The Commonsense Revolution being spearheaded by Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu was instrumental to the victory of the All Progressives Congress (APC) in the last general elections, but has also harvested troubles for the APC chieftain.
It was the revolution which kicked out the monstrous People’s Democratic Party (PDP) and it is the same revolution which has now become a recurring albatross on Tinubu’s political neck.
It is not homogeneity in ideology that gave victory to APC, because its founders were ideologically diametrical. They employed what they have to obtain what they want, so as to eliminate PDP from the central government.
Muhammad Buhari laid down his honour, integrity and political clout, especially in the North; while Tinubu used his money and political clout, especially in the South West. Others chipped in here and there.
That is the movement of Commonsense Revolution, a principle which will hopefully be rejigged and exploited to guide the party through in its subsequent drives and exploits, especially at elections and party agenda with focus on common ideology, the initial crisis rocking the party notwithstanding.
Tinubu is well grounded in Nigerian politics. With the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential election and the subsequent militarization of the Nigerian politics, he became a founding member of the famous pro-democracy group, the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) which, for several years, engaged the military for the actualization of a democratic governance. He fled the country in the wake of that struggle.
In 1998, he returned to Nigeria and joined in the national reconciliation and development. The following year, he began his two-term tenure as an elected governor of Lagos State on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) which later transmuted to Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
Whatever Lagos State – and to a large extent the South West – may be today is to the credit of Tinubu.
However, the PDP ruled at the federal level assertively for 16 years and during the reign, crushed all political opponents by hook and by crook.
The ACN, Congress for Progressive Change, All Progressives Grand Alliance and the Labour Party were made minced meat of, not to talk of other lesser parties.
The party could have firmly remained in the saddle of power for as long as it wanted but for the Commonsense Revolution. In fact, it was the under-rating of the revolution that made PDP to lose the 2015 general elections since people’s votes no longer counted and the chieftains of the party became arrogant with brazen impunity and over-bloated ego.
Never will the PDP and its principal actors forget nor forgive Tinubu, the architect of their Waterloo, the soothsayer who rightly predicted PDP’s doomsday, and APC’s main driver of the party’s armoured personnel carrier.
In his political journey, however, he has earned the titles of Asiwaju of Lagos and Jagaban of Borgu Kingdom in Niger State, and lately, the Lion or ‘Emperor’ of Bourdillon – his abode in Lagos’ leafy and highbrow Ikoyi.
It is instructive to state that before, during and after the elections, seeds of discord were being sewn on Tinubu as to his source of wealth and his alleged over-bearing influence. There are also deliberate acts to put a wedge between him and the presidential flag bearer, now President Muhammadu Buhari as well as to put him on a collision course with other chieftains of the party, party members and the citizenry.
While he fights for credibility and survival inside his party, his number one enemies, PDP and its chieftains, are waiting for him outside. He is now in between the devil and the deep blue sea, but there is no doubt that he believes these are prices to be paid for true leadership.
His detractors handed him over to the people’s court during the election campaigns but the politician in him remained astute, dogged, courageous, tenacious and focused, preaching the message of the revolution.
At rallies, he never gave an inkling of capitulation, distractions or being overwhelmed by the campaigns of calumny against him on all fronts.
When armed soldiers were drafted to his Bourdillon residence before the general elections, the Goodluck Jonathan administration was bent on cutting him to size, ensuring that his wings no more grew beyond Lagos State, so that at the end of the day, he would become irrelevant to the revolution.
He remained unperturbed, and not even the media-sponsored hate campaign could subdue his spirit. The revolution ultimately consumed the PDP and terminated its reign of corruption, blurred vision and impunity.
While Tinubu may not be an Angel his fabled wealth has been exaggerated. Any magnificent mansion in any part of Nigeria, nay the whole world, must be owned by Tinubu.
The latest automobile, jet or yatch is Tinubu’s; the chains of supermarket in Africa and Europe are possessed by Tinubu or his cronies. The fat bank accounts in naira and in dollar or euro denominations are traced to Tinubu while luxury hotels are for Tinubu.
The myths woven around the man must have transformed him into a colossus, and drawing enemies. There is no doubt that Tinubu is rich and powerful, but his image is so hyperbolically crafted by these detractors that such presentations sometimes become ridiculously laughable, defying logic.
It has been reported that Tinubu and Alhaji Atiku Abubakar, another chieftain of APC, are at each other’s throat for the control of the soul of their party and the National Assembly, while the crisis rocking the Senate and the House of Representatives as well as the party itself is said to be a manifestation of that squabble between both men.
Tinubu has also been fingered as a sponsor of certain members in the Senate and the House of Representatives, so as to have a firm grip on the legislature. That was the genesis of the crisis as Atiku Abubakar was said to be behind Bukola Saraki, to pave the way for his ambition to become Nigeria’s president.
Nothing prevents Tinubu from having genuine interest in some legislators but it also stands to reason that Tinubu can not foist his wishes on his party or the legislature. In a democratic setting, his nominees would be considered along with others, based on equity and fairplay, putting into consideration all the six geo-political zones of the country.
Recently, a PDP senator, Buruji Kashamu, sent a ‘congratulatory’ message to Tinubu on the outcome of the general elections. However, he read the undertone in the statement and promptly responded.
The message, ostensibly to curry political favour, was couched in flowery superlatives, but Tinubu was convinced that it was something else from the heart of the sender.
Another scene has just been created by Dino Melaye, an APC senator from Kogi West. Melaye accused Tinubu of supporting his opponent, Smart Adeyemi, a PDP member who contested but lost to him in the last senatorial election.
Melaye is an aggressive supporter of Bukola Saraki. He, therefore, claimed that Tinubu is using the former Attorney-General and Minister of Justice to get at him by assisting Adeyemi in the appeal of the case which had been decided by a court in Lokoja. Melaye claimed that an editor-friend of his showed him the text message that Tinubu dispatched to the former minister.
Henceforth, one would not be surprised to read on the pages of newspapers that Tinubu is interfering in the matrimonial affairs of APC or PDP members or, that he is leading a protest march against Buhari when, on the contrary, he is holding a meeting with the President.
When Tinubu failed to attend the recent meeting of the National Executive Committee, called by his party to resolve the crisis caused by the National Assembly leadership contest, the absence was misconstrued, whereas he had no business being there as he is not a NEC member.
While it was reported that he was forced to stay away, it is becoming crystal clear that these attacks are part of ‘rewards’ for his role in ending PDP’s misrule.
As if that is not enough, another PDP stalwart, Chief Bode George, fired another salvo, saying Tinubu deserves whatever happens to him because, George claims, the alliance he entered into with APC was for his selfish interest. Bode George couldn’t have said anything to the contrary.
Definitely, the attacks on the leading APC chieftain will neither end nor abate. At any platform, the attackers, especially the PDP, will not relent, because Tinubu has sent the members into disarray, discomfort and derailed their gravy train for at least the next four years. But it is too late to halt his revolution as the man plods on doggedly with zeal and tenacity
The first official statement credited to Dr Abubakar Bukola Saraki as his acceptance speech following his controversial emergence as Senate President on June 9, omitted the word corruption, or ‘thieving’, the preferred word for corruption by the People’s Democratic Party (PDP).
Adewole Adeoye is a Public Policy Analyst
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