Ambode And Aregbesola: The Vacuity Of Tinubuism
"Lies never last, History never dies and the Truth is always constant." - Author.
Every political philosophy has a purpose. Or if you like, a vision that it fosters through governance. And one believes that we all agreed or is it just assumed, that the main purpose of any political group or philosophy is to advance the welfare of the governed through a selected method entirely unique to the group. It is a method that the group is known for and identified with.
Critically examining the politics of the Jaggaban of Borgu, the man who claimed to be richer than Osun State, the Lion of Bourdillon, Alhaji Bola Ahmed Tinubu (ABAT), one finds an emptiness that is corrosive and perched on the dreg of toxic moral dirt. Hitherto, one had characterized his politics as a mercantilist one. But with a deeper study, Tinubuism has been discovered to be mephitic and perilous political philosophy for the Yorùbá Nation and its people.
Governor Akinwumi Ambode is a dream governor of Lagos State. In three and half years, he has surpassed the combined 16 years of ABAT and Alhaji Babatunde Fashola as governors of Lagos State. In the annals of Lagos State history, he is only second to Alhaji Lateef Kayode Jakande (LKJ) who governed the State between 1979 and 1983 under the platform of the Obafemi Awolowo led Unity Party of Nigeria.
Governor Ambode is the kind of leader that the people look unto God for. He is a kind of Governor for whom the faithfuls in the Churches, Mosques, Traditional Religions supplicate to God almighty, Allah and Elédùmarè. Even, the atheists, non - believers had something to believe in him. He is the kind of Governor that the genuine Human Rights Communities want to die for. He is a dream come true for the ordinary people who for so long have been wallowing in the desert of misery and the simmering pool of uncaring, visionless, selfish and pilfering leaders.
Yes, kudos to whoever contributed to Akinwumi Ambode becoming the Executive Governor of Lagos State, including Bola Ahmed Tinubu. But obviously, Tinúbû did not expect an independently minded individual with evident bent to the needs of the people. Tinubu only wanted to consolidate his continued accumulation of wealth at the expense of the people of Lagos State. Governor Ambode was expected to play the role of a facilitator of this despicable mission.
While one is not painting Governor Ambode as a "Saint," and sinless in all this imbroglio, the measurement of performance of any governor, ruler, king, dictator, emperor, President, Prime Minister or what have you is the welfare of the people. The well-being of the people, their happiness, their satisfaction and joy is the ultimate measurement of any governor. Ambode, without any reservations, and with his limitations, has met this expectation.
He has made a very historical impact on Lagos and Lagosians. He has surprised them and make them believe. He made them to believe that nothing is impossible if you have the will. He made them believe if you could dream it, you could do it. He made them believe that governance is not difficult as it has been made to look. He made them believe that not even the sky could be the limit, and that the heavens could be penetrated. He placed priority on the interest of the people of Lagos over and above that of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
On the other hand, Governor Rauf Aregbesola of Osun State has been a plague to the people of Osun State. He has been deleterious and pernicious in his governance. He has been wicked, utterly. He has been mean, cruel and heartless. Rather than build, he has destroyed. He destroyed education and schools. He destroyed the economy. He destroyed the religious harmony of the people. He destroyed everything good in sight. He subsumed the interest of Osun people to that of Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
He made Osun people hungry and turned them into beggars. He took away their dignity. He pinched their pride. He took away their self respect. He made them a laughing stock. He humiliated them. He planted and pasted opprobrium all over the facets of the State and the people. The workers were dropping dead. The hospitals became slaughter slabs. He gave a single uniform to all the schools in the state and his wife was the single supplier and seamstress.
He claimed to be an Ìjèsà man. But his roots have since been queried for authenticity. He promised to rehabilitate Atakumosa market. He never did. He promised to tar all the linkage roads in Ilesa, he did little. He promised to make tap water run in Ìjèsà land, it never materialized. He promised to construct a dual carriage through the town, he never did. The biggest industry in Osun State, the International Breweries PLC in Ilesa, needed help to expand, Aregbesola frustrated the effort until the company went to Ogun State for the expansion. He destroyed our Ilesa Grammar School.
One could have taken each town in Osun State and write about their stories of woes; their tales of torment. One could write about their miseries and tears under Aregbesola. From Ile-Ife to Sekona. From Gbongan to Odeomu. Okuku to Ikirun to Ila-Orangun and Oke-Ila Orangun. From Otan Ayegbaju to Iree to Ada and Iragbiji. From Ikire to Iwo to Ede to Ejigbo to Awó to Ilobu. It had been gnashing of teeth all over. It had been tragic tales everywhere.
Most importantly, Aregbesola has no remorse. He has no regrets. He is not bothered. He doesn't care. He gallivants round the State telling lies upon lies, taking Osun people for fools. He engaged endlessly in false propaganda, taking Osun people for idiots. He lives and breaths falsehood. All that matters to him is the happiness of Bola Ahmed Tinubu and not the comfort of the people of Osun State.
