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Bola Ahmed Tinubu (B. A. T), Kerosene And The Creature Called Bat
By BAYO OSIYEMI, (A Political Analyst)
Kerosene is a transparent, combustible hydrocarbon liquid derived from petroleum. It is used to power jets in aircrafts or as a cooking and lighting fuel.
In this clime, it is referred to in sundry ways. In Yorubaland, for example, because it is used for cooking, like palm oil.
But unlike palm oil that is also used for cooking, it cannot be redeemed once it spills on the floor, the reason why theres a local saying in the heartland of Yorubaland that: ” kaa daa le, ka tun sha; ki nse fun ti omo onikerosene”.
Once, it spills on the floor, that’s the end; it dissolves and evaporates; and becomes a permanent loss to the buyer or seller. It is commonly said in this area, as perhaps in other areas that, unlike palm oil that readily turns sticky and greasy with time, kerosene retains its transparent and liquid form, for all time.
What is the nexus between Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu and kerosene ? Bola Tinubu’s former employer, MOBÌĹ mutinational company, deals in kerosène as indeed other petroleum products..But beyond that is this similarity: like kerosene, Bola Tinubu does not sleep!
My authority on that is the paramount ruler of Lagos from where Bola Tinubu earned his prestigious title of Asiwaju. Some 12 years ago, as I was leaving Oba Rilwanu Akiolu’s presence àt his Iga Idunganran palace in Isale Eko, for Tinubu’s Bourdilon, Ikoyi residence, the monarch urged me to help prevail on his valued chief to relax more, because “the man hardly sleeps”. Kerosene !
I carried out Oba Akiolu’s counsel but Tinubu was quick to say “Rest ke? Theres so much work to be done”.
I now know better. Twelve years on, Tinubu has burnt so much midnight oil that he has developed himself to be the phenomenal politician that he is today. He is very much work in progress.
During his time as governor of Lagos State, the ingenuity in Bola Tinubu’s media and advertising handlers came to the fore when billboards sprang up like mushrooms all over the metropolis, depicting and linking an Indian hero of democracy the round-rimmed medicated glasses of Chief Obafemi Awolowo, Nigeria’s most celebrated and hardest working politician of his time, with Bola Tinubu.
My reaction to the billboards at the time was that the man Tinubu had set for himself one helluva task. I wasnt then reckoning with the undiscovered fact that inside the small body of Tinubu is a big engine of inexhaustible power and energy. The man definitely has immense faith in himself as indeed in his Creator, confirming the Scriptural assertion that if one has faith as little as the mustard seed, he can ask the mountain to move and it shall move.
Power of self-belief!
From an underdog in politics, Tinubu has driven himself so studiously and mercilessly that he has attained for himself the epithet of the most talked about and achieving political leader in Nigeria today.
In the 2023 race, Im still convinced that Bola Tinubu has all the innate power and sting of a bat, reputed for manouvrability, which for a fact stands for his initials (B.A.T) and his rare ability of being a pious and pungent politician rolled into one, in his deeds..
He is undoubtedly the man to watch, as “Aso Villa” is preparing itself for a new tenant.
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