The Bola Tinubu Papers

 By Ugo Onuoha

Alhaji Bola Ahmed [or Adekunle] Tinubu’s plot to become Nigeria’s president was not incubated only over the last 24 years as appears to be the refrain in recent years. It has been a lifelong ambition and he said so himself in the presidential villa in Abuja in January.

A man who had no sinister plot will not willfully erase and expunge and diligently hide his beginning and his early childhood as Tinubu has done successfully or so it seems, until now. Even if he was born in the Dark Age, there was no way his first twenty-something years on earth would have disappeared to the extent that they have almost become irrecoverable.

Nigeria: A Dangerous Trend

 By Sunny Ikhioya

From the outcome of the February 25 elections, it is clear that our politics will never be the same again. Our youths have answered the clarion call by taking up the challenge to take back their country and, this is clear for all to see. Even with this, some people are refusing to accept the reality of our situation. You know, those who do not want to play by the rules always find reasons for their failure. The election was substantially flawed and has drawn negative criticism from far and near. 

Ultimately, it is the court that will decide. But whatever the outcome, the real change in our democracy has come to stay. This is an election that our sitting President, after casting his vote on election day, displayed his ballot to the whole world, an action that is against the Constitution and the Electoral Act. By so doing, he has demonstrated that our leaders have no respect for the rule of law, and a few misguided leaders followed in his footstep. 

Tinubu Candidacy And Chatham House Charade

 By Emeka Alex Duru

You would notice that the speech delivered by the presidential candidate of All Progressives Congress (APC), Bola Ahmed Tinubu, at Chatham House, London, earlier in the week, has been drowned by criticisms trailing his outsourcing the question-and-answer section to his cronies. That is not without reasons. It falls into our position here, some time ago, on the need for the flag bearers to assume their offices and speak directly to Nigerians on their agenda for the nation and how they intend to go about them.

*Tinubu

Our observation then was that the presidential candidates carry on their shoulders the burden of marketing themselves and their political organisations. In other words, they are the faces of their parties, their poster boys. That is why being the standard-bearer of a political party, is a big deal – a contest for serious minds. It demands a lot. To paraphrase Gerald R. Ford (38th U.S. President) the presidency is not a prize to be won, but a duty to be done.

Weep Not for Tinubu, But Nigeria

 By Dele Momodu

Call it what you will, what happened at Chatham House London yesterday was a complete charade… The Bola Tinubu handlers fumbled, and bungled it big time… They showcased him like a packaged invalid. It would have been better to present him as a brilliant politician and administrator, warts and all, who’s capable of independent thoughts. No man is perfect. His gaffes would have been more pardonable and acceptable… He was expected to sell his own vision and mission…

Tinubu speaks at Chatham House, London

But what we saw yesterday was a theatre of the absurd. It brought back memories of our great President Alhaji Umaru Yar’Adua and how he mysteriously disappeared from radar and some of his aides governed by proxy. I was one of those who led the Enough-is-Enough protest against the Yar’Adua cabal in Abuja in 2010. What was unacceptable then is even more unacceptable now with benefits of hindsight. Our country should be placed above friendship.