"Those who have decided to hate me will hate me regardless of the truth. Again, they have the right to think as they may and I am not troubled by their unfounded animus. I leave them to the workings of their own conscience."
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (BAT) made these statements on 25th October, 2020, in his reaction to the allegation that he masterminded the October 20th Lekki massacre of the #EndSARS protesters by the Army.
BAT should however know that thinking his haters have conscience is delusively fallacious! The truth is they do not, neither does this nation, which has lost some of its eminent nationals like Chief Gani Oyesola Fawehinmi, the Chairman of the _National Conscience Party of Nigeria_(NCPN) and foremost Human Rights Activist, to this sort of conspiracy by making gulags his abode, where he became cancerous which eventually led to his death. His offence was his bluntness, idiosyncrasy and fight against our injustice.
But we should have a rethink before we apply our conspiratorial 'smartness' to 'evict' the Progressive, Bola Ahmmed Tinubu, from among us, as doing so would be sadly regressive!
Yes, the acronym BAT, Bola Ahmed Tinubu, has become a conceptual political discourse in our politics and polity as a nation. And because of its implications, consequences and influences, the 'concept' becomes controversial. So, the definition of the concept 'BAT' depends on the disposition of the definer to the concept. If those who are disgruntled and unfavourably disposed to BAT define the concept, you should expect derogatory qualifiers in their definitions.
To this end, the current rancorous, vituperative verbal attacks and negotiated conspiracies against Bola Ahmed Tinubu in an attempt to assassinate his character and scuttle his speculated 2023 presidential ambition are understandable, as the attacks and allegations are usually baselessly 'parented by those seeking to stoke and manipulate people's anger in order to advance their political objectives'.
Since 2007 when his tenure as two-term Lagos state governor came to a halt, BAT has not held any political position, but he has received attacks and highly demeaning insults more than any politician, including those who are in political power and who have amassed great affluence and huge wealth from 1999 till this moment. But why is the system this unfair, especially when it has not been able to legally establish any case of financial misappropriation or other forms of guilt against him?
Many of his political hate mongers resent him for his stake being a facilitator of Lagos' socioeconomic and infrastructural overhauling evidenced in the state's sustained, uninterrupted growth in the last two decades.
But Tinubu has many more haters, especially in politics because his political influence transcends Lagos state. In 2007, for instance, the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) with overwhelming influence, recorded landslide victory in the April 2007 elections. Tinubu singlehandedly swung into action of negotiations to bring together the fragmented opposition parties into a "mega-party" with which he challenged and weakened the PDP's influence, especially in Southwest.
The fruits of his negotiations became manifest in 2013 with the merger of three biggest opposition parties — the _Action Congress of Nigeria_ (ACN), the _Congress for Progressive Change_ (CPC), the _All Nigeria People's Party_ (ANPP); and also a faction of the _All Progressives Grand Alliance_ (APGA) and the new PDP (nPDP), a faction of serving governors of the then ruling _People's Democratic Party_ — into the popular _All Progressives Congress_ (APC).
The victorious emergence of General Muhammadu Buhari as a merger candidate in the 2015 presidential election, which ended the sixteen-year rule of the PDP, redounded to Tinubu's credit for his political expertise and wizardry without which Buhari, who had before the merger, contested 2003, 2007 and 2011 presidential elections and lost, mightn't have won the election.
You see why diehard political opponents would not stop their indignant resentments and feelings of ill will toward Tinubu; he ended PDP's hegemony and broke its near two-decade political jinx.
I wonder why the maxim "No permanent enemy or friend in politics", which is axiomatic in the way some personal-interest conscious politicians defect from one political party to another, does not apply to some unrepentant, crook and unforgiven political actors in our clime! This crop of stakeholders in our polity should be educated on the need to place patriotism and national interest above any others, either personal or politically motivated, and make progressive friendship for the development of this country.
It is an incontestable fact that Tinubu was one of the focal protesters against the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential elections, who demanded establishment of a new democracy in Nigeria. With a view to achieving this intent, you would not blame BAT for his brave application of the maxim by placing national interest above his personal interest, thereby making friendships with political actors across notable opposition parties in Nigeria for the purpose of building a formidable force.
If a person has selflessly, passionately and patriotically been able to achieve this feat, it shows he's progress personified, hence, killing or scuttling such notable progressive's political ambition to deliver our nation from commotion, tribulation, retrogression and recession, would be regrettably regressive!
*Olorede*, a media practitioner, research scholar and Mass Communication lecturer, writes in from Osun state. He can be reached via 08111841887, or [email protected].
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