By Abdul Oluteju
BAT is reputed to be a great mentor and raiser of men and women in the political sphere.
But the truth is that Asiwaju only supports and mentors people as long as they are not a threat to him.
Don’t plunge South West into violence,YCE scribe warns Tinubu-Osinbajo supporters
His famed mentoring is only for people who remain subservient to him. As long as he sees you as a threat and a shining star he will do everything to cut you down.
Tinubu
Listen to his political son, Rauf Aregbesola: “We exalted him beyond his status and he turned himself to a god over us and we have sworn to ridicule anyone who compared himself to God.”
Asiwaju turns himself to god over all who support him, he decides their destinies and does with it as he pleases.
Ask the two Deputy Governors he impeached and humiliated in his eight years in power, Kofoworola Bucknor-Akerele and Femi Pedro. Ask Fashola, and remember what BAT tried to do to him in 2011.
Ask Ambode, ask GOS, ask Ashafa. It doesn’t matter how much you see BAT as your mentor or father, once he decides to move against you no amount of loyalty you have displayed in the past can save you. He alone decides who is in favour and who is out of favour. This unpredictability is a sign of tyrannical behavior.
Even Sanwo is now being shown the stick that was used to flog Ambode, and only God, at this time, can get him a second term ticket.
What kind of a political family is this, where everyone lives in fear of a tin-god, who arrogates to himself the power to do and undo people’s lives on a whim.
His foot soldiers have imbibed this tyrannical behavior, which is why they are everywhere in the media accusing the VP of betrayal and treachery and what-not. If they think this is the way to attack and demarket the VP, they’re mistaken, all that this is achieving is proving that they are a camp of intolerance and tyranny, people who think of their leader as god and will not tolerate any independence of mind or opinion.
In case they don’t know, this will backfire heavily. It has already started. On Good Friday they made the grievous mistake of likening Asiwaju to Jesus Christ, and even printed posters to that effect.
What people are asking is: why the desperation in the BAT camp? If Osinbajo is inconsequential politically, as they are busy claiming, why do they seem so triggered by his ambition? Why do they seem so desperate to attack him and call him all manner of names, if they truly believe there is no serious competition to their Boss’ APC ticket?
Lastly, a man who decides who picks virtually every ticket in Lagos State, from Governor to Senator to Reps to Assembly to LG/LCDA Chair to Councillors, is now crying that Osinbajo, a sitting Vice President, is now aspiring to become President?
Does Asiwaju think Nigeria is Lagos State? The fact that he can prevent Lagos deputy Governors from aspiring to succeed their bosses does not mean that he can force a similar scenario in Abuja. Nigeria is not Lagos State, where one man can arrogate to himself the powers of a god.
Asiwaju has made many mistakes over the course of his long and fulfilling political career. But the one he is making now, feeling entitled to the Presidency of Nigeria, and acting like anyone challenging him for the ticket is an enemy of the country, might be the final mistake that will end his political career and crumble the legacy he has spent decades building.
Something tells me that the powerful enemies he has amassed over the years, loyal men and women who have been badly mistreated by a man who thinks himself to be god, may very well end up having the final say.
Asiwaju and his camp should let everyone exercise their Democratic and constitutional right to run for the Presidency. And stop crying betrayal and treachery. If anyone is guilty of serial betrayal, it is Asiwaju, a man who sees nothing wrong in raising people and trying to cap their progress. A man who will pretend to be your father and then stab you in the back once he thinks your star is shining.
Is this the kind of President we want in Aso Rock, a man who will sit down and arrogate to himself the power to select 36 Governors and 774 LGA Chairmen, just as he currently does in Lagos? And then constantly stabbing them in the back and betraying them because he thinks they’re not loyal enough, or that their star is shining too much for his liking?
God Almighty save us from treacherous and tyrannical ‘fathers’ and mentors.
Abdul Oluteju writes from Lagos, Nigeria
