Bola Ahmed Tinubu: A Visionary Leader Transforming Lagos and Inspiring Nigeria’s Future
Setting a New Benchmark for Governance in Africa
As a Nigerian, what is most important to us?
Bola Ahmed Tinubu is an enigma, a once-in-a-lifetime breed; he is like a shooting star, Milky Way when you talk of comets, and it spiral downs. Most of his staunch followers and mentees are strategic, pragmatic, critical thinkers, and process-driven.
He left governance in 2007, and he is still relevant now.
I’ve seen a man who took Lagos, a state I was born and grew up in, from a shell. A shadow of what it should be or used to be, but either way, and brought it, dragged it to the 21st century.
I’ve seen a man who has changed Lagos, who adapted a system of government for us by us. You can copy, but you need an understanding to understand the process. And I’m glad that it took him this long. I watched a video where he said he was about to submit his senatorial ticket and later passed it on to someone else.
And that’s interesting because this moment is what Nigeria, Africa is waiting for.
The man has made Lagos a mini Nigeria. Let’s not fool ourselves. It’s the most diverse state. We’re not talking about resources now. We’re talking about opportunities. If you can create opportunities from nothing.
Then I’ll respect you. it’s not handed.
Obasanjo was handed the opportunity many more before him, where there were interruptions with military regimes and stuff. But with Tinubu, we’ve seen it all happen. And the fact that Lagos state can work. It could be a more glamorous place. It’s not; it’s not Dubai. Yes, we know. But the system has been worked on. It’s been adapted. Now we can scale. And that’s what I want us to go away with. Now, I’ve observed in my time; ideologies are critical.
So I’ve observed that, most African leaders just want the position but don’t understand what it means. With Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) it comes with vision. And we’re not just talking about vision. We’re talking about purpose as well. If you come across a man with a purpose, fear him. It’s not about money for him. It’s about legacy. And that’s what that man has been building. This is not to regurgitate his accomplishments; i am sure you can find a plethora of them with a simple google search, but it is to share my perspective of him and hopefully inspire everyone.
When I was growing up, the economy wasn’t booming in Lagos. Only a few people had Cable TVs. You had the 090 phones, which was exclusive to a few. You had the satellite dishes. And then, a step above was the DSTVs. And then you had most people working in the public sector civil service. If you worked in the federal parastatal, you were a big man. I had uncles who worked in the CBN. Then they came with, mint cash Naira, and it excited me back then.
This man decentralized wealth. With this decentralized prosperity, and when I see youngsters like, you often take things you didn’t work for, for granted.
I’m one of the most open-minded people you can think of. I’m in my early thirties now and have frequent conversations with younger folks as equals because I want to learn from them. And I see this in Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
Sanwo-Olu might be a president in the future. And what you’re seeing now is mentorship. Fashola cannot do that for the time being. And we have people like Femi Gbajabiamila working on the sidelines as well. But this is just me, like a forecast, a hunch, and that’s what I’m just guessing.
I might be wrong, and it’s okay to be wrong. I don’t know it all, but that’s just looking at the patterns. When you study data and look at the patterns, you’re like, okay, something might happen.
The man lives in the future. And he has the patience of a nursery school teacher. He is probably the most insulted politician I know. They nicknamed him “Ojuyobo” quite a funny and degrading Yoruba nickname due to his animated eyes size and orientation, yet he doesn’t budge.
That’s what I’ve seen, and I’ve heard. I’ve been in this world for a while now. But I’ve also witnessed amazing things; for instance, my neighbor in Lagos was one of the many beneficiaries of a state-sponsored graduate degree full-ride scholarship in the UK, courtesy of Tinubu; that’s just someone I know. Today, he is doing amazingly well for his family. Imagine the uncountable people he has helped without my knowledge.
One of the reasons that offended the Afenifere group which he fell out with was because of his inclusivity. They wanted the PT 1 to 1, and they wanted the old order and he was against it. And they slated him for it. And that’s just a takeaway. So anything from the Afenifere group, I wouldn’t say disrespect, but I understand they have their own motives.
