Tunji Bello:What does he want?

Charles Okogene

The above is the question most of those who are still shocked to find the name of erudite journalist, Mr. Tunji Bello, among the list of commissioner nominees transmitted to the Lagos State House of Assembly by the state governor, Mr. Babajide Sanwo-Olu, earlier in the week.

Bello was the immediate past secretary to the state government in the cabinet of former state governor, Mr. Akinwunmi Ambode. And by the virtue of that position, he was the third ranking political appointee of the governor.

His nomination this time, naturally did ruffled some feathers, especially among those that followed his criticism of Ambode and how he ran his four years government. He had in the criticism, which not only went viral and became a talking point for weeks, attracted condemnations or praises  from public affairs commentators, ‘wailers and hailers.’
In an attempt to tell his reading public that the erstwhile governor who was denied a second term by his party was not what people thought he was while calling the shorts as the governor of Nigeria’s most viable and populous state, Bello said he lacked ’emotional intelligence. That was all he needed to set the cyberspace on fire as some people applauded him for speaking out. For saying truth to power even, though, it came too late when the head was off.
Others condemned him for putting up with all the ’emotional intelligence’ shenanigans from beginning to the end only to begin to flog a man who is down.
To them, TB as his fans and loyalists call him, he should have resigned when he observed all that in Ambode or spare us the narratives.
However, what most people, whether for or against him, did not know was that Bello was working to an answer. And that with that scattering remarks about Ambode, he was clearing the coast and preparing the way for his appointment into the the cabinet of Sanwo-Olu. That, exactly  is ‘what he want.’ And he is about to get what he want. Remain in government forever!

Gist from a highly placed Lagosian has it that as a loyal party man who has been within the room, not only the corridor of political power in the state since the days of Asiwsju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, he was given the privilege to nominate a candidate to be appointed into Sanwo-Olu’s cabinet, but instead of doing just that, he chose to put his name forward.

Whether that is true or not, is not the crux of this piece. However, the subject matter is the fact that a man who had gotten to the post of an SSG, is coming again to set to become a commissioner, a post he left almost twenty years ago.

Again, while his ‘vuvuzella’ bearing supporters see nothing wrong in that as long as he remains in government, those against his nomination, see it as odd and unnecessary.
” Except he tells us why him again, I think he should not have taken it. To me, it is a retrogression, no matter how one looks at it. From commissioner to SSG and now from SSG back to commissioner. No now. It is not tidy. Is he the only one in Lagos? Has he not made enough money,” one of our respondent, an agency person who refused his name in print asked?
But one of his supporters has this to say of him, ” his nomination this time, shows that he is a time tested hand. Sanwo-Olu needs people like him for his Greater Lagos agenda. TB fits the bill and let his opponents continue to foam from all corners of their mouth we no care.”
However, those on the fence whose only concern is good governance looks forward to his justifying the appointment and hope that at the end of the tenure, he will not describe it as another ’emotional intelligence.’
Bello rose to journalism limelight at the defunct Concord Newspapers before crossing over to Thisday Newspapers where Tinubu spotted his shinning star and made him Commissioner for the environment and since then, he has worked with all successive governors the state has produced since 1999.

However, the question still remains, what does he want. Is it fame or fortune or stomach infrastructure? Well, time and only time will tell his motive.