Garlands as Tinubu turns 65

hehehehe.......The height, which the National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, who is 65 years today, has reached and kept, was not attained by a sudden flight,
Like the king, who William Shakespeare in his book: “King Richard 11”, said all the waters in the rude rough seas could not wash off the anointing balm on his head, National Leader of the All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Tinubu, has turned to be a leading light, when the nation is still groping in the dark for competent leadership.

The former Lagos State governor is an enigma that has come to bestride the Nigerian political space like a colossus. He has demonstrated that it costs a leader nothing but the political will to advance the fortunes of his people.
Unlike the timid Nigerian politician, who thinks more about the security of his seat than the security of his country, Tinubu believes that politics should be the conduct of public affairs for the good of all. This, he had even demonstrated in his private capacity through investing in individuals as well as donating to worthy causes not only in his home state but across the country.
Blessed with uncanny ability to identify political as well as electoral assets, there is no doubt that Tinubu laid the foundation of the transformation that has seen Lagos – Nigeria’s former capital and commercial hub – once ranked among the filthiest cities in the world into a mega-city of repute. But, many may wonder how the man popularly referred to as Jagaban by his admirers, has been able to navigate the murky waters of politics and still remain afloat over the years, when many have got “drowned.”
The answer is not farfetched as Tinubu is unlike most of his contemporaries, who see politics as a profession for which no preparation is thought necessary.
Like great of men of his kind, the height that Tinubu has so far reached and kept in politics was not attained by sudden flight. Like his ilk, Tinubu, while his compatriots slept, was toiling upward in the night. Born in Lagos to the Tinubu family, the APC national leader attended Richard Daley College, Chicago Illinois, where he earned himself a place in the honors list of the College.
He subsequently proceeded to the Chicago State University, Illinois where he obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration (Accounting and Management).
During his undergraduate years, he was honored with the Outstanding Student’s Award, The University Scholar’s Award and the Certificate of Merit in Accounting and Finance. He contested and won his first political election as the President of the Accounting Society of the institution in his final year at the university.
Tinubu, upon graduation cut his professional teeth at the Americanbased Arthur Anderson, Deloitte Haskins and Sells (now called Deloitte Haskins and Touche) and GTE Service Corporation. On his return to Nigeria and with his international experience in Financial Management, Tinubu joined Mobil Producing Nigeria as a Senior Auditor before he retired as the company’s Treasurer. Most people at that time wonder why he left a promising career to venture into the murky waters of Nigerian politics, but his quest to ameliorate the suffering of the people motivated the endeavour. His first foray into active politics was as a founding member of the defunct Social Democratic Party (SDP) and was elected senator for Lagos West in 1992.
Though the Third Republic was short-lived as a result of military incursion, Tinubu distinguished himself as the Chairman of the Senate Committee on Banking, Finance, Appropriation and Currency. With the annulment of the June 12, 1993 presidential Election, Tinubu became a founding member of the National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), a pro-democracy group, which for several years engaged the military for a restoration of democratic governance. Threats to his life later forced him to flee Nigeria. He, however, did not give up the struggle as he joined NADECO abroad to continue the agitation. The APC national leader returned to the country in 1998.
A year later, he was elected governor of Lagos State on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). As governor of the “Centre of Excellence” between 1999 and 2007, Tinubu made large investments in education in the state. He also initiated new road construction required to meet the needs of the fastgrowing population of the state.
He was also involved in a struggle with the Federal Government over whether Lagos State had the right to create new Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to meet the needs of its large population.
The controversy led to the Federal government seizing funds meant for local councils in the state, but that did not deter his resolve to make Lagos a true Center of Excellence. Tinubu equally survived the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) incursion of the South- West, which swept away other AD governors in the zone.
He was later to play a critical role in the formation of the Action Congress (AC), following the decimation of AD. Rallying like minds across the country, he sold sound ideals and programmes on this fresh and new  political platform and within a fee months, he transformed the new party as the credible opposition to the PDP.
For a man who believes in William Penn’s philosophy that “no system of government was ever so ill devised that, under proper men, it wouldn’t work well enough,” Tinubu’s uncanny ability to spot electoral assets, explains his reasoning after the 2011 elections that if a former Head of State, General Muhammadu Buhari, who contested the poll on a relatively unknown platform – Congress for Progressive Change (CPC) could poll 12 million votes without much resources and national appeal, then he was the man to be pushed forward for the 2015 elections.
He had before then persistently spoken of his readiness to join hands with all like-minded people to enthrone a government that will work for the generality of Nigerians no matter the cost. Perhaps, part of the cost was letting go of his grip of the defunct Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), which merged with Buhari’s CPC and All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP) to form the APC.
Consequently, the opposition was able to speak with one voice for the first time since 1999, when the country returned to civil rule,. Tinubu’s support for Buhari stemmed from the party’s national convention, where he mobilized other party stakeholders and APC governors to ensure that the former head of state was not muscled by other presidential aspirants with huge financial war chests.
The former Lagos governor also jettisoned his vice presidential ambition after consultations with party chieftains on the effect of a Muslim/Muslim ticket on APC’s chances in the presidential poll. This paved way for the choice of his former Lagos State Attorney- General and Commissioner for Justice, Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, and perhaps explained the acceptance of the party by majority of Nigerians from across the various religious divides in the presidential poll. The APC’s victory in the presidential election opened a new vista in Nigeria’s political history.
For the first time, an opposition party defeated the ruling party. Little wonder President Buhari, in his congratulatory message to Tinubu’s on his birthday today, noted that the former Lagos governor’s foray into politics had ushered in a better understanding of building consensus to achieve historical feats, like unseating an incumbent government. His words: “Tinubu has raised the bar for many political leaders across the country as a two-term governor of Lagos State, and also bequeathed a style of leadership that completely altered the landscape of the commercial capital.”