Tinubu’s amazing story

 Tinubu’s amazing story

I have a story to tell. It is one that is personal to me, unrelated to the rumours I have heard by word of mouth or on social media. This is my story of a Nigerian I have known for three decades.

I was 13 years old in 1992, holed up in a boarding school in the newly minted Kogi State, but still found ways to follow the exciting transition to democracy during this period. At that early age, I was a keen supporter of the Social Democratic Party (SDP) and a progressive by default.

It was an ideology passed through bloodline. Some of the SDP figures I admired during this transition period were Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, Silas Daniyan, Iyorchia Ayu, Babagana Kingibe, Jonathan Zwingina, Dapo Sarumi, Femi Agbalajobi, and then Chief Moshood Kashimawo Olawale Abiola who came late in the party but took it by storm.

At this point and throughout the politics and drama of the Jos convention that produced MKO Abiola as the presidential candidate, I never heard of Bola Ahmed Tinubu. He was an SDP senator but as a young boy in JSS3 I was more fascinated with names of governors, presidential candidates, Senate President, Speaker, and Chairmen of the two major political parties.

I was part of a generation that had never experienced democracy then, but strangely for me the 1993 electioneering campaign was a beauty to behold and experience. The annulment of that historic election hurt despite being too young to vote. It hurt so deeply I was helpless but still hopeful some patriotic Nigerians could help reclaim Abiola’s mandate of hope from IBB and later Abacha. Patriotic Nigerians did show up and Bola Ahmed Tinubu was one of them. Here began my story of the Bola Ahmed Tinubu I know.

Activism

In the months and years following the annulment of the 1993 presidential election, my late father would not spend a day without reading newspapers and would not spend a week without devouring the weekly news magazines with The News, Newswatch and Tell being his favourites. As he got done with one, I picked it to read.

And as I read of the political struggles to reclaim the people’s mandate, the Epetedo Declaration, the arrests, clampdown on innocent protesters by the military and then Abiola’s incarceration, Bola Tinubu’s name and voice continuously came through.

It took me no time to add him to my list of those patriotic Nigerians I was looking for, joining Pa Anthony Enahoro, Professor Wole Soyinka, Dan Suleiman, Admiral Ndubuisi Kanu, Pa Abraham Adesanya, Chief Bola Ige and Gen. Alani Akinrinade among many others.

As most of them moved to exile to escape the brutality of the military, I jubilated, knowing full well they were safe to continue the fight. I was that happy when I read in the news that Bola Ahmed Tinubu made it too. Who wouldn’t? This period witnessed the assassinations of Pa Alfred Rewane, Rear Admiral Omotehinwa, Kudirat Abiola, Bagauda Kaltho, and Suliat Adedeji among others. Pa Abraham Adesanya barely missed the bullets hauled at his car.

The days of Abacha in power were dark, as dark as many nights without electricity in my village in Kogi State. Our only hope during this period was Radio Kudirat named after MKO Abiola’s wife who had been assassinated by the military regime. My father must listen to Radio Kudirat every night at around 10pm. He would tune and tune until he got the underground radio channel playing Fela’s revolutionary music to welcome us.

I would join him to listen to the brave exploits of our pro-democracy leaders home and abroad. Sometimes the audio would be so poor he would have to place the transistor radio close to his ear and then relay the information to me. Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s name was mentioned multiple times on Radio Kudirat over the years we tuned in.

He was with NADECO in exile, championing and funding the cause of pro-democracy and the battle to reclaim Abiola’s mandate. It was not a two-week struggle. It lasted four years until Abacha and Abiola died in 1998. By this time, I was at the end of my teenage years and had come to know Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the pro-democracy activist, for four years.

