Tinubu is Man-of-the-Year

By Okey Ikechukwu

What, and who, has had greater influence and impact on our lives and times as Nigerians this year than the candidacy, emergence, decisions and actions of president Bola Ahme Tinubu? Who, and in connection with whom, will most Nigerians say today that they have been affected very significantly, one way or another, in their personal lives, in their businesses and other endeavours?   Like him or hate him, Tinubu stands out today as the single entity in Nigeria’s political space whose overbearing influence has conditioned almost everything else, and who is now the most conspicuous variable shaping our lives.

A Person of the Year (called Man of the Year or Woman of the Year until 1999) is an annual issue of the American news magazine and website Time featuring a person, a group, idea, or object that “for better or for worse… has done the most to influence the events of the year”. The epithet simply signifies an acknowledgement of impact, an indication that here was a phenomenon, idea or person, whose effect on everyone in a given space could not be ignored within the period under review. And it is against this background that President Bola Ahmed Tinubu stands out as man-of-the-year to me.

Before the APC Primaries:

He was almost written off. The news out there was that Aso Rock was out to do him in. his acolytes rose in their numbers to contest against him. It was shocking, it was almost benumbing. The air was tense with a feeling of oh the man is finished. Osinbajo and Fayemi, among others, were lined up against him. I had no doubt that the man was history politically. I said so on this page, late January, 2023. Take a read:

“An Igbo prover says that a man who has a house full of “friends” whose loyalty rests on the largeness of his purse and the venison on his dining table has no friends at all. Such a man will find out, sooner or later, that he is alone on the day of sacrifice when people are asked to make all manner of personal denials for him. No one will stake his life for him, because all his friends would like to live and enjoy their plunder.

A look at most of the campaign video clips of Asiwaju raises a fundamental question of propriety, patriotism, and dignity in adulthood for most of his backers. “How and why would anyone bring out this man, have the courage to stand behind him as a supporter in public, and then boldly assert that this is the best that the ruling APC can find for Nigeria, after eight years of unmitigated leadership incompetence? From the party’s performance on all fronts, it ought to simply apologize to Nigerians, withdraw from the elections and announce that it would go on a 24 months retreat; to learn about leadership.  

The man’s political machinery seems to be densely supported by individuals and groups who are largely driven by the “cash value’” of their loyalty to their pockets and their inverted patriotism as Nigerians. And that brings us back to the personal, aspirational and existential crisis facing a Bola Tinubu in Nigeria today.

He was the architect of the convoluted processes that birthed the ruling party and the Buhari Presidency. So, he brought out the masquerade that has been dealing with him for eight years now. Do you recall “the article “Tinubu and His Egungun”, Which appeared on this page on August 30, 2016? Perhaps not.

Part of the article in question said: “Most of those who birthed the current Presidency are now confounded. The once most enthusiastic among them are quivering in the limited space allowed him by the very talisman they procured and celebrated. Their circumstance is proof that a politician may get into trouble more because of his own errors of judgment than from the evil machinations of his enemies and competitors. The lessons of the hour for the Lion of Bourdilon, Chief Bola Ahmed Tinubu and the APC`s hastily contrived coalition, are legion. These loyalists are all standing in public with bruises inflicted on them by their own, or their family`s, Egungun or masquerade”.  

Look at Tinubu today. “Even the rainmakers shall fall victim to the elements; because they did not know the full implications of the incantations they were mumbling. They cannot even take full flight! They locked the gates before the incantations began. They arranged a funeral, while dressed for a banquette, such that. Baffled, besmirched, excoriated and roundly diminished by their masquerade`s aberrant and atavistic totality, they crouch; hobbled, as they huddle””.

And, finally, “Aquiver in little corners, they are now muttering “Olori buruku, ma ba temi je o! Enough said, as the dénouement of this drama is unfolding precipitously.

