Glorification of Criminality: Financial Times calls Tinubu the Machiavelli of Nigeria for bringing down Jonathan's government

Glorification of Criminality: Financial Times calls Tinubu the Machaivelli of Nigeria for bringing down Jonathan's government

Internationally renowned publication, Financial Times, has likened former governor of Lagos State, who has been linked to several crimes and offences against the people and the state, Bola Tinubu to Machiavelli.

Below is an excerpt from the FT article, titled Man Who Helped Topple Nigerian President Displays Svengali Touch:


From his redoubt on Bourdillon Road in upmarket Lagos, a man popularly known as the Jagaban cemented his reputation this week as a political Svengali with the role he played in helping to orchestrate the downfall of Nigeria’s sitting president, Goodluck Jonathan.

Bola Ahmed Tinubu, whose name comes from the Jagaban chieftaincy title bestowed on him by the northern town of Borgu,was from 1999 to 2007 governor of the nation’s economic engine, the coastal state and mega city of Lagos. The political godfather now of southwest Nigeria, Mr Tinubu’s unlikely alliance with Muhammadu Buhari, the austere former military ruler and now president-elect,made possible the first opposition victory in the country’s electoral history.

“There needed to be an alignment for us to be able to stare down the government in power,” said one of Mr Tinubu’s lieutenants. “There needed to be a catalyst for that alignment.He was the most prepared for that.” The manner in which that alignment evolves is now among the big questions Nigerians are asking when considering the likely character of the incoming administration. Described as “deeply Machiavellian”and a “master strategist” by one of his party peers, the Jagaban cannily built a political empire among ethnic Yorubas in Lagos and the southwest, as formidable, according to allied politicians, as that of Obafemi Awolowo, who led Nigeria’s second-largest ethnic block at independence.

He did so over the past 15 or so years, having survived a string of bruising turf wars with the ruling People’s Democratic party, which was forged from political networks across Nigeria during the 1998 transition from military rule. PDP barons had become so adept at oiling the electoral machine that they sometimes boasted the party would still be in power in 100years.

It was the merger of the Jagaban’s Action Congress last year with the party of the president-elect — strong in the
north but weak elsewhere—that made it possible for the opposition to challenge and ultimately defeat the PDP.

It is baffling that the Financial Times, a reputable western newspaper is glorifying Bola Tinubu as Machiavelli and model to emulate. In the west Bola Tinubu will be languishing in prison for various frauds he committed in Lagos State. A documentary of the African Independent Television (AIT) titled Lion of the Bourdillion: Unmasking the Real Ti­nubu, listed various crimes Tinubu committed against the people and the state. The exposé, which seriously rattled Tinubu outlined how Tinubu has virtually turned Lagos into his personally estate, from which he had amassed stupendous amount of wealth. Perhaps what is good for the whites is not good for the blacks - well at least that is what FT is telling the world.

The Duomo the most prominent structure in Florence, Italy

Niccolò  Machiavelli was a Florentine historian, politician, diplomat, philosopher, humanist, and writer during the Renaissance. He was for many years an official in the Florentine Republic, with responsibilities in diplomatic and military affairs. He was a founder of modern political science, and more specifically political ethics. He also wrote comedies, carnival songs, and poetry. His personal correspondence is renowned in the Italian language. He was Secretary to the Second Chancery of the Republic of Florence from 1498 to 1512, when the Medici were out of power. He wrote his masterpiece, The Prince, after the Medici had recovered power and he no longer held a position of responsibility in Florence. His views on the importance of a strong ruler who was not afraid to be harsh with his subjects and enemies were most likely influenced by the Italian city-states, which due to a lack of unification were very vulnerable to other unified nation-states, such as France.