TINUBU: POLITICAL ELEGY FOR A 'DEFRAUDED' SALESMAN By Samuel Ajayi.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu

The noise was deafening and the emotions were overwhelming. The "Sai Baba" crowd took over space and common sense took a flight.

Tinubu might not have made Buhari president, but he made him ELECTABLE!

I am into communications. It is my turf. And I know the power of what is called RIGHT MESSAGING. What it does is to primarily target your EMOTIONS. And when it captures your emotions, REASON, and COMMONSENSE usually take flight. You find it difficult to ask pertinent questions and interrogate certain claims. It is a young man who overwhelmed a teenage girl with sweet words that made the latter feel she was on Cloud Nine. Words of caution from a third party were always "rantings of haters".

Tinubu used his massive media and propaganda contacts to recreate Brand Buhari. And what was the outcome? Even educated, intelligent and exposed Nigerians, especially Yorubas, suddenly fell in love with Buhari and suddenly saw in him a little god that could do no wrong.

Tinubu was naive, though. He played into the hands of the Northern Establishment. They knew Buhari would always be a hard-sell in the South. Very obvious. Therefore, they needed someone to serve as his salesman in the South and that person must have considerable political clout in the South. Tinubu fitted perfectly into this. He too wanted change!

BUT THE "CHANGE" BOTH OF THEM WANTED WAS NOT THE SAME: TINUBU WANTED HIS INFLUENCE TO GO BEYOND LAGOS, NORTHERN ELEMENTS WANTED THEIR MAN TO RECLAIM THEIR 'POLITICAL BIRTHRIGHT': NIGERIAN PRESIDENCY!

What we had was a convergence of conflicting ambitions but criminally united in the target of one prize: power!

But unknown to Tinubu, he outlived his usefulness on May 29, 2015. WHEN HE COULD NOT NOMINATE EVEN A SINGLE MINISTER FROM THE SOUTHWEST, HE SHOULD HAVE KNOWN!

He will want to fight back. His silence is not golden. But mark my words: those in charge of state powers today are not Goodluck Jonathan. They know the meaning of power in a country like Nigeria and the potency of its deployment They will come after Tinubu. I repeat: they will target him. They will keep him 'busy' he won't have time for any politicking.