29th March, 2021
Though some people may not like the National leader of the All Progressives Congress, APC, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, the fact remains that he has shaped the political landscape of Nigeria for over two decades.
For four days now, Tinubu has been trending on twitter, no former governor, president and others have trended consecutively for four days on twitter. This shows how important he is in Nigeria.
Any step he takes, any comment he makes, any action he takes, Nigerians will always tear him apart or hail on twitter. While some are angry about his soaring popularity, others are championing campaigns for his 2023 presidential ambition.
As he clocks 69 today, March 29, 2021, here are 10 quick facts about him.
- He was born on 29 March 1952 in Osun State, Nigeria. His mother, Abibatu Mogaji, was a trader that later became the Iyaloja of Lagos.
2. Tinubu began his political career in 1992, when he joined the Social Democratic Party where he was a member of the Peoples Front faction led by Shehu Musa Yar’Adua and made up of other politicians such as Umaru Yar’Adua, Atiku Abubakar, Baba Gana Kingibe, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila, Magaji Abdullahi, Dapo Sarumi and Yomi Edu.
3. He was elected to the Senate, representing the Lagos West constituency in the short-lived Nigerian Third Republic.
4. He was two-term governor of Lagos State between 1999 and 2007 under the platform of Alliance for Democracy (AD) and Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN).
5. Tinubu refused to bulge when former President Olusegun Obasanjo seized the Federal Allocation of Lagos State when he created additional 37 LGs. All through the period, Lagos survived despite its N10.5 billion seized.
6. Tinubu was instrumental to President Muhammadu Buhari’s emergence as president in 2015, after championing an alliance which gave birth to the APC. He singlehandedly delivered the entire Southwest’s votes to Buhari.
7. In 2019, his contribution led to Buhari’s winning of second term ticket. Many Nigerians did not like him for this because of poor governance by Buhari’s government.
8. He holds both the chieftaincy titles of the Asiwaju of Lagos and the Jagaban of Borgu kingdom in Niger State, Nigeria.
9. In April 2007, the Federal Government brought Tinubu before the Code of Conduct Bureau for trial over the alleged illegal operation of 16 separate foreign accounts, but he was cleared as there were no evidence to nail him.
10. During #EndSARS protest that later turned violent, many of Tinubu’s properties in Lagos were burnt, but that did not deterred him as he continues to wax stronger and stronger.