Obj vs Tinubu – who is more influential?

By Joseph Edgar …
With the seeming ‘fear’ of all past and present governments in probing the Obasanjo regime and the role he has played in this country since he emerged on the national scale, Obj with his tribal marks has continued to remain highly influential and an issue in our national discuss.
I once had an opportunity to meet him in his Abeokuta home. He was relaxed in his native adire attire with a worn out slippers playing ‘Ayo’ with his friends. He offered us lunch which was rice and stew with well-cooked fish. After the lunch he took us on a verbal tour of his time in the gulag when Abacha accused him of treason. He forced us to take a tour of his library complex and introduced us to one of his wives.
I continue to marvel at his level of influence and uncanny understanding of the power equation in the country. People like Jonathan learnt the hard way how not to look for his trouble. He it was who told IBB that his SAP must have a human face. He it was who looked Abacha squarely in the face and told him to go, he it was who told us matter of factly that Yar’Adua was no more and in a week that debacle was solved, he it was who tore his PDP card and the largest party in Africa came crumbling. He it was who reminded Buhari who in his naivety forgot to make the shaking rounds at the VIP podium on his swearing in day, and has ever since remained the oracle everybody from all sides of the divide run to for help, supplication and encouragement.
Obj is a god and I suspect he knows that. And we are beginning to think that no Nigerian, living or dead will ever reach this level of apostasy that even the sitting president revers and goes for help.
Let’s now look at Ahmed Bola Tinubu. He came from almost nowhere to attain the height of national influence with a string of electoral victories all over the place, controlling state governments in a way that has never been heard off. His bridge building and fence mending skills are legendary.
He was the one who forged the merger of all the parties that has now morphed into what we know today as APC which eventually took over power from PDP after 16years. In fact during Buhari’s inauguration speech, when he said, ‘I belong to everyone but no one’ not a few believed that it was not Tinubu he was sending the subtle signal to.
What has made me a closer look into the Tinubu legacy, is a recent interview granted by the once dreaded Gani Adams, leader of the reformed OPC. In that interview he was practically begging the public for help. That Tinubu was after him, and that Tinubu had made all sort of influential people to ‘hate’ him.

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He gave instances of Tinubu going after him, and I began to wonder; a self-acclaimed commander of a rag tag army with loyal soldiers in their thousands spread all over the South west would now be afraid of a civilian who apart from being the husband of the very beautiful Remi only had his brains and strategy as weapons. This made me to start looking at both individuals, Obj and Tinubu to ask who is the more influential of the two men.
Is Obj the more influential of the two, what is his electoral value, what is his standing in the international community, what is his likability amongst Nigerians and what role has he played in national development. The same questions would be asked of Tinubu, has the certificate scandals and hushed corruption allegations damaged him, is he truly that influential, is he a stronger leader, would he have succeeded in ousting Jonathan without Obj’s assistance.
Let’s know your thoughts. Let the debate begin.

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