Albert Einstein said, “If I had an hour to solve a problem and my life depended on the answer, I would spend the first 55 minutes figuring out the proper questions to ask. For if I knew the proper questions, I could solve the problem in less than five minutes.”
As the National campaign for the 2023 election progresses, it is expedient to dissect the messages in the recent visit of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) to the leaders of the Yoruba in Akure to reaffirm the strategic intents in the released Renewed Hope 2023 Manifesto of APC’s presidential Candidate. One clear perspective to the visit is that Asiwaju keeps demonstrating the top-notch political strategist he is and his unassailable preparedness to hit the ground running if elected in 2023. With the Renewed hope manifesto, Asiwaju presents the winning plan that all Nigerians need now and as we advance in the course of nation-building. BAT also demonstrates the fact that political electioneering must be used to provide answers to National questions that speak directly to national problems- solving.
BAT’s methodology highlights that Nigerians should encourage political and governance inquisitiveness by approaching other viewpoints with curiosity and being open to differences and multiple possibilities. He is poised to create an environment where doubts and dilemmas can be shared, a collective approach to problem-solving. Instead of relying on answers that won’t solve our problems, Nigerians can choose to reward curiosity and readiness for governance. As mentioned in a previous piece, people who have demonstrated over time that they are problem solvers should be given the confidence vote to govern. Asiwaju has demonstrated exemplary and is currently showing on the campaign trail that he is a great political thinker who can solve problems and will never confuse an unsuccessful attempt with a successful outcome.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a cut above the other presidential candidates in this political race. If we, as a nation, are motivated by the desire to select our most tried, most experienced, and most competent candidates, Asiwaju is the ideal candidate for the presidency.
My write-ups lately have delved into great detail the religious aspect of the upcoming election; pointed out with a lot of literacy that the goal of elections isn’t to elect leaders who will take us to heaven but rather elect leaders who will govern competently in the best interest of the nation as a whole.
The Yorubas can take advantage of Asiwaju’s recent visit to Pa Fasoranti to reflect on their critical issue, and I’m thinking a lot about the importance of supporting the best candidate for the nation’s top job. When Asiwaju visited Pa Fasoranti before the APC party primary, the great thinker was reminded that he needed the unwavering support of his party first and foremost. He won the party presidential primary by a wide margin and with overwhelming support from the governors of the northern states. Put your best foot forward and avoid those who stand to harm the APC party, so goes the saying. The governor of Kaduna state detailed and committedly disclosed the APC northern Governors’ reasons for supporting Asiwaju in the primary. There is no way to alter the reason. They will support Asiwaju to clinch the presidency in 2023 in the interest of equity, fairness, and justice.
According to Governor El-Rufai, the price they paid for their support was based on what the great northern political fathers had already paid for. The steadfast member of the APC went on to say that they believe this is what Sir Ahmadu Bello and Prime Minister Tafawa Balewa would have done if they were still alive. According to the governor, no northerner is expected to succeed President Muhammadu Buhari in 2023. For instant gratification, it is not sufficient to simply ask questions to which we already know the answer. Undoubtedly, direct support for Asiwaju to succeed President Buhari is the best way to reward Nigerians in terms of equity, fairness, and justice. Asiwaju expressed his gratitude for the support he is receiving from the political elites in the north as well as from northerners as a whole in the spirit of justice, fairness, and equity.
Asiwaju received a father’s blessing from Pa Reuben Fasoranti, the leader of the Yoruba socio-political group, as further evidence that the APC northern governors’ decision that power must shift to the south is what equity, fairness, and justice are all about. In addition, it is consistent with acknowledging that political leaders favourably position Asiwaju in Nigeria’s north and south. A father’s blessing is a blessing for generations and a moral obligation to carry out.
Instructively, Asiwaju’s blessing from Pa Fasoranti reminds him that he is thriving again. In one of my articles, I argued that Asiwaju is the best candidate and that all Yoruba must strongly support him in 2023. It is the right thing to do. Every Omoluabi is guided by this moral code and etiquette, which requires us to do our best and go above and beyond to support such a choice, even during my lengthy time living and working in Europe. Asiwaju, in my opinion, will be Nigeria’s best player in 2023. Having said that, it is important to draw attention to BAT’s upbringing and his successful career as a governor, which Nigeria, as a nation, is totally leveraging right now.
Asiwaju receives more praise than anyone else because of how well he did as governor of Lagos. He transformed Lagos, which had previously been a decrepit slum, into the fifth-largest economy in Africa. Other states and ethnic groups have benefited from Asiwaju’s creation of an oasis of growth and economic development, in addition to the Yoruba. Other Nigerians are fleeing to Lagos from their home states’ absurd mismanagement and gross incompetence. Lagos’ performance in this role is by no means accidental. When Asiwaju included other tribes in Lagos’ governance and ensured that the all-encompassing policy remained in effect today, he purposefully planned Lagos for this position.
As a Yoruba man, I am morally obligatory to support my tribesman because he is Yoruba; but more importantly, I’m backing him because I believe he can serve both his Yoruba tribesmen and other Nigerians. Asiwaju will be Nigerian before he is Yoruba if he is elected president. The exotic carriage was on display while he was governor of Lagos. The Yoruba, as well as different Nigerians in Lagos, benefited from Asiwaju’s liberal disposition and conviction.
Due to BAT’s strategic inclusiveness, the Yoruba are big beneficiaries of the APC government, which kept making considerable progress on development in Nigeria and the South West despite problems with security and money around the world.
With a view to drawing other key perspectives to our discourse, it is imperative to portray the achievements of the Yoruba race over the past seven years, which is why supporting Asiwaju is essential.
