Fashola speaks on the first time he met with his political godfather, Tinubu | Welcome to Linda Ikeji's Blog

LI_Leaderboard_4

LI_Leaderboard_1

LI_Leaderboard_2

LI_Leaderboard_3

Saturday 14 November 2015

Fashola speaks on the first time he met with his political godfather, Tinubu

Former Lagos state governor and now Minister of Works, Power and Housing, Babatunde Fashola in this interview with The News magazine went down memory lane on how he met with his predecessor and political godfather, Bola Tinubu. According to Fashola, he met with Tinubu sometime in 1990 or 1991.
That is an invitation to walk down memory lane. I think it must have been 1990 or 1991. He was treasurer in Mobil, then. His office was at the Bookshop House at CMS on Odunlami Street. I didn’t directly meet him. I had seen him at parties, but we never met.
At that time, I was a senior associate at the law firm of Sofunde, Osakwe, Ogundipe and Belgore, where I was practising. Wale Tinubu, his nephew, came to join the law firm, then. He was always mentioning “Uncle Bola”, and one day, he said: ‘’let’s go and see my uncle.” We got there and went out to lunch with him. That was then I could say we formally met. From then on, he would consult us on legal issues and we would help and give him advice. Sometimes, he would just come and say. “See we have this issue, what do you lawyers think?” We ran around and he would always give us pocket money. I think one thing that left some impressions on me was his commitment to his staff and that was symbolised by what I witnessed on a particular day after the Sallah celebration. He brought Sallah meat to the office and supervised its sharing from floor to floor. As exalted as his office was, he was concerned to ensure that those who could not come to his house, even to the lowest driver, got part of the Sallah meat. I recalled that after the sharing of the meat, he sent someone to aggregate how much it would cost to buy soft drink for everybody and equally distributed money to them. The incident left an impression on me and what became a practice when I started observing the killing of rams for Sallah. For me, it speaks of his concern about those working for him"he said
Fashola says he is now under more pressure to become a better leader even after Tinubu had described him as one of his achievement
"Well, there are many ways to look at it. For me, that kind of statement coming from him puts more pressure on me. I thought that I had seen all the pressure that could come from this experience to be governor of Lagos State. That adds pressure on me in no small measure. I think how I became governor is public knowledge. Nothing could put pressure on me than the commitment in pursuit of his decision in 2006 that I was the candidate he was endorsing for governor and the cost in terms of stress, disagreement, fights and long-draw emotional arguments. Of course, immediately I won the election, the biggest pressure was to ensure that I didn’t regret the decision. One, the people of Lagos State could have said: “We didn’t know the man you have brought and he has turned the state upside down.” There are other sides to it that I would want to keep to myself. As I have said time and time again, he should sit down and write his memoirs so that people may know the story of that election. This is what he should use to explain to Lagosians the offers, the counter-offers and choices he made and why he, as it were, went for broke. The question to ask is: What was his abiding commitment after eight years as well as questions on who became governor, and who did not? But, in terms of a next step from there, it is to say that it is an enriching experience for our democracy, and not simply about me. It is also about institution building in the sense that I have continued to compare our 13-year journey in spite of its twists and turns with those that we seek to benchmark ourselves against.

29 comments:

Unknown said...

None of my business just deliver in your area

Unknown said...

Hmmmmmmmmm alrite....

Chiisunshine(carolips) said...

Ok. We hear. There is a time time for everything. Even stealing, looting, f**king. Etc etc

Unknown said...

Who are these black orangutans?

Anonymous said...

Too long and not my cup of tea...... Just work that's all I ask

Unknown said...

Not interested....talk to d turkey n to those who r interested.

ebony said...

Choosing u as Gov if Lagos state was d best thing that Tinubu ever did. Don't let us down Min.Fashola

Davido's driver said...

God bless this man

Unknown said...

I believe you will do better.

Anonymous said...

Tinubu is a theif

NaijaDeltaBabe said...

Hope it continues to remain sweet for u two

Unknown said...

GOOD TO SEE








AUNTY LINDA....

Unknown said...

Issokay Sir, we hope you do more for the country. Linda take note!

Unknown said...

Issokay Sir, we hope you do more for the country. Linda take note!

Unknown said...

Clap for fash,his has make his god father proud. TIMILEYIN BLESSING

Anonymous said...

Minister for power, housing and works? What an appointment. Who even gave GMB that advise? That's the most stupid thing have heard since terrorisim. What a job. Please some one should tell buhari that the amount of ministry doesn't matter. What matters is getting the job done. It's simple saying don't send one man to do a job for 3. Is fashola Mr jack of all trades? Don't reduce ministers just make them work for what they earn simple. Like the private sector do. People created those ministry for a reason they are not stupid.

Anonymous said...

Love him or hate him, corrupt or saint. Tinubu remains one of the greatest influencers of our democracy today.

Unknown said...

☺ He's just to much ☺ I'm sure he's gonna perform well

Unknown said...

Hmmmmm.good to know

Unknown said...

Wow!

Dis isreallylovely frm him and Tinubu is now a confirm godfather in Nigeria politics.

Comment frm ROYAL PRIESTHOOD (royalpriesthood007@gmail.com)

walenergy said...

Asiwaju the master planner, I will graduate from your political school soon.

Unknown said...

BRF is a potential 9ja president. Quote me anywhere

Unknown said...

Seen

Tefe said...

rubbish narrative that will only excite the gullible and naive lagosians,collaborations of thieves.

Anonymous said...

Fool

Anonymous said...

Vile!
You don't call people that! Wonder what pit you crawled out from

Anonymous said...

Na Grandfather him call imself o! No reduce am biko!

Agony said...

Thank you, stupid people will not see it. Is he a magician?

Unknown said...

God father

Recent Posts