Bola Ahmed Tinubu a.k.a. Asiwaju or Jagaban (born 29 March
1952) was elected Senator for the Lagos West constituency in Lagos State,
Nigeria in 1993, just before a military take-over in December 1993. After the
return to democracy, he was elected governor of Lagos State, holding office
from 29 May 1999 to 29 May 2007. He is an influential member of the All
Progressives Congress party; he also holds both the chieftaincies of the
Asiwaju of Lagos and the Jagaban of the Borgu Kingdom in Niger State, Nigeria.
He is often tagged the National Leader of the All Progressive Congress (APC)
party with President Muhammadu Buhari.
This eloquent politician attended St. John's Primary School, Aroloya,
Lagos and Children's Home School in Ibadan. Tinubu went to the United States in
1975, where he studied first at Richard J. Daley College in Chicago, Illinois
and then at Chicago State University. He graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science
degree in Accounting.
Tinubu worked for American companies Arthur Andersen,
Deloitte, Haskins, & Sells, and GTE Services Corporation. After returning
to Nigeria in 1983 Bola Tinubu joined Mobil Oil Nigeria, and later becoming an
Executive of the company.
His political career began in 1992, on the platform of the
Social Democratic Party in the faction of the Peoples Front led by Shehu Musa
Yar'Adua and other politicians in the faction such as Dapo Sarumi and Yomi Edu
when he was elected to the Nigerian Senate representing the Lagos West
constituency in the short-lived Nigerian Third Republic. After the results of
the 12 June 1993 presidential elections were annulled, Tinubu became a founding
member of the pro-democracy National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), which
mobilized support for the restoration of democracy and recognition of the 12
June results. He went into exile in 1994 and returned to the country in 1998
after the death of military dictator Sani Abacha, which ushered in a transition
to civilian rule.
In the run-up to the 1999 elections, Bola Tinubu was a
protégé of Alliance for Democracy (AD) leaders Abraham Adesanya and Ayo
Adebanjo. He won the AD primaries for
the Lagos State gubernatorial elections in competition with Funsho Williams and
Wahab Dosunmu, a former Minister of Works and Housing. In April 1999, he stood
for the position of Executive Governor of Lagos State on the AD ticket and was
elected.
Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu. |
When he assumed office in May 1999, Bola Ahmed Tinubu
promised 10,000 housing units for the poor .During his eight-year period of
office, he made large investments in education in the state. He also initiated
new road construction, required to meet the needs of the fast-growing
population of the state.
Tinubu, alongside a new deputy governor, Femi Pedro, won
re-election to office as Governor in April 2003. All other states in the South
West fell to the People's Democratic Party. He was involved in a struggle with
the Federal government over whether Lagos State had the right to create new
Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to meet the needs of its large
population. The controversy led to the Federal government seizing funds meant
for local councils in the state. During the later part of his term in office,
he was engaged in continuous clashes with PDP powers such as Adeseye Ogunlewe,
a former Lagos State senator who became minister of works, and Bode George, southwest
chairman of the PDP.
In March 2009 there were reports that a plot had been
identified to kill Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. The Alliance for Democracy called on
Inspector General Police, Mike Okiro to conduct a thorough investigation.
Following the victory by the People's Democratic Party (PDP)
in the April 2007 elections, Bola Tinubu was active in negotiations to bring
together the fragmented opposition parties into a "mega-party" capable
of challenging the PDP in 2011.[23] In July 2009, he called for implementation
of electoral reforms spelled out in the Uwais report to ensure that the 2011
elections would be as free and fair as the elections of 1993 had been.
In December 2009 there
were reports that Babatunde Fashola and Bola Tinubu had fallen out over the
issue of whether Fashola should run for reelection in 2011, with Tinubu said to
be supporting the Commissioner for Environment, Muiz Banire.
Tinubu later bowed to
pressure and supported Fashola's candidature which had been adjudged by the
public as good. Another scuffle on the successor of Fashola put Tinubu against
him in 2015. Fashola later relented and threw his full weight behind Akinwunmi
Ambode, the then gubernatorial candidate of the APC who later succeeded him.
The former senator is regarded as the
pillar of modern politic in Nigeria. Tinubu is married to Oluremi Tinubu, the current Senator
representing Lagos central.
photo:www.Google.com
Credit :https://en.wikipedia.org
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