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Tag: Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu

  • Remain steadfast, Tinubu urges

    Remain steadfast, Tinubu urges

    One-time Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday urged Nigerians to remain steadfast and keep faith with the nation.

    The APC national leader, in a Christmas message said Nigeria would someday be lifted from its present predicament to a better society. “Our hope for a better Nigeria where the people are the core of governance and government functions as it should must never diminish,” he said, adding: “We must continue to work, leaders and followers alike, to realise the country of our dream.”

    Tinubu admitted that Nigeria was going through a challenging phase, with millions of ordinary citizens bearing the brunt. He declared that out of these challenges, Nigeria will emerge stronger and better as if out of the furnace.

    “It is the responsibility of each one of us to find a space for action and develop the capacity to help bring about the desired change. It is never too late. Just like a few of us have built a political platform with the potential to deliver change and enhance the potentials of our people, others must join in or build similar platforms. It is not enough to stand hands akimbo waiting always to criticise and theorise as it is the way of some.

    “What is required is being part of an active group that can wrest power and use it for the common good. Right now, the only way I know to securing power legitimately is through participation in the political party system.

    “Though some question our sincerity and our motives, we will not relent on the path we have chosen and the power of our conviction that it is only Nigerians from different backgrounds that can form an alliance for change.

    While wishing Christians a wonderful season, Tinubu called on all Nigerians to extend goodwill to others in the spirit of Christmas.

  • Tinubu: don’t subvert people’s will

    NATIONAL Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC) Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu yesterday warned the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) not to subvert the will of the people.

    He spoke in Benin City during the five-year anniversary of the Governor Adams Oshiomhole administration in Edo State.

    Tinubu said Nigerians had been taken for granted by the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP)-led Federal Government, adding that they were now wiser.

    The former Lagos State governor said starting with the Anambra governorship election on Saturday, the people are ready to defend their votes.

    He urged INEC to be upright and follow due process, saying: “We need your electoral blueprint in the Anambra governorship poll on Saturday.

    “We are sending a message to INEC that Anambra people will not tolerate the kind of open stealing, cut-short and manipulation of election as they did in the senatorial by-election in Delta State.

    “APC will give Nigerians and Anambra indigenes a good leadership, a direction needed, if they do the way they always do. We will react, we are sending a strong message to them.

    “INEC should show Nigerians that it is truly independent. If not, we will react if it dares manipulate the Anambra governorship poll. The election must be one-man one-vote.”

    He said the PDP-led Federal Government had not given Nigerians a purposeful leadership.

    Asiwaju Tinubu lamented that the people had been fed with lies, as government claims of growth in the GDP had not translated into a better life for the masses.

    He said: “We have been fed with lies by this government. This is why we are now more poised to reclaim power from them to give Nigerians a purposeful leadership.

    “We are aware that power is not easy to surrender, but in the face of recent happenings in the PDP-led government, we will get this power and it will be in a genuine way.

    “They keep telling us about growth in the economy, yet, we have millions of unemployed youths roaming the streets. People now experience more hardship than before.”

    Another APC National Leader, Gen. Muhammadu Buhari (rtd), said Nigerians must brace themselves for a change in 2015.

    He said APC was interested in two things – security and a better economy.

    Buhari, a former military head of state, urged Anambra people to stand by the principle of one-man one-vote.

    Governor Oshiomhole, who listed his achievements in the last five years, promised more people-oriented projects before the expiration of his tenure in 2016.

    Advising INEC to stand on the path of honour in the Anambra election, he urged the people to defend their votes.

    Dignitaries at the event included the Interim National Chairman of APC, Chief Bisi Akande, Chief Tom Ikimi, Audu Ogbeh, a former speaker of the House of Representatives, Bello Masari, a former governor of Edo State, Chief John Odigie-Oyegun, a governorship aspirant in the defunct All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Chief Solomon Edibiri, national and state lawmakers and traditional rulers.

  • Tinubu to complete 24-year-old abandoned Law School hostel

    Tinubu to complete 24-year-old abandoned Law School hostel

    Former Lagos State Governor Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has promised to complete an abandoned hostel on the Lagos campus of the Nigerian Law School.

    The project was abandoned about 24 years ago.

    The Deputy Director-General and Head of the campus, Mrs Toun Adebiyi, addressed reportes yesterday in Lagos on the politician’s gesture at the end of the 50th anniversary lecture of the Nigerian Law School.

    She said the project, which was at 80 per cent completion when it was abandoned, would resolve the accommodation problems on the campus, when completed.

