Why They Are Attacking Tinubu

The seemingly coordinated vicious attacks on the former Governor of Lagos and APC National Leader Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu is a direct result of the front-line role he played in ending the 16-year reign of the PDP.

In recent times, Asiwaju Tinubu has been the target of attacks both in the traditional and Social Media, apparently orchestrated by those who blame him for everything happening to the party, especially the crisis triggered by the National Assembly leadership election.

The attacks have become stronger since Friday, when he was needlessly pilloried for not attending the NEC meeting of the party in Abuja, called to resolve the National Assembly leadership crisis.

''There is no doubt that the attacks are being orchestrated by those who have not forgiven Asiwaju for the visionary role he played in bringing about the merger of opposition parties into the APC, which then went ahead to win power at the centre.

''But for Asiwaju's uncommon vision and extraordinary politics, such a merger could never have been consummated, not to talk of winning power at the centre in less than two years of its registration by INEC.

''Add that to APC 's unprecedented feat of becoming the first party to unseat a ruling party, and you can then begin to understand why those who had their long snouts tucked into the nectar of power under the PDP will never like the APC visioner. Come to think of it, no PDP member or supporter will ever see anything good in Asiwaju'' one source said.

Another source said that in a twist of irony, Asiwaju's unprecedented success in politics has also been the source of anger and hatred directed at him by those who were very comfortable with the status quo, especially since the beginning of the current political dispensation in 1999.

''Recall that when Obasanjo embarked on his onslaught against the South-west in 2007, only Lagos State under Tinubu survived. But for his survival then, which he then leveraged upon to retake power from the PDP in the region, there would have been no APC today, because the ACN - the key legacy party of the APC - would never have been born.

''The PDP, lacking visioners like Tinubu, never for once imagined that some opposition elements will put their differences aside and opt to work together for higher interests, like it happened in the case of the APC, to unhorse them. That was why, in their moment of power stupor, they boasted that the PDP will rule for 60 years.

The source said but for Tinubu, that prediction of power longevity, boastful as it might have seemed to many, would have come to pass.

''It is therefore not strange that the man, Tinubu, is being attacked and blamed for every perceived wrong in Nigeria, in the APC or for allegedly seeking to grab every imaginable post in his party.

''But there is no cause for alarm. Every great man in history has gone through the same motion of being pilloried, being misunderstood or being simply hated for their greatness. It is not about to change with Tinubu, but like it or not, his place in Nigeria's history is guaranteed. He has earned that and no level of attacks can take it from him.

''Tinubu should take solace in the words of another great man of his time, Albert Einstein, who said: ''Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds.''