Bola Tinubu

Background

Tinubu was born in Lagos into the merchant family of Abibatu Mogaji, the Ìyál’ọ́jà of Lagos. He is generally accepted in reliable sources to have been born in 1952;^[2] this year of birth is sometimes disputed by political opponents, who argue that he is much older. Some reliable sources note that his age has not been verified.^[3][4]

Education

Tinubu attended St. John’s Primary School, Aroloya, Lagos before proceeding to Children Home School in Ibadan.^[5] He completed undergraduate studies in the United States, first at Richard J. Daley College in Chicago and then at Chicago State University. He graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting.^[6]

Professional career

Tinubu worked as an accountant for the American companies Arthur Andersen, Deloitte and GTE Services Corporation.^[7][8] After returning to Nigeria in 1983, he joined Mobil Oil Nigeria, and later became a company executive.^[9]

Early political career

Tinubu’s political career began in 1991,^[10] when he joined the Social Democratic Party.

Third Republic

In 1992, he was elected to the Senate, representing the Lagos West constituency in the short-lived Nigerian Third Republic.^[11]

After the results of the 12 June 1993 presidential elections were annulled, Tinubu became a founding member of the pro-democracy National Democratic Coalition, a group which mobilized support for the restoration of democracy and recognition of Moshood Abiola as winner of the 12 June election.

Exile and return

Following the seizure of power as military head of state of General Sani Abacha,^[12] he went into exile in 1994 and returned to the country in 1998 after the death of the military dictator, which ushered in the transition to the Fourth Nigerian Republic.^[13]

In the run-up to the 1999 elections, Bola Tinubu was a protégé of Alliance for Democracy (AD) leaders Abraham Adesanya and Ayo Adebanjo.^[14] He went on to win the AD primaries for the Lagos State governorship elections in defeating Funsho Williams and Wahab Dosunmu, a former Minister of Works and Housing.^[15] In January 1999, he stood for the position of Governor of Lagos State on the AD ticket and was elected governor.^[16]

Governor of Lagos State (1999–2007)

During his 8 years in government, Tinibu initiated new road construction, required to meet the needs of the fast-growing population of the state.^[17]

Tinubu, alongside a new deputy governor, Femi Pedro, won re-election into office as governor in April 2003. All other states in the South West fell to the People’s Democratic Party in those elections.^[18] He was involved in a struggle with the Olusegun Obasanjo-controlled federal government over whether Lagos State had the right to create new Local Council Development Areas (LCDAs) to meet the needs of its large population. The controversy led to the federal government seizing funds meant for local councils in the state.^[19] During the latter part of his term in office, he was engaged in continuous clashes with PDP powers such as Adeseye Ogunlewe, a former Lagos State senator who had become minister of works, and Bode George, the southwest chairman of the PDP.^[20]

In 2006, Tinubu attempted to persuade the then-vice president of Nigeria Atiku Abubakar to become the head of his party, the Action Congress (AC). Abubakar who was a member of the People’s Democratic Party (PDP), had recently fallen out with President Olusegun Obasanjo over Abubakar’s ambition to succeed Obasanjo as president. Tinubu offered Abubakar the chance to switch parties and join the AC, offering him his party’s presidential candidacy, with the condition that he, Tinubu, would be Atiku Abubakar’s running mate. Atiku declined the proposition and, having switched to the AC, chose a running mate from the South East, Senator Ben Obi. Although Atiku ran for office on Tinubu’s platform in the election, the PDP still won, in a landslide.^[21]

Relations between Tinubu and deputy governor Femi Pedro became increasingly tense after Pedro declared his intention to run for the gubernatorial elections. Pedro competed to become the AC candidate for governor in the 2007 elections, but withdrew his name on the eve of the party nomination. He defected to the Labour Party while still keeping his position as deputy governor.^[22] Tinubu’s tenure as Lagos State Governor ended on 29 May 2007, when his successor Babatunde Fashola of the Action Congress took office.^[23][24]