There is no doubt the general saying in the last couple of weeks since President Bola Ahmed Tinubu assumed office that his life is anchored in dreaming big dreams and bidding at high stakes.
The high stakes of Tinubu is not limited to high office in private bureaucracy but is reflective in the disdain he has for organised public service bureaucracy which has dashed dreams and made hopes a forlon hope.
But in spite of this,Tinubu unlike the late sage Obafemi Awolowo who toiled for forty dramatic years but failed to rule Nigeria.
So also was Moshood Kashimawo Abiola the business mogul whose military annulment of his election is akin to Yorubas political abiku…Soroye..(meaning ) he who saw the crown but never wore it.
The late Chief Samuel Ladoke Akintola, premier of Western region jocularly mock his rival and deputy Action Group,AG, leader,the late Chief Dauda Soroye Adegbenro for his failed bid to succeed him in 1962.
Adegbenro,who later became Balogun Owu in Egbaland, was momentarily pronounced new Premier of the region after Akintolas impeachment on the floor of troubled Western region.
Within the twinkle of an eye, federal forces which had symphathy for Akintola as an ally of Ahmadu Bello’s Northern People’s Congress,NPC,used excuse of a minor crisis in the house to render what would later be Adegbenros unattainable trophy.
He saw Premiership but never assumed office. Thus an effusive Akintola described him as
he who saw the crown’ he never wore.
In 1979, Obafemi Awolowo,the late Premier of record breaking Western region, also radiated high Hopes of mounting the saddle of leadership in Nigeria bouyed by his breath taking performance in the Western region.
After surviving a life jail prison sentence occasioned by a contrived treasonable felony trial,he also exuded hope that with the return of party politics in 1979,his high hopes of ruling Nigeria would be realised.
He toured all the local government areas of Nigeria having kicked off his campaign on September 21, barely a day after military government of then General Olusegun Obasanjo lifted ban on politics.
But in spite of people oriented four cardinal programmes of free education, free health,integrated rural development and full employment centred on life more abundant,Obasanjos declaration to Nigerians that the best candidate may not win the election,cut short Awos high Hopes.
That declaration was indeed one of the remote causes of failure of Awos Hopes over the years he has struggled since he left Western region where he redefined governance,and his record hard to beat till today.
Ditto Moshood Kashimawo Abiola,then Presidential candidate of Social Democratic Party, SDP, who had demonstrated his philanthropic gestures to all and sundry and who in the process also amassed more than 150 chieftancy titles in Nigeria prior to his declaration of intent to rule Nigeria.
He planned, schemed,spent his money,became a father Xmas but that was not enough to realise his Hope 93 campaign aimed in his own words at banishing poverty in Nigeria.
Abiolas Hopes ended under the jackboot of the military led by military President Ibrahim Babangida who has in private talks with his friend in 1992 raised the laters hope that his transition programme was real.
Five years down the line after the wicked annulment and with his supporters in trenches, Abiolas Hope ended six feet down,buried in front of his palatial mansion in Ikeja.
Though, Nigerians had hope that one day, a messiah will come to continue Abiolas search for Hope.
Today, with six heads of state and governments and thirty years after the launching of Abiolas futile attempt to give Hope to the citizenry, they only ended in setting the political calendar of the country back by fifty years.
But in 2022, Bola Ahmed Tinubu,a former Senator and later Governor of Lagos state who had much controversy on his neck more than Awolowo and Abiola combined, relaunch a repackaged Renewed Hope 2023 agenda to actualize Abiolas Hope which was dashed in 1993 by the annulment of the June 12 presidential election.
As a lieutenant and close associate of Abiola,Tinubu by the trajectory of his life must have learnt and identify the pitfalls of Abiolas struggle.
Hence, Tinubu had a different result from his predecessors as he showed uncommon gut,courage, conviction,unusual boldness and bravery to push down political principalities who shot down Awo and Abiolas Hope.
Tinubus style to rekindle dashed hope of Awo and Abiola 40 years and 30 years ago respectively, derived it’s impetus from Tinubus rare vision,bravery and providence which made him to defeat the enemies now more formidable than those faced by both Awo and Abiola.
Time and chance made Tinubu to energize his ‘Emilokan'(it is my turn,our turn) mantra which he declared under the protection of Olumo rock- an emblem of refuge for Egbas 193 years earlier.
