ASIWAJU BOLA AHMED TINUBU AND THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA! BY SADIQ UMAR ABDULLAHI; Bsc, LLb, MA, BL, Ph.D, Esq.

Sadiq Umar AbdullahiAsiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, also known as "JAGABAN BORGU,THE LION OF BOURDILON,THE FEARLESS KING MAKER,THE BRIDGE BUILDER,MAJAYAKIN KATSINA,AFRICAN DEMOCRAT OF THE YEAR,ASIWAJU OF AFRICA,ASIWAJU THE GREAT".

There are people in this world that come only once in a lifetime. Among people with such virtues, achievements and accomplishments is the man that has brought the northern and southern part of the country together for the first time in the history of Nigerian politics here referred to as non other than the Former Governor of Lagos State and the "NATIONAL LEADER" of the ALL PROGRESSIVES CONGRESS, (APC), which is presently the governing party of the Federal Republic of Nigeria.

Among the great politicians that have tried to achieve the unity, progress and harmony and of all six regions of Nigeria are people like the "late Awolowo, late Nnamdi Azikiwe, late Sir Ahmadu Bello, late Tafawa Balewa, late Shehu Musa Yar’adua, late Moshood Abiola, late Umaru Musa Yar’adua and former President Olusegun Obasanjo".

Nigeria has been divided by ethnic and religious lines since independence which has led to the demise of so many lives and the collapse of different political parties. In the midst of such chaos and struggle to achieve such positive elements of governance emerged the one out of so many great leader of blessed memory here referred to as Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. The President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria, here referred to as President Muhammadu Buhari who was the Head of State in a military administration in the 80's and now the Commander in Chief of the Armed forces and President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria in a democratic transition has been contesting for the office he presently occupies through a democratic process three times on northern platforms but kept loosing until his party (CPC),merged with a southern party (ACN) in the 2015 general elections that led to his succession to power and governance of the nation.

However, things have not been going well for the government due to the internal conflict within the ruling party which has hindered the progress and smooth sailing of the administration. The internal conflict has also led to a plethora of confrontations and inappropriate utterance from different people. Some of them have even gone so far to state that Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu had to be deceived with a promise of becoming the Vice President of the country before he agreed to merge with other political parties in order to defeat the former ruling party here referred to as the People's Democratic Party,(PDP). By making such a public statement, the leaders of (APC), traditional leaders of which some are of blessed memory and prominent Nigerian's are the ones that spearheaded the merger of the political parties. Such utterance implies that they have been accused of conspiracy and deceit which depicts a bad image and has discredited the reputation of the administration that President Muhammadu Buhari leads today.

Furthermore, by challenging and questioning the number of votes that were provided by the southern state, the utterances made by those people have only managed to succeed in showing the efforts made by them to be rendered as irrelevant and an impediment that negates their capability, sacrifice and efforts as unappreciated, null and void, which is in every way unfair to them. It is common knowledge that votes are not the only determining factors that leads to victory during elections. Whatever happened to campaign strategizing? Whatever happened to the use of scarce resources and even risking of ones personal security and endangerment of the lives that were at stake during elections? To discredit Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu's efforts would be unfair, unreasonable and a blatant disregard to the evolvement of Nigeria's democratic process. No one can take that away from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and whether they like it or not, history will always depict him as the man behind the emergence of (APC) to power as it was the first time in Nigerian politics that an opposition party defeated the ruling party. It is true, that President Muhammadu Buhari has an unimaginable number of supporters. The figures in previous elections shows that he has gotten up to 12 million votes in the past, but the votes he acquired in the 2015 general elections were the lowest ever recorded.

However, despite such low number of votes than usual, he still emerged victorious against all odds. People like Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and The former governor of Rivers State here referred to as His Excellency, Rotimi Amaechi, who is presently the (Minister of Transportation) stood more to loose that most politicians, but they still kept on going and exhausted all their resources at the expense of their wellbeing and total destruction of the empire they managed to build over the years, including paying the ultimate price with their lives, if they had lost the 2015 general elections. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has been accused of being greedy after their victory and considered as a person that was only after material gains and absolute power. If such allegations were true, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu would never support the candidacy of an incorruptible, rigid, and competent and a person of such credibility like President Muhammadu Buhari.

The fact that people make such accusations against him shows he was deceived, but the real question here is, did Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu keep to his promise after the merger of those political parties or did he keep to his words and sacrificed all he had to make sure that they succeeded in their endeavors? "LOVE HIM OR HATE HIM,HE STILL KEPT TO HIS WORD AND GENERAL MUHAMMADU BUHARI,(GCFR) IS THE PRESIDENT OF THE FEDERAL REPUBLIC OF NIGERIA TODAY AND (APC) IS THE NEW GOVERNING PARTY". With regard to the removal of subsidy on petroleum products in Nigeria, which at the moment is the best option to achieve a lasting solution to the problem of fuel scarcity in Nigeria, how come no one has come out to publicly defend President Muhammadu Buhari's policy apart from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. By doing so, he has showed his unshaken loyalty to the government and has proved himself to be part of the "CHANGE" in the way Nigeria is being governed and the present state of the nation when all sectors of government are facing the most trying times in decades. We refuse to consider our leaders in government and traditional rulers being deceitful as reflected by a few out of thousands of politicians and activists.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu will forever be a hero in our hearts and one of the greatest politicians in the pages of history in Nigerian politics and governance. May God almighty continue to bless, guide and protect us with his infinite mercy and wisdom.