YORUBAS PROTECTED TINUBU, but Igboman stripped his brother naked before the village Square, and sat him on the mud, all in the name of “setting the facts straight”.
Yorubas had the opportunity of doing similar thing to Tinubu, but they didn’t.
During the last election, Tinubu ran on the statement, which I consider an “ABSOLUTE FALSEHOOD,” that Tinubu developed Lagos; or that he developed the blueprints for Lagos. The Yorubas knew and perhaps still know that it was false, but “THEY KEPT QUIET”.
The Governor of Lagos, Babajide Sanwo-Olu, did not think it wise to step forward to debunk that falsehood. Instead, they all rallied round him, lifted his hands in support and shielded him from opprobrium.
But here, we have Peter Obi’s brothers, raving wildly “setting the record straight” against Peter Obi, even making up ballooned figures in the process. One keeps asking who they are trying so hard to please. Why do they seem happy to see their brother down?
But the real truth is that Tinubu never, I mean NEVER, developed even 7% of Lagos. He couldn’t have. I have written about this before, so I won’t dwell on it. Tinubu’s achievements as Governor of Lagos are absolutely insignificant and utterly negligible when it comes to making Lagos what it is.
Lagos was already fully developed before Tinubu ruled it for ONLY 8 years. Lagos became the capital of Nigeria as far back as 1914, and it remained so up till 1991, which is a resounding period of 77 years. The federal government developed Lagos, and they did so with funds drawn directly from the Federation account, just as they are doing for Abuja today.
77 years is not 7 years.
Lagos had been the capital of Nigeria for 38 years before Tinubu was conceived in the womb in 1954, as he claimed. By the time Tinubu became the Governor of Lagos in 1999, which is just yesterday, every major development had already taken place in Lagos.
All the tall buildings were already there. Every bank already had its headquarters in Lagos. The City was already buzzy and booming. All Federal Corporations were already there. Lagos seaport was already there. Lagos airport was already there. Lagos crowd was already there. Everything was already there, including the teeming crowd.
So, it was a nonsensical show of mendacity to say that Tinubu “developed the blueprints” for Lagos. That’s an unforgivable insult to Nigerians as a collective because it means all the money pumped into developing Lagos by the Federal government, with were realised from every region of this country, was a total waste of time.
If we MISTAKENLY accept the falsehood that Tinubu developed Lagos, that means Nyesom Wike can, tomorrow, claim to develop Abuja.
Nobody came out from Lagos to disprove or “set the record straight” about developing Lagos.
But Soludo, the overzealous Igbo man from the same Anambra State as Peter Obi, is raving wildly, “setting the record straight” about Peter Obi’s records with Anambra State. Even his information commissioner, Dr. Law Mefor, was on Arise TV, shamelessly disgracing himself.
Questions keep popping up; to what end?
Dr. Alex Oti is an Igbo politician from Abia State. He understands the politics of watching your brother’s back. And that’s why, in the midst of this controversy about the money Peter Obi left behind, he came out to defend Peter Obi’s records. Ordinarily, it shouldn’t concern him, as he is from Abia State. But he did what he did in the spirit of brotherliness.
I am grossly ashamed for Soludo. And I ask: why can’t he support his own brother? I just hope he is receiving the “love” and “affection” of the West which he dearly craves. But he should never think of himself as a hero. Nobody becomes a hero by slaying his brother.
Stephen Emele
