9th June, 2022
By Segun Tomori
Against the run of play, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu yesterday pulled off what can be regarded as the greatest upset in Nigeria’s intra-party electoral contests by winning the highly coveted Presidential flag of the governing All Progressives Congress (APC). Not that Asiwaju wasn’t poised to win, or isn’t well-grounded to take the crown, the odds stacked against him seemed insurmountable.
From the dissolution of the former National Working Committee (NWC) to the erstwhile Caretaker Committee that continued extending its lifespan through well-orchestrated subterfuge to plans to concoct a premeditated outcome at the primaries, all in over four years, was inadvertently targeted at one man – stopping the emergence of Tinubu, but all that fell like a pack of cards yesterday, as the Jagaban as he is fondly called, coasted home to a landslide victory, beating favourites to distant second and third place.
What rang in my head as the results were being announced was that famous speech of Asiwaju within the precincts of the Presidential villa – “I came to inform the President that I will be running for President. It is my lifelong ambition. I have the vision, competence and the capacity to rule”. That declaration after informing President Muhammadu Buhari of his intention, went viral, ruffled some feathers with some even insinuating that a lifelong ambition smacks of desperation but alas, his emergence yesterday brings to the fore, the historic speech of Martin Luther King, “I have a dream”.
Asiwaju’s dream finally came true but not without a price. For about 3 decades, he nurtured that dream. As a first term Senator in 1992, Asiwaju played a pivotal role in the emergence of the then Presidential candidate of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP), and from then started building a network of associates and influence across Nigeria’s length and breadth. He went on to be a leading light of the pro-democracy struggle, championing and financing the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), the movement that led the struggle for the revalidation of the annulled June 12 election and after his stint as a two-term Governor of Lagos, he galvanised the opposition into Nigeria’s first successful merger that defeated an incumbent President, an unprecedented feat.
In all of these, all through his political trajectory, Asiwaju was building people, investing in human resources across the country. He must have had his eyes gazed on the marathon, knowing fully well that the race for the Presidency is not a sprint. That foresight paid off handsomely as his associates and political network pulled through, and delivered an emphatic victory, against the wishes of a purported cabal, and against the tenacity of a sitting Vice-President that seemed quite formidable, but ended up being bested.
For those of us in the Tinubu school of politics, his victory signposts that there should be no lid to how we can dream. We can achieve our greatest potential or ambitions with our tenacity, hardwork and determination. It won’t be a walk in the park, therefore, we must be ready for thorns and thistles on the way. Asiwaju battled several on his way but never allowed them impede, he kept moving, forging ahead, until he triumphed.
Listening to his acceptance speech yesterday, I saw a man that knows his onions and is ready to hit the ground running. He spoke passionately, from the heart, and tried to unify the country against terror and merchants of death, reading a riot act that their time is up! As if that is not enough, he rallied the country, urging his countrymen and women to unite behind him to defeat the menace of insecurity, sounding a notice that the task ahead requires a hands-on approach by citizens and leadership alike to grow the economy through industrialization and manufacturing. What could be more Presidential!
As we felicitate with Asiwaju Tinubu, the Presidential candidate of our great party, we should remind ourselves that there is no dream too big enough that we cannot achieve. His victory gives verve to the biblical saying that “As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he”. But the real work begins soon, as we must ensure Asiwaju wins the general elections and becomes Nigeria’s next President.
Together, we will!
-Segun Tomori is a Member of the Media & Communications Directorate of the Tinubu Campaign Council.