    Tinubu, who was said to be attending the first year remembrance of the late Oyo State Governor Lam Adeshina, in Ibadan, was represented by the National Legal Adviser of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Dr Muiz Banire.

    Mrs Adebiyi noted that though she could not tell when exactly Tinubu’s intervention would start, she assured that it would be soon.

    She said: “We said to him that we had an uncompleted project that had been there for 24 years and he said it’s not a problem. He assured that he would complete it for us.

    “I was so excited that I couldn’t even ask him how soon he would start. The project was almost 80 per cent complete before it was abandoned.

    “It was what we took to him (Tinubu) when we met him over the needs of the campus and he promised to help out.”

    A former Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) President, Chief Wole Olanipekun (SAN), urged stakeholders to invest in the Nigerian Law School as an enduring legacy of legal practitioners.

    He said: “The project was initiated by Chief Richard Akinjide when he was the Attorney-General of the Federation (AGF) between 1980 and 1983. The hostel has not been completed. It is in the state of neglect.”

    Olanipekun described the Nigerian Law School as “our big elephant, which must be raised shoulder-high”.

    The guest lecturer, Dr. Fabian Ajogwu (SAN), advised the alumni of the school to emulate their Havard University’s counterpart in the United States.

    He said Harvard alumni took care of the university’s $20 billion endowment fund.

    The eminent lawyer suggested a tripartite funding of educational institutions to involve the students and their parents, the government and philanthropists as well as other well-meaning members of the society.

    Lagos State Governor Babatunde Fashola (SAN) urged the stakeholders to assist with the needs of the campus.

  • APC: Power is never served a la carte

    APC: Power is never served a la carte

    President Jonathan looks to me a much more desperate politician than erstwhile President Obasanjo

    Power is never served a la carte’, is a regular refrain of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, former Lagos State governor, and now one of the leading lights of the opposition party, the All Progressives Congress. He should know. He has bruises to show for his many battles against power, i.e entrenched impunity in our country which, like corruption, fights back very ferociously in aid of the status quo of power without responsibility, except to self.  This once led former President Olusegun Obasanjo to make one of his most important statements ever when, at a PDP congress, he said the party existed, or was at best, cohered only by patronage or the expectation of it.  Both the PDP and the incumbent president have shown beyond any doubt that they will brook no opposition nor concede any quarters to the opposition in the titanic 2015 battle. As far as they are concerned, going by what they do and what we hear their militant supporters say, nothing is sacrosanct; not individuals, not the very existence of Nigeria as a united country. Therefore, as you read this, a sitting governor has no Aide de camp, no chief security officer and the Nigeria Police can look askance, like the governor’s security is no longer a concern of theirs even as certified militants bay for his blood. All this because of an alleged ambition they won’t even let him declare. Nor are their members of only a few months back, but now of the New PDP, fairing any better.

    Consisting of seven governors and a number of leading members of the PDP –they have not defected – they must now, like governor Amaechi, no longer sleep. Indeed, if the PDP has its way, not only Baraje and Oyinlola, but also Obasanjo and Atiku will be behind bars while plans are hatched as to how to truly, and manifestly, humble those seven governors who have the temerity to call attention to the Tukur-led crippling political repression in their party.

    I have gone all this length to properly situate what humongous battle lies ahead of those wanting this county to take its rightful place in the comity of nations and not be seen simply as the domicile of corruption and ineptitude because, even with all the make-belief, President Jonathan looks to me a much more desperate politician than erstwhile President Obasanjo. It must be said, in mitigation though, that while he does not look personally desperate he is simply incapable of reining in those who want him to literally commit murder for the sake of 2015.

    Without a doubt, the most at risk are leaders of the APC and, ipso facto, the party itself. A little history will help but space will not allow details.

    For just being considered stubborn and vociferous, a PDP president decreed  that the licence of Orji Uzor Kalu’s Slot Airline be  withdrawn and hundreds of his employers thrown into the unemployment market just as Tinubu, for the same alleged offence, had billions of naira due Lagos State local governments withheld. The minute Buba Marwa was touted as the ANPP presidential candidate, and becoming rather threatening to the Third Term project, it was  time for the EFCC to move against him and get him detained him for weeks in December 2005, on allegations of laundering money for General Abacha.

    On Thursday, 7 September 2006, the Senate heard that an Administrative Panel set up by President Obasanjo had found Atiku guilty of utilising funds in the account of the Petroleum Development Trust Fund for personal use while it said nothing of same funds being used to buy a car for a female acquaintance of the president. All that for opposing the Third Term agenda even if some spurious reasons of an American report were to be given later. In similar circumstances, Freedom Radio was shut down, Africa Independent Television (AIT) was serially embarrassed and intimidated and its transmission equipment near the National Assembly was destroyed because it ran the Senate hearings.

