- ‘Attempts to stop him with ethno-religious fault lines failed’
President Bola Ahmed Tinubu won a pan-Nigeria mandate in last year’s election, despite attempts to use ethnicity and region to stop him, Vice President Kashim Shettima said yesterday.
He said Nigerians defied the divisions to elect President Bola Tinubu and him.
He was the Special Guest of Honour at the public presentation of a book written by columnist and The Nation Editorial Board chair, Sam Omatseye.
It is titled: “Beating all Odds: Diaries and essays on how Bola Tinubu became president”.
All Progressives Congress (APC) flagbearer Tinubu defeated Labour Party (LP) candidate Peter Obi and his Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) counterpart Atiku Abubakar in the February 25 poll.
According to the Vice President, it was significant that despite all the political scheming, Nigerians ignored the ethno-religious manipulations to choose the best candidates.
He said: “The last election certainly was the most divisive in the history of this country.
“All the ethno-religious fault lines that divide this nation were deliberately manipulated for political ends.
“But it is interesting to note that the most Christian of northern states is Benue. The Nigerian candidate defeated a religious candidate in Benue.
“The most northern of northern states is Sokoto. A Nigerian candidate lost to the regional candidate by a mere 5,000 votes and the APC went on to win two senate seats, and the majority of House of Representatives seats.
“The most Christian of the Southsouth state is Rivers. The Nigerian candidate defeated a religious candidate in Rivers.
“So there is cause for celebration. One thing I believe is that what binds us together supersedes whatever divides us.”
On economic challenges, Shettima assured Nigerians that President Tinubu, being a courageous leader, was working to reset things.
“Rest assured that the President has Nigeria in his mind. Yes, we are having challenges; we are not denying that. And we are not here to apportion blame.
“Leadership is about accepting responsibility and finding solutions to national challenges.
“The president is a man of courage and conviction. In his first week in office, he took far-reaching decisions.
“The oil subsidy has been an albatross around the neck of the Nigerian economy and the Nigerian nation.
“He took the bull by the horns and withdrew the fuel subsidy from day one.
“He was able to collapse the multiple exchange rate regimes that gave room for a lot of hanky-panky.
“Rest assured that in the fullness of time, history would be kind to him,” the Vice President said.
Shettimma believes Omatseye’s book and others like it would espouse the truth against propaganda and lies around the election.
“In the second part of the book, Mr. Omatseye took us to the beginning of the misadventures that preceded the formation of the APC.
“The year 2013 provides an interesting window to examine the chain of events that gave birth to the APC, leading to the emergence of former President Buhari and then President Tinubu.
“This context serves as a remedy for the oversimplification of those who have succumbed to nostalgia, those who have refused to accept that we aren’t where we are by accident.
“Our recourse to facts in this climate of propaganda and lies would disinfect the minds of the impressionable, and this book does justice to the subject of President Tinubu’s ascent up the ladder of glories as the recipient of the nation’s highest honour—the office of the President.
“I believe this book is an interaction with time, a record of the science and miracle of our journey to this height,” Shettima said.
Osoba: book a welcome read
Eminent journalist, elder statesman and former Ogun State Governor, Olusegun Osoba, who chaired the event, said the book captures all the attempts to stop Tinubu.
He said the President, like the elephant, prevailed while his traducers, whom he described as the creepers, got pulled along in the process.
“The book largely chronicles the interventions of Sam Omatseye in the 2023 presidential race, the thrills and the trials, tribulations and the triumph.
“As a book on an important process in the life of our country, this is a welcoming read.
“As a book on candidate Bola Ahmed Tinubu who eventually emerged as the President, it provides an excellent insight into the vision, character, methods, and strategies of an unusual politician,” Osoba said.
The presenter, Sir Kensington Adebutu, represented by Chief Kola Oyefeso, said the book “would invariably turn out to be a veritable resource material for anyone who desires to achieve what others feel is unattainable”.
Akpabio:
Senate President Godswill Akpabio, represented by Nwodo Onyekachi, said the book meticulously chronicled President Tinubu’s journey to the Presidency.
He said it offers the reader an invaluable insight into the character of the man who now leads the nation.
“This narrative serves not only as a historical account but as a source of inspiration for every Nigerian, affirming that no obstacle is insurmountable but with dedication and hard work we would overcome.
“Today as we celebrate this launch of the book let us also celebrate the spirit of our people and the resilience as a nation.
“Let this book be a reminder of where we have been, the battles we have fought and the victories we have achieved,” Akpabio said.
Delta State Governor, Sheriff Oborevwori, represented by Commissioner for Information, Dr Ifeanyi Osuoza, said Omatseye “is without doubt Nigeria’s most engaging and consistent chronicler of our national experiences”.
He said the author captured “with every offering, the essence and impact of our individual vicissitudes and existential ethos”.
Abia State Governor, Alex Otti, represented by his deputy, Ikechukwu Emetu, hailed Omatseye on a job well done.
Nasarawa State Governor, Abdullahi Sule, represented by Yakubu Lamai, lauded the writer and hailed President Tinubu’s transformative efforts.
Former Lagos Commissioner for the Environment, Tunji Bello, hailed the author for “a grand literary work.”
Former Delta State Governor, James Ibori, also lauded the writer for his work, pledging six months of his pension in support.
Delta State Commissioner for Works, Charles Aniagu, noted that Omatseye, who hails from Delta, represents all the good qualities of a Deltan, including doggedness and saying it as it is.
