OLAWALE OLALEYE

I’m not a fan of the President-elect, Bola Tinubu, and never will be. Fact! Let’s consider this a public declaration for the umpteenth time. And if you like, you can also interpret this decision as yielding from a personal standpoint. It still wouldn’t change me from me. 

I covered him as Governor of Lagos State, and we were running around Lagos during the Ikeja bomb blast – stressing day and night. So, I had seen and observed him at close quarters. Yet, our spirits do not gel. But I do not hate him either, even when I have grounds to.

I recall engaging him at the ramp in Alausa one day after visiting some of the victims of the blast. I asked what he would have done if it was a coup that happened the day the bombs detonated? He paused for a while, pondering his answer. But his media aides didn’t like the tone of my question. They were going to stop me. Instead, he stopped them and took it on. I could tell he liked the question because it resonated with him – days in the trenches. 

For one, I’ve never liked his politics because it is darwinian in nature and absolute in form. He is an extremist, when it comes to politics of neutralising the opposition. He does not leave anything to chance and aims for complete annihilation of the opponents. It’s his style. Sadly, it has worked and sustained him over the years. It derives from his understanding of power and politics. 

The name, Akanbi, isn’t casual and not just handed children for want of any other. The internet meaning of it does not suffice either. It goes beyond, “He who is given birth to after only one touch.” For want of a simplistic meaning, it typifies a preternatural being. 

Many a time, I’d queried the sweeping hatred, not dislike, for Tinubu from different quarters. A few, including some openly identifying with him, only endure him for personal benefits. The interesting thing is that a majority of those in this class do not hide it, and it cuts across ethnic groups. In fact, more Yoruba folks “detest” him and his guts than people from other tribes. 

Unfortunately, the more they project their hate, the more he tends to advance in the things they hate him for. Isn’t that unfathomable? Show me anyone who has gotten away with almost everything, and I’ll tell you no one compares to him. Indeed, some of those who couldn’t stand his guts are coming back to genuflect before him, since a lot of them do not even have second addresses. 

Even if they had, have you sat back to ask if there was something he was doing right for God to have satisfied him with staggering favour in spite of what you and I might consider his “sins”? After all, some of the vilest offenders in the Bible were described as God’s favorite. But if you considered their atrocities, you would almost question God’s criteria for choosing those He called His favourites. 

This, nonetheless, I have come, not just to the conclusion but distinct realisation that the more you espouse hate for this man, the more he progresses in all his undertakings and machinations, including savouring long life against all odds. 

The Yoruba have two defining sayings, which I consider expedient in the circumstances. One, “Ti a ba le’ni, ti a o ba ba’ni, a ma’n s’in leyin eni ni.” And the other, which I consider complementary adds: “E lo ja’wo l’apon ti o yo, e lo da omi Ila ka’na” at this rate. In other words, “gba fun oga e ni isinmi.”

There are levels of grace that individuals enjoy, and it’s God’s exclusive right, contingent on His relationship with each person. Discover yours and develop it in a relationship with your creator. 

Pastor Paul Adefarasin was very profound, when he said there was going to be a Saul before the coming of David. The Saul is here already, but don’t make God change his mind about your preferred David. Wisdom is profitable…