EXCLUSIVE!!!! BOLA TINUBU IS JINGOISTIC, Bukola Saraki is..................and Okonjo-Iweala is...............Says Yetunde Arobieke.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu to some people is a very good man with a very large heart and to some others (especially people who had never had personal dealings with him), a bad man to the extreme and one begins to wonder or imagine why people would have such impressions about a man who spear-headed and team-worked what we have today as CHANGE.

In our quest to bring the truth to bare, we decided to go look for people whose knowledge of Bola Tinubu is far-reaching and authoritative and therefore, we present to your reading pleasure, Chief (Mrs.) Yetunde Arobieke, aka as YARO, a former Chairman, Agboyi-Ketu Local Development Area in Lagos, who had had first-hand experience of who the man ‘‘Tinubu’’ is and would rather be described as an authority in TINUBU-OLOGY.

She spoke on other sundry issues about Nigeria, the new leadership and the economy.

Excerpts…

Q. Who Is Bola Ahmed Tinubu In Your Own Words?

One can’t find the appropriate word to describe Asiwaju. He is a man with too many parts and sides to himself. He is a man of now, a man that has divine purpose for a time like this. If I say Asiwaju is this and that, I would be underestimating him. He is a man of history. If you look at the time of Awolowo, Chief Awolowo looked for the opportunity to bring Nigeria and Nigerians together but he was unable to achieve that fit.

Chief Obafemi Awolowo was like the David in the Bible who wanted to build a sanctuary for God but God told him no, you can’t build for me but your son Solomon will. Today, that Solomon in David’s time is Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu. What Chief Awolowo wasn’t able to achieve in Nigerian, Asiwaju has achieved and surpassed in all ramifications.

He has brought together the whole ethnicities in this country. Most governors at his time are no longer reigning today. They have faded away with time because they were assigned for such a time but Asiwaju is a political genius. He knows when to swim and when to stay afloat. He knows what to do at every point in time. You remember the time of Chief Olusegun Obasanjo as president, other governors who could not discern the negative intentions of the president, fell flat to his political scheming but Tinubu stood his ground and today, he is the man of victory.

One thing outstanding about Tinubu is the fact that he is the most Jingoistic person I have ever seen or met, he loves his country, he accompanied that love with his policies, policies that will outlive him permanently.

He came up with a progressive agenda which has made him the only former governor whose agenda has survived his administration. Agenda for the transformation of the educational sector, health, infrastructural development, transformation of the environment, transportation policy, improving development in all rural communities, etc and what is spectacular about this agenda is that all the progressive states are using the agenda and they are making giant strides in their respective states.

He is a man whose integrity you can’t fault in any way.

The agenda which Asiwaju introduced into our political space as Governor of Lagos was the real transformation that has happened to this country, not the one brought to us fraudulently by Goodluck Jonathan who claimed to have had a transformation policy that made Nigerians poorer and malnourished during his tenure as president.

 

When Asiwaju came in as Governor in 1999 in Lagos State, he transformed the educational sector from the decadence he met it by providing a conducive environment for learning, eg, construction of Millennium Buildings, employment of more teachers, payment of WAEC fees, he reconstructed Jakande humble edifice in most primary and secondary schools by making them modern, 6 classrooms blocks became the model as against the roofed classrooms.

On heath, ages 0 to 5years enjoyed free medical treatment while ages 60 and above qualifies for the same. All public health centres were reconstructed to give room for modern attendance and the policy on Public Health Centre (PHC) per ward for proximity to healthcare was part of the agenda the fulfilment of which is still being implemented by subsequent government after him.

Infrastructural development. When Asiwaju came on board, the decadence he met at this sector can never be over-emphasize. There was poor road networking, poor drainage system and poor infrastructure in all ramifications. He took the bull by the horn by going to the drawing board to have data knowledge of all infrastructural networks and today, his data base is still the reference point for implementation by subsequent administration. So, what we have in Lagos and all South West States are still the evidenced implementation of his profound agenda on infrastructure.

On environment, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu met a dirty Lagos with mountains of refuse on every streets, roads, nooks and crannies. The mentality of Lagosians to a clean environment was nil, he started with a zero tolerance policy of House to House Campaign on Waste Management. A campaign that brought to each home, government concern about their cleanliness, which was when monthly environmental sanitation became meaningful. He equally instituted a state/ local government agreement on how to handle refuse, today, we see a cleaner Lagos, the success of which was a calculated attempt by a leader with foresight to institutionalize his campaign agenda on environment. He started the channelization policy that has removed flood in most areas in Lagos State, this agenda is a continuous process, hence, subsequent government implementation of same.

