Bola Tinubu
Bola Ahmed Adekunle Tinubu is a Nigerian politician serving as the 16th and current president of Nigeria since 2023. He previously served as the governor of Lagos State from 1999 to 2007 and senator for Lagos West in the Third Republic.
Tinubu spent his early life in southwestern Nigeria and later moved to the United States where he studied accounting at Chicago State University. He returned to Nigeria in the 1980s and was employed by Mobil Nigeria as an accountant, before entering politics as a Lagos West senatorial candidate in 1992 under the banner of the Social Democratic Party. After the military dictator Sani Abacha dissolved the Senate in 1993, Tinubu went into exile and became an activist campaigning for the return of democracy as a part of the National Democratic Coalition movement.
In the first post-transition Lagos State gubernatorial election, Tinubu won by a wide margin as a member of the Alliance for Democracy. Four years later, he won re-election to a second term. After leaving office in 2007, he played a key role in forming the All Progressives Congress in 2013. In 2023, he was elected president, defeating Atiku Abubakar and Peter Obi.
Early life
Tinubu was born in Lagos to a Muslim family from the Yoruba ethnic group, the son of Abibatu Mogaji, the Ìyál'ọ́jà of Lagos. He is generally accepted in reliable sources to have been born in 1952; 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.Education
Tinubu attended St. John's Primary School, Aroloya, Lagos before proceeding to Children Home School in Ibadan. Tinubu arrived in the United States in 1975, where he commenced undergraduate studies first at Richard J. Daley College in Chicago and then at Chicago State University where he majored in accounting and management. He worked odd jobs as a dishwasher, night security guard and cab driver to support himself through college. He made the honor dean's list as an undergraduate and taught remedial class tutorials, some of his classmates credited his lectures for their improved grades. Tinubu was the university accounting society president in his senior year. His cumulative GPA was 3.54. Tinubu graduated summa cum laude with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration in 1979.Early career
After graduating, Tinubu worked as an accountant for the American companies Arthur Andersen, Deloitte and GTE Services Corporation. At Deloitte, he gained experience in auditing and management consultancy services for Fortune 500 corporations. He was a consultant for Saudi Aramco's joint venture partner National Oil, helping to establish their accounting and auditing system and leading to his first financial breakthrough. Tinubu moved to London where he was recruited as an auditor for Mobil Oil UK before later joining Mobil Producing Nigeria Unlimited as a senior company executive and treasurer in the 1980s.Tinubu actively contributed and raised funds for community development programs in Lagos leading Primrose Group, a political action organization advocating for fundamental progressive changes in the state's politics during the Babangida administration. He later opted fully to enter politics in exchange for his lucrative job at Mobil.
Early political career
Tinubu's political career began in 1991, when he joined the Social Democratic Party and was actively involved in campaigning for the candidacy of Moshood Kashimawo Abiola.Third Republic
In 1992, he was elected to the Senate, representing Lagos West Senatorial District. At the National Assembly, he chaired the Senate Committee on Banking, Finance, Appropriation, and Currency.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 Abiola as the winner of the 12 June election.
Exile and return
Following the seizure of power as military head of state of General Sani Abacha, Tinubu faced numerous arrests, detentions, harassment, and threats to his life, forcing him to flee Nigeria for safety. Undeterred, he joined NADECO abroad in-exile to continue fighting for democratic governance and the restoration of rule in the country. He went into exile in 1994 and returned to the country in 1998 after Abacha's death, which ushered in the transition to the Fourth Nigerian Republic.In the run-up to the 1999 elections, Bola Tinubu was a protégé of Alliance for Democracy leaders Abraham Adesanya and Ayo Adebanjo. 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. In January 1999, he stood for the position of Governor of Lagos State on the AD ticket and was elected governor.
Governor of Lagos State (1999–2007)
As a skilled political strategist, Tinubu survived the then ruling People's Democratic Party massive takeover of the South Western States of Nigeria as the sole re-elected Governor of the AD. This led to frequent clashes with the PDP-controlled Federal Government, especially over his creation of 37 additional Local Council Development Areas for Lagos States. A Supreme Court ruling in his favor ordered the release of seized Lagos State Local Government funds.During his 8 years in government, Tinubu initiated new road construction, required to meet the needs of the fast-growing population of the state. Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the Executive Governor of Lagos State, Nigeria, received numerous awards for his exceptional leadership. These include Best Governor in Nigeria for 2000 by the Nigerian-Belgian Chamber of Commerce, Y2002 Best Practices Prize for improving the living environment by the Federal Ministry of Works and the UN Habitat Group, and Y2000 Best Computerized Government in Nigeria Award by the Computer Association of Nigeria. He was also conferred with the Honorary Doctor of Law Degree by Abia State University for his contributions to democracy, good governance, and Nigeria's development. Tinubu holds numerous chieftaincy titles and supports various professional and social organizations.
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. 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 to meet the needs of its large population. The controversy led to the federal government seizing funds meant for local councils in the state. 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.
In 2006, Tinubu attempted to persuade the then-vice president of Nigeria Atiku Abubakar to become the head of his new party, the Action Congress of Nigeria. Abubakar who was a member of the People's Democratic Party, 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.
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. Tinubu's tenure as Lagos State Governor ended on 29 May 2007, when his successor and former chief of staff Babatunde Fashola took office as Lagos state governor.
Pre-presidency (2007–2023)
2007 election
In 2009, following the landslide victory of the People's Democratic Party in the April 2007 elections, Tinubu became involved in negotiations to bring together the fragmented opposition parties into a "mega-party" capable of challenging the then ruling PDP. In March 2009, there were reports that a plot had been identified to assassinate Tinubu.2011 presidential election
Tinubu as the ACN's national leader openly endorsed the joint candidacy of Nuhu Ribadu and Fola Adeola as the ACN's presidential and vice presidential candidates in 2011. Sahara Reporters later revealed that Tinubu made a deal with the Jonathan administration to support his re-election instead or face perjury charges levied against him on two counts by the federal government over his educational background. Tinubu had previously filled out governorship candidate forms in 1998 to the Independent National Electoral Commission, falsely admitting that he had attended Government College, Ibadan. Tinubu later stated in the run up to the 2015 election that he supported the candidacy of Goodluck Jonathan due to his perceived reform agenda, a claim which he had previously sued publisher Sahara Reporters over.2015 presidential election
In February 2013, Tinubu was among several politicians who created a "mega opposition" party with the merger of Nigeria's three biggest opposition parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria, the Congress for Progressive Change, the All Nigeria Peoples Party, a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance and the new PDP, a faction of the then ruling People's Democratic Party – into the All Progressives Congress.In 2014, Tinubu supported former military head of state General Muhammadu Buhari, leader of the CPC faction of the APC – who commanded widespread following in Northern Nigeria, and had previously contested in the 2003, 2007 and 2011 presidential elections as the CPC presidential candidate. Tinubu initially wanted to become Buhari's vice presidential candidate but later conceded for Yemi Osinbajo, his ally and former commissioner of justice. In 2015, Buhari rode the APC to victory, ending the 16-year rule of the PDP, and marking the first time an incumbent Nigerian president lost to an opposition candidate.
Tinubu went on to play an important role in the Buhari administration, supporting government policies and holding onto the internal party reins, in lieu of his long-held rumored presidential aspiration. In 2019, he supported Buhari's re-election campaign defeating the PDP candidate Atiku Abubakar. In 2020, following an internal party crisis which led to the removal of Tinubu ally and party chairman Adams Oshiomole, it is believed the move was to scuttle Tinubu's presidential prospects ahead of 2023.