Who is Bola Ahmed Tinubu?

Since he made his debut in politics as an activist in the prodemocracy agitations of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO) in the early 1990s, Bola Ahmed Tinubu – latterly Asiwaju, Jagaban – has been in the eye of the storm arising from what is seen as his identity crisis. There have been speculations and claims, as well as innuendoes, about his name, nativity, parenthood and educational records. To many people, the only thing that is real, without contention, about Bola Ahmed Tinubu is the physical person.

In the past few weeks, the intensity of the interrogation of who Bola Tinubu is has revved up several notches as it suddenly, as it were, dawned on people that this person may emerge Nigeria’s number one citizen, come 2023. Bola Tinubu is an enigma of sorts, a curio – a subject of phenomenal curiosity and angst. The puzzle is: How could someone be so well known, in terms of public visibility and public office attainment – as a former senator and governor – and yet, so unknown, or with contentions, in terms of his antecedents? We have shell companies, usually engaged in shrouded transactions. Is Bola Tinubu a shell persona, an artificial creation to obfuscate transactional reality?

Bola Ahmed Tinubu should have been a subject of intense interrogation by sociologists, psychologists and political communication scholars as a case study in personality construction. What audacity drives him, what‘ bold face‘ impels him to dare institutions and persons to attempt a de-construction or unraveling of Bola Ahmed Tinubu? Chief Bode George, former military governor of Ondo State, who prides himself as the original ‘Lagos Boy’ , has shouted himself hoarse trying to delegitimise Tinubu as a native Lagosian, declaring him a rootless person. Yet, Bode George points to a sleepy Iragbiji town in Osun State as Tinubu’s root!

The wonder of it all is that this alien ’Ara oke‘ (up country native) defeated Bode George’s party, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) of which he was a former deputy national chairman, in Lagos governorship elections in 1999, 2003, 2007, 2011 2015 and 2019 – a record six consecutive elections!! You ask: What is the magic? What has made Tinubu invincible in Lagos politics? This apparent invincibility must have earned him the title: Lagos Landlord!!!