- Olusi credits Tinubu with uniting North and South via APC, comparing his organizational skills to Awolowo’s efforts
- Olusi praises Tinubu’s support for politicians, highlights his role in forming APC, and describes him as a generous leader
According to Prince Tajudeen Olusi, a former House of Representatives member and Commissioner of Commerce in Lagos State, some people believe President Bola Ahmed Tinubu did more to unite the North and South than Obafemi Awolowo.
From 1952 to 1959, Awolowo founded the Yoruba nationalist group Egbe Omo Oduduwa and served as the first Premier of Nigeria’s Western Region under the parliamentary system.
During Sir Tafawa Balewa’s tenure as Prime Minister, he was the official leader of the opposition in the federal parliament.
Many politicians who identify as progressives, particularly in the country’s south, trace their political rise to Awolowo.
In an interview, Olusi, a prominent figure in Lagos politics and a political contemporary of the president, as well as the chairman of the Governor’s Advisory Council (GAC) — a group of elders with significant political clout in Lagos — drew a comparison between Awolowo and Tinubu.
He (Tinubu) is a good organiser, he was able to bring other parts of the country together in the APC and in ensuring the success of our former president, Buhari.
And I have seen people who have said Bola achieved what our father, late Obafemi Awolowo could not achieve, in the sense that Chief Awolowo wanted the North and the Yoruba people to work together for the advancement of our country. And we have been able to achieve that in the APC.
He also went down memory lane, recalling Tinubu’s financial support for politicians before entering politics.
Olusi also described the former Lagos governor as a good organizer who helped form the ruling All Progressives Congress (APC).
I became the chairman of a party in Lagos in the days of the SDP, and by that posture, the national vice chairman of the party. It was during this period I came to know President Bola.”
I have known him as a junior brother. You see, Bola is ready to support people, Bola is ready to spare his money, you know the surest foundation in our society, in Africa, is money, it is funds.
Most people are poor and those who are not poor don’t want to risk their money in politics, where the profit is not sure. When we requested financial assistance from Bola, he gave that assistance readily; we asked for more, he gave it and it was at that stage, the best course of action for us was to make this “aburo” a politician, he said.