Bourdillon Road cuts across the eastern half of Ikoyi Island, one of Lagos’ most upscale neighbourhoods. Easily the most famous address on it belongs to Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Governor of Lagos between 1999 and 2007, so that these days ‘Bourdillon’ stands as a byword for absolute authority in and over Lagos by a man to whom the adjectives that best apply lie in the realms of ‘Machiavellian’ and ‘Grandmaster’.

These days he does not hold any official position; not in the government, not in the party. He is simply referred to, like a handful of others, as ‘National Leader’ of the ruling All Progressives Congress. He is today the only one of the class of 1999 Governors who remains as influential today as when Governor (arguably more influential today than he was a decade ago). The transition from Governor to godfather was effortless, and, while there have been threats to his standing, he continues to inspire awe in the hearts of friend and foe.

Having spent the last few years leading a succession of opposition parties to win governorship and legislative elections, he was emboldened to, in 2013, play a prominent role in the most impressive merger of opposition political parties in Nigeria’s history. All of that effort, combined with a deliberate courting of disgruntled ruling party chieftains, culminated in an unprecedented victory in this year’s presidential elections – the first time any opposition party would defeat an incumbent in presidential elections in Nigeria.

Without Tinubu, it would not have happened.

‘Cub’ Days

In person there’s nothing intimidating about the Jagaban of Borgu (a traditional title he received from the Kingdom of Borgu in Central Nigeria in 2006). Slight of stature, frail, bespectacled and soft-spoken, his voice carries a lilt that appears to be a legacy of a fairly lengthy American sojourn (almost a decade from 1975, studying and working; and then four years in exile between 1994 and 1998). You have to pay attention to his moves, and see the awe he commands, to get a real sense of his influence.

His foray into politics dates back to the early 1990s, when he became a founding member of the Social Democratic Party. In 1992 he quit his job at Mobil Oil Nigeria Limited, and successfully ran for a Senate seat representing Lagos State, in the short-lived second republic, which ended when military President Ibrahim Babangida annulled the June 1993 presidential elections. (In the Senate he was Chair of the Appropriation, Finance, Banking and Currency Committee).

What followed was years of exile, alongside many other activists who protested the annulment as well as opposed the dictatorship of General Sani Abacha. Abacha’s sudden death in June 1998 dramatically thawed an extremely tense atmosphere, and paved the way for a transition to democracy. Tinubu was one of the early beneficiaries, winning first the governorship ticket of the Alliance for Democracy, and then defeating the Peoples Democratic Party in the elections. On May 29, 1999, he was sworn in as the third democratically elected Governor of Lagos.

Lord of Lagos

It was in the Lagos Government House that he began to capture the popular imagination. First was his knack for assembling bright people around himself. He also assembled what is widely acknowledged as a particularly outstanding cabinet – current Vice President Yemi Osinbajo was his Attorney-General; Information Minister Lai Mohammed was his first Chief of Staff; Power, Works and Housing Minister Tunde Fashola first succeeded Mohammed as Chief of Staff and then succeeded Tinubu as Governor; Federal Inland Revenue Service Chairman Tunde Fowler was the pioneer CEO of the Lagos State Inland Revenue Service.

Next was vision – creating the very efficient Lagos Inland Revenue Service (which multiplied internally-generated revenues), launching an urban infrastructure regeneration programme (including waste management reform, and the redevelopment of the Lagos Island/Marina Central Business District), and creating 37 new local government areas (LGAs), ostensibly to bring development closer to the people.

If you want to understand just how special Bola Ahmed Tinubu is, you have to cast your mind back to 2003, when the Peoples Democratic Party overran the Alliance for Democracy (AD) in its south-western stronghold. Tinubu was the last man standing, holding on for dear life to the crown jewel, Lagos State, which the PDP was obsessed with taking. The ruling People’s Democratic Party didn’t let up the pressure. The move to create new LGAs (later renamed Local Council Development Areas) earned the wrath of President Obasanjo, who responded by withholding the federally-distributed allocation meant for the state, depriving it of billions of naira, until the Supreme Court ruled in favour of the state.

‘Nobituary’

There have been several corruption allegations against him, but nothing by way of credible proof, or a conviction.

In 2009 news website Sahara Reporters reported that Tinubu was the target of a 1993 US government forfeiture action involving money allegedly derived from a drug trafficking and money laundering ring. There was no record of any criminal prosecution relating to the alleged forfeiture. Tinubu consistently denies all the allegations; a spokesman has described them as “the lowest form of calumny. He has never been arrested, charged or indicted for any drug-related crime. Had any such suspicion existed, the American government would not have granted him political asylum during the Abacha era.” Tinubu also survived allegations that he forged his University of Chicago degree certificate.

In 2009 he was cleared of corruption allegations relating to the sale, while he was Governor, of Lagos State shares in one of Nigeria’s telecommunications companies. Last year the Code of Conduct Tribunal, resurrecting a seven-year-old case, charged him to court for operating foreign accounts in contravention of the law. An acquittal followed.

There are many eager to write his political obituary, but Tinubu keeps disappointing them. They have been emboldened recently, against the backdrop of speculation that he almost totally lost out in the allotment of parliamentary, presidential and ministerial positions in the new government.

But knowing the antecedents of the Jagaban – a savvy political player one of whose favourite quotes, according to associates, is ‘Power is never served a la carte’ – all rumours of demystification are grossly exaggerated, and possibly eternally premature.

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Ogunlesi is a two-time winner of the CNN African Journalist Award and a 2013 Rockerfeller Bellagio Fellow