WHICHEVER side of the argument he wants to listen to, one can only urge him to clearly demarcate his role going forward. The former Lagos governor would have to note that being called an Asiwaju (Leader) does not automatically confer leadership, especially when it comes to leading a people like the Yoruba. In this instance, the Lagos Chief would have to distinguish between seeking to lead a people and being a big businessman.
Indeed, being a success in business is far simpler than taking upon the task of leading a race. In business, you identify you trade, cut the deals and make profit. There are two broad maxims you can pick from: “the business of business is business;” “the business of business is Nigeria/society.” If you stick to the first, morality and social responsibility have no place in your agenda. It is about profit making all the way. The second maxim cares about the society, the environment and the country.
Being a leader in political environment however comes with much burden, especially the much we have seen about the Yoruba.
The Sage, Chief Obafemi Awolowo pioneered the procedure that has now become the standard in the Yoruba South West. He developed the template that gave the Yoruba the first element of self- determination in the Nigerian polity and he earned their respect. He defined the Omoluabi (the cultured) away from the jegudujera (greedy folks) and gave the region an identity.
To attempt to lead the Yoruba is to fit into Awolowo’s shoes in contemporary Nigeria. And if Tinubu wants to be seen as an aspirant in that class, he would have to learn a great deal from the actions of the Chief Awolowo between 1948 and 1951.
Tinubu’s former leader and later sworn political enemy, Alhaji Ganiyi Olawale Dawodu (also known as GOD of Lagos politics) had captured some of the exploits that earned Awo the good name in his book; Awo or Zik: Who won the 1951 Western Nigeria Elections?
Anyone who aspires to lead the Yoruba like Awo did would have gone through the crucible of strategies that yielded the formation of Egbe Omo Oduduwa, later Egbe Afenifere, which transmuted to Action Group and its eventual triumph over the NCNC, which had earlier seized the psyche of the Lagos intelligential at the time.
The APC National Leader would then realise that whoever seeks to inherits the big legacy would refrain from entering into alliance that could decimate his people to playing the third or fourth fiddle. He would equally realise that the West-West arrangement was highly loathed by the Yoruba in the beginning, in view of Awo’s experience at serving the nation and above all, he would realise that the gains transcends the self.
He would also take copious note of the outcomes of the alliances toyed with by the late Chief SLA Akintola; actualized by the late MKO Abiola and then Chief Olusegun Obasanjo. The gains and the losses of the South-West in those previous arrangements should have tutored the aspiring Yoruba leader on the words of caution needed in 2015.
The aspirant leader would come to the realization that leading a people such as the Yoruba is an ambition that certainly must come with “sterner stuff.”
Now that the APC is tossing him around, he either defines himself or loses the people.
Chibok, Dapchi and
Buhari’s response
Last week, President Muhammadu Buhari stuck the wrong cord in his bid to expand his administration’s circle of blame game. While on a visit to the troubled Yobe state which suffered the latest round school girls’ kidnap, the President decided to embark on a comparative course, which benefits are difficult to discern.
He told his audience in Damaturu that while the administration of President Jonathan looked the other way during the kidnap of Chibok girls, his own administration took better steps on the kidnapped 110 Dapchi girls.
He said: “The Federal Government’s response to the unfortunate abduction of the school girls is a clear departure from the insensitivity of the past administration which looked the other way while the Chibok girls were taken away in 2014 and held in captivity for over three years.
“Due to our commitment, over 100 Chibok girls have been rescued and reunited with their families, sent back to school and empowered with requisite skills.”
Abducted Chibok girls say ‘we won’t return’ in new Boko Haram video
His statement was quickly countered by Special Assistant (New Media) for former President Goodluck Jonathan, Reno Omokri, who castigated the president for dancing Owambe in the wake of the sad incident.
Omokri said that whereas Jonathan immediately called Security Council meeting in the wake of Chibok kidnap, Buhari ignored the sad news of Dapchi kidnap.
“Between a Presidents who calls an emergency meeting after Chibok and a president who canceled an important meeting so he could attend an economic conference, who can be described as looking the other way?
“Which serious leader cancels the most important meeting in his nation at a time when Kaduna is facing ethnic and religious killings, Zamfara is facing mass killings by bandits, Benue, Plateau, Adamawa and Taraba are facing an onslaught from Fulani herdsmen and 110 girls were kidnapped in Dapchi?
“When Yusuf Buhari had an accident, President Buhari cancelled all his engagements and headed straight to the hospital. When the Dapchi Girls were kidnapped, the same President Buhari carried on as usual and went
to Kano to go and dance and socialise at a Society Wedding!”
You just want to wonder the sense in comparing one tragic incident with the other, especially when the new government had the benefit of hindsight. When Chibok happened, it was novel and as such, it captured the imagination of the world. For Dapchi to happen, it is a scandal of negligence that leaves more than sour taste in the mouth.
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