The choice of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) as the presidential candidate of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC) created mixed feelings all over the country, and across the various divides in the nation.
While some feel the ruling party made an error with his candidature, people with discerning minds see him as the best thing to happen to the country.
They constantly recall how Tinubu started the revolution of Lagos State in 1999 and how his legacy has continued to live on with the state becoming the standard for development across the country.
For those who feel Tinubu’s electoral value and influence are questionable, they should wait till the time of the election and watch as the acclaimed Jagaban Borgu will sweep the votes and give victory to the ruling APC.
Tinubu is like the Biblical David that never lost any war; he has never lost any election right from 1992, when he was elected as a senator of the federal republic under the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The events leading to the now historical 2022 presidential primary election of the APC are still fresh in our memories, when many thought Jagaban would be disgraced, only for him to clinch the ticket of the party.
It is no longer news that Bola Tinubu will sit in Lagos and be sponsoring elections for politicians in far away Gombe, Kano, Katsina and Bauchi.
His legacies are there in Ondo State with Segun Mimiko, Ekiti State with Kayode Fayemi and Ogun State with Senator Ibikunle Amosun as governors. Mimiko and Amosun have since left offices after eight years, Fayemi is serving his second term as Governor.
Tinubu helped a former chairman of the APC, Comrade Adams Oshiomhole when he was rigged out the first time in Edo State, yet some people are wondering why politicians from all over the country love him. BAT is nationally connected, his influence are unrivalled.
Apart from the fact that Tinubu is detribalised, he also has a track record of empowering people, most of his commissioners when he was Governor are still relevant today; one is the Vice President, five of them are grade A ministers, while four are heading federal agencies.
Tinubu recognises competence. His magnanimity and political acumen are for the records. The number one presidential candidate is a big thinker and he is way smarter than the next smartest Nigerian politician. Above all, he doesn’t keep grudges, and he was a competent Governor of Lagos!
Every single viable agency in Lagos today was established by Tinubu including the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT), Lagos State Traffic Management Authority (LASTMA), Kick Against Indiscipline (KAI) amongst others.
He tried to electrify the whole Lagos with Enron, but former president Olusegun Obasanjo blocked it.
But Tinubu did not give up, he quietly went on and set up Central Business Districts (CBD) and then groomed former governor Babatunde Raji Fashola to take it to the next level from 2007.
Tinubu raised the Internally Generated Revenue (IGR) of Lagos from 600 million naira to 6 Billion naira monthly, he brought in AlphaBeta as consultants to help, and then appointed Mr. Babatunde Fowler at Lagos Internal Revenue Service (LIRS), that was the beginning of economic prosperity in Lagos.
Today, not less than 10 states in Nigeria are using AlphaBeta and most of them are Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) states. As at today, the annual IGR of Lagos has exceeded N400bn, this was due to the foundation laid by BAT.
Lagos State has a higher Gross Domestic Product (GDP) than most countries in Africa, despite being the most populated City in Africa.
The state is now a megacity and the fifth largest economy in Africa with Nigeria in number three. Lagos leads, while others follow in terms of road construction, education development, healthcare, infrastructure development, agriculture and several others.
The story cannot be told without mentioning Tinubu and he still holds sway in the center of excellence till date.
Tinubu’s Lagos has now become Mecca of sort for all Nigerians. If you have not been to Lagos State, then you are missing out.
Virtually all the who-is-who in the Nigerian political and business circles have residences in Lagos and visit the state for business and political activities as the state has become the business headquarters of the country.
There is hardly any family in all the 36 states of the federation that does not have a relative in Lagos.
Through the efforts of Tinubu and his successors, who he discovered and presented to the electorates, Lagos has become the safest state in the country and arguably the most progressive on all fronts.
It is a known fact that all top politicians, business men and women as well as traders of all categories are in a rush as they are on stampede to have a house and businesses in Lagos because of Asiwaju Tinubu’s magical transformation of Lagos that has placed the state in the map of the world, where things are happening.
Most banks and popular business ventures have their headquarters and several branches in the city of Lagos and many are springing up on a daily basis, whereas they hardly have two or three branches in most other states of the federation.
The wave-making estates in the state such as Banana Island, Eko Atlantic City, Victoria Garden City and several other estates in the state with a population of over 25 million people combine to make it one of the most aesthetic cities of the world that can be compared with popular cities in Europe, America and other parts of the world.
All those that constantly disparage Tinubu and harp on some of his imaginary shortcomings benefit from what Lagos State has to offer through the visions and ideas of Tinubu and his successors, who have continued to implement his masterplan for the state.
“The best way to win election today is to have a great yesterday that will bear you witness,” so says a philosopher.
2023, is around the corner, Tinubu has the solutions to Nigerian problems, he has done it with Lagos State and he is ready to move higher to replicate what he did with the state in a bigger scale, God willing.
