‘He remains an incontestable icon of politics’

Senator Opeyemi Bamidele
Opeyemi Bamidele

Rasaq Ibrahim, Ado-Ekiti

The Chairman, Senate Committee on Judiciary, Human Rights and Legal Matters, Senator Opeyemi Bamidele has described the former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu as one of the incontestible icons of modern democracy in Nigeria and Africa continent.

Bamidele said the national leader of the All Progressive Congress has carved an enviable niche for himself on the national, continental and international grid of politics, taking cognisance of his giant strides and humongous sacrifice in the evolution of democratic governance.

In a birthday message signed by his media Office in Abuja and made available to journalists in Ado-Ekiti, the state capital, on Sunday, the Senator representing Ekiti Central Senatorial District said Tinubu’s political network transcends beyond the sores of Nigeria’s political firmament and indeed Africa.

He stated that the entire African race won’t forget Tinubu’s enigmatic inputs to ensure stability in Nigeria’s democracy and institutionalization of constitutional democractic governance in African nations like South Africa, Sierra Leone, Ghana , Sao Tome and Principe and many other nations.

Bamidele, who was Commissioner for Youth,  Sports and Social Development in Lagos State under Tinubu as Governor, said recalled the incalculable roles Tinubu played in the struggle against military junta leading to the advent of democracy in Nigeria in 1999, saying the epochal struggle had distinguished him as a leader with glowing passion for a government that represents the interest of the poor masses.

He added that Tinubu didn’t only grapple with military to entrench democracy in Nigeria and other African nations, but he  contributed for its evolvement and consolidation as accentuated in the good governance he fostered in Lagos, making the state a Pacesetter and microcosm of  development as the third largest economy in the continent.

“The fact that Tinubu has become a legend of African politics is incontestible. He struggled hard for it and earned the respect of everyone by walking the talk through good governance he pioneered in Lagos State between 1999 and 2007.

“Being a selfless leader with voracious penchant for democratic growth, Tinubu assembled the best brains across the southwest region under the successive umbrellas of the Alliance for Democracy, Action Congress and then the Action Congress of Nigeria and ensured that every state in the region savoured the pleasure of good governance and this he accomplished through hardwork and sacrifices.

“Asiwaju Tinubu didn’t stop at that, he took the gospel of good governance beyond the shores of southwest enclave by also coalescing efforts with other progressive elements in Edo State in the Southsouth region to enlist the state within the fold of progressives.

“To underscore how strategic and shrewd his leadership acumen was, Tinubu met Lagos economy in 1999 in a parlous and  distraught state , but with iron cast resoluteness, he jacked up the state’s internally generated revenue from the paltry N600m to a staggering sum of N9 billion in 2007 while  also leaving a blueprint for his successor  that raised the bar to over  N25 billion immediately following his tenure.

“This living legend also promoted mentorship to a higher pedestal under which someone like me and other great compatriots like Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, former Governors Babatunde Fashola, Rauf Aregbesola, Akinwumi Ambode,  current Governors Kayode Fayemi, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, Gboyega Oyetola; and Patriots like Senator Gbenga Ashafa, Senator Solomon Olamilekan Adeola, Dr. Muiz Banire, Senator Olorunnimbe Mamora and others too numerous to catalogue cut their teeth in politics and are today doing great for humanity,” he said.

Bamidele added that history will continue to remember Tinubu for making great sacrifices in 2015 for the consummation of APC despite the  daunting task, with the sole intention of ending the reign of holocaust brought into governance by the then ruling People’s Democratic Party (PDP).

“Asiwaju didn’t only collapse his well oiled political party (ACN) into the merger plan, he made huge financial sacrifices to fasttrack the process of creating alternative platform to PDP that was then wreaking havoc on the economy by  creating  a monopolistic cartel riding roughshod on the populace.

“My prayers and those of Asiwaju’s innumerable admirers have been that God would spare his life for many more years for him to further contribute meanigfully to the growth of Nigeria, African continent and humanity at large”.

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