He is currently the Chief of Staff to President Bola Tinubu. He has seen his political life course from the legislature to the executive. It’s not clear if Rt. Hon. Femi Gbajabiamila ever dreamt of this fortune as he stepped on the canvas of politics at the turn of this 4th Republic.
By every yardstick, it’s fair to say that he has had his path paved with golden confetti. A path of distinguished public service. And at every turn, Providence has placed him in a position others wished they were.
Elected for a record six times by the people of Surulere 1 Constituency of Lagos to represent them in the House of Representatives, Gbajabiamila is a man fated to political longevity. And he has represented his people creditably. In the House, he had a voice. He was respected. Neither dumb nor dim-witted, he showed mastery of legislative sagacity; displayed candour and intelligence. Functioned in committees with distinction. Never static or decorative, he showed pomp, panache and depth. While in the House, the lawyer in him manifested in full plume. He showed people skills, networking dexterity and was easily relatable. No airs, sided with the weak and was always smart to connect with his constituents in Lagos. This made him popular both in his Surulere base and among his peers in the Green Chamber. In Surulere, for instance, his constituents would gleefully give an arm to defend him. He was welfarist as a lawmaker as he was empathetic. To his constituents, it’s Gbaja (they love to address him that way) or no one else.
Gbaja carries grace. He brought it to the House where he rose to become Minority Leader in the 7th Assembly and later the Speaker of the House of Representatives in the 9th Assembly: Primus inter Pares (First among equals). As Speaker, he brought stability to the House, managing the high and low tides of boisterous men and women with organized stratagem.
He did not quit the House on account of court verdict, neither was he not returned by his constituents. He resigned voluntarily to assume office as Chief of Staff to President Tinubu, a higher calling. Even this speaks to his relevance and political capital in the eyes of Tinubu, himself a political grandmaster. Emerging Chief of Staff indexes his trust equity and how much the president trusts him. Chief of Staff means he is the one who organizes the office of the president, determines who sees him and acts as clearing house (Secretariat) of the president himself. It’s a position only reserved for trusted friends of the president, not just any jobber or political appointee.
Gbaja is trusted and trustworthy. Even the president attests to that. Tinubu is an intelligent political godfather who knows the place of loyalty in the political matrix. Every party in partisan politics places premium of fidelity of members to the creed and mores of the party. Gbaja, a student of Tinubu School of Political Leadership, has been faithful to Tinubu and his ideals. His collateral is his unrelenting loyalty and undiluted willingness to abide by the tenets of his party. Gbaja is neither treacherous nor lecherous. Some politicians mutate from one party to another in open show of political harlotry. Not so, Gbaja. He played the opposition with polished dignity, snubbed every bait to turncoat; was steadfast to his party and his leader, Tinubu. That is character. Gbaja has it.
Tinubu, a man who does not hold back to reward loyalty saw all this and has rewarded him with one of the most powerful offices in the presidency.
But this article is not about Gbaja’s fruitful political odyssey. An eventful public life, no doubt. This is about what Gbaja has done with his public life, not how he wielded power. Early this year, Nigerians were greeted with developmental news. An imposing architectural masterpiece, a 484-bed hall of residence was donated to the University of Lagos by Gbajabiamila. It was a fitting gift from a grateful heart to his alma mater. Gbaja is a law graduate of UniLag, proudly a Great Akokite!
The hostel gift is just what the university needs now. Nigerian tertiary institutions are challenged in the area of providing decent accommodation for their teeming students. In the case of UniLag, Gbaja scored a bull’s eye. The university which prides itself as the University of First Choice has been unable, like most universities, to provide on-campus accommodation for students. Many students have had to live off-campus where they are exposed to the horror of cultism and cultists, robbers and other drug-addled crooks lurking in off-campus neighbourhoods.
There have been several cases across the country where off-campus students were abducted and killed by unknown assailants; in some cases, robbed and other times became victims of gruesome murder. This is why the Gbaja gesture should be seen in the context of what it is: using public life to do public good.
Gbaja also built and donated to the Lagos State University (LASU), a state-of-the-art conference centre that not only adds grandeur to the LASU infrastructural landscape but also fills a critical void in the university’s event management routine. LASU, ranked as one of the best public universities in Law, has been growing in geometric leap. At the recent matriculation ceremony for 2023/2024 students, the Gbajabiamila hall was put to good use as the traditional hall for such event could not take all the students.
Without any shred of doubt, public office has been fair to Gbaja. But he’s not the only one whom public service has showered benevolence on. Some Nigerian public office holders, past and present, have reduced themselves into receptacles; always collecting, never giving back. Not Gbaja. He has been giving back to society. He has impacted his constituents and by implication the larger Nigerian society in education, healthcare, entrepreneurship and direct empowerment of the frail and the poor.
The vice chancellor of LASU, Prof. Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello, was exultant at the inauguration ceremony. She said the facility is a critical infrastructural intervention especially at this time when the need for conducive spaces to carry out administrative and social engagements has become imperative.
She described the centre, inaugurated by Lagos State governor, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, as a beautiful edifice and a unique architectural monument that has enhanced the aesthetic landscape of the university.
By these two stand-out acts of kindness to humanity, Gbaja has pointed the way for all persons of goodwill, especially those fate thrust into the public service arena. Your service is not to self or family. To think or act so is wickedness. Your service is to the larger community. Use your public life to do public good. Nothing can be more honourable or nobler than this. For long after you’re gone, humanity will not remember that you owned the choicest automobiles, but they will remember the impact you had on the rest of the people. Good deeds are never forgotten, neither are those who do them. The place of Gbaja in the boulders of history is already etched in gold: Indelible, in our hearts.
• Abubakar, a policy analyst, writes from Abuja.