Even, Obasanjo, an unrepentant Tinubu political foe admitted that by his ‘Emilokan’ mantra, Tinubu who defeated him twenty one times in court battle during his eight year jackboot rule, indeed improved Yoruba political dictionary by his Emilokan mantra and described him as a political master strategist..
While the hand of God is visible in Tinubus victory against formidable forces powerful and more entrenched than Nigerias enemy of past six decades, boldness,bravery and Audacity imbued by God to help Tinubu get his trophy the way bravery and chance opened to David who brought down Goliath.
Yes,many may say the Emilokan statement by Tinubu is selfish and declarative,we should not loose sight of the influence of Senator Remi Tinubu,his Pastor wife who must have robbed her fate in the mind of her Moslem husband.
You may also say that Tinubu with his mouthing Biblical injunction that believers must with their mouth Covet earnestly the best gifts(1Cor 12:31) ,his demonstration of faith in the statement was also informed by the content of Luke 6:45 that,”out of the abundant of the heart,the mouth speaketh”.
Furthermore, the choice of Abeokuta by Tinubu to unveil the Emilokan and A maa dibo- We will vote” statements was a psycological and spiritual warfare against the enemies of Awo and Abiola who abound in good numbers in the ancient town.
While on his own,Awo had to contend with the dislike and hatred from the late Justice Adetokunbo Ademola-first indigenous Chief Justice of Nigeria who was said to have picked quarell against Awo for not awarding the much criticised 1973 Census a pass mark.
He also had to live with the likes of Chief Justice Sobo Sowemimo of the “my hands are tied fame”during the 1962 treasonable felony trial when he eventually jailed Awolowo.
He was still alive when Awo came back a free man and later became Vice Chairman of the then Federal Executive Council led by then head of state,General Yakubu Gowon.
Apart from the duo mentioned, Obasanjo,also an Owu/Egba man by extension,also took off from where the duo stopped when he told Nigerians not to expect the best candidate to win during 1979 presidential election when Awo contested against the late Alhaji Shehu Shagari of then National Party of Nigeria,NPN.
The rest is history.
Yet,Obasanjo also punctured Abiolas victory during the 1993 presidential election when he went to Harare,Zimbabwe to declare that Abiola already a winner , is not the messiah Nigeria needed.
Hence,it is reasonable to infer that Tinubus third visit to Alakes palace last Thursday after his victory in February was more of coming to show his Trophy to the enemies and tell them that he will not only reign but also rule to impact life and change the potency, dynamics of principalities and powers in Abeokuta with their eventual conquest.
Earlier in the day,Awujale of Ijebuland and foremost traditional ruler, had told all those who care to listen at his Palace while receiving Tinubu,that he will rule for eight years…a direct challenge to enemies of Abiola to prepare to swallow the bitter pill.
It is to show that Tinubus victory is defeat for principality and powers who had over the years been a stumbling block to notable harbingers of Hope .
That Tinubu could start his battle against artificial fuel scarcity and Emefieles naira confistication project and prevail at the end speaks volume of unseen forces inside Emilokan mantra now the political grave yard of principalities and powers in Nigeria who wanted to continue their imposition which started in 1966.
That Tinubu could push his luck further and remove dreaded fuel subsidy in his inaugural speech speaks volume of audacious forces propelling his never failing spirit to pursue Hope to no end.
President Tinubu must hear this!
Yes,give it to him,that he hasn’t lost any election since he joined partisan politics in 1991 speaks volume of aura of success which has propelled his High Hopes to rekindle lost Hopes which is driving young Nigerians out of the country in droves for lack of Hope for a future.
That Tinubu could follow his subsidy war with cancellation of double forex market controlled by entrenched interests confirms his likely success where political Titans preceding him has failed.
Hence,at the federal level,Tinubu has to intensify his restructuring of the countrys decadent economic and social order which has made Nigerians permanently poor with the country sinking deeper with despair,disunity and Hopelessness which his victory last February in spite of all obstacles,came to restore .
If Tinubu is able to change for better the decadent and oppressive economic order,he would have succeeded in giving Hope to the Hopeless citizens and restless Youths who daily migrate out in droves in their Japa mantra to Hope and pursue their fortune outside their country.
Tinubu having himself declared that he applied for the job,has no reason to fail.