Transportation. It’s a known fact that the Bus Rapid Transit (BRT) was initiated by Bola Ahmed Tinubu to transform the transport sector in the state. Before the emergence of BRT, the molue system became a shame to an emerging mega city called Lagos and the need to initiate a policy in that sector cannot be over-emphasized. Therefore, Asiwaju came up with a marriage policy between the National Union of Road Transport Workers (NURTW), the banks and the State, to give convenience to transporting Lagosians. The policy was so laudable that the federal government under Goodluck Ebele Jonathan came to learn and replicated it at the federal level.

Under the progressive agenda, he orchestrated a rural development policy that out-lived him, which in turn, led to sporadic development to rural dwellers. Electrification of most rural areas, initiated thorough road networking, emphasizing rural strength in terms of agricultural enhancement, which tends to the urbanization of those rural areas.

Energy: Asiwaju came up with a policy to remove Lagos from darkness, he brought in ENRON to achieve this purpose and the administration of Chief Obasanjo frustrated every attempt by Asiwaju to achieve this fit. An imminent mega city must not be characterized by darkness, but it became impossible for him to achieve his intention in this regard. It was not surprising however that our former governor, Raji Fashola, created the Lekki Free Trade Zone where you have 24 hours power supply non-stop, still a continuation of the progressive agenda of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.

On Women Empowerment, Asiwaju removed the age-long concern of women neglect in governance by empowering women to be Deputy Governors, Commissioners, Chairmen of Local Governments, promoting a lot of women as permanent secretaries, judges, and encouraging every woman that has what it takes to occupy any position of their dreams on merit. It was no longer a situation as usual for women to be marginalized in their areas of competence, therefore, implementing women mainstreaming concerns. In terms of skill acquisition, a lot of women were empowered to acquire diverse skills to remove women from unemployment status in Lagos.

 

Q. Why Do People Hate Him With Soo Much Passion?

Precious, Do you expect people to love him? Asiwaju loves loyalty and he promotes those who are of good quality. We are 160million people in Nigeria, do you expect all the 160 million Nigerians to love him? If everyone loves him, he would have an issue. When he comes out with ideas and funding those ideas, they will love him, but when he wants to direct some of these projects and ideas, people will become agitated. Bola Ahmed Tinubu is focused on his desire to see the development of Nigeria and won’t be distracted by the hatred of a chunk of Nigerians who have no better plans for country.

Tinubu is the only man I know who loves this country to a fault. Let me ask you, retrospectively, does PDP deserve kudos for running Nigeria for past 16 years? It became worse during the administration of Goodluck Jonathan. There is no excuse for leaders who cannot back their words with action and this was what got Asiwaju worried and he desired the PURE CHANGE that would give us a leap as a country.

People must realize that Asjiwaju is not the president of Nigeria, he is simply a King-Maker and his role as we speak is purely advisory and that is what is he is doing right now. Without him, the CHANGE we desired in this country wouldn’t have come. He is very smart, he thinks progressively, he never retrogresses and he is a man whom we can instill confidence as far as the change we require in this nation is concerned.

Very soon, Nigerian will start working. The issue of politicians building refineries outside this country and coming back to export our crude oil to refine abroad is in the past. Call him any name you wish, you are entitled to love or to hate whosoever you desire but do so for the right reasons.  Asiwaju is a complete jingoistic capitalist. He can never build a company outside Nigeria. He would rather put his money here and employ Nigerians. He is a man of indescribable qualities. He can die for Nigeria. The four refineries will start working, more refineries will be built. Electricity will work as we are seeing the signs that constant electricity is possible. I wonder why people will hate someone who team-worked the dislodgement of the cabals that held us down for 16 years through the PDP?

Q. What Would You Say About The Evident Conspiracy Against Him Now?

They will conspire but they won’t achieve anything with their conspiracy. The National Assembly crisis is associated with Atiku Abubakar and this is because, Tinubu did not sell Nigerian and Nigerians to him during the APC primaries in Lagos. So they will conspire but they will fail.

Atiku Abubakar is man who wouldn’t have won an election in Nigeria and Tinubu wanted a winning candidate in the person of Muhammadu Buhari who is our president today. I tell you Precious, if Atiku had gotten the ticket of APC to run as her candidate for the 2015 general elections, he would have lost woefully and we wouldn’t have gotten to where we are today.

