Liars, All

Comfort Obi

If I had it in me, and I don't know why not, I would have started this write-up by congratulating the former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, on his 57th birthday. But the man must, by now, be tired of the number of congratulatory messages which came his way. As one who runs a media house, I confess I became jealous of The Nation newspapers. The number of advertisements the paper received from Tinubu’s friends, fans and associates was unprecedented. If anybody needed a confirmation that Tinubu is the most powerful and influential politician in the South west, and beyond (I have Edo State in mind), his 57th birthday confirms it. What is confounding is that he is now more powerful and influential than when he was in office. For good reasons.
Tinubu can be disarmingly compassionate. He goes out of his way to curry loyalty. And he rewards loyalty. He does not take friendship and loyalty for granted. He continuously waters and oils them. Most important: He is a good politicians. I have two examples. I will start with my personal testimonial.
This magazine gave Tinubu hell. For 13 consecutive editions, he graced the cover of The Source. None was a positive story. Yet, each time we ran into each other at the airport within that period, he was courteous to me. The climax came a couple of years later when I lost a very close relation. He read it in the newspapers, and sent his aide with an unbelievable amount of money to me. My state governor then, Chief Achike Udenwa, who sent his Commissioner for Agriculture to represent him both at the funeral service, and the reception made a pledge for the sum N25,000 (Twenty Five Thousand Naira). Needless to say that it was never redeemed. The second example is even more touching.
Between him and eminent lawyer, Chief Gani Fawehinmi, there was no love lost. Fawehinmi, constituted, legally, one of the greatest opposition to Tinubu. But all that ended in a dramatic manner when Tinubu forgot the past, and went to visit Gani in his house on hearing that he, Gani, was battling with Cancer. Before that visit, Tinubu had placed a congratulatory message for Gani on his birthday in The Nation. Gani was in London then, but said he shed tears when the message was read to him. On Tinubu's visit to Gani, he was overwhelmed by emotion. Gani: “When they read out what Tinubu wrote about me in The Nation newspapers, tears rolled out from my eyes. Honestly, I said, this is a great mind that did this… With the background of what happened in the past, and you could still do this, it shows you are magnanimous. You are a man of God. You impress me, and I am grateful.”
I told these stories to show how magnanimous Tinubu can be. Perhaps, it explains why he has a cult following. He never misses an opportunity to show compassion. It is no wonder that Tinubu has fierce loyalists. Most of his aides, while in office, remain fiercely loyal to him. He goes around with them – within and outside the country. He has created employment for them, both in the media and elsewhere. He has a way of rallying people around him. And has gradually, but steadily, become the issue in Lagos and other South west states. It is, of course, thanks to Tinubu that Lagos State is a no-go area for the ruling People’s Democratic Party. When the PDP, in 2003, took over all the South west states, Tinubu held onto Lagos. In 2007, at the end of his tenure, he gave Lagos State a governor any state would be proud to have in Tunde Fashola. While a number of his colleagues are fighting with their successors who they imposed on the people, Tinubu has an enviable relationship with Fashola. And, what is more: While he maintains a good relationship with President Umaru Yar’Adua, he is fighting to retrieve the South west states from the PDP. From Edo, Ekiti, Osun, Ondo, Tinubu’s hands are all too glaring in attempts to retrieve what some people label stolen mandates by the PDP in the 2007 general elections. He has successfully retrieved Edo and Ondo States. Ekiti and Osun are hanging in the balance. This is the crux of the fight between the PDP and Tinubu’s AC that is threatening to over-heat the polity.
It started with an allegation of a threat to kill Tinubu made by the AC through its National Chairman, Chief Bisi Akande. Speaking in Ibadan, the Oyo State capital, Akande had alleged that an unnamed North – Central PDP governor was coordinating the plan of the PDP to assassinate Tinubu. Reason: to stop the AC from winning the Ekiti governorship election which the Appeal Court ordered a re-run in some local government areas. The reaction came like claps of thunder. The six PDP governors in the North Central zone petitioned Yar’Adua and the Inspector General of Police, Mike Okiro, asking them to compel the AC to mention the name of the governor involved. The Oodua Peoples Congress has since warned that whoever is planning to touch Tinubu is calling for a declaration of war. The Police invited Akande and Lai Mohammed, an AC chieftain, who stood by the allegation, to come and give them the names of those behind the plot. They were released after hours of interrogation. The men did not give any names. Instead they are taking refuge in an earlier allegation made by the PDP that some people were planning to destabilise the Yar’Adua administration. That allegation made by Dr. Bello Mohammed, the Deputy National Chairman of the PDP, the AC insists, macks of treason. Mohammed mentioned no names. The AC is, therefore, asking the police to equally interrogate PDP officials over the allegations. I support the call.
But may I start by saying that the allegations by both the AC and the PDP are false and irresponsible. Some of these politicians, oftentimes, talk before they think, and without proof. They deliberately play to the gallery in order to remain relevant. They don’t care about the consequences of what they say. An allegation to assassinate Tinubu could spark off a serous crisis. Pin-pointing a governor from the North Central zone, as the coordinator, could make indigenes of such states in the South west targets for attacks. An allegation to destabilise Yar’Adua’s government is almost, a call for war. As irresponsible as those who made it are, they didn’t think of the possible consequences. I support the AC in their call for the arrest of the PDP officials. And I have a suggestion.
Those who made the allegations – of assassination and destabilisation - should be asked to prove them, or be prosecuted. There is a law against false information. If we don’t put it to test, irresponsible politicians would continue to make irresponsible allegations just to remain relevant.