First, there was unquestionably a covert plan to cover the significance of June 12 and the significant sacrifices that the late Chief MKO Abiola made to keep Nigeria’s democracy in place. Chief Obasanjo, a Yoruba, never mentioned June 12 or his government during his eight years as president; He is still the primary beneficiary of Chief Abiola’s sacrifice; Obasanjo and his PDP considered June 12 to be insignificant and unimportant, despite the sincere pleas of agitators for democracy.
However, Buhari showed up and wholly overturned all of the disrespect and neglect displayed on June 12. Buhari honoured Abiola with the highest national honour reserved for only Presidents and Heads of State; named the National Stadium Abuja in his honour; declared June 12 the entire nation’s democracy day, and confirmed Abiola’s annulled victory. This singular act not only restored Abiola’s hurt feelings toward his friends, family, and associates, but it also restored the power and pride of the Yoruba race and healed the deep wounds left by the annulment on June 12.
Secondly, the significant infrastructure investments made in the South West by the current administration are highly impressive. A government that has given the South West a brand-new Lagos-Ibadan Expressway; a brand-new Benin-Ore-Shagamu Expressway; an Ibadan-Ogbomosho-Ilorin Expressway, and an Apapa-Oshodi-Oworonshoki expressway, among many other heavy infrastructure projects that have never been done before in the history of the South West, has opened up the opportunities for growth that the Yoruba need to succeed. A dry port is currently being built at the Ibadan end of the Lagos-Ibadan Standard Gauge rail line. This dry port will allow imported goods to be transported via rail from the Apapa seaport to the dry dock at Ibadan for clearance! Imagine what an Asiwaju presidency could accomplish to advance and enhance these sound investments and re-establish the South West as the centre of prosperity and growth.
Again, during the Buhari/APC regime, the Southwest is experiencing its most significant period of political appointment and placement. Prior to Buhari, the highest position ever held by a South Westerner was Minister of State for Works during the previous Jonathan/PDP administration. However, when the APC came to power, these drastically changed. In the country’s power scale, the South West obtained the Vice Presidency (number two), the Speaker of the House of Representatives (number five), and the Chief Justice of Nigeria (number four). Because of Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, people from the South Western region now hold important ministerial positions and lead numerous powerful parastatals in Nigeria. Even when Obasanjo, a Yoruba, was president, Yorubas never had such a significant impact on Nigeria’s power structure. Every Yoruba person has a better idea of what will happen under Asiwaju Bola Tinubu’s presidency.
We can go on endlessly to demonstrate that Asiwaju charted a positive path that will lead Yoruba to glory, and I have listed some of the benefits Yoruba received from the Buhari/APC government. When Asiwaju becomes president, that glory will reach its peak, and to achieve that goal, he needs the full support of the Yoruba. I leave it to the rational Yoruba to imagine how an Asiwaju presidency would affect the country’s overall human capital development, which creates the conditions necessary for the highly educated and sophisticated Yoruba race to succeed in various ways endeavours. Good enough, Asiwaju’s enormous success in building infrastructure, education, security, economic growth, and improving the justice system in Lagos demonstrates what every Nigerian can expect to gain from his presidency; the reason why each Yoruba must give the project their full support. Every Yoruba owes to see the dawn of a golden future not only for Yoruba but for all Nigerians, with the APC forming the next government with Asiwaju as president, given his enormous success in Lagos. In the nation’s best interest, the North, the South and every Nigerian must now view this season as an opportunity we cannot afford to pass up.
Asiwaju won the APC presidential primary by a wide margin because the North had taken the lead by supporting him correctly. The North’s influential and enduring political leaders have also made a crucial commitment that power must go to the South after eight years in the North. The North has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to supporting the South in its bid for the presidency in 2023, despite the cheeky political antics of the PDP and its presidential candidate, to violate the power rotation commitment for purely self-serving purposes. By word and deed, the North has demonstrated that Asiwaju is their preferred candidate to succeed President Buhari in 2023. That was the reason why the APC presidential primaries unfolded as they did. Asiwaju couldn’t win the primary by such large margins if the Northerners did not fully back him.
Asiwaju is in a solid position to become the next president, and democracy continues to be a numbers game. It will be a monumental tragedy if the South West refuses to reciprocate the positive reach-out from the North and shoot itself in the feet by pandering to the invidious propaganda of those few Yoruba black legs which are still smarting from the rot lodged in their teeth after devouring a poisonous PDP apple in 2015. We need to mass in great numbers, as Yoruba, to support our very best chance at the Nigerian presidency in 2023. The Governor of Oyo State and his deputy keyed unreservedly to the people’s choice of Asiwaju as the next president. As Asiwaju visited, Pa Reuben Fasoranti, the deputy governor of Oyo State, confirmed that we are all Asiwajus for the Asiwaju Bola Tinubu as the president.
Consequently, this address is to my Yoruba relatives: The march has begun again. We are on the right track because Asiwaju is the man. To win block votes like never before in the history of the South West, the Yoruba people must unite behind the Democratic gems on the Asiwaju/Shettima ticket. The North is ready to perform for the progressive ticket to win. All Yorubas must be prepared to make a significant contribution. Remember that Chief MKO Abiola and Chief Obafemi Awolowo bravely attempted to win this golden crown, but they came very close to failing. Asiwaju is the Yoruba nation’s “golden boy,” “city boy,” “star,” “jewel,” and “diadem.” A man of destiny, he is. Success is directly in front of him. When history calls in 2023, all Yoruba owe him nothing less than our total and unwavering support.
Prof. Ojo Emmanuel Ademola.