After the Primaries:

Then, to the consternation of many of us, Tinubu emerged the APC presential candidate! And this emergence also brought forth new allegations about plots to stop the man. Kaduna State Governor, Nasir Elrufai said so. Quoting Elrufai, The Punch newspaper of February 1, 2023, had this blazing headline: “Aso Rock Elements Working Against Tinubu Victory”.   The paper quotes the governor as having “revealed that some people in Aso Rock Villa are working to frustrate the victory of All Progressives Congress presidential candidate, Bola Tinubu, during this month’s election”.

His comments on Channels Television programme on the matter were reported by the Punch thus:  “I believe there are elements in the Villa that want us to lose the election because they didn’t get their way; they had their candidate. Their candidate did not win the primaries.”  The governor explained that those working against Tinubu’s victory were those who’s APC presidential flagbearer defeated their candidates during the party’s presidential primary election.  

Tinubu himself echoed the same sentiments. The Naira redesign was said to have been targeted at him, to deny him the cash that could be used to influence the election outcome. The mobilization by his co-contestants and their parties gave strong intimations of a grand loss by Tinubu. The Obidients, in particular, were practically dressed for a post-election swearing in of their candidate. Victory was sure, they enthused everywhere.  

And there was also a video clip of President Buhari making the rounds at the time. The clip was indeed the subject of more than passing attention. The clip was unusually clear and well produced. It had this image of the president that was as lucid as his facial expressions were unmistakably serious. His voice, too, was clearer than usual. The man was, somewhat unlike him in his less coherent moments, articulate, forthright and determined not to be misunderstood.

His simple message in that video clip was that he would superintend and ensure free, fair and transparent elections. He also pledged to make this the legacy he would like to leave for Nigeria and Nigerians, as he prepared to head for   Daura, Katsina State, after the elections.

And this column observed then, regarding unfolding events: “Add the foregoing to the growing suspicion, and perhaps realization, that the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) is being touted to have “tied its hands”, such that it cannot influence election outcomes because of the BVAS it procured, and is determined to use. Add, also, the general impression that there is a direct linkage between the drama surrounding the new Naira notes and the elections. This would lead us to the conclusion that individuals and groups planning, and hoping, to deploy unvarnished cash to influence the elections may find themselves upstaged. What then will Asiwaju BolaTinubu, whom many believe is planning to “pay all payables” in order to emerge president?

Well, we have all seen what the man could   do!

And Now that Tinubu is president?

We are seeing it all, are we not? “What, and who, has had greater influence and impact on our lives and times as Nigerians this year than the candidacy, emergence, decisions and actions of president Bola Ahme Tinubu? Who, and in connection with whom, will most Nigerians say today that they have been affected very significantly, one way or another, in their personal lives, in their businesses and other endeavours?   Like him or hate him, Tinubu stands out today as the single entity in Nigeria’s political space whose overbearing influence has conditioned almost everything else, and who is now the most conspicuous variable shaping our lives”. 

Neither certificate debates, questions about his antecedents concerns about his means of livelihood while in the US, his real name, age, gender and even his business practices while he was governor of Lagos state could stop the man. Not the concert of elder statesmen and former heads of state. Not the narratives of those who were sure they ha fool proof strategies and evidence. 

An, again, the impact of some of his policy decisions has been more of a leveler, hardly to be ignored by anyone. Yes, it is all very real.

And, going back to the roots of the original concept of Man of the Year, Person of the Year or Man of the Year is an award given to an individual, most especially and very often, by a newspaper or other news medium, as an annual recognition a public person. Such awards have typically been awarded to one person, thing, idea or phenomenon of great impact at the end of a calendar year.

 Franklin D. Roosevelt is the only person to have been named Person of the Year three times. The December 31, 1999 issue of Time named Albert Einstein the “Person of the Century”. Time Magazine’s Person of the Year is chosen by the magazine’s editors, who select the individual or group of individuals who they believe have had the most influence on the world, for better or for worse, during the previous year. Curiously, Hurricane Katrina was also once named Man of the year out there.

So, why not Hurricane Tinubu? the man who has, so far, wrestled all comers to the ground this year.