The elephant is a very interesting animal. Outside of its admirable size and enviable – and fabled – capacity for long-term memory, the actions of a single elephant tend to concuss even the idle worm. But elephants are seldom reported to be temperamental, given to bouts of jealousy, envy or rage. Imagine the outcomes when men – temperamental men who are given to bouts of jealousy, envy, and rage – grow to a political size like that of an elephant.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is probably the most influential and powerful politician in Nigeria. The shadows he casts testify to the fact that he is a political mammoth where the largest political masters around are only budding elephants. His weight in the Nigerian political arena is simply too colossal for criticism, too deep for dismissal, too astute for affectations.
Enter Seyi Tinubu.
If the name is not an obvious hint – there aren’t that many Tinubus swimming around in the shark-infested waters of Nigerian high society – Seyi is the son of Bola Tinubu. A lawyer trained in the US and gradually becoming an elephant in his own right in the advertising industry, Seyi Tinubu is anything but a scion following after his father’s shadow. If anything, he appears to be the sort of silent business champ who walks the path of fame only because he must. This is not en route the path to political majesty.
Naturally, quite a number of people are convinced that Seyi is still his father’s son and walking the path to politics, whatever he does. This has led to shadow friends and comrades whose purpose is to curry favour, perchance the gauntlet of power will benefit them in the long run. In simple words, Oga Seyi is a political force and his will is a factor.
The latest of these suppositions is the case of the sack of Mobolaji Sanusi, the former MD of LASAA – an advertising outfit instituted by Bola Tinubu. Although Sanusi’s tenure supposedly expired sometime in September, several folks are convinced that Seyi had a hand in his eventual dismissal. Motive? Soured friendship.
The rumours of Seyi’s hand in the firing of Sanusi remains unverified. One arm of the informed public supports the claim, choosing to believe that Seyi is able and therefore responsible; another arm wonders how an individual who himself is an active member of LASAA would involve himself in so obvious a stunt. Allegations continue to be thrown back and forth, while Seyi – and his father, Tinubu – continue to go about their individual business.
