Babatunde
Fashola, the Minister of Works, Power and Housing, has made a startling
disclosure about his relationship with his political godfather, Bola Tinubu.
Fashola
succeeded Tinubu as Lagos state governor after serving as a chief of staff to
between 2003-2007.
The
minister in an interview said that he was affected by Tinubu’s kindness and
commitment to his staff.
“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 noted.
Fashola
added: “He (Tinubu)
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.”
Ex-governor
continued that he met his political godfather through his nephew, Wale Tinubu,
who was his partner in the law firm of Sofunde, Osakwe, Ogundipe and Belgore.
Minister
Fashola said: “He
(Tinubu) 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 (Sofunde, Osakwe, Ogundipe and Belgore). 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.
“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.”
Fashola
became the nation’s minister on November 11, Wednesday, when President Buhari
finally inaugurated his cabinet..
The
new ministry is the creation of the Buhari-led administration, which merged the
former ministry of power with that of works and housing.
The
move may not be unconnected with the confidence the president has in the former
governor based on his performance in Lagos.
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