By Kunle Awosiyan
There are men you don’t taunt. They pretend not to see you, instead they devote time strategizing and hit you when and where you don’t expect.
I think President Bola Ahmed Tinubu belongs to that category. He will rather do his “balablu’ in the public and perfect his strategy in the hidden. They bring up their best game when there is competition. And when you try and walk on their fighting side, you will lose the battle.
I have witnessed and reported the emergence of Mr. Babatunde Fashola (SAN) as the governor of Lagos State, the battle before his first term and the rage towards his second term.
I reported the “True Face of Lagos” when the battle was going on. Tinubu’s uncompromising stance and resolve to remain in one place, one party but with sophisticated networks to win his numerous battles. He lost a few but him becoming the Nigerian President against all odds was the battle of all battles.
At a point, I gave up. He was fighting from all angles against the enemies within and outside his All Progressives Congress, yet he won. His adversaries may say he rigged the election even when the Supreme Court had pronounced him winner of the 2023 presidential election.
They will not say that he planned and worked smarter than them. That when they were busy taunting him on social media platforms, calling him names and trying to demarket him, Tinubu was entering the nooks and crannies of the homes of power brokers from the south to the north; west to east.
I think the best time to defeat Tinubu had passed. President Tinubu is in the very good position to control the ring now because he has worked beyond throwing jabs but had developed fighting style and strength that none of his possible contenders possess.
For two years, the main opposition party, Peoples Democratic Party had gone to sleep, the ’emergency’ Labour Party was in comatose and Funnily enough, none of its presidential candidates in the past election could rebuild the parties. Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar of the PDP and former Governor of Anambra State of the Labour Party, Peter Obi could not fortify the parties that threw them up in 2023.
Sadly, these two leaders alongside their co-travellers had just collapsed into Africa Democratic Congress, ADC. A party, registered a few years ago with no visible leadership, no structure but a presidential candidate, Dumebi Kachikwu and a founder Ralph Nwosu.
Ahead of 2023 election, I emphasized in human structure, financial chest and network as key to the success of any candidate. The logic has not changed and now Tinubu has expanded this beyond the APC boundaries and in a short time he will enter their coalition to break its back. He is that good.
ADC threw its doors open to all aggrieved politicians from APC, PDP, LP, creating a platform for men and women who had lacked the capacity to stabilise the platforms that initially produced them.
In his song, “The fighting side of me” Merle Haggard, an American country music legend, warns those who could not build anything to stop criticising American government for executing wars.
To him, Americans see clearly than them and that if they continue, they will be walking on his fighting side. Tinubu is looking from the inside now and he is watching from the top, he sees more than the coalition .
The fighting side of me, released in 1970 is as relevant as today as it captures the drama, the ridicule and taunting of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu ahead of the 2023 presidential election.
The coalition of the groups that have the angry politicians, like former Governor of Kaduna State, Malam Nasir El-Rufai, his counterparts for Rivers, Rotimi Amaechi and Osun state, Rauf Aregbesola and the declaration of ADC will not only make the next one year of our democracy sweet, it will bring out the “A” game of President Tinubu, which I will love to witness again.
Haggard says in his song, “I don’t mind then switching sides, and standing up for things they believe in but When they’re running down my country, man, they’re walking on the fighting side of me”.
A report describes the gathering of the aggrieved politicians at Yar’Adua Centre as a convergence of heavyweights.
For me, it was a convergence of men who wanted to taunt Tinubu; men who could not build or rebuild but are seriously looking for a home to save their skins. What have they offered us in the past? Nothing but vulgarism. What is their own idea? Tinubu must go.
It sounds so absurd that a former president of the Senate, David Mark who served using PDP platform for eight years could be persuading the party members to run under ADC.
And before they will finally tear the umbrella and share their lots, the ADC presidential candidate in the last election, Kachikwu had raised the alarm that those occupying the party as coalition had come through the backdoor.
But to Mallam Bolaji Abdullahi who spoke for the coalition, the aggrieved politicians had been working on this idea for 18 months, seeking a better political party that could fit in with their ideology.
It must be noted that these groups had first approached the Social Democratic Party but failed. They tried what they called ADA, which could not work before settling down for ADC.
Interestingly, Mark was chosen as the interim national chairman and Aregbesola as the national secretary. What makes the marriage laughable is that those coming together had never shared similar ideologies but because it is to taunt Tinubu, their association must fly.
Amazing that Peter Obi and El-Rufai could walk hand-in-hand when it comes to taunting Tinubu and Aregbesola could serve as a secretary with Mark as the chairman.
Surprisingly too, Chief John Oyegun who chaired the panel that interviewed Tinubu ahead of 2023 APC primaries is now a member of the coalition that is out to taunt the president.
By Kunle Awosiyan