    All these again to forewarn leaders of the APC that they must remain focused amidst intimidation of all types. Lies and all manners of concoctions will be levelled against them individually but they must, for the sake of Nigeria, brace up and be men of principles. It will not only be scare-mongering but bribes will be offered too, in a carrot and stick, double-pronged attack. A good example is what happened to Hon Nairu Dantiye of the ANPP during the Third Term campaigns.  On rejecting his own N50m, he was freshly offered one million dollars in cash, at night on Thursday, 11 May, 2006 , at a hotel in Abuja.  As he told Punch in an interview published on Monday, 15 May, 2006: ‘My price shot up like crude oil about three days ago. It increased from N50m naira to one million dollars’.  But the failure of the offerer to guarantee that he would live long enough to enjoy the loot, which was his counter offer, vitiated the deal. Even oil blocks were offered. This presidency may not be averse to any of these ploys to ensure Jonathan returns in 2015. APC leaders must, therefore, have honourable Alhaji Dantiye at the back of their minds when their own temptations come.

    And one has already come in the latter-day readiness of President Jonathan to approve the convocation of a National Conference. As usual, this is already trending on the wide web and I have had my say too. Below are some of the comments I have already offered.

    My first was a poser to some mails: Must you really put any stock by this Greek gift? Don’t you by any means remember the SAP debates? Didn’t IBB get his required time to plan the never, never transition programme? What about Yar Adua’s Uwais Committee on Electoral Reforms? Where did it lead to? Were this a year ago, when President Jonathan still had PDP intact, I just might have given this a thought. But today, in my view, it is nothing more than a well calculated diversion and one must give it to the Jonathan ‘2015 Think Tank’. The choice of Senator Okunrounmu as Chairman was, for me, the clincher’.

    Critics of my position wrote back and I replied: Please let’s do a reality check, beginning from the basics; the president can only be doing this if he believes it will help him electorally in 2015. Then the following. 1. The Southwest has been most vociferous about a Sovereign National conference and one of its prime demands is fiscal federalism. Let us assume Okunrounmu is dexterous enough to get this. Will it make the Southwest – now with APC governments and most likely to field a strong presidential candidate – prefer Jonathan, as happened in 2011?   2. I believe also, that we can safely assume that the majority of northerners will detest fiscal federalism. Will that decision therefore hurt or help the president in 2015?  In my view, this will serve no more than good photo ops and beautiful newspaper headlines

    An avalanche of views, even a possible agenda for the conference, then came in and I wrote back as follows:  Even on this podium we already have suggestions as to people wanting representatives on the basis of the 774 Local Government Areas, who, of course, must, in their words, not be politicians. Very fine by me. Now you allude to the Southwest Integration effort. Assuming that this were acceptable to everybody in that zone, marshalling it will then bog down the All Progressives Congress and thereby achieve what I personally consider one of the main targets of this ploy – diversion. Of course, the president has already succeeded by diverting attention to the talk show as you are no longer going to hear of such things as the president’s  ‘cluelessness’,  as was previously the case. And how do you approve decisions of a conference which is not sovereign and where the north already has much more than half the numbers in the National Assembly? Why is the president allowing it now with all the raging challenges he faces?  Also, has he decreed the National Assembly out of existence, since he once said it can’t happen as long as that body was in place?

    I concluded my contribution as follows and tried to respond to views that this should, indeed, be an opportunity for ‘pastors’, not politicians, to straighten the cause  of our country:

    I can’t remember how nice it is to be led by the nose.

    Fortunately, even if out of self interest, those politicians we want exempted this time around, are at their best when the government is out to send them on a frolic. I guess they would rather err on the side of caution. They are most unlikely to fall for this presidential trick.

    Enough history, then, for APC leaders.

  • Opposition hails Ajimobi’s achievements!

    Opposition hails Ajimobi’s achievements!

    Sometime last year, I read about the praises showered on Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the indomitable Jagaban of Borgu, by an honest member of the PDP, a party that usually derives great pleasure in attacking Tinubu, always blaming him for their self inflicted woes. The praises came from Chief Sarafa Isola, a PDP chieftain in Ogun State, and former Minister of Steel Development. The praises were for Tinubu’s consistency as a progressive and selfless politician and, above all, a dogged fighter for the well being of his people. Coming from an unexpected source I found it exciting, honest and commendable, consequent upon which I made my own comments in the article entitled “Tinubu’s Place in History”, in the Sunday Nation of 25 November, 2012 (p.54).

