SOMEONE IS TRACKING PRESIDENT TINUBU FROM PLACE TO PLACE…

By

JESUTEGA ONOKPASA

I just saw a report detailing how President Bola Tinubu, while interacting with a group of Nigerians in France, revealed that his announcement of the end to the infernally dubious and economically catastrophic fuel subsidy regime, though left out of his Inauguration address by his aides, he still went ahead to make the announcement, anyway!

It immediately reminded me of a conversation I once had during the campaigns with Dele Alake and Bayo Onanuga at the office of the Media and Publicity Directorate of our Presidential Campaign Council.

We were talking about the primaries and the “Emilokan” episode came up in the course of our discussion.

Both Alake and Onanuga expressed how alarmed they had been, at the time, over President Tinubu’s outburst on that occasion.

While I understood and respected their reaction, especially since they were Bola Tinubu’s close friends and had known him far longer than I had, funny enough I found myself telling them that I think that outburst was just the very last ingredient Asiwaju needed to win our party’s primary and become our candidate.

This was before Asiwaju’s second outburst in the same Abeokuta, so when that one happened, I remember jokingly remarking to Ali M Ali that for some reason, and most probably unbeknownst to Asiwaju, himself, the Angel Michael always sets up a rendezvous with him in Abeokuta, in particular, where he pokes and nudges him into losing his temper at precisely the right place, at the right time.

When Alhaji Ali expressed surprise at my take on the matter, I reminded him with a smile that the Bible says “there is a time for peace and a time for war”.

I believe the “Emilokan” episode was critical to Asiwaju becoming our candidate, and I believe the second Abeokuta incident on fuel scarcity and naira redesign was what enabled us to distance Asiwaju enough from the excess baggage of the previous administration, thus enabling him to retain enough of progressive voters to win the presidential poll on election day.

This matter of the subsidy issue not being included in the inauguration speech is perfectly understandable and was clearly motivated by the likes of Dele Alake, Wale Edun and others being worried about our new President incurring the wrath of Nigerians on his very first day in office.

As it turned out, President Tinubu said exactly what he’d planned to say, all along, and our country will be better for it, going forward.

If nothing else, it demonstrates the fact that we have a President entirely with a mind of his own, thus putting a lie to the totally unhinged and entirely unfounded insinuations of “Obidients” and their PDP allies that our President will be controlled by others.

Clearly, whatever or whomever keeps poking a finger at Asiwaju’s back, thus ennobling him to say the truth at just the right location and occasion, somehow managed to track him all the way from Abeokuta to Abuja and ensured he did away with that diabolical monster called fuel subsidy on Inauguration Day.

May that abiding presence remain with our President always, and wherever he goes.

Onokpasa, a lawyer, was a member of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Presidential Campaign Council and writes from Abuja.