In Nigeria's political 'Who Is Who', there are certain men no one can just ignore. These are some of those men

They make the world tick and broken look beautiful. With the world on their shoulders they make it look like a pair of wings. They are strong men with built-in attraction to spells and magic. Men with sticky thinking. They dot the firmament in sparkles and in rare numbers. They grind down the crusts and make it look beautiful. Like concrete, their cells in Nigeria come very thin but they rule and dominate, imbued with the rule of the wilds: to be bigger and tougher, to hurt or be hurt. Take a look at the exploits of Bola Tinubu, the domino trails of the politics of Olusegun Obasanjo, the thrilling courage of Atiku Abubakar or even the riveting politics, resoluteness and resilience of Nyesom Wike. Examine the Machiavellian antics of Ibrahim Babangida, the valve and onions in the bullish tendencies of Arthur Eze, the inspiring thrusts and fortress of James Ibori, the dynamo and single mindedness in the strides of Ayo Fayose, and the poise, pulsation and bulwark grace of Bukola Saraki. Not even the adroitness of T Y Danjuma can be put down. They all wear their strange beauty like war paints. They are “hands-on” conquerors, bold, feared, hard to diminish, each in his purpose.
Obasanjo, with a ragged breadth has won many battles in and out of office and still reigns. Tinubu soared high in office like the eagle but out here has demonstrated that his wings are not made of wax. Abubakar has glazed in unassailability never unstuck like the proverbial beetle. Silver years out on a limb; Babangida still holds the ace, never out in the cold. Think of the staying power of Eze, his hold on as many as three presidents and doing what people say he cannot do. They are never broken. Some, like Wike can rise from his ashes like the phoenix. Fayose’s ‘never die’ spirit echoes with his bravado. In jail and out of it Ibori makes things happen in Delta. When Saraki coughs Kwara catches cold. In Taraba and adjoining states, if you trifle with the towering personality of Danjuma you bite the dust. In Ernest Hemingway we learn that the ‘world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places’. They believe in cause and effect, seizing common occasions to ride on. The world shrinks in their palms. And once they set their hands on the plough their souls are on fire. And they march on.

1. Obasanjo


Without a doubt, Ex-president Olusegun Obasanjo is one of the most favoured among the past leaders who had ruled this country. Apart from being the longest serving elected civilianpresident under the present political dispensation, he still enjoins tremendous level of goodwill and respectability within the political class. In and out of office, he knows when to pull the string. While in power, he ruled with iron fist. Despite all the criticisms against his alleged profane use of power, Obasanjo had no cause to look back.
Even as a democratic leader, he did not hide his aversion to undue criticism. Within a short while after his swearing in, he literally ran all the founding members of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) who worked for his emergence out the party. No supporter of the party would forget in a hurry how Obasanjo plotted the removal of Chief Audu Ogbe as the chairman of the PDP for having the gut to write a letter to him complaining about the intrigues of Anambra State politics during the tenure of former governor Chris Ngige.
In his quick reply to the letter, Obasanjo declared Audu as betrayer, saying, “I am amused and not surprised by your letter of December 6, 2004 because after playing hide and seek games over a period of time, you have finally, at least in writing, decided to unmask and show your true colour.” What’s more! He ordered Ogbe to voluntarily resign and drafted in Col Ahmadu Ali as his successor. And, of course, the Garrison Commander played his role to the satisfaction of his benefactor. In the words of Ali, you must be 100 percent loyal to the national leader of the party or chicken out. And that was it.
Subsequently, prominent figures like vice president Atiku Abubakar, Alex Ekweme, the late Abubakar Rimi, among those who had the gut to show ambition for the presidency, were shown the way out of the party one after the other.
When in the run up to the last general election, the former president publicly announced his exit from the PDP and tore his membership card; many had expected that he would take a permanent retirement from politics. But contrarily, Baba Obasanjo is still very much visible in the political scene, playing the role of a kingmaker. His most recent outing being his meeting with the Minna Generals: Abdul Salami Abubakar (rted), Ibrahim Babangida (retd), over the health matter of President Muhammadu Buhari. The last is yet to be heard of the matter.

2. Tinubu

Other than his current position as the National Leader of the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC), Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu earns a lot of respect for his capacity to take a peep into the future and act appropriately. His role in the merger arrangement that culminated in the formation of the party is still fresh in the memory of most Nigerians. For the first time in the history of Yoruba, he succeeded in breaking the traditional Berlin wall between the South-west and the power at the centre, leading the All Progressives Congress (APC) to a landslide victory in the last general elections.
In terms of political strategy, Tinubu towers above his peers. This he had demonstrated as far back as 2003, when he emerged as the only survivor of Obasanjo’s political intrigues against the South-west governors in that general election. With his prodigious capacity to read events and peep into the future, he was the only governor who survived the massive incursion of the PDP into the South-west. This led him on a regular collision course with the PDP-controlled Federal Government, especially following the creation of additional 36 local council development areas for the state. The prolonged litigation battle that followed the creation of the additional local governments by the Tinubu administration is already a familiar story.
Stories have also been told of how Tinubu circumvented the Afenifere in his bid to secure second term ticket as governor of Lagos State. Unlike most governors elected on the platform of the then ruling Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), Tinubu met a brick wall obtaining the ticket of his party (AD). Due to the power play intrigues, Tinubu literally became a protégé of AD leaders like the late Abraham Adesanya and Ayo Adebanjo. By the twilight of his first tenure, the Afenifere leaders had become so uncomfortable, feeling that the man they had made was becoming too difficult for them to control. They, therefore, felt the need to curtail his power. Consequently, there was an alleged plot to deny him the ticket of the AD for a second term.
Realising that the party was fast losing its pride of place in the politics of the South-west, Tinubu, a grassroots mobiliser, took a bold initiative of forming the Action Congress (AC). Within a few months, he transformed this new party as the credible opposition to the PDP in the country. In 2003, he sought re-election on the platform of the party and won alongside a new deputy governor, Femi Pedro. Since then, the AD has never remained the same, while the fault line in the Afenifere camp is also yet un-amenable.
Today, nearly all top functionaries in the present government of President Muhammadu Buhari from the South-west are the so-called Tinubu Boys. These include: Minister of Power, Works and Housing, Babatunde Fashola, Minister for Solid Mineral, Dr Kayode Fayemi, FIRS’s Babatunde Fowler, and Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, to mention but a few.
Tinubu is such a person you cannot predict his next political move.

