Power tends
to corrupt and absolute power corrupts absolutely. Great men are almost always
bad men.” Lord Acton, 1834-1902.
That
observation made last week, in the first part of this series had to be brought
back because Jonathan will go down in history as one of our presidents; he
would also be remembered as one of the weakest and most ineffectual people to
ever govern a nation. Nigerians call some people “money miss road” meaning a
person who came into tremendous wealth but clueless about how to manage it
effectively. GEJ was “money and power miss road” rolled into one. The poorest
man elected President today will retire within one year as a billionaire
without stealing a kobo. For a man said to be a Ph.D holder, that simple fact
should have been all he needed to want to establish a lasting positive legacy.
Deep in his heart, if he has one, he must be asking himself: what is my legacy?
By contrast,
Bola Tinubu is a master at deal making and he must have read widely about the
acquisition and uses of power – even if those uses sometimes tended towards
abuses of power. Without going into details, he sized up the old men of
Afenifere, who controlled the Alliance for Democracy, AD, in 1998, and applied
his basic principle of power acquisition – “every man has his price”. He
seemingly gave the old men what they wanted to gain their support; became the
Governor of Lagos State (the richest state in Nigeria) and proceeded to send
Awolowos political descendants into oblivion. Again, it was Critias, around 404
BC, the Athenian statesman, who told us a blunt truth. “It is impossible for
those who want to gain power to avoid getting rid of those people who are most
likely to form the opposition.” Tinubu wanted absolute power within the
progressive movement and he judged correctly that the old Awoists were going to
stand in the way. So, he drew them into close embrace and knifed (politically)
them. They have not recovered till today
and might never.
So, the
first lesson for anyone engaging in political business with Tinubu is: beware
of the warm embrace and the kiss. It might be the last one you will receive on
the political terrain. The man craves for control; absolute control. And, he
has obtained it most of the time. No President, not even Obasanjo, was in such
total control of his party as Asiwaju. He dictated who would run for office all
the way to Ward level. A visit to his house at Ikoyi, when he is known to be in
town was like driving into three or four parking lots all rolled into one –
given the number of cars bringing people literally praying to see him. And,
being admitted to his glorious presence was akin to seeing the Almighty. A
positive nod from him was like winning a lottery – which for the most part it
was. Fortunes were made from just one good visit.
But, almost
nothing given was ever eleemosynary (don’t go and get your dictionary, I picked
that fancy word meaning CHARITABLE from a seminar at Harvard in 1969). The man,
unlike most of us who picked up ordinary brains on our way from Heaven, must
have anticipated a world of computers. He added laptops to his own. He
apparently can calculate in advance what every deal will fetch him in political
power in the future. He developed a strategy to capture the South West and
Kwara.
His first Chief of Staff was Alhaji Lai Mohammed, from Kwara State. He
was and is still till today the only Chief of Staff of a state government not
an indigene of that state. He appointed nothing less than fifty percent of his
Commissioners and Special Advisers from other states. Some, went to run for
Governor, Senator or House of Representatives in Oyo, Osun, Ekiti and Ondo – their
states of origin. None of the winners ever appointed a Lagos State indigene as
a street cleaner.
He was confident that nobody would question his decisions and
nobody did. But, why go on to list seriatim what absolute power can bring
about? It is only important as background briefing because Bola Tinubu had
promised or threatened to write his own book about the events leading to the
2015 elections as a rejoinder to Adeniyi’s book. In Segun’s book, Asiwaju
reportedly made the claim that he was denied the nomination for Vice President
to Buhari on account of opposition from Senator Saraki and Governor El-Rufai of
Kaduna state. Saraki and El-Rufai deserve the eternal gratitude of most right
thinking Nigerians if indeed they were opposed to Tinubu’s dream of a
Muslim-Muslim ticket. Candidly, Tinubu did a lot more damage to himself as a
national political leader by making an admission known to some of us but which
we decided to keep secret on account of his monumental contributions towards
getting rid of Jonathan. But, there is a limit to gratitude.
A woman saved from
one attacker does not necessarily want to submit to the advances of the
rescuer. A Muslim-Muslim ticket, just as a Christian-Christian ticket in
Nigeria at this stage of our development is not only politically insensitive;
it demonstrates contempt for the practitioners of the other religion.
In fact,
if Tinubu must know the truth, Saraki and El-Rufai were not the only people
opposed to his choice as the VP. All leading Northern politicians and the entire
Christian Association of Nigeria, CAN, (including those who approach him for
“assistance” in the Southwest and Lagos) were opposed to it. I was in Abuja
when the decision was hanging in the balance and I sat in two parlours two days
after Tinubu, Aregbesola and Muiz Banire had gone to lobby for support for his
nomination as VP. Not only were the two Northern leaders opposed to it; they
were receiving calls from others who were also not in support. For reasons that
I choose not to disclose, some of them were not even as strongly! Furthermore,
by raising the possibility of an all-Muslim ticket, Tinubu has finally
vindicated those of us who led the struggle for a Christian Governor in Lagos
State in 2015 – starting in 2011.
When information first reached me that
Asiwaju has penciled down four possible successors to Fashola in 2015, all
Muslims, my instinctive reaction was to give him the benefit of doubt. Mainly,
I argued that a Muslim man who has a Christian wife cannot be discriminatory
against Christians. I asked for more information and they soon tumbled in. The
break down of known Christians and Muslims in Lagos State public service was
almost equal in 1999. By the time Fashola was starting his second term, it was
about sixty-five per cent Muslim and thirty five per cent Christian.
The
powerful position of Chief of Staff, next in power to that of the Governor, had
been occupied by a Muslim for twelve years and the new fellow was poised to
make it sixteen. Two Muslim Governors occupied the seat in the sixteen years,
but five Christian Deputy Governors were selected and disgraced out in the same
period. Tinubu approved all the appointments. Thus when I wrote my series of
columns titled LAGOS STATE GOVERNORSHIP: 2015 CHRISTIAN AGENDA, starting
November 2011 and running into January 2012, there was no doubt in my mind that
what we had on our hands was someone in possession of what he regarded as
absolute power.
The successful effort to get a Christian Governor was not
without opposition but I can state without fear that Ambode would not have been
Tinubu’s choice if we did not challenge him. I also know that “Good intentions
don’t control power, only power does.” (Alexis de Tocquville, 1805-1859, VBQ p
197). We organized Christians into a solid powerful vote in Lagos. The rest is
history. Thank God, we have Ambode at Alausa, even if he lasts till next week.
We have made our point.
That leaves the
issue of Professor Osinbajo’s appointment as VP to be addressed Here again, Tinubu
would be making the same mistake Jonathan made by letting people know that
Professor Osinbajo was not his first choice; that he only suggested Prof after
his own bid was turned down. Prof is a man of God; but still a man. Certainly,
he would have been grateful to Tinubu for the honour done to him by being
nominated – even as a substitute. The process should have been kept quiet. It
might surprise Tinubu to know what happened when he dropped the envelope
containing only Osinbajo’a name instead of three on Buhari’s table. My advice
to Jonathan and to Tinubu is: forget about writing. Some of us want to forgive
both of you all the trespasses against society. But, if your erudite associates
are eager to earn some change and encourage you to write, rest assured yours
will not be the final words. You might even force others to write about events
best forgotten. We “forget” because we appreciate most of the things you have
done. Finish.
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