Tinubu Ignorant About Nigeria’s Politics Before Emerging President – Akande

• Says he only complained of arthritis before the presidential race

Elder Statesman and former Governor of Osun State, Pa Bisi Akande, says despite being a political strategist, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was ignorant about the politics of Nigeria before he emerged as the nation’s number one citizen on May 29, 2023

Akande, who opened up on his conversation with President Tinubu in the buildup to the 2023 election, though the former Lagos State Governor had grown as a political strategist, he was very ignorant about the country’s politics ahead of the 2023 presidential election.

Pa Akande, who is the Asiwaju of Ila Orangun, disclosed this during an interview with media personality, Edmund Obilo while revealing in detail Tinubu’s emergence as the leader of the world’s most populous black nation.

According to the Elder statesman, who ruled Osun State from May 1999 to May 2003; “He (Tinubu) may have known a lot about the politics of Lagos and America, but he was very ignorant about the politics of Nigeria. Now that he is president, I don’t know how much he has learned”.

The octogenarian stated that contrary to the widely held opinion that Tinubu’s lifelong ambition was to rule the country, he played a major role in getting him to contest, noting that the President was initially not excited about the project and often quarreled with those who suggested the idea.

Hear him; “When I met him, he cited financial constraints and personal doubts. He said, Baba, do you have money? If I had the kind of money that people have to be President, I would rank with Dangote”.

He said Tinubu’s attitude troubled the sponsors who pleaded for his intervention before he convinced him about the bigger picture, adding; “They said there was trouble that he (Tinubu) was fighting anybody who tried to convince him about the presidency and so I went to Lagos and met him.

“I told him, ‘We don’t want you to be President because of you. You are unimportant in this matter. But in Yoruba tradition, when you want to worship the deity, you take the fattest animal or the biggest yam. Yoruba wants to be President, and you are the one we have now. It is to sacrifice you so that we can have a President, not for you to be anything”.

Further disclosing that his comment jolted President Tinubu, who looked at him like a sick fellow, the elder statesman said the former Lagos State Governor however complained about his leg (arthritis), saying; “He later asked me that Baba, you now say I should run. What about this, my leg and I assured him to go and treat it and that it will heal in six months.”