Remi Tinubu |
Bola Tinubu |
Lagos Governor
Emeritus and the National Leader of the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN),
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is one politician that has perfected the act of
politicking in the country. Jagaban Borgu, as Tinubu is fondly called, assumed
popularity right from the days of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO),
when he served as a backbone for many politicians fighting for freedom from
military rulers and since then, the sky appears not to be enough to limit the
leading light in the camp of the opposition in the country.
When in 2007,
Tinubu informed his associates and political colleagues and subordinates alike
that he was going to sponsor his erstwhile Chief of Staff, Babatunde Raji
Fashola as governor of the coastal state, only few of them took him serious.
But the rest is now history as Fashola is spending his second term as the
Governor of the state, courtesy of his godfather.
The latest news
from the lord of Bourdillon is that his wife, Senator Oluremi Tinubu might be
the next occupant of Lagos House as she is being tipped for the exalted
position of Lagos Governor in 2015 after Fashola must have finished his second
term.
The groundwork for
this was said to have played itself out, when some eminent people in the state
paid a visit to Tinubu to call his attention to a trend that had been going on
in the state for many years now.
Sources close to
the celebrated politician, whose party has formed an alliance with the likes of
Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), All Nigerian Peoples Party (ANPP), and a
faction of All Progressive Grand Alliance (APGA), to form the All Progressives Congress (APC)
said that his visitors had played into his hands with a request that it was
time a Christian was made the Governor of Lagos State.
“Tinubu listened attentively to them, when
they got to his house not quite long ago. He is a man, who always listens
attentively before making comments. When they told him that he should do
something about presenting a Christian as the next guber candidate of his party
ACN/APC in 2015 since Muslims have always been occupying the post, Tinubu did
not argue with them. The next thing he told them was that it was even better
and that his wife, Oluremi can fit into the position as she is a bonafide
Christian,” said a source.
This, our source
maintained rattled the visitors as they were hit below the belt and had been
obviously defeated by a man, whose words are laws in South West politics.
Informants stated
that none of the 'August' visitors could argue with Tinubu as doing so would
have meant the end of their political career and that no one dares question the
authority of the man, whose efforts have re-claimed the south west for the ACN
after the 'hurricane' of 2003, which swept the party from the region, save for
Ondo State, which is now under the Labour Party.
Our impeccable
sources maintained that Tinubu had been nursing the ambition of installing his
wife as Lagos Governor after getting her into the senate in 2011to prevent the
kind of crisis that the party experienced in 2007, when he chose Fashola
amongst the numerous people vying for the post.
'Since Oluremi is
his wife, nobody would have the gut to fight Tinubu over his decision as a lot
of people have been nursing the ambition of becoming the governor of the state
after Fashola. Remi will serve as the alternative for the party and a way of
unifying the numerous politicians that are nursing the Lagos State governorship
ambition from the ACN/APC,” said a source.
The news is coming
days after Tinubu installed his first known child and daughter, Folashade
Tinubu- Ojo as the Iyaloja of Lagos after the demise of his mother, Alhaja
Abibatu Mogaji, who was the Iyaloja of Lagos and President General, Nigerian
Association of Market Men and Women.
Tinubu is said to
have told his close pals and political associates that he was not prepared to
support any outsider for the post of the Lagos Governor in 2015, but would
rather present his beloved wife, Remi, who is currently representing Lagos Central
Constituency in the Senate.
Surprisingly,
Senator Remi Tinubu had dismissed an initial report that she was being tipped
to become the next governor of Lagos State, saying the seat is not for people like her.
Mrs. Tinubu, while
addressing the media few weeks back had said that governing Lagos State was not
for the “tender-hearted,” saying that she would prefer to become the nation's
vice president instead of a governor.
She said, “Truly,
it is never my ambition to run for the governorship of Lagos State. My husband
did it for eight years and I was not an outsider to it. It is not a job for the
tender hearted. It is a lot of work to govern Lagos. I don't think I have the
strength to govern the present state of Lagos.
“There is still a
lot of work to be done for Lagos; it's not a child's play. I don't have such
ambition. Maybe, I can be the Vice-President, not the governor.”
She said, “My
concern is for the young and the old. What kind of Nigeria do we want to leave
for the younger ones? A good parent will always want to leave an inheritance
for the children. What kind of inheritance or legacy do we want to leave for
our children?”
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