With his recent refurbishment of the Arewa House Library at the Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu has once more lived up to his reputation as a builder of men, women and youths.
At the inauguration of the upgraded library, which had cost over N500 million, the Lagos State Governor Babajide Olusola Sanwo-Olu, Katsina State Governor Aminu Bello Masari, and Kaduna State Governor Nasir El-Rufai extolled the laudable efforts of the man who holds the title of the Jagaban of Borgu. Governor Sanwo-Olu, who was represented at the event by his deputy, Obafemi Hamzat, said the edifice has served and fulfilled the purpose of its establishment by sustaining its enviable status as a reliable centre for research and documentation.
Tinubu, a former Lagos State governor, also donated N100 million for the reconstruction of the Katsina Central Market, which was recently razed by fire. Recall that Governor Aminu Masari, other political office holders and civil servants in the state have pledged to contribute part of their salaries towards its rehabilitation.
That is the Jagaban for you. He has empowered so many people, not only in southwestern Nigeria where he hails from, but also from all over the country and in different sectors of the economy.
With a political career spanning three decades, Tinubu was briefly elected as a Senator representing Lagos West Constituency during the short-lived Third Republic. A former political associate of the late Shehu Musa Yar’Adua, his brother (the late former president) Umaru Yar’Adua, Atiku Abubakar, Baba Gana Kingibe, Rabiu Kwankwaso, Abdullahi Aliyu Sumaila, Magaji Abdullahi, Dapo Sarumi and Yomi Edu, he would later become a founding member of the pro-democracy National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), which fought for the restoration of democracy and the restoration of the mandate of the late Chief Moshood K. O. Abiola as the winner of June 12, 1993 election.
After a four-year exile during the reign of General Sani Abacha, he returned to the country just in time to usher in the Fourth Republic.
Assuming office in May 1999, after his election as the Lagos State governor as the Alliance for Democracy’s candidate, he made large investments in education and returned a number of schools in the state to their original owners. He also constructed new roads in a bid to upgrade the status of Lagos as a modern megacity and expanded the state’s revenue base, among other achievements.
Prince Olatayo T. Adepuji, Abuja
