This is a book on Bola Ahmed Tinubu, exploring his role in the politics of South West Nigeria.
Tinubu comes next, perhaps, after Obafemi Awolowo, in national recognition as a leader in that region, necessitating critical examination of his ascension and its implications for the South West in Nigerian history.
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Such an exploration requires analyses from various perspectives, examining why he is known to admirers as the Lion of Bourdillon and to detractors as Thiefnubu, both sets of people attesting to his political dominance and the economic reach intertwined with it.
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One of, if not the latest book on South West politics, is Wale Adebanwi's 2014 text Yoruba Elites and Ethnic Politics in Nigeria: Obafemi Awolowo and Corporate Agency, which takes the story of South West politics from Awolowo to more recent times.
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There is a need for analyses of contemporary developments in the light of Tinubu's strategic role within the South West from the days of the June 12 struggles to his conflicts with the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidency, to the decimation of his South West leadership faction by opposition political victories, leaving him in the iconic 'last man standing' situation, to his recent efforts in leading the South West to the centre of national government after decades in the opposition and the controversial outcome of that success from 2015 to the present, to the 2019 elections and beyond, to the 2023 elections and the years after as this strategy perhaps continues, against the background of opposing perspectives in South West politics represented by Afenifere and Odua People's Congress and expansionist orientations represented by Miyetti Allah Fulani Socio-Cultural Organisation,in its alliance, in my view, with President Muhammadu Buhari, the central allay of Tinubu and his faction at the centre of the Nigerian government.
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A serious study of Tinubu is needed, one that is frank and critical, updating and expanding, with a focus on Tinubu, such works as Adebanwi's, bringing up to date a historical account of the story to which Tinubu is critical and centred on him as focusing continuities and ruptures in South West political history up till the present time, a project persisting the developments between now, 3rd March 2019, on the day of the gubernatorial elections and into the 2023 elections and three to four years beyond that beceause the events between now and 2023 about four years after are likely to represent a climatic and perhaps defining point in the significance of Tinubu's political history, and, to some degree, of the current stage of South West political history represented by the alliance between Buhari's Muslim North and Tinubu's South West
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These political dynamics demonstrate a very rich picture that needs depth and breadth of critical study, vital for contemporary illumination as well as for providing a scholarly foundation for later explorations of South West political history in relation to the development of Nigerian politics and its economic and social impact.
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