3. Buhari
By virtue of his position, President Muhammadu Buhari is the leader of the APC. Even though he may not be visibly seen dishing out orders as ex-president Obasanjo did in his tenure, he has the final say on all matters that concern the party.One of the cardinal points of the present administration is to fight corruption and ensure openness and transparency in the conduct of government’s business. And, of course, since he assumed power, he has been unwavering in his commitment to deal with the penance. As they say in political parlance, ‘the fear of Buhari is the beginning of wisdom.’ Even though many of his critics have attributed the dismal performance of the economy to the way and manner the anti-corruption war is being fought, his government has not had any cause to look back.
However, there is now a discordant tune on the raging war among some key members of the party, including the President of the Senate, Senator Bukola, who recently criticized the approach of the anti-graft crusade. This is coming on the heels of the president’s medical vacation. Nonetheless the divergence of opinion on the war, the administration is pushing on.
Meanwhile, Nigerians are awaiting the outcome of the probe panel set up to investigate the suspended Secretary to the Government of the Federation, SGF, Babachir David Lawal and the Director General of the National Intelligence Agency NIA, Ayo Oke. According to a close ally of the president who spoke with Sunday Sun, no one caught in the act would be allowed to go scot-free. A former minister of information, Prince Tony Momoh, speaking on the hard line position of the president on the anti-corruption crusade had this to day: “I think one mistake people make is their lack of understanding of what President Muhammadu Buhari makes with governance. If you are a minister; like my friend, Prof Jerry Gana wouldsay, he will allow you to minister well. If you are a governor, you will govern well. If you are a teacher, you will teach well. He allows you to do your work, but bears responsibility because he cannot delegate responsibility, he can only delegate power and authority. My knowledge of him (Buhari) makes me conclude that he can never abandon his responsibility.”

4. Ibori
Former governor of Delta State, James Ibori is keeping a cool head in his Oghara country home after serving a four-year jail term in the United Kingdom for money laundering and other related offences. Ibori’sconviction came after he had been discharged and acquitted of the same offence by the Nigerian judiciary.
Before he ran into troubled waters, Ibori was one of the movers and shakers of politics in Nigeria. He was said to have allegedly bankrolled election campaign of the late President Umaru Yar’Adua. Many people believe that the plea bargaining option instituted by the Yar’Adua administration was to give him with a soft landing.
Since his return from the UK concerns have been raised about his post-prison life. But the excitement and jubilation that heralded his home coming last December has clearly shown that he still remains a man of the people. On arrival in Abuja before proceding to Oghara, the Director General of the State Security Service (SSS), Lawal Daura, was said to have allegedly had a brief talk with Ibori on how to achieve peace in the troubled Niger Delta region. The belief is that he could influence the Niger Delta militants to lay down their arms against the Federal Government.
For obvious reasons, Ibori may not be visible in the political scene. But recent developments in Delta State have shown that the man is still capable of pulling strings. For instance, there are speculations that the recent impeachment of the Speaker of Delta State House of Assembly might have been instigated by Ibori.

5. Fayose
Governor Ayodele Fayose of Ekiti State represents the face of the opposition in the present dispensation. And as an ardent critic of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), he has remained a thorn in the flesh of the Buhari government.However, some supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party have blamed the current crisis facing the party on Fayose, his counterparts in Akwa Ibom and Rivers State, Emmanual Udom and Nyesom Wike respectively for propping up Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as the national chairman against the wish of the elders.
For now, the fate of the party is hanging in the balance, as the Supreme Court reserves the final judgment on the case between Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee and Sheriff’s faction. While the waiting game lasted, Fayose has vowed to dump the party should the judgment go in favour of the latter group.
Whichever way it goes, Fayose is certainly a strong force to contend with in the politics of 2018 and 2019, especially in Ekiti State. Sunday Sun reliably gathered that his predecessor, Dr Kayose Fayemi, is having his eyes on the governorship seat. Even with the advantage of the federal might, Fayose has minced no words in his determination to make Ekiti State an impregnable fortress for the APC.However, some supporters of the Peoples Democratic Party have blamed the current crisis facing the party on Fayose, his counterparts in Akwa Ibom and Rivers State, Emmanual Udom and Nyesom Wike respectively for propping up Senator Ali Modu Sheriff as the national chairman against the wish of the elders.
For now, the fate of the party is hanging in the balance, as the Supreme Court reserves the final judgment on the case between Ahmed Makarfi-led Caretaker Committee and Sheriff’s faction. While the waiting game lasted, Fayose has vowed to dump the party should the judgment go in favour of the latter group.
Whichever way it goes, Fayose is certainly a strong force to contend with in the politics of 2018 and 2019, especially in Ekiti State. Sunday Sun reliably gathered that his predecessor, Dr Kayose Fayemi, is having his eyes on the governorship seat. Even with the advantage of the federal might, Fayose has minced no words in his determination to make Ekiti State an impregnable fortress for the APC.

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