Many people will agree with me that “Truth” is actually different from “Fact” and when juxtaposed both has a way of gaining more reception and acceptability in their relative terms and suitability.
The combination of truth and the facts which should bring about the real recipe for a working and productive federalism in Nigeria as against the over-centralised unitary federal system we are practicing in Nigeria is what we need to look critically into, as we journey towards the search for the next president in 2023.
As we are all aware that Nigerian political system is designed majorly to serve the political office holders and people in power, it has become a glaring conspiracy amongst the people in government to always keep mute while in any political office or position of influence, which brought about the popular saying in Nigeria today which says: “You don’t talk while you’re “eating” and every politician had imbibed that “eating habit” in Nigeria of today whenever they’re feasting at the National Dinning Table.
They are also in the habit of quickly throwing away that same habit whenever they get schemed out of the dining table and they begin to criticise the same system they once benefited from once they’re out of political posts, examples are abound.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu remains the most prominent amongst all other Nigerians who had often identified the problems embedded in our federal system, which is overcentralised federal system, and his prominence simply came about, by virtue of the fact that, he remains the only Nigerian who held political elective office, and at the same time has the boldness and courage to challenge the lopsidedness in our federal system and also made frantic efforts to prevent the shackles of those errors from stopping the growth of Lagos State while he was the governor between 1999-2007, despite being a supposed beneficiary of the lopsided system.
The insecurity we are witnessing in Nigeria today is as a result of central policing system we are practicing in Nigeria, there’s nowhere in the world where policing is as overcentralised as what we have in Nigeria, and it is no more a news that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a strong proponent of State police system where every state will recruit, fund and renumerate it’s own police for effective policing.
No state in any federation will be in charge of it’s internal security and be faced with the type of security challenges we currently witness in Nigeria today, in the absence of State Police, Lagos State government is greatly funding the Rapid Response Squad in order to further compliment and equip the federal police to ensure adequate policing of Lagos.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu had long realised that it is not possible for the Federal Government to generate and distribute electricity for the entire country any longer, he opted for Independent Power Project in Lagos, we should imagine the whole of Lagos State to be removed from the national power grid, but the federal government and the beneficiaries of the lopsidedness in our system vehemently went against the idea and that same federal government under President Olusegun Obasanjo claimed to had spent several billions of dollars to provide electricity for the entire country without any meaningful result to show for such spendings.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as Lagos State Governor felt the need to fix all federal roads neglected by the federal government in the former Federal Capital City of Lagos, just as it is across the entire country, where many major roads faces long and continued neglect in the name of belonging to federal government, which are still referred to as the “Federal Roads, by thinking out of the box, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s government went ahead to finance the repair and expansion of many major federal roads despite being denied federal allocation.
No politician in Nigeria has ever displayed such confidence and courage which Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu exhibited while he was governor of Lagos State as opposition governor, most of our politicians only spoke about the challenges in our system of government as ordinary citizens, but immediately they get to power and become beneficiaries of the system, they get consumed by the system and continue to enjoy the benefits while the conspiracy continues, some of them also come out of office to criticise the same system they created and exploited till their last days in office, and they remained our elder statesmen.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu understands the principle of devolution of power, he knows that, for governance to be effective at the grassroot, more local government areas should be established and adequately funded.
His government created additional 37 Local Council Development Areas and funded them through the internally generated revenue of Lagos State, even when the federal government denied Lagos State it’s monthly federal allocation for years, and up till date, those LCDAs he created still functions as expected in Lagos till date.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu never for once attempted to “cross carpet” to the rulling party despite all the humiliations Lagos State was made to suffer from the federal government, we all knew how typical Nigerian politicians criss-cross different political parties to achieve their personal selfish goals, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu stands talls amongst his peers, if at all there are others we can compere him with in the pages of current political serialisation in Nigeria today.
If he were to be in politics to pursue his selfish agenda, he would’ve succumbed to the frustrations of the PDP federal government under the Presidency of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo and easily defect to the People’s Democratic Party PDP, for a Tinubu who stood his ground as member of an opposition and still successfully oversees the affairs of the most economically viable state in Nigeria and one of the most viable economies in Africa, until his strategic alignment with other opposition bloc which resulted in the first take over of power from a ruling party in Nigeria, I think he deserves more than accolades for that singular honour. He proved again that there’s always a crown of fulfillment in every consistent efforts laced with tenacity.
Another very prominent example of his doggedness and willpower was the legal victory he patiently but tactical pursued in the Osun State governorship election which the People’s Democratic Party used the federal might to rig in favour of their candidate during the 2007 governorship election which later brought in Rauf Aregbesola as the governor of Osun State.
Rather than conceding defeat, Tinubu had always confronted his challenges with the mindset of a winner, an indomitable and indefatigable political icon, such dogged achiever deserves the support of all Nigerians to be the next president of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
There are lots in Bola Ahmed Tinubu, what most previous heads of government in Nigeria lacks, and that is the “will”, there’s a popular saying which says and I quote: “When there’s a will, there will always be a way”, not that most political leaders in Nigeria does not have an idea of what to do to make Nigeria better, but for the fulfilment of their personal and selfish desires, they always neglect the will to implement and execute changes that are required to take the country to greatness. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has the needed willpower and he had never shied away from exhibiting that willingness which had always produced positive results in his various political feats.
Unlike many politicians who hides their ethnocentric tendencies while seeking votes and later become ethnic bigot on getting to office, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has repeatedly proven to be a cultivator of great minds and intellectuals, he gives every Nigerians equal opportunities to prove their worth in various capacities irrespective of their ethnic backgrounds. He is a successful human capital developer, he deserves to be given the chance to bring more capable hands and intellectuals from all sector of the economy and ethnic backgrounds to lead a virile and enduring Nigeria into her rightful place amongst the comity of social and economically viable nations.
As Kingsley Moghalu had rightly said during the 2022 Felabration, we need a leader with the courage, confidence and tenacity to ask those difficult and challenging questions surrounding our nationhood and in my own personal views and opinions, someone like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu fits so perfectly into such descriptions.
Lagos state during the governorship of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, between 1999-2007 suffered so much humiliation and harassment from the federal government but his ingenuity and economic craftsmanship kept Lagos State ahead of all other 35 states of the federation till today.
No politician in Nigeria today, has the record of being ideologically consistent as Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, and he remains the only politician, who always put all we know can take Nigeria out of the woods of the economic paralysis, which the unitary federalism we are practicing in Nigeria hangs on the country to practise within his limited capacity and which he had always followed to their logical ends.
Having identified and consistently stood firmly against all that needs to be addressed in order to move Nigeria forward, it is on record that most landmark achievements of Lagos State from 1999 till date was majorly as a result of Lagos defiance of several restrictive provisions of our federal laws, most of which should’ve kept Lagos backward, but for the progressive orientation of a dogged achiever, Lagos has become the envy of all states in Nigeria and a template for a proven and sustainable developmental drive within the limited capacity of a visionary leader, it is imperative that such leader who still aspires to lead a larger Nigeria deserves a chance in 2023.
I believe we all should give him the chance to find ways of correcting those systemic anomalies in order to take Nigeria back to her glorious days.
God bless the Federal Republic of Nigeria.
Deji Ogundimu is Ogun State Coordinator/National Spokesperson for PROGRESSIVE VOLUNTEERS FOR TINUBU-SHETIMA PVTS2023.