Abacha died and Abdulsalami Abubakar took his place, promising a return to democracy in a year and creating the enabling environment for our pro-democracy fighters to return from exile. A promise he would keep. The joy of seeing them return was incredible. Lagos, the centre of the pro-democracy movement, was agog. One after the other, they returned to the warm embrace of a broken people.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu was one of them and in no time joined the political process that would lead to the formation of Alliance for Democracy, a progressive party based on same ideology that late Chief Obafemi Awolowo lived for. The same political figures who praised and supported Abacha had gathered to form the People’s Democratic Party.

 I followed the events with keen interest, and I was convinced Bola Tinubu, and other pro-democracy fighters would not join these jobbers. As expected, they did not. Bola Tinubu would later emerge as the Alliance for Democracy’s Governorship Candidate in Lagos State. I was pleasantly surprised, considering his progressive elders in the Southwest made it to the governorship tickets in Oyo, Ondo, Ogun, and Osun.

 Otunba Niyi Adebayo is the son of a retired general who once governed the Old Western Region and with that leverage became the youngest of the governorship candidates in the Southwest, picking the Ekiti ticket. Tinubu was also young but got the ticket on his own terms. 1999 elections came and Bola Ahmed Tinubu became the Governor of Lagos State.

Pro-democracy fighter

Bola Tinubu’s victory was the most celebrated by me because he was the only exiled Pro-Democracy Fighter elected Governor. He, among many others in NADECO, deserved to be elected to public offices, including that of the Presidency.

But the other electoral victories left a sour taste in my mouth, especially that of Olusegun Obasanjo who would have nothing to do with June 12. Bola Ahmed Tinubu however ensured Nigeria, Obasanjo and Lagosians never departed from June 12 and the sacrifices of Abiola and others in the struggle. While other states of the federation moved on with total disregard, the Southwest states declared June 12 as the true democracy day.

I was happy and thought that would be it, but Tinubu would continue to exceed my expectations. Oregun Road was reconstructed and made a reference point on road construction in Nigeria. Tinubu renamed it Kudirat Abiola Way in honour of the assassinated wife of the June 12 Hero, MKO Abiola.

A new Housing Estate in Ajah built by Tinubu’s government was named after Pa Abraham Adesanya. The media centre inside the Governor’s Office was named after Bagauda Kaltho, a journalist who disappeared in mysterious circumstances during the Abacha years.

Marwa Gardens was renamed MKO Abiola Gardens. In all these and many other legacy projects, Bola Ahmed Tinubu ensured our eyes continue to see and celebrate the sacrifices of these great Nigerians in years to come including those years PDP took control of most Southwest states and cancelled June 12 celebrations. Tinubu ensured Lagos kept faith.

Nobody can erase or mask the story of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s frontline fight for democracy between 1993 and 1999. It was a heroic story many of my generation experienced first-hand. Tinubu’s fight for democracy and the drive to recognize the heroes of that struggle would continue for 19 years until the Federal Government moved Democracy Day to June 12 and the winner of the June 12, 1993, presidential election formally awarded the highest honour in the land. This would not have happened without Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

The ruling party is APC, and he was a co-founder. It was a great victory for democracy and pride for the Abiola family who have been scarred not only by the deaths of their beloved parents but also by the disrespect and disregard suffered in the hands of those who profited from this tragedy.

I was extremely delighted and filled with emotions to watch Hafsa Abiola-Costello give a moving speech at the conferment ceremony. At that historical moment, a final closure was brought to a democratic struggle that had been active for 25 years! Who can last that long, sustaining the fight without wavering? That is the Bola Ahmed Tinubu I know.

Fight for true federalism and good governance

At the beginning of the 4th republic, I was in Kaduna on industrial attachment, and I had no reason to visit or follow events in Lagos. But Bola Ahmed Tinubu ensured Lagos took the front page in Nigeria for the next eight years.

I was old enough to see Tinubu take on a new battle for true federalism and good governance. It was a tough one, the opponent being a former Military Ruler who had never functioned in a democratic setting and was still raw in dictatorial tendencies.

•Kayode Oladele writes from Lagos. You can follow his handle @TheWarden on the Wardchat app, a social network connecting Nigerian voters at the ward level.