The political sagacity of National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, once again came to the fore on Thursday.
It was at the public presentation of “My Participations,” the autobiography of former Governor of Osun State, Chief Bisi Akande, in Lagos.
President Muhammadu Buhari described Tinubu as “steadfast”.
Reflecting on the loss of five South-West governors elected on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in the 2003 elections, Buhari said: “Only the steadfast Asiwaju Bola Tinubu escaped the electoral massacre masterminded by President Olusegun Obasanjo.”
Tinubu’s colleagues – Governors Akande (Osun), Niyi Adebayo (Ekiti), Olusegun Osoba (Ogun), Adebayo Adefarati (Ondo) and Lam Adesina (Oyo) – lost to the candidates of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) – Olagunsoye Oyinlola (Osun), Ayo Fayose (Ekiti), Gbenga Daniel (Ogun), Segun Agagu (Ondo) and Rashidi Ladoja (Oyo).
Only Tinubu retained his seat. All other AD governors were defeated in the 2003 elections.
In the build-up to the 2003 elections, the AD governors and President Obasanjo of the PDP had entered into a political working agreement that they would mobilise for Obasanjo who lost in the entire South-West in the 1998/9 elections.
In return, the AD governors would be supported by the PDP.
But as soon as Obasanjo won his re-election, he mobilized against the AD governors and facilitated the PDP governors in five states except Lagos where Tinubu stood against the rampaging PDP.
Reflecting on the political history of Akande, particularly his bid to seek a second term as Governor of Osun, Buhari declared: “It is common knowledge that Akande was the victim – along with other AD Governors – of a diabolical double-cross which ended his gubernatorial career….
“Desperately disappointed though he was, and being a good Muslim, he accepted this setback as part of the trials of life. He looked to the future of service to the country.”
Meanwhile, President Buhari has described Akande as a “perfect public officer,” and the type of person he could go into the jungle with.
The President, who heaped praises on the former interim Chairman of the All Progressives Congress (APC), further described him as a decent, truthful, and friendly person as well as an administrator of the first order, whose leadership qualities made him the unanimous choice as the first chairman of the APC.
Reminiscing on APC’s ascent to governance at the Federal level in 2015, President Buhari said: “Chief Akande was in the thick of further attempts in 2011 and 2014 to fuse together different groups and dislodge PDP from governance.
“The key to his thinking which coincides with mine is that Nigeria can only be successfully managed by alliances between major groups.
“Although we failed in 2011 but by persistence and knowledge that PDP was driving the country towards disaster, several major parties were able to finally coalesce into APC in 2014.
“Chief Akande was unanimously chosen as the first Chairman of this great coalition.
“Throughout the difficult negotiations, I found Akande truthful, steady and always with an eye to the ultimate goal.
“In or out of office, he has retained his inflexible integrity. On p.400 of his book, he wrote: ‘I never gave to or demanded bribe from anyone all my life.’ A perfect gentleman. A perfect public officer,” he said.
Quoting a famous Hausa saying, ”Labarin zucciya a tambayi fuska” (loosely translated – if you want to know what is in a man’s heart watch his face), President Buhari affirmed that Akande has a permanent smile on his face, saying ”He is the type I will go into the jungle with.”
On the book, President Buhari recommended it to students of Nigeria politics and the general public alike.
“This book is a historical document. Students will find this an invaluable source of Nigeria’s politics, notably between 1999 and 2020,” he said.
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