Former Executive Chairman of the Federal Inland Revenue Service (FIRS), Dr Ifueko Omoigui-Okauru thanked Omatseye for his efforts, pointing out that though he writes controversial pieces, he writes his mind.
Former Minister of Youths and Sports Development, Mr Sunday Dare, described the book as an exciting chronicle of the poll events.
“Several other chronicles would follow after this and of course, it would find a good place in the shelf of chronicles that would be churned out for our great leader and President Bola Tinubu,” he said.
Editor-in-Chief of Leadership, Mr Azu Ishikwene, said he had no doubts the book would be worth reading.
Mr Alex Kaba, a journalist, highlighted Omatseye’s loyalty and for not wavering in his belief and support for President Tinubu.
Odion:
The reviewer, Louis Odion, described the book as a meticulous chronicle of the most divisive election in Nigeria’s history.
He said: “Sam Omatseye’s book is neither about estranged lovers nor forsaken love. ‘Beating All Odds: Diaries and Essays on How Bola Tinubu Became President’ is a meticulous chronicle of events preceding and following arguably the most divisive election in Nigeria’s history.
“It gives context and content to a phrase recently enrolled in our political lexicon — ‘Emilokan’.
“Sam’s book is divided into two parts — the diary section and the other a potpourri of essays published as a column in The Nation newspaper.
“The diary opens on the 19th of August, 2022 after the presidential flag-bearer of APC had emerged, and was now arrayed against the candidates of PDP, Labour and NNPP ahead of the 2023 general elections.
“The diary closes on the seventeenth of February, 2023, a week before the elections,” Odion said.
He added: “Overall, there is no disputing that Sam writes with the fragrance of a much-decorated poet and the gravitas of the nation’s most garlanded, most consistent columnist in the last two decades.
“As The Nation’s columnist in the last 18 years, not once has Sam failed to deliver every Monday. His multidisciplinary depth surely shines through this chronicle.
“But even more evident is the authority Sam brings. As a senior editor with a vast network of contacts in high places, he surely knows, smells and hears things not open to small players.
“However, it must be said that, here, Sam is not a neutral chronicler.
“Indeed, in Nigeria’s literary community, only a few can be said to be as invested as Sam in Nigeria’s democratic struggle when the cost was most prohibitive.
“To ignore the history of the popular struggle against military despotism of the 90s is to, therefore, completely miss the spirit that feeds Sam’s muscular metaphors.
“Not many will remember that, as Concord editor in 1997, the writer narrowly escaped being captured by then rampaging Abacha goons at the Muritala Mohammed International Airport in Lagos.
“He and Tunji Bello, his inseparable ideological twin brother, had turned Sunday Concord newspaper into a thorn in Sani Abacha’s flesh.
“Of course, that close shave with the death squad of the military regime marked the beginning of Sam’s ten-year self-exile in the U.S.
“Well, Aristotle said we are all political animals. The difference with Sam is that he does not hide his bias in sophistry.
“His partisanship is undoubtedly for Bola Tinubu, a key player in the pro-democracy struggle of the 90s.
“No wonder, in this book, Sam is unsparing of those he considers traitors to Asiwaju. And they are quite many.
“From those who climbed on Tinubu’s back to power in Abuja and later denied the help, to those who disowned him in his own hour of political need. They know themselves…
“All said, the book is, in my view, a razor-sharp snapshot of Nigeria at a critical moment. I strongly recommend you get a copy and read it.”
What the book is about, by Omatseye
Omatseye said the book aimed to dispel the erroneous perceptions about the 2023 general elections.
He said the book, which is divided into two parts, was a collection of his diaries which commenced at the beginning of the campaigns.
Omatseye said: “I started writing diaries when the campaign started. I didn’t know what I was going to do with the diaries, but I was taking them week after week, following everything – whether it was the tempest over the Muslim ticket or the battle between the then Rivers governor and Atiku.
“Even when they said the Vice President did not know how to dress well, that he wore sneakers over suit, it was all there.
“When people came out and started showing all over social media, icons of culture who were dressed like that to counter them, it was all there.
“And then there was the naira and fuel scarcities, whether the election was going to hold and of course Emilokan. It is all there.
“The second part contains some of my essays that tracked the plot to stop Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, from the time Adams Oshiomhole was unseated as party chairman and all the plots until it got to the primaries, including when somebody called somebody that it would be better off selling ice cream.
“It was an interesting thing to do and after going through the story, I thought I should gather all those together and tell the story.
“It was a way of trying to put in context all the things that happened.
“People forget that even very early in the campaigns, Babatunde Raji Fashola appeared on TV and laid bare the mathematics of the election.
“He said how one be divided into four and fight one. He said it didn’t make sense.
“Maybe they should have come together and coalesced, but you know what they say about destiny is that you cannot stop it.”
Among dignitaries were Ekiti State Governor Biodun Oyebanj, represented by his Special Adviser on Media Yinka Oyebode; Minister of the Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nyesom Wike; former Ekiti Governor Niyi Adebayo; former Minister of State for Health, Adeleke Mamora; Oshiomhole; Fashola; and Special Adviser to the President on Information and Strategy, Mr Bayo Onanuga.
Others were Managing Director of the Niger Delta Development Commission (NDDC), Samuel Ogbuku; Vice Chancellor of the Lagos State University (LASU), Prof Ibiyemi Olatunji-Bello; Mr Kayode Komolafe; Prince Kasim Afegbua; Bolaji Adebiyi, among others.
