What Lam Adesina told me about Tinubu -By Kehinde Olaosebikan

“Oro Ahmed yi nikan na ni o un ba mi leru” (It is only the issue of Ahmed that is giving me worries). That was the fear expressed by the late Alhaji Lam Adesina, a former governor of Oyo State on the chances of the then governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, winning the governorship election in 2003. Out of genuine concern, Adesina, a great lover of Tinubu, was bothered that the governor might not get a second term because of his repugnance to the then President Olusegun Obasanjo’s overtures and frolics.

That was at a time when all the other governors in the South West: Chiefs Bisi Akande of Osun, Segun Osoba of Ogun, Adebayo Adefarati of Ondo , Otunba Niyi Adebayo of Ekiti and Adesina himself were obeying the dictates and dancing to the falsehearted music of the then President Obasanjo. The governors were not alone in the travesty; they were goaded by the pan-Yoruba group, Afenifere, under the leadership of the late Pa Abraham Adesanya.

Obasanjo cajoled the governors and Afenifere into believing that he (Obasanjo) would be “soft” on them and make their victories easy insofar as they supported his election for a second term in office. The five governors fell for Obasanjo’s antics and openly worked for his second term in office. In fact, the promotion of Obasanjo’s second term bid took precedence far above campaigns for our governorship and national assembly candidates in the build up to the general elections of 2003.

Despite the fact that we were in the Alliance for Democracy, the opposition party, we campaigned vigorously for Obasanjo’s second term and indirectly his Peoples Democratic Party’s candidates who eventually defeated us. I was a victim as the AD candidate for House of Representatives, Oluyole Federal Constituency.

With heavy music and beautiful lyrics, we introduced a new dimension, new lexicon to our politics: we birthed splitting of votes; Aremu Oke and Aremu Isale. Vote one for Aremu at the top (Obasanjo for President) and one for Aremu at the bottom, state (Alhaji Lam Adesina). But at the end of the day, Obasanjo trounced us, with the deployment of all the tricks and antics one can think of.

But, in Lagos, Tinubu in his wisdom, refused to follow either his fellow governors or Afenifere in supporting Obasanjo, and instead answered his father’s name. He campaigned only for his party, the AD. He asked voters to concentrate all their votes at the top, the space for AD on the ballot papers in all the elections.

As we were rollicking to the lovely melody of Aremu Oke and Aremu Isale in the South-West, from Ibadan to Saki, Ogbomoso, Tede, Idere and so on, particularly in Oyo State, the people of Lagos State were ‘eating to the top’ (won un jeun soke). And in the real sense of it they actually ate well and this is evident, till today, in the yawning gap in riches and wealth between the people of Lagos and those in other parts of Yorubaland.

Tinubu, using all in him: wisdom, knowledge, smartness, boldness, exposure, contacts etcetera turned Lagos around within eight years. Tinubu grew the economy, politics and sociology of Lagos and the stability being enjoyed in Lagos today is as a result of his right leadership. Lagos has become the model for virtually all developmental projects and ideas in Nigeria today.

From (Babatunde) Fashola to (Akinwunmi)Ambode to the incumbent (Babajide) Sanw-Olu, Lagos has continued to progress steadily while sadly, other states in the West are grappling to survive. Tinubu has established himself as the best and most dynamic leader and politician of this generation.

With the enormous powers of the Presidency, particularly under the leadership of Obasanjo, who was touted to have possessed and exercised more powers during his time, Tinubu crushed Obasanjo in all aspects of governance. He challenged Obasanjo on legislative matters and won; he contested Obasanjo’s position on judiciary; and in Obasanjo’s desperate bid to conquer Lagos State alongside other Yoruba states, Tinubu triumphed.

For decades now, Nigeria’s major problem has been poor leadership. After the departure of the Balewas, Azikwes and Awolowos, Nigeria has been largely unlucky with the people that have been ruling. All past leaders that we are still praising till date did well because they were well equipped for the positions they occupied and while serving they got the best persons for all the assignments.

Tinubu, in his time as governor of Lagos State, gathered the best brains in Lagos to improve the lot of the state socially, economically and politically. Tinubu, with his team of financial wizards raised the internally generated revenue of Lagos from about a billion naira to over N20bn when leaving office in 2007. In the socio-political scene, Tinubu took Lagos far ahead of other states in Nigeria, particularly in the South-West when it became the centre of attraction virtually in all spheres.

The story of Tinubu: The narrative of somebody who is naturally endowed to lead and ceaselessly improving himself and making people that would make leading and leadership functional, with profound results.

That the former governor of Lagos State was able to accomplish all these including standing boldly with the Lagos people on the creation of local councils was as a result of the ability of Tinubu to identify and engage the right people for the jobs. Without knowing the incumbent Vice President, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, Tinubu head hunted him and made the Ogun State-born Osinbajo, the Attorney General of Lagos State. Appointing with precision, Tinubu led Osinbajo to win the legal battle against the all conquering Obasanjo sitting as the President of Nigeria.

It is an open secret that the major problems of the country today border on lack of adequate knowledge, right policies and directions. Thus, to solve the problems, Nigeria needs the person with adequate knowledge about Nigeria, her challenges and prospects. The country needs that person that knows Nigeria inside out and without any pretence or any primordial baggage.

Second, Nigeria needs a leader that is educated and versed in all aspects of life to formulate the right policies from economy, education, health, employment to security. The person that can get the best among us to engender insightful policies and programmes that would generate wealth and reasonable employment for our teeming youth. Certainly, Tinubu, more than any other Nigerian, is the most suitable for the job. It is not about, I can do it. What Nigeria deserves now is I have done it before and I am ready, more mature, more experienced and obviously more prepared to do it again. It is not about I worked or learnt under Tinubu as it is a well known fact that no one can do it as the original person especially, if the teacher is still alive, strong and willing. You can’t beat experience.

As I wish Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Jagaban of Borgu, a happy 70th birthday, it is almost certain that he will celebrate his 71st birthday as the President elect of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He possesses a rare, uncanny ability to win against all odds as he did contrary to the fears, lovingly expressed by the late Alhaji Lam Adesina on his chances of returning to Lagos Governor’s Office for a second term in 2003.

• Olaosebikan served as the CPS to the late ex-governor of Oyo State, Alhaji Lam Adesina