We can’t go into details but look at Lagos. It’s not perfect, however Lagos is a city that defies easy description, a place of immense energy, vitality, and beauty that must be experienced to be truly appreciated. It is a city that captures the essence of Nigeria, blending the ancient and the modern in a unique and captivating way.
He’s setting a new benchmark for how Africa should be governed. And it’s not resources, but it’s creating opportunities and enabling the environment for FDI to come in.
Forget religion, tribe, or culture. It’s nothing. We want a better life. That’s just the basics. People talk about his past, like everyone hasn’t got a past, maybe he has done those things they accuse him of, I don’t know, I am certainly not the judge or jury, but since all humans are both good and bad, what’s the big deal ?
He has worked hard and is working hard. He was learning, he was failing. We didn’t see that. He was testing stuff along with his team. We wouldn’t see that. But the results of what we’re seeing.
A broader view of it and say now is a good time to scale it. It wouldn’t touch every state in the country.
He hasn’t got a magic wand. But when you have a system in place, a process that actually works, it filters down to every individual person. And more importantly, I’ve come away with a lot of things observing this man’s work ethic. That man has been relentless. Since he declared, despite being, a party member, quote and unquote, kingmaker.
As Nigerians look at it if someone can work that hard. To get something that, some might say he’s entitled to. He has all the advantages there.
Atiku wouldn’t work that hard. Peter Obi wouldn’t work that hard.
My 60-something-year-old mother tells me, Oh, they say he is tired. And I responded, I’m at meetings; I work remotely. I’m in four meetings. I’m exhausted. I want to go to bed. And this man campaigned in over 30 states, and that’s what we can see. Now, let alone what we don’t see behind the scenes. You don’t need to be energetic like prime Mike Tyson to be president. You know, it’s the brain power, some brains are preserved.
The juice is in the decision making.
And this is our shot, not just for Nigeria because Nigeria leads, Africa follows.
This system works. This process works. We want to scale it up and focus on that. If not for anything. The music industry has worked. The tech industry has worked now in governance. This is the man.
Shettima, I don’t think he is likable, but I don’t need to like him. i have seen the way he analyses data and communicates; he is on point.*
We have to give the correct narrative here as people and not as the loudest in the crowd but as the most logical. And whoever is reading can discern between sense and nonsense.
I saw vice president candidate Shettima address certain things, and I was proud that he was pulling relevant data and statistics for us. And not plucking things from Indonesia or Singapore with like barely 2 million people without the challenges, we have something apt. And I addressed that because Nigeria is mainly a dynamic country. Even the Brits. I’m sure they just mixed us up and thought, what the heck will happen here? and, we’ve survived.
We went through a civil war, It didn’t go well on both side, But there was a truce, we have patched those bruises, and we’ve bandaged them. And we are where we are now. We want to look forward and see beyond our differences. And that’s what Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu represents. He is not one person manufactured for us, he is someone that’s grown organically with us.
And I have yet to give credit to Shettima. Now, Shettima is one person I have yet to dig into, but after getting to know him, I thought he was not likable. But I don’t have to like you to acknowledge your competence, I’ve seen that in him; he is on point. That choice is correct.
Another person spoke about him, people at his office. He’s 40 to 1.
You see, he stands up against, a barrage of people.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a comet. It comes every 70 years there are about. And regardless of your religion, skin tone, tribe, Or anything you believe in, the results speak for themselves. Though I’ve never gained directly from whatever is done, it inspired me from afar.
We cannot miss this opportunity.
The sinking sand of online influencers
I see these people as pop culture intellectuals, trend surfers.
It goes back to the pop culture thing. Peter P-square pop culture. Online influencers and skit makers. They haven’t got depth. It’s just the shallow gibberish and hot air that will attract vanity social media metrics. They visit abroad, see things and say: Why can’t we have this in Nigeria? They don’t understand what it means to live in the UK, the US, or Europe.
Live there for at least 5 to 10 years, and then come back to me, and we can talk. Only some things are as beautiful as it looks. It is excellent, but it comes at a price. And that’s the foundation, BAT is looking to build for us. That foundation where the man was asked, how do you tackle corruption? And I keep returning to the fact that he proposed a refined and remodeled credit system of governance for us in a way that reduces the propensity for corruption, which has plagued the country for too long.
