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Firstly, he committed N50 million to the northern victims of the recent Shasha market mayhem in Ibadan. He also reportedly committed to rehabilitating and restocking the library of Ahmadu Bello University. All of these gestures did not escape the notice of the observing public as part of moves towards engineering his presidential race. But does charity begin at home for the former governor of Lagos state? Does Bola Ahmed Tinubu remember that feigning niceties to another section of the country does not make him a nationalist still? Either a brief or cursory look at Lagos state where Bola Tinubu was once governor reveals there are many more gaps needing to be filled by the below-par performance of the governors since 1999 till date. Lagos, as the most populous state in the nation and the most accessible to the coast, has remained underdeveloped for decades despite the influential figure of Tinubu looming over the city-state. The crux of that observation is that Bola Tinubu has not demonstrated the developments he is idealising at the state level before moving to replicate them nationally.
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This is one of the attributes which contrasts Tinubu with the former Premier of Western Nigeria, Late Chief Obafemi Awolowo. As the Yoruba, an ethnic group within Nigeria to which Tinubu belongs would say, charity begins at home – Tinubu has only been able to show examples of godfatherism, nepotism, and corruption with the several questionable asset acquisitions linked to him in Lagos alone. Tinubu has failed to inspire the youth like he was given the chance by people like Awolowo and Gani Dawodu to grow into enviable ranks in the Nigerian political terrain. Tinubu has not made a successful effort to push the regional development of the Southwest before catapulting for the national stage. The politics and ideology of the old class of Nigerian politicians diffract largely from that being launched by Bola Tinubu. The patronising politics established by Bola Tinubu has enabled too many touts to interfere in the political process. The overt patronisation of groups such as the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW) has also led to the excessive militarization of Nigerian politics where ballot snatching, excessive thumbprinting, shootings and violence are now the order of the day. Though the Bola Tinubu colloquium will continue to hold for long, the personality involved has failed to show beyond a reasonable doubt, enough reasons why the Southwest and other regions in Nigeria should back any quest for leadership that he embarks on. Even if he tried, the attempt at national leadership for Bola Tinubu will come back dud because for Tinubu and his ilk who play politics by that amoral code, they have failed to establish a charity in their regions. Featured Image Source: Leadership Newspapers
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