    Now, the point I am trying to make in the present write-up is that, for goodness sake , let us be honest to ourselves, irrespective of which political parties we belong, criticize where and when it is necessary and, as a matter of honesty and integrity, praise where it is necessary to do so. One of the definitions of integrity involves doing or saying the right thing even if it offends your interest or the interest of those who may be offended by your saying the truth and doing what is right. This is as a categorical imperative. Mrs. Ayoka, former Resident Electoral Commissioner (REC) in Ekiti State in those days of cursed memory, almost passed the test of integrity until she forfeited it by turning around to say and do what was “against her conscience”. She turned the truth upside down and did the wrong thing by accepting to announce a result she believed was irredeemably flawed. By that singular act of incredible volte-face she woefully failed the test of integrity, thus missing forever and a day the opportunity to be singled out as an amazon woman of integrity and honour which she would have carried with her till her dying day. What a damn miss of a life opportunity!

    If you apply the above yardstick as probably one of the most important tests of integrity you will see that very few Nigerians can stand out as people of integrity today. The recent embarrassing outcome of the Nigerian Governor’s Forum’s (NGF) election where a mathematical absurdity of “16 is greater than 19” was introduced as Nigeria’s contribution to the world of mathematics is a good and memorable example. To the outside world, this is simply a logical impossibility, acceptable only to people of pre-logical or primitive mentality. To believe that 16 is equal to, or greater than, 19 is more than lack of integrity. It is the height of irrationality. On this matter, I think that some of our governors and political leaders have lost any claim to integrity, either at home or in the international community.

    What is the purpose of this preamble, you may ask. It is to show that only people of integrity can appreciate the good things in others, especially if they are your opponents either in politics, business or academics. This also shows that only people of integrity can appreciate integrity in others. As we say, only the deep can call to the deep.

    In the Punch of 14 June, 2013 (p. 19), the Peoples Democratic Party and Accord Party in the Oyo State House of Assembly sitting in Ibadan on 13 June, 2013 declared that Governor Abiola Ajimobi (ACN) has piloted the affairs of the state very well in the two years he had took power from Adebayo Alao-Akala, their former governor of PDP extraction. Not only that, they joined the ACN legislators in passing a vote of confidence on Ajimobi as governor, after listening to his address presented to the House of Assembly as part of his activities marking the second anniversary of his first four years in office. Most of those who hailed Ajimobi’s achievements were from opposition parties. The Deputy Speaker, from the Accord Party, Mr. Babatunde Olaniyan said that, apart from the governor being very industrious, he is also accountable to the people of Oyo state, and attributed the pace of development in the state just in two years to harmonious working relationship between the executive and legislature. “You have, in the last two years, demonstrated that you want us to work together to move Oyo State forward”, he said. The PDP Minority Leader, Mr. Rafiu Adekunle added his own comments: “You are performing and we want you to perform more. We are very grateful and happy to work with you. THOSE OF US IN OTHER POLITICAL PARTIES CANNOT SEE SOMETHING GOOD AND SAY IT IS BAD” (Capitals mine). The present writer is not interested in the opinions of the ACN legislators in the House, as people may say that favourable opinions from them are to be expected and, therefore, are neither interesting nor exciting.

    It is important and interesting to know that even Mrs. Bose Adedibu, the widow of Chief Lamidi Adedibu, the PDP “strong man” of Ibadan politics, has also praised Ajimobi for his achievements in Oyo State. She said, publicly, that Governor Abiola Ajimobi has done well within his two years in office, and rated him high on security, urban renewal and environmental sanitation (Nation, 19 June, 2013, p.7). She said: “I am not a member of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN) but a staunch PDP member, and I am not leaving the party. But I Cannot Say Because I Am A Pdp Member, I Will Not Acknowledge Good Performance (Capitals mine). And she continued “In all honesty and without being unnecessarily biased, Ajimobi is doing well. There is peace and security now, compared with the violence and brigandage that used to be perpetrated by street urchins. But now, every where is peaceful and people are going about their businesses without fear of molestation”. She was emphatic about the fact that “Ibadan and the entire state is wearing a new look, owing to the urban renewal programme of the Ajimobi’s administration”. In spite of being the largest city in Africa, South of the Sahara, Ibadan’s new look is now of a clean city with free flow of traffic, even in the hitherto congested areas like Bere, Amunigun, Mapo, Oke-Ado, Molete and Mokola where a beautiful flyover has just been commissioned. So, Mrs. Adedibu is dead right in her honest judgment about Ajimobi which, to me, is a sure candidate for integrity.