He has to compromise and negotiate. This man lives in the future. We were experiencing what he had planned a decade ago. He is beyond the vision and purpose, and he has to fulfill it. And if we want Nigeria or Africa, we want to be all proud of when we travel abroad.
So I’m talking about my identity and ownership of who I am. I’m proud to be Nigerian. I’m pleased to be a Yoruba man. But a Nigerian first on the world stage. And then you ask me, what part of Nigeria are you from? And I say, I’m Yoruba. And that’s what the world sees in South Africa, in Kenya, in Morocco, Tunisia. Your passport is what they see. They need to see where you’re from. And that’s what this man has deciphered.
Trend servers and pop culture intellectuals are seeking clout on Twitter, no depth, just hot air, deceiving and brainwashing gen Z with their nonsense.
In a sense, BAT is the Steve Jobs of African governance. look at it that way. Forget. Let go of your emotions. Just look at it that way.
Lagos could be better, but it’s getting there. Eko Atlantic was a wasteland. It was a shamble for most people who cannot see resources, but he saw an opportunity. Identifying that opportunity there is key. You can be handed money, but many have come out of nothing.
I see a man that transcends class. And a lot of things come from the disobedient camp. They’re very snobbish. They look down on people.
We need a young young leader**
Look at France and how they deceived them with Macron, since he came to power; it’s protest after protest. I have seen clips where they slapped him
They sold the lie “he is young and vibrant” balderdash like the way they are selling a mediocre politician like Peter Obi to Nigeria, a dynamic country that requires tested hands, not some opportunist.
Silverlining
President Buhari has his strength and weaknesses, and we’re all humans, I believe in the universe a lot and not as a soothsayer or prophet. But I believe that everything happens for a reason. Some of us might be dissatisfied with how things have gone in the last eight years. I’m an optimist and consider the positives — Nigeria made me. It gave me everything I’ve got. It gave me my identity, gave me my personality. The whole experience is what led us to where we are at the moment.
But what has happened within the last few years? I pushed for PMB in the 2015 election. PMB has done what he knows best how to do, and our parents, uncles, and aunts have to point this out for their children and the confused and amusing Gen-Zs on Twitter.
Conclusion
We’ve all grown and transitioned from a world where we were groomed and raised, and then we moved on elsewhere, perhaps in a particular community, and you moved elsewhere, and you start to look back and think, Oh, my parents could have done better. But that’s all they knew. Your children will probably say that to you as well. I wouldn’t fault Peter Obi for saying, Hey, I was saving money for Anambra — you see, it’s the mentality, the mindset.
If it were in 1984, that would have flown. But this is 2023. And we have someone who is not saying I’m saving money but turning your money into wealth for you. The juncture where we are at the moment. We have to decide what we want. Do we want to fall for the plastic or the make-believe; Or do you want to vote for an actual leader who will lead us out of the trenches?
Vote based on what you’ve read and understood. Some people, you can’t change their minds. But we’re trying to reason with you. And we put our argument forward to you and say: hey, you have an option, but you have a better option here. And we’re not forcing it down your throat, which is telling you the fact.
Data don’t lie. Lagos is the sandbox environment. It will run on autopilot for 100 years, and tall buildings will grow from nowhere. And the younger generation will take it for granted. We’re here to remind them. That Rome was not built in a day. So we’re working on it. And that’s what we want for every state in Nigeria. It doesn’t have to be only Lagos with all the opportunities. It can be Anambra or Abia State. You can be anywhere and compete globally and flourish.
It would help if you were a patriot first — the pride i have as a Nigerian.
You can’t understand it, my heritage is my badge of honour and I wear it anywhere. And the Yoruba that interests me most is the Ibile Yoruba.
And that’s my identity — that’s who I am. And for my household brothers, that’s who you are. So my Igbos brothers, Hausas, Delta, that’s who you are.
For the antecedents, you might never have been to Lagos, but you’ve heard of it. And the population of Lagos must have ballooned since 1999. There’s a reason people are flocking there. Be curious and ask questions.
There’s a reason people are not flocking to Anambra. Find out why?
I like the idea of renewed hope, maybe you don’t …
and that’s fine too.
