Greatness Is A Choice: How Tinubu Battled The Military To A Standstill  Survived Multiple Assassination Attempts And His Eventual Victory

Greatness Is A Choice: How Tinubu Battled The Military To A Standstill  Survived Multiple Assassination Attempts And His Eventual Victory

If this was a movie script I probably would have started with such an introduction…
.” meet the defender of democracy, the father of modern-day development, the conqueror of the military, king of the streets, the father of the hopeless, the voice of the voiceless, saviour of the ghetto, friend of the defenceless, the emancipator and Spartacus of our time His Excellency, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu the restorer of democracy in Nigeria and the Jagaban of the universe.

What a title you may say for just one man, today I would be telling you an insightful story about how Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu paid the price in the struggle for the enthronement of democracy, his exploits, sacrifices and ordeals.

African is laced with lots of stories on colonisation and the roles our forefathers played in attaining independence by member nations. Many of these stories ended up with nostalgic feelings.
Some of these leaders who emancipated their country from the bondage of the colonialist became benefactors and thereafter served their nations even worse than their colonial masters did.

Idi Amin Dada of Uganda, Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe, Samuel Doe of Liberia, Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, President of Equatorial Guinea etc just to mention a few are typical examples of African leaders who got carried away by the lust of power.

Tinubu has been setting up his records for the past twenty-nine years with impeccable credentials on his integrity and passion to serve his people. Tinubu started politics in 1992 under the Social Democratic Party of Nigeria (SDP) after he left Mobil in the United States.

He was a student of the People’s Front which was then headed by Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and had other henchmen like Dapo Sarumi, Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila, Rabiu Musa Kwankwaso, Yomi Edu, Wahab Dosummu and a few others.

Tinubu against all odds contested for the Senate under Lagos West constituency and emerged victoriously, Tinubu then was swimming in money after injecting his dividends from his investments in America and Europe in the political structure of Lagos State.
As a Senator, Tinubu dream of and worked towards emerging as the then-Senate President, he had all the backings of the party apparatchik as the SDP then secured all the seats in the West with 15 Senators.
With the support of Alhaji Kashim Ibrahim, Tinubu enlisted more support from senators from the north and was on a roller coaster getting set to become the next senate president.

Along the line, the issue of a South-West presidency came up and Tinubu had to make his first political sacrifice, he must give up the Senate Presidency to pave way for a South-West presidency, tough as the decision may be the gentleman had to make the judgment for the greater benefit of his people.

All hands were on deck, with the support of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and a few others Iyorchia Ayu became the Senate President while Tinubu was made the chairman of the Appropriation, Finance, and Banking committee.

Unfortunately, IBB truncated the Democratic process by annulling the June 12 presidential election won by MKO Abiola.
After the annulment of the June 12, 1993, elections, Tinubu, alongside other pro-democratic politicians founded the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO). NADECO was established to restore democracy and to ensure that the June 12 election result was reinstated. Then the real battle began.

After series of attempts were made at the life of Tinubu the then head of state, General Sani Abacha who overthrew the Interim Government that was installed by General Ibrahim  Babangida declared the Lagos West Senator wanted.

This was after major attempts were made to pacify Tinubu by rewarding him with a  ministerial position and other incentives.

His residence was bombed because of the fierce battle Tinubu led with other senators to stop the illegal administration of Abacha and restore June 12. His family went into exile and he was practically jumping on the streets of West Africa in a bid to restore democracy.

By this time his houses, offices and vehicles had all been confiscated with the vehicles taken to Alagbon in custody, the security agencies were constantly on his trail and he survived not less than two assassination attempts both within the country and the neighbouring Benin Republic.

Tinubu tribulations were just about to begin, his associates’ friends and loved ones were hounded, what a time to be a citizen of Nigeria where freedom of speech, freedom of association and freedom of movement were prohibited.

Not to be daunted Tinubu sojourned on not minding the huge financial toll it was taking on him, by this time his former company, Mobil who gave Tinubu a sabbatical leave to join politics were begging him to come back and take his executive position in the United States.

No retreat no surrender:

Tinubu fought on waging press wars against the Military junta, granting interviews and funding the famous Radio Kudirat and Radio Freedom. For two years Tinubu did not set his eyes on his family.

Without compromising Tinubu fought the Abacha junta to a standstill till the General finally came down due to natural causes.

With the coming of Abdusalmi Abubarkar, Tinubu decided to heed the call to come back home and help rebuild the Democratic process.

On his return, his people told him point blank to represent them at the helm of affairs in Lagos. That was how he emerged as the Lagos State Governor in 1999.

I recall how the PDP President, General Olusegun Obasanjo once described Lagos when democracy just returned in 1999, he said: “Lagos is an urban jungle and uninhabitable.”

Today Lagos happens to be among the fastest-growing city in the world, with the fifth largest economy in Africa. Currently, Lagos ranks as one of the safest havens to retire and spend your old age in luxury with relatively affordable expenditure.

If Tinubu ever felt his emergence as the Lagos State Governor was the end of his battles then he was definitely wrong, Obasanjo was looking at a bigger picture whereby the PDP would be in control of one of the largest economies in Africa and he tried clandestinely to upstage the Jagaban.

Allocations due to Lagos was withheld in an attempt to muscle the state and make it dependent on the Federal Government.

The financial guru and political strategist brought his creativity into play and made Lagos an independent financial hub of creativity and productivity. Lagos blossomed and today sits amongst the greatest cities in the world.

Once asked about his greatest legacy for  Lagos State the Jagaban had this to say

“My best legacy is the financial engineering of Lagos State, especially to bring financial autonomy to Lagos State and eliminate wastage and mismanagement. That was just one aspect of it. My greatest legacy is Governor Babatunde Fashola. I identified and endorsed him. That was when my corporate background as a recruiter and talent seeker for Deloitte came to play.
Part of the training when you go on operational audit is that the first things you evaluate are the personnel and the questionnaire given to them and how they answer it. You look at the ability of individuals to really take and develop others.
There is nothing unique about any leadership. Everybody can come up with different ideas. You can take different routes and arrive at the same answer. No matter how much steel and metal you put together, the greatest achievement and legacy is the ability to develop other leaders who can succeed you, otherwise, your legacy will be in shambles. It was a very difficult and challenging period for me. I thank God, I stuck to my guns.”

Greatness is a choice.

It is a possibility. An opportunity. A decision that you get to make — by your actions and attitudes right now.

So regardless of what you have chosen in the past. Remember that today you get the chance to make that choice. Right now.

Osigwe Omo-Ikirodah writes in from Abuja.

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