He is, by any measure, one of the most enigmatic figures in modern African history, a man who rose to the pinnacle of power in Africa’s largest democracy with a biography that often reads less like a résumé and more like a manuscript marked by erasures and revisions. Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s ascent to the presidency has never followed a straight line; it has resembled a labyrinth. And at its centre, he stands not as a wanderer lost in its corridors, but as the architect who learned every turn by heart.
The question lingers, heavy as the humidity of Lagos he once governed: how? How does a man dogged for decades by disputes over academic credentials, murky narratives about lineage, and political obituaries prematurely written, not only endure but ultimately dominate Nigeria’s unforgiving political arena?
Tinubu’s story is one of defiance against gravity. His public life has been shadowed by controversy, questions about origins, education, and personal history have trailed him through courtrooms and headlines. Yet from this fog of uncertainty, he constructed a towering edifice of influence. In the rough-and-tumble theatre of Nigerian politics, where many bright careers flicker and fade, he proved unnervingly durable.
His survival instincts were forged in fire. During the repressive years of Sani Abacha’s dictatorship, Tinubu aligned himself with pro-democracy forces and became a marked figure. The risks were real; exile and silence were the safer options for many. He chose confrontation. That chapter stamped him with the credentials of a political combatant willing to wager everything.
With the return of civilian rule in 1999, new battles emerged. As governor of Lagos, he found himself locked in an intense rivalry with the federal administration of Olusegun Obasanjo. Federal allocations were withheld. Institutional pressure mounted. Many expected his political structure to collapse under the strain. Instead, it consolidated. Lagos became the crucible in which he refined a model of political organisation that would later expand beyond the Southwest.
Legal challenges followed. Gani Fawehinmi, the relentless human rights crusader, dragged him into courtroom confrontations that threatened his tenure. Years later, the Code of Conduct Tribunal revived scrutiny during the presidency of Goodluck Jonathan. Each episode seemed poised to end his relevance. Each time, he emerged intact.
Then came the era of Muhammadu Buhari. Tinubu, instrumental in building the coalition that gave birth to the All Progressives Congress, faced internal hostilities and shifting alliances. Power, once shared, became contested terrain. He navigated factional crosscurrents, outmanoeuvred rivals, and preserved his strategic position. Even the controversial naira redesign policy by the Central Bank, widely interpreted by his supporters as a move that could hobble his campaign failed to extinguish his momentum.
The 2023 election was the ultimate gauntlet. It tested not only his organisational machinery but his physical stamina and political nerve. He crossed the finish line first, only to confront a barrage of petitions and judicial scrutiny aimed at nullifying his victory. Once again, he endured.
To observe Tinubu’s career is to witness resilience in an art form and craft. His persistence unsettles conventional analysis. Is it sheer willpower? Strategic brilliance? A near-mystical instinct for political timing? Or an unparalleled mastery of Nigeria’s intricate calculus, patronage networks, regional balancing, and elite negotiation that cannot be taught in any university?
His critics see opacity and controversy; his admirers see audacity and genius. Both agree on one thing: his trajectory defies easy explanation.
In the end, beyond strategy, resilience, and political genius, there remains an explanation that even Tinubu’s fiercest critics hesitate to dismiss. Across decades of near-fatal political moments: exile, legal ambushes, institutional hostility, electoral sabotage, and relentless character assaults his survival has bordered on the uncanny. Patterns that should have ended lesser careers instead became turning points. Timelines that appeared closed reopened. Doors sealed by power swung ajar at the last moment. For many Nigerians, this defiance of political mortality transcends human calculation.
There is, therefore, little doubt in the minds of his supporters and increasingly among neutral observers that divine hands have been at work throughout the long arc of Bola Ahmed Tinubu’s journey. Not as a replacement for strategy or grit, but as the unseen force that preserved him when logic suggested extinction. In a political ecosystem as ruthless as Nigeria’s, survival on this scale cannot be explained by tactics alone. Providence, it seems, has repeatedly intervened, steadying the labyrinth beneath his feet, keeping the thread unbroken. And until history closes the final chapter, that divine imprint remains impossible to ignore.
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