Abuja, Nigeria
CNN
—
Bola Ahmed Tinubu has emerged the winner of a intently fought contest for Nigeria’s presidency. But who’s the person who will lead Africa’s biggest economic system – in addition to inherit its plethora of financial and safety crises?
Tinubu, who turns 71 later this month, used to be governor in Lagos between 1999 and 2007, the place he’s credited with pioneering reforms that ended in transformation of the state, now Nigeria’s financial hub.
He will grow to be Nigeria’s 5th president because the nation returned to democratic rule in 1999, rising as winner for the rustic’s most sensible task on his first try.
However, opposition events have rejected the consequences and say they are going to problem it in court docket. The election used to be marred by way of experiences of voter suppression, and outbreaks of violence, specifically in Tinubu’s stronghold Lagos. Voters additionally confronted long delays and a few election officers failed to show as much as polling stations.
Tinubu has long past from grass to grace after a rocky get started. He left Nigeria for america to check in Chicago and used to be infrequently pressured to clean dishes to make ends meet, in step with the Bola Tinubu library.
Upon returning to Nigeria, Tinubu labored within the oil sector prior to venturing into politics. He used to be elected into the Nigerian senate in 1992 and served till the following 12 months when the army seized energy. He fled the rustic in 1994 after the pro-democracy workforce he co-founded did not sway the army to relinquish energy.
Known as ‘Jagaban’ – ‘warrior of warriors’ – by way of his fans, Tinubu has shackles emblazoned on his trademark woven caps, to signify a time he misplaced his freedom when he used to be pressured into exile by way of the dictator Sani Abacha.
He returned to Nigeria after 4 years and used to be a hit in his bid for the highest task in Lagos following Nigeria’s go back to democracy in 1999.
Tinubu used to be dogged by way of allegations of corruption during the marketing campaign path which he strongly denies. Tinubu is vastly rich and he has pursuits in lots of sectors together with actual property and media.
He as soon as had a bullion van at his house in an prosperous space of Lagos all through the 2019 elections. “I keep money wherever I want,” Tinubu stated in reaction.
Critics say he didn’t convincingly cope with issues about his well being, and, from time to time, gave the impression puzzled and incoherent at the marketing campaign path. He additionally made gaffes that experience made him the butt of jokes and viral memes on social media.
Tinubu used to be additionally criticized for abstaining from presidential debates and delegating questions on his manifesto to contributors of his workforce all through a contemporary day trip at the United Kingdom assume tank Chatham House.
A working towards Muslim like his predecessor, Muhammadu Buhari, Tinubu has six youngsters and is married to Oluremi Tinubu, a senator in Lagos.
During his acceptance speech, Tinubu joked that his spouse would not be heading again to the senate as she would now be his “housewife and First Lady.” It used to be a comic story that has no longer long past down with many Nigerian girls, who nonetheless fight to realize foothold in politics.
Now he has to get on with the intense job of uniting a rustic fractured alongside non secular, ethnic and generational strains in addition to a bunch of issues together with lack of confidence, an economic system on the point of cave in, in addition to gasoline, money and tool shortages.
He can even must paintings onerous to shake off the affiliation with the ruling celebration, underneath which many Nigerians have suffered untold hardships.
“I am not the party,” he stated all through the marketing campaign. “My track record should speak for me.”
His supporters name Tinubu a grasp strategist and ‘king of the long game’ who has been making plans his ascent to the throne for years.
“He didn’t just become a governor of a major state like Lagos, he also built a succession plan. He used his clout and enormous resources to build leaders and establish political influence, first in the southwest … and then extended to the north of Nigeria,” says Nigerian political analyst Sam Amadi.
Tinubu wields vital affect within the southwest the place he’s observed as a political godfather and kingmaker. He has handpicked each and every Lagos governor since since leaving place of work in 2007 and used to be instrumental within the election of Buhari to the presidency on his fourth try in 2015.
After many years as a political puppet grasp, Tinubu declared it used to be now his flip to emerge from the shadows into the presidency; his marketing campaign slogan used to be “Emi Lokan,” which interprets to “it is my turn,” in his local Yoruba language.
Tinubu used to be necessarily calling within the choose with the slogan, explains Amadi.
“Nigerian politics is an arrangement, it’s turn by turn…. Buhari could get all the votes in the north but he couldn’t get two-third majority of votes anywhere in the south, and Tinubu turned the southwest to him. This tells us that there’s a sense in which Nigerian politicians feel that access to power is an entitlement … what they think they deserve because of investment of finance or investment of goodwill that they’ve put into the system,” Amadi stated.