This is where Bola Ahmed Tinubu comes in. Whether we like it or not, he represents a political school of thought in our firmament That School of Thought is christened TINUBUISM. Tinubuism represents a predatory political ideology that has been put in place to fleece the people and povertize them. It is a larvicidal political ideology meant to drive people into penury and the polity into unmitigated economic lechery.
Watch the position, plans and reaction of Bola Ahmed Tinubu to the events in both Lagos and Osun States. Governor Akinwumi Ambode is doing well for Lagos State and its people. The people are very happy. They are excited. They look forward to him continuing his good work by getting him elected to a second term as the Governor of Lagos State. But Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the godfather of mercantilist politics is really riled. He is upset with a good and performing governor. He is trying to destroy a pro - people Governor. Tinubu is determined to deny Ambode the needed second term because advancing the interest of the people is not what Tinubu stands for.
Even, let us agree that truly, there are differences between Tinubu and Ambode. Tinubu should have looked at the interest of the people. As a leader, he should and could have found a common ground with Ambode, resolve the differences and allow Ambode to continue in the interest of the State and its people. But what does the people matter to the Lion of Bourdillon? He doesn't care about anyone, least of all the people. All he cares about is money, money, money and money.
In Osun State, where Rauf Aregbesola has destroyed the State and the lives of the people, Bola Ahmed Tinubu is more than happy for continuity of tears and misery. He is determined to impose, through hook or crook, an anti people candidate on the State. Aregbesola, with Gboyega Oyetola, the current APC candidate in Osun, as the Chief of Staff, destroyed Fakunle Comprehensive High School, Oshogbo, to make way for Tinubu's business empire. It is reported that all the roads constructed in Osun State were done by a company jointly owned by him and Tinubu. Roads being constructed for between NGN 450m to NGN 500m per one kilometer in other States of Nigeria were being constructed at the cost of NGN 1.2 billion per kilometer by Aregbesola. Many of those roads are now death traps.
This is what Bola Ahmed Tinubu wants and likes. It is not difficult for him to take a position on the matters of Lagos and Osun States. Choosing Gboyega Oyetola through crooked primaries as against what the majority of the party members want was and is easier for Tinubu. Junking Akinwumi Ambode against the desire of the people of Lagos is also easier for Tinubu. The same despicable philosophy is what is driving the Jaggaban and the self styled "Asiwaju" Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the so called Lion of Bourdillon - political mercantilism or Tinubuism - a perverted political philosophy aimed at the destruction of our society and the povertization of our people.
Take a look across Yorùbá land. Look at the social and economic devastations that the leadership of Bola Ahmed Tinubu has brought to bear on our land and our people. Look at the agonies on our streets. Look at the unending tears of our children. Look at the perverted morality represented by Tinubu and his crowd. From Lagos to Ogun States, to Oyo, Osun and Ekiti States, look at the disaster that Tinubu and his crowd represent to the Yorùbá Nation and our people. He has been repeatedly resisted in Ondo State.
Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a self declared enemy of the Yorùbá Nation and its people. The proofs are self evident. His actions are self pronouncing. Tinubu has no interest in the welfare and the well being of the Yorùbá Nation and its people. All he wants is to use the Yorùbá votes as a negotiating chip to further his morbid ambition. If one understands this, it won't be difficult for every observer to see why Bola Ahmed Tinubu is trying to bring back an odiously incompetent, audaciously murderous and nauseatingly corrupt, Mohammadu Buhari to the Yorùbá Nation to be voted for again in 2019.
Tinubuism is a vacuous political philosophy anchored by a moral reprobate seeking to lead a people conscious of probity and accountability. A destructive political concept, fueled and sustained with and by cronyism, as well as permeated with unending treacheries and perfidy. A season of anomie has been foisted on the Yorùbá Nation by Tinubu and his cronies. An era of ruins was foisted on our people by Tinubu and his foot soldiers. Tinubu is trying hard to foreclose the future of our children.
He is not satisfied with selling the Yorùbá Nation into slavery. He is not contented with impoverishing the Yorùbá people. He is consistently destroying our moral fibre. He advocates the worship of money at the expense of due character. He is an apostle of money without due diligence for the edification of labour. He represents a moral anathema to our polity.
But the good news is that our people are waking up. They are smelling the coffee. They are able to decipher the lies of Bola Ahmed Tinubu. They are about to set themselves free. The freedom song is ringing everywhere. Lies never last, history never dies and the truth is always constant.
"In the long history of the world, only a few generations have been granted the role of defending freedom in its hour of maximum danger. I do not shrink from this responsibility - I welcome it." John F. Kennedy.
©Remi Oyeyemi