    One remarkable thing is that Oyo state is not the only state that should, as a matter of integrity on the part of politicians, be praised by political opponents. Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti and Edo states which belong to the same party, ACN, are in the same boat with Oyo State. The achievements in Lagos State are well known to Nigerians and the international community. Osun State is also in the news where “the emerging miracle of the state and the transformational fury of hurricane Rauf” should be enough to make the opposition see clearly and hail the achievements of Rauf Aregbesola as opposition parties in Oyo State had done. Tatalo Alamu also spoke of “the old Benin Empire where Adams Aliu Oshiomhole is turning municipal village of Benin to a modern metropolis”. Ogun and Ekiti states are equally worthy of praise. News from these states show that lots of developments are going on and that Governors Kayode Fayemi and Ibikunle Amosun have transformed their states, like other ACN states, into modern states with transformations that contrast significantly with what they met when they took offices from Segun Oni and Gbenga Daniel, respectively of the PDP, two years ago. Altogether, all the ACN states have demonstrated, within a few years, what is meant by purposeful and visionary leadership and, above all, GOOD GOVERNANCE in which the greatest happiness of the greatest number of people is the primary concern of these progressive governors.

    As for now, we have seen the effect of sound philosophy and ideology taking shape in all the ACN states and probably some other states of progressive leanings. It will be good for Nigeria if what we have said about Oyo which is also true of Lagos, Ogun, Osun, Ekiti and Edo States could be replicated in other states of the federation and, consequently, at the federal level under a ruling party that understands the meanings of good governance and the sound ideology of the greatest happiness of the greatest number of the Nigerian people, irrespective of gender, class (rich and poor), tribe and religion.

    We should point out our excitement about the discovery of the virtues of honesty and integrity of some PDP members in the National Assembly who have realized the need to speak the truth in the land where falsehood is worshipped. This new scenario, which is a hallmark of integrity, is gaining ground and spreading fast in the National Assembly, regardless of which political party you belong, as in the case of Oyo State. Recent utterances and actions of some politicians of the ruling party in the states and the National Assembly have given one the hope that Nigerian politicians are becoming rather sophisticated, like their counterparts in the civilized world whose independent judgments about national issues cannot be worsted by power-drunk political party leaders. The beautiful thing is that this blood of integrity is beginning to run in the veins of our politicians across party lines, as noticed in Hon. Tambuwal’s honest comments on the state of the Nation quite recently, suggesting a possible revolution that is capable of humiliating as well as curbing the excesses of the enemies of democracy before or in the next political dispensation.

    Long live Oyo State; long live the Federal Republic of Nigeria!

     

    Professor Makinde, FNAL, is DG/CEO, Awolowo Centre for Philosophy, Ideology and Good Governance, Osogbo.

  • Group gives free hajj forms

    Asiwaju Total Loyalty Team has given out some hajj forms to some Muslim brothers in its quest to bring succour to party members. The action, according to the group, is one of the pillars of Islam as preached by the Holy Prophet.

    One of the beneficiaries of the kind gesture who will be going on holy pilgrimage this year , Chief Lateef Aremu Edun expressed his gratitude in tears. The 63-year-old man said that he never imagined himself performing the Hajj in his life time. He prayed for the progress of the team and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is the pillar of the group.

    Many also benefited from its empowerment programmes such as distribution of generators and cash donations to artisans, relief materials to widows and those in need.

    The president of the team,siwaju Total Loyalty Team  has given out some hajj forms to some Muslim brothers in its quest to bring succour to party members. The action, according to  the group, is one of the pillars of Islam as preached by the Holy Prophet.
    One of the beneficiaries of the kind gesture who will be going on holy pilgrimage this year , Chief Lateef Aremu Edun expressed his gratitude in tears. The 63-year-old man said that he never imagined himself performing the Hajj in his life time. He prayed for the progress of the team and Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu who is the pillar of the group.
    Many also benefited from its  empowerment programmes such as distribution of generators and cash donations  to artisans, relief materials to widows and those in need.
    The president of the team, Alhaji Oluwatoyin Balogun, used the medium to appeal to well meaning Nigerians to always give a sympathetic ear to the cry of the less privileged “If only we could all embrace the enviable virtue of our National Leader (Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu), the poor people in our society will not suffer much ” he said.
    , used the medium to appeal to well meaning Nigerians to always give a sympathetic ear to the cry of the less privileged “If only we could all embrace the enviable virtue of our National Leader (Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu), the poor people in our society will not suffer much ” he said.