By Mideno Bayagbon
I have never really been a fan of the Jagaban of Lagos politics, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu. Not when he was governor and controversies swirled round him. Not even when he, like biblical Jacob, wrestled the then emerging dictator, President Olusegun Obasanjo, to the ground leaving the retired General with a bruised nose and ego! Maybe I managed a clap when his appointee, Raji Fashola, turned the poster boy of Nigerian performing thiefitricians in politics; but definitely not when he attempted an ambode on Fashola and failed!
I never really did like him then because he exemplified the contradictions of Nigerian progressive politics. For example, just because he did not belong to the Peoples Democratic Party, he is a saint, despite the massive unexplained wealth he parades, the Toronto certificate throwback, the mystery around his genealogy; but a James Ibori is a villain. He is in the same boat, frolicking with Adams Oshiomhole, Godswill Akpabio and even a die in the wool, irredentist, Buhari; and laugh with me, they are the progressives of Nigerian politics. Nothing wey eye no go see for Nigerian politics, as they say in Warri. But I digress.
But I am beginning to like the man, his haters and lovers, call the Jagaban and/or the Lion of Bourdillon. He has shown himself to be the talk-na-do of Lagos politics. He has shown himself to be the owner of Lagos and all there is. Little wonder, the man who should claim to be the owner of Lagos, and who would have gladly commanded all those opposed to the Tinubu decree on Ambode recently, to be drowned in the Lagos lagoon, kowtows to his every whim. I am talking about my Benin brother and Oba of Lagos, His Royal Majesty, Oba Rilwan Akiolu.
Who will not fall in love with Tinubu after the earthquake he caused a few weeks back in Lagos politics? He brought Governor Ambode to power. He decreed his fall and it came to pass with such overwhelming, shattering, thunder like exactitude. My developing likeness for the Jagaban is like a young lady tasting the delicious deceitfulness of lust for the first time. What joy untold! Oh what pain hides ahead!
You should forgive me, all who I have badmouthed the real lord of Lagos state to. The man is a colossus whose word is law; in Lagos. And like most people, especially politicians or thiefitricians, I envy this giant of a man his enemies claim is Iragbiji born, but Lagos domineering god. I regret i did not join the large throng of admirers who worshipped at his shrine when he was governor, instead of writing often then what Dele Alake, his commissioner for information and strategy, described as “some nonsense.”
If you were in Lagos, or you watched, or read what happened in Lagos during the primaries of the All Progressives Congress, APC, when the whole of Lagos state, well APC members and hirelings, thronged most of the voting centres in all the wards across the state, you cannot but envy, and maybe like me love, the devoted, unquestioning love poured on him; and the humiliating dung Governor Ambode was drenched with.
Tinubu simply showed class, embellishing it with style while dishing well considered insults on those who question his suzerainty and authority in Lagos. In one deft stroke, he told those who question why he should remove a performing governor, to shut up and hide their disloyal faces in the cesspit of shame. Since Warri slangs are running riot in my head today, let me say it like a true Waffarian: the real king of Lagos politics has told the doubting thomases that “this na we thing, na somebody get am.” In this case, na Tinubu get Lagos, so he can do and undo. He can ambode anybody and sanworise whoever pleases him.
Hate him as much as you like, is it not a thing of confounding joy, and a huge credit to the Lion of Bourdillon, that things have settled back quietly? Ambode has accepted his fate, mended fences with the Jagaban and his newly adopted son, Sanwo-Olu. The APC is as strong, and perhaps even stronger now than it was before the decree which brought Governor Ambode to his knees. For the lovers of the Jagaban, all is well that has ended well, at least for now.
There are whimpers here and there, mostly among some elites, about a planned retribution against the Lion of the tribe Bourdillon come the main elections next February. These gladiators can be mostly found in the social media speaking high fallutin grammar, postulating and generally grandstanding about dealing a deadly blow to the Jagaban and his appointed contestants at the coming elections. And I laugh. Since when has grammar on social media won elections?
We all know that facebook and twitter are not polling booths; we know that over 95 percent of those talking big in the social media might not walk the talk on election day. We know for sure they are not members of any of the major or even minor parties. They are neither candidates nor sponsors of candidates. They will happily sit back in the comfort of their homes, drinking beer or tea, watching the “wretched of the earth,” the stronghold of the man who has mastered the political terrain in Lagos, queue for hours, vote, hang around the polling venues and cause enough mayhem that will subvert the will of those who even bother to come out to vote, if they sense that the results are going the wrong way.
As a reporter who took interest in the primaries of the APC in Lagos, it is clear why Tinubu will continue to have his way in Lagos politics. Even for those who watched on television, who did you see voting to enthrone the will of the Jagaban? Didn’t you see the market women, the unemployed, the touts, the drivers, the maiguards, the house boys? Did you see the elites, the facebook and twitter political juggernauts? Who did you see marshalling them? Tinubu boys!
Lagosians, bury your heads in shame. Tinubu is a man who understands the true dynamics of Nigerian politics. He has spoken in Lagos where his is the only voice. If you don’t like it, the lagoon is still there! Any wonder why Nigeria is the heartache and disgrace it is to the African race!
TheNewsGuru is published by Kingdom Media Network Int’l Nigeria Limited. TheNewsGuru, a multi-media company, started as Nigeria’s first comprehensive, real online newspaper, TheNewsGuru.com [read more]
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