Don’t forget he had a lot of personality issues hanging on his neck and those were the major considerations for Asiwaju who wanted a man of impeccable character and a winning personality to face PDP’s unpopular candidate.

Asiwaju too sacrificed his own substance and personal ambitions to make room for what we have today, so I don’t know why Atiku Abubakar will not do same.

Do you want to hear the truth? The end has not come to the crisis at the National Assembly, because the wish of the party cannot be subjugated under any circumstance.

You remember that at a particular point in time when Tinubu created additional 37 Local Developmental Areas in Lagos State, he faced a very huge challenge from the then ruling party and president at that time, Chief Olusegun Obasanjo who felt challenged by the personality of Tinubu and what the future of that personality portends and wanted to pull him down by all means.

Obasanjo fought him dirty with weight of his office as president but Asiwaju stood his ground, Nigerians should learn not to underestimate such personality.

All the developments we are witnessing in Lagos State today is attributable to the creation of those LCDA’s so created because, the LCDA’s  made it possible for governance to have millage in their local areas which led to people having access to government presence in their localities. Where was Atiku Abubakar when Tinubu was fighting the battle of his life with Obasanjo.

People don’t know the enigma called Tinubu, his selfless nature has endeared him to soo many loyalists. How many people can play his style of politics in this country today?

Who amongst the people fighting him today, would do what he can do or what he has done for this country. They will envy him from all spheres but he will circumvent all their gang-ups against him. I repeat, the NASS crisis is not over yet, Asiwaju is resourcefully THICK, let them go ahead, time will tell.

 

Q. Would It Be Proper To Attribute To Him, ‘‘CRAZY FOR HIS COUNTRY’’?

Well, I would have preferred a more decent word or phrase than CRAZY but yes, you are very right Precious. Asiwaju has a crazy reservoir of ideas for this nation, he is an unrivaled leader, he is too resourceful and someone you can’t beat in any game especially in politics. He is divinely backed up and has surmounted so many huddles. Remember Tom Ikimi and his intrigues, Asiwaju squared-up with him and he went packing. Asiwaju has a discerning spirit, so it didn’t take him long to decipher who Tim Ikimi was. He is like MKO Abiola and Chief Awolowo, with ideas to shoot Nigeria forward and I don’t expect people to like him. Asiwaju has come a long way to know when to speak. His word is GOLDEN and he doesn’t speak anyhow.

                    

Q. Coasting Home Now Ma’am, You Were The Chairman Of One Of The Newly Created Local Governments In Lagos. Would You Say The Creation Of These LCDA’s Has Met The Yearnings Of The People?

It has impacted. Agboyi-ketu Local Government was part of Kosofe LGA and today, you can see what the LCDA look like. You can see developments everywhere around here, far better than when it was under Kosofe. Constitutionally, a local government is supposed to accommodate a certain number of people within a certain geographical zone and we met that constitutional provision, though it was hell for us when we started initially because Chief Obasanjo made life difficult for us in Lagos with the withholding of the Lagos State funds but we fought and history was made.  We have elections being conducted into the LDCA in Lagos and you say Tinubu is not a genius?

Looking back at those trying periods, I simply concluded in my heart that the man Tinubu is a leader in all ramifications. He knew that the creation of the additional 37 LCDAs would lead to sporadic development in the state and he refused to be deterred or distracted by senseless opposition. Today, government is closer to the people, the people have a say in what happens in their immediate environment. The chairmen of these LCDAs are more accountable to the people and the impact of governance is more felt. Very soon, these LCDAs will be included in the Nigerian constitution and their impact on the people will be more evidenced.

Q. What Are Your Expectations Of The New Government?

I am expecting the new leadership to implement the progressive agenda in all the progressive states to make life meaningful to all Nigerians. We are soo blessed and resourceful as a country with so many natural and mineral resources but not being fully tapped. If all the resources of this country are well tapped, not only concentrating on oil, Nigeria will be a better country. I therefore expect President Muhammadu Buhari to tap all untapped resources in this nation to move Nigeria forward and to fulfill his electioneering promises to bring the appropriate change to all sectors of the economy, stopping impunity, addressing unemployment and electricity problems, stopping corruption and finding a permanent solution to insurgency.

Another pertinent concern is the issue of exporting our crude oil to get it refined, this speaks a lot about the inadequacies in this sector and the leadership decadence of this country in the past 16 years. We want more refineries and private investors should be encouraged to invest in the construction of refineries in this country, a good way to solve unemployment problem and to put a total stop to the fraudulent issue of subsidy. Another interesting thing about refining our crude oil is the spill-over advantage to springing up of many factories, whose raw materials are bye-product of the refined process. The economy will grow with time if this is imbibed.

