Asiwaju Tinubu and the Visible Hands the Enemies Within

'But his hope of ever ruling this country was buried at the toll gate on Tuesday at 20 10 2020.' Dr. Bolaji O. Akinyemi.

Here is supposedly a first-class political strategist, unwittingly corroding his Southern power base with expulsion, and scheming to become the only viable man standing. But in the process, he corroded his own relevance and cast asunder his inordinate ambition nurtured over the years.

Today, he is like the dust before the wind and the mire on the street. Like the wind, his enemies are legion, and they blow from every direction.

I love this man. How I wish he loves and embraces the incredibly smart, savvy, and independently-minded thinkers, and not the willing stooges, the greedy, and the born opportunists of egbe omo oduduwa. Rather than champion team-building - a formidable team of true Progressives within the APC patchwork, especially the old PDP rebels - he went about dismantling the block. His major failing was undermining the relevance of the stubborn but urbane academia (Dr. Saraki, Mr. Yakubu Dogara, Kayode Fayemi, etc.) of the fragile coalition.

It came to a point, I cried out loud on Facebook, asking, Who is advising this man? He just didn't get it. Governor El'Rufai came to Lagos to lecture Lagosians on how to overthrow a Godfather and went away scot-free. There was no counter-attack from Bourdillon. The Nation newspaper went to bed. Ambode is exiled. A Fashola enthusiastically took the 5th. And a Veepee is adrift in a storm where even a compass knows no route.

A few months earlier, the same El'Rufai stated unequivocally that the 2023 APC Presidential ticket is not zoned to any region. In other words, Tinubu should stop salivating for a 2023 automatic Presidential ticket. And there was no Asiwaju Apostle to dare the Kaduna Strong Man to verbal combat.

Yet again, the irrepressible Mallam told whoever cares to listen that Asiwaju did not deliver the West for President Buhari in the 2019 Presidential election. Much as I waited for a rebuttal from the great one's media arsenal, none came. Even the foremost wordsmith of the Editorial Board of the Nation newspaper was nowhere to be found.

A Disturbing Truth He Couldn't Confront or Manage.

The moment President Buhari was declared the winner of the 2015 Presidential election, his office came out with a line that remains memorable - "I belong to everybody and I belong to nobody." Whether or not Chief Asiwaju accepted it as a statement of fact that he is not wanted in Aso Rock or that unknown soldiers who didn't participate in the sacking of President Jonathan have hijacked Aso Rock, remains a mystery to me.

But the First Lady, in her Majestic graciousness, cried out loud, lamenting that those who are holding court at Aso Rock were not part of the making of the mandate. But the major victim, the architect of the victory, continues to be in denial, playing a docile conformist to the discomfort of the average thinking Nigerian.

A few years ago, Asiwaju's wife revealed how her husband was pushed under the bus after the inauguration ceremony and the anguish they were subjected to. Meaning that Asiwaju was quite aware, as the President's wife declared, that indeed, a cabal has hijacked activities at Aso Rock and taken over the government that Chief Asiwaju incubated. What did Asiwaju do? Nothing, if at all, it was the opposite.

Why is this story necessary? Simple.

Seeing the handwriting on the wall, Asiwaju should have rallied around himself, the big guys of the West, South East, and Middle Belt, whom he assembled to topple President Jonathan in 2015. In that case, develop firm support on the ground within the South ahead of 2023. He did not do that. He continues to be anti-Southern interest and most often, remains quiet when he is expected to take a stand and speak out on national issues. And he became an Emperor without a kingdom.

With the disappearance of Chief Tom Ikimin and Chief Odigie Oyegun, and knowing that Mr. Rotimi Amaechi resented him with passion, Asiwaju should have cosied towards the strongman of Imo State. He never did. His beloved Comrade Adam went on a killing mission to disrobe Owelle Rochas Okorocha and his budding empire. Instead of building a formidable ground troupe, they went about consolidating impregnable adversarial forces. Today, Comrade is down, though not out. And Asiwaju is on vacation, by himself. 

How Southerner or Westerner is Asiwaju?

More than 99% of Oduduwa descendants want Restructuring and the Oduduwa Republic. Asiwaju did not participate in President Jonathan's convened National Conference and prevented the APC Governors in the West from participating. So, it begs to ask, what is Asiwaju's position on "Killer Herders?" No opinion. On "Cattle Colony?" No opinion on record. On "Bandit?". Complete silence. On "killing in Southern Kaduna and the Middle Belt"? No comment. On Chadian Military Invasion and the exposé of the fraud of President Buhari's war against the Boko Haram sect?" None. What about the "deplorable Lagos/Badagry Expressway?" Nothing. The truth is that Asiwaju doesn't want to offend the powerful outside influence that is intent on underdeveloping Lagos.

On a closing note, I want to express my heartfelt sympathy to Chief Asiwaju. What has befallen him and his media empire in the last few days remains a bitter lesson in political miscalculation. He is a victim of a power play gone mad. His Newspaper is gone. His TV Station is gone. By whom? We may never know. He courted acceptance from his worst enemies. He is a King. And MKO Abiola was. Papa Awo was. Odili is. Amaechi is not. And Jonathan is not. If they can't dominate you, if you are prepared, you become a threat to the caliphate.

When President Buhari and the cabal hijacked the mandate of 2015, I remember stating in one of my essays: 'If you undermine Asiwaju, you do so at your own peril.' I was NOT wrong. Asiwaju wasn't reading me. His friends or advisers do not even know my name or care about my work. But the people I was threatening are my major fans and followers on social media. They set out to disarm him and destroy him before 2023 and before dislodging turns perilous. And El'Rufai went to work, discrediting the target. While the remnants of Asiwaju's interest went on an extended vacation, too timid to fight back.

The old adage, which says: Good Name is Better Than Riches, is as valid today as it was when it was first phrased. The people come first. And the governed come first. In spite of everything, I pray for his protection wherever he is. Granted, the death at Lekki Toll Gate did not catapult the nation into a bloody revolution or change of Government, it has, nevertheless, rewritten the relevance of the Tinubu bloodline in the politics of the Western region. Above all, it has reminded a lot of us writers and commentators that whenever push comes to shove, the Almajiris, the Abokis, and the convicted, but released Boko Haram sect will ever remain ready tools in the hands of all the Feudalist Buharis of Nigerian politics to subvert popular change.

To be continued.