate world if they lacked these attributes. Backstabbing, blackmailing, malicious alliances and reliance on grapevine are also great tools in the hands of most that are successful in corporate politics, especially when they deploy these tools to help the organizations they represent thrive. Corporate politics is played in the realm of intellect where leadership intelligence are displayed.
Street politics, on the other hand, can be likened to amala police as made popular by the late Ibadan politician, Lamidi Adedibu. Street politics entails unbridled generosity, ensuring followers are held in perpetual loyalty by meeting their pecuniary needs and ensuring they are carried along in the leader’s journey to stardom. Street politics is sometimes dirty and dangerous; it is raw and relentlessly spiced with uncooked and unethical means and methodology. Politicians molded in this stock never closed their hearts to reconciliation with estranged mentees, friends, loyalists and colleagues.
To run a country that is as diverse as Nigeria successfully, a leader must be able to combine these two attributes, bits of each can help navigate the terrain. The 2023 election presented three choices to Nigerians: Peter Obi of the Labour Party (LP), a ‘technocrat’ can be classified as a player in corporate politics but not crafted in street politics while Atiku Abubakar of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) is certainly a street politician but not a player in the corporate politics.
Abiola rode on the crest of his street popularity to command the cult followership that earned him the electoral victory that he was unfortunately deprived of, and for which he sacrificed his fortune and life. His influence in the business world was a resounding testimony of how he successfully played corporate politics. President-elect Bola Tinubu is also molded in the same format. Of all the governors who emerged since 1999 when Nigeria returned to democracy, Tinubu has remained the most visible and relevant even without holding any political office in the past 16 years. He must be a street political genius to stay the course till he got to the point he is. It is not a secret that Tinubu, when he resigned from Mobil, a multinational oil corporation for a senate seat in 1992, was offered to return to the company if the political terrain was not good enough for him. This is the attestation of how well he payed his politics in the corporate world.
Nigeria is at the crucible of history, too much ground to cover. The problems facing the nation ranging from economic and security woes require a leader that can combine both politics. Tinubu, no doubt, is a leader who understands and possesses coordinate experience and expertise in the two politics. His skill in corporate politics will be used to rally the corporate world and technocrats to help Nigeria out of the woods. His skills in street politics will be used in bringing Nigerians together in unity and national cohesion.
The president-elect, in a recent op-ed, alluded to the promises that his renewed hope engenders, by promising an inclusive government of national competence. Nigeria is on the verge of having a leader that understands what governance entails and who masters how to harness the available resources, both human and others. The nation missed Abiola’s hope, the country must not toy with the renewed hope that beckons.
Though I am not a lawyer, the grounds on which Obi and Atiku are challenging his election do not look strong enough for his victory to be annulled or for either of them declared the president. We need a Tinubu now and it does not look like we will not reap the dividends of renewed hope.
Odeleke, a public commentator, writes from Richmond, Texas. He tweets from @odelekeSA.