  

Q. Being A Female Politician Ma, What Is Your Take On Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala’s Role In The Last Administration?

Dr. Okonjo-Iweala had a respected position in the Common Wealth of Nations when she served under Obasanjo, but the reverse was the case when she served under the former president, Goodluck Jonathan. She coordinated impunity, fraud, economic vices; she connived to defraud the nation of enormous resources with no justification. If Goodluck Jonatahn had asked her to withdraw 2Billion Dollars, why did she comply when she knew that her reputation would be at stake, she is an accomplice. Her arguments are not tenable, obtainable and not acceptable. She disgraced intelligence and respect, she made a mockery of women the gender I belong and I wish she is brought to book. We have never had an economic coordinator in Nigeria, for her to be a minister of finance and economic coordinator of Nigeria must have been given under unprecedented trust which she totally betrayed. That she was even given an award after service shows inadequate knowledge of her tendencies and personality. As a coordinator, if the president was giving an economic advice that will not augur well for the economic position of the country, she should have advised otherwise. We hold her responsible for the economic degradation of the country as to whom much is given, much is expected.

Q. Your Opinion On The National Assembly Crisis?

The leadership of National Assembly should understand that Nigerians are not fools. In APC, we have a democratic style because those who came up with such styles have democratic minds. Unfortunately, APC brought everyone onboard with the mindset to win election and they didn’t put into consideration their individual character. In the progressive, we respect our leaders and party system. What Bukola Saraki did is alien to us in APC as it is impossible for a progressive to be soo ambitious as to engage another party under the quest of ambition. The process that brought him in is questionable and his explanation of regret of the emergence of Ike Ekweremadu is not acceptable. However, our leaders had some over-sight which must be corrected in subsequent national assemblies.  The clerk that operated during the seventh assembly should have been changed during the lacuna between the seventh assembly and the eight assembly. The clerk should have been deployed, because there is no doubt that the clerk would have had some allegiance having served under the seventh assembly. A new clerk, with a progressive vision of change should have been allowed to emerge in the respective national assemblies knowing the weight of the clerk in the proclamation of the eight assembly.

Now, don’t forget the clerk worked with David Mark and Bukola Saraki previously when in PDP and they found him an expedient tool, the question is, what is Ekweremadu doing there? I put it to Bukola Saraki that it is the landmark judgment that prohibits cross-carpeting in political parties that still makes him a glorified member of the APC, otherwise, he would have gone back to the PDP. I will appreciate if our leaders would work in this consciousness that we cannot really trust the PDP/APC senators in the eight assembly. Therefore, we need to be very careful and recognize this as a challenge.

Nobody can condemn the election at the House of Representatives because there was a proper election that brought in Dogara as Speaker. That election was a clear cut and we all saw it unlike what Saraki did in the Senate; also, Dogara did not bring in a PDP deputy. We expected Femi Gbajabiamila to have wielded a lot of influence on his colleagues and since he couldn’t do that, well, there is not much the party leadership can do about it now. It was the senate that cajoled us as a party.

Q. Lastly, I Am Surprised That After Leaving Office As Chairman Of Agboyi-Ketu Local Government, That You Still Live In The Alapere Area Of Ketu. One Would Have Expected A Paradigm Shift In Your Status And That You Would Have Upgraded To Either Lekki Or Victoria Island As The Manner Of Some Is. Why ARE You Still Here??

Precious, Precious, Precious, how many times did I call you? I am a grass-root person and you can only improve your environment if you are part of it. I spent 8yrs in office and this is why I am still in my local government. I endeared myself to my people and I worked with everybody. I brought myself very low to the level of everybody. I didn’t allow the office to go through me, I went through the office and I don’t believe in leadership from afar, I believe in leadership from within. I don’t crave too much for what is not mine. I was not a chairman who influenced contract values to make money and I told everyone around to know that about me.

You know the secretariat of the local government Precious, please go and find out about my financial records in office. I told everyone that I was in service to create record and I created that record. My salaries and allowances were more than enough to make me live large. I was MD of three companies before I became Chairman and they were successful even when I was in government. I can’t leave outside this environment for anything because I am a leader and there nothing like it. Leaders don’t live far from the people they lead or else, things will go wrong before they are able to reachout.

I live with my people and they love me around them, however, my husband lives in Lekki and so, I shuttle as I equally have a responsibly towards my family.