Love him or hate him, the truth of the matter is that
you certainly cannot ignore him. Many Nigerians are
still wondering how Asiwaju Ahmed Bola Tinubu
rose from extremely humble beginnings to become
the most powerful politician in South-west Nigeria.
Till date they’re still intense debates going on about
his state of origin, parentage, his wealth and business
interests and his relationship with an accounting firm
charged with overseeing revenue collection in Lagos
state. His leadership style is described by many to be
“Machiavellian” at best and at worst “Orwellian”, but
while his critics are on social media pontificating, the
man who has come to be known as the “Asiwaju of
lagos”, continues to expand his proverbial political
empire.
For me, even though I have also heard the above criticisms on numerous occasions, the reason why I don? ??t
weigh in on them is simply because none of these
accusations have ever been proven. So, for supposedly
educated and exposed minds to condemn a man with
whom no evidence of misconduct has ever been unearthed leaves little to be desired. I personally pay no
mind to unfounded gossip and speculation which have
nothing to substantiate them, because such a disposition is retrogressive and certainly doesn’t convey the
educated mind which many of Tinubu’s critics claim
to subscribe to.
I will never forget the incidence which occurred on
social media where a supposedly educated and exposed Nigerian domiciled in the United Kingdom was
calling all Nigerian politicians corrupt, only for that
same individual to be arrested by the British Police for
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By Paul Okade Jr
using somebody else’s documents to work, and for being an illegal immigrant in the UK. Isn’t it interesting
how the same people who lied and cheated their way
through their Visa applications in order to leave the
country have now re-invented themselves as the moral
compasses of the Nation?
They sit on social media from morning till night
spouting their poisonous rhetoric against anything
Nigerian, and yet many of them are overseas illegally,
or conducted fake marriages in order to gain American
and European citizenship, and daily they continue to
lie to and deceive the authorities in their host communities. We also have many Nigerians at home who
have also jumped on this band wagon and equally
spend their days abusing politicians and calling them
a bunch of thieves, and yet many of these same people
got their jobs by nepotism, bribed their way through
school and slept with lecturers in order to pass their
exams. None of these acts are deemed corrupt in their
eyes all they know is that politicians are corrupt.
You studied fine art at university and yet
you got a job as an account executive in a
bank. What connection has a degree in fine
art with banking? You got that job because
you knew somebody in the bank and not because you were qualified for it. Is that not
corruption? Oh I get it, when you do something wrong then “God understands”, but
when a politician does it they’re corrupt.