Tinubu and Fashola

Bola Tinubu and Babatunde Raji Fashola

Tinubu and Fashola

By Ademola Adegbamigbe

The photographs in this story went viral on social media since Thursday 12 April when Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and Babatunde Raji Fashola met at the traditional wedding of Aremo Olusegun Osoba’s daughter. Why the sudden interest? Not a few Nigerians are ready to swear by their grandfathers’ coffins that Tinubu and Fashola now behave like two cocks thrown into a pit and that each would be ready, at the slightest opportunity, to pour acid down each other’s thyroid gland!

That Fashola was not given what critics called due recognition at the recent Bola Tinubu colloquium despite being the originator of the function 10 years ago gave more fuel to the idea. In fact, many analysts went to chronicle where the conflict between the two men began and how it was exacerbated by Governor Akinwunmi Ambode of Lagos. Those arguing along this line added the angle of Ambode’s crisis with Fashola, making the whole analysis to become what thespians would call a triangular conflict.

For more on that, read this: https://thenewsnigeria.com.ng/2018/04/tinubu-colloquium-and-the-benching-of-fashola-as-a-spectator/

However, the question still remains; will Tinubu abandon his son, his own project- in a manner of speaking? No, absolutely not. This is because when TheNEWS confronted Tinubu with a question on what he considered his legacy after spending eight years as Lagos governor, his reply, apart from the financial engineering of Lagos, especially to bring financial autonomy to the state and eliminate wastage and mismanagement, was this:

“My greatest legacy is Governor Babatunde Fashola. I identified and endorsed him. That was when my corporate background as a recruiter and talent seeker for Deloitte came to play. Part of the training when you go on operational audit is that the first things you evaluate are the personnel and the questionnaire given to them and how they answer it. You look at the ability of individuals to really take and develop others. There is nothing unique about any leadership. Everybody can come up with different ideas. You can take different routes and arrive at the same answer. No matter how much steel and metal you put together, the greatest achievement and legacy is the ability to develop other leaders who can succeed you, otherwise your legacy will be in shambles. It was a very difficult and challenging period for me. I thank God I stuck to my gun.”

This quote is adapted from an interview published in Asiwaju: Untold Story of The Leader, a special publication of TheNEWS in 2012