The beginning of the end of the Bola Tinubu dynasty

The beginning of the end of the Bola Tinubu dynasty

KING Nebuchadnezzar gloried in his kingdom and declared: “Is this not magnificent Babylon, which I have built as a royal capital by my mighty power and for my glorious majesty?” (Daniel 4:30). While the words were still in his mouth, a voice came from heaven to inform him that the kingdom he was boasting about had been taken away from him.
Similarly, Bola Tinubu, “the Ashiwaju of Yorubaland,” surveyed his kingdom and decided to make a boastful proclamation. Speaking of himself in the third person, Tinubu declared: “Nobody, no one under the sun, under the United Nations Human Rights Charter, can stop Bola Tinubu’s ambition.” Famous last words! The voice of the electorate in the South-West has answered Tinubu. His personal ambition is certainly not in the interest of the people.
De-mystification of Tinubu
Tinubu’s claim to fame lies in the strength of his ACN party in the South-West. The only resistance was Ondo State, which was controlled by Olusegun Mimiko’s Labour party. But the assumption was that it was only a matter of time before Ondo too would succumb to the Tinubu juggernaut. However, in the 2012 gubernatorial election in Ondo, Mimiko not only prevailed once again, the ACN candidate did not even come second. He was beaten to a distant third by the PDP.
This indicated that the Yorubas were already getting fed up with Tinubu; determined that they will not be sold into his slavery. In a letter to Mimiko congratulating him on his victory, Reuben Fasoranti, the leader of the Yoruba group, Afenifere, said: “This victory, amongst other things, is victory over god-fatherism, a rejection of political imposition and slavery from outside the state.” “We entered into electoral cooperation with you (Mimiko) in the election to counter an emerging group under the leadership of few disrespectful, snobbish, arrogant, ravaging and power-thirsty politicians.”

The obvious reference here was to Bola Tinubu and his ACN colleagues. In many respects, Tinubu has become the most hated politician in the South-West.   Association with him is increasingly as politically contagious as leprosy. The emerging consensus in the South-West is that Tinubu has overreached himself with his heavy-handedness. It is past time to cut him back to size. Thus, Fasoranti added to Mimiko: “There is a need for the exhibition of fair play and justice to all and carry the banner of progressive politics into national politics now that the eclipse of the ACN is unavoidable.”
Ekiti Waterloo
This prognosis has proved to be prophetic. The defeat of Tinubu’s party in Ondo has now been followed by its trouncing in the just-concluded gubernatorial election in Ekiti. Ekiti was presumed to be one of Tinubu’s South-West strongholds. The incumbent governor, Kayode Fayemi, is one of the darlings of Tinubu’s new-fangled APC. Indeed, some have been touting Fayemi as a possible APC vice-presidential candidate. However, rather than confirm that Ekiti is firmly in Tinubu’s camp, the people of Ekiti decided to send a loud and clear message to Tinubu. They no longer want to have anything to do with him and with his party.
Tinubu’s Fayemi did not only lose the Ekiti election, he lost it by a landslide. He obtained 120,000 votes to Ayo Fayose’s 203,000. Fayemi lost in every local government area of the state. Coming on the heels of its defeat in Ondo, the APC rout in Ekiti is conclusive proof that Tinubu’s fabled stranglehold on South-West politics has ended. Indeed, Tinubu is now a political liability in the South-West. Rather than bring votes to the APC in the region, he is now more than likely to lose them.
This accounts for the confused reaction of the APC to the election. Local and international observers declared it free and fair. The losing local candidates readily accepted defeat, including Fa