Bola Tinubu, a political “godfather” famed for his strategic deftness and clout

Bola Tinubu, a political “godfather” famed for his strategic deftness and clout, has by no means hidden his ambition to be president of Nigeria.

Final yr, when he introduced his plans to champion the ruling All Progressives Congress APC get together on this weekend’s election, Tinubu mentioned he could be fulfilling a “lifelong” aim.

“It’s my flip,” he later advised supporters in his Yoruba language, upsetting APC rivals with a phrase that has change into his marketing campaign slogan.

Now the 70-year-old will get to check his mettle in opposition to two different predominant rivals within the poll to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari, a person Tinubu brags he helped put into energy.

He’ll run in opposition to opposition Peoples Democratic Celebration (PDP) flagbearer Atiku Abubakar and shock third get together candidate Peter Obi from the Labour Celebration.

Also known as “Jagaban,” a chieftain’s title, Tinubu has spent years constructing his Lagos powerbase right into a nationwide community of contacts from Lagos market cooperatives and transport unions to political chieftains.

He’s seen as an astute and influential political strategist in addition to a tenacious survivor.

He co-founded and financed the Alliance for Democracy (AD), which later grew to become the Motion Congress of Nigeria, then helped make the All Progressives Congress (APC).

He was seen as instrumental in serving to carry the APC’s factions collectively to push Buhari to victory in 2015, ending 16 years in energy for the rival PDP.

When the PDP selected their candidate for subsequent yr’s race, fellow longtime political stalwart Abubakar, Tinubu was fast to current himself as the person to take him on.

“I look ahead to squaring up with him as a worthy opponent within the coming election,” he mentioned.

– Endurance –

A Muslim born in Nigeria’s Yoruba-speaking southwest, Tinubu educated as an accountant in the USA and labored for a number of US firms, together with as a treasurer in oil big ExxonMobil.

He was first a political activist earlier than changing into a senator after which governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007.

Throughout his activist days, he was hounded into exile by navy dictator Sani Abacha together with scores of others for campaigning for a return to democratic authorities in 1999.

The election of Buhari, the primary opposition victory within the nation, and his 2019 re-election had been partly attributed to Tinubu’s political affect.

As APC nationwide chief, Tinubu’s hand is seen in all get together choices and successful his help was important for any candidate’s ambitions.

In a mark of his endurance, Tinubu saved a decent grip over the governorship of Lagos state from 1999, holding the put up till 2007 after which having a hand in selecting his successors since leaving workplace.

As governor, his relations soured with the federal authorities, then led by president Olusegun Obasanjo, whereas he has ceaselessly fallen out along with his personal deputies.

However on the finish of his two phrases in Lagos, Tinubu hand-picked one in all his shut aides, Babatunde Fashola, to take over.

Tinubu’s affect within the southwest has irked some would-be candidates who missed out on high jobs and he has been criticised as dictatorial and undemocratic in type.

“Tinubu has a really aggressive, very strong political machine,” mentioned Dapo Thomas, a political science lecturer at Lagos College.

– Corruption fees –

If Tinubu’s political energy has usually been controversial, so too have been his monetary dealings, and questions over his well being through the election marketing campaign.

He’s believed to be one in all Nigeria’s richest politicians and after leaving workplace was accused and later cleared of corruption, cash laundering and working greater than a dozen international financial institution accounts.

Throughout campaigning, PDP critics labelled him as “wobbly, wonky and narcotic-devastated”, a reference to well being issues, and a US court docket submitting in Chicago in 1993 for a “drug-related seizure of property” from his US checking account.

The precise supply of his wealth is unknown however he has pursuits in quite a few enterprise ventures, from media and aviation, to tax consultancy, inns and actual property holdings.

One critic described him as “a grasping politician” who had devoured up the main sources of income in Lagos.

However Info Minister Lai Mohammed, who was Tinubu’s former chief of employees, insisted he was one of many shrewdest political operators.

“His capability for work, his tolerance, his foresight, his braveness and his penchant for self-sacrifice is unmatched,” he mentioned.

Tinubu’s well being was a supply of hypothesis in 2014 when he was pictured frail and gaunt on his return from an unspecified international journey however the APC denied he was sick.

Extra not too long ago, he spent a number of months in London receiving therapy that his workplace mentioned was associated to knee surgical procedure. However in an indication of his affect, he was additionally visited there by a practice of political leaders, together with Buhari himself.