It’s Cockcrow at Dawn for Bola Ahmed Tinubu – By Yakubu Lamai

 

43 years after the debut of the drama series, “Cockcrow at Dawn” is best remembered for its evocative theme music, where the singer Bongos Ikwue will repeatedly ask the question: Will he ever get there? Will he ever make it? Will he ever hear the sound of the cockcrow at dawn?”

PEGASUS REPORTERS, LAGOS | APRIL 8, 2023

In 1980, “Cockcrow at Dawn” was a popular television drama series that was created by NTA as part of President, Shehu Shagaris Green Revolution” initiative to promote Agriculture.

43 years after the debut of the drama series, “Cockcrow at Dawn” is best remembered for its evocative theme music, where the singer Bongos Ikwue will repeatedly ask the question: Will he ever get there? Will he ever make it? Will he ever hear the sound of the cockcrow at dawn?”

At this momentous intersection of Nigeria’s political history; the song Cockcrow at Dawn aptly captures the tension of the moment and readily brings to mind the three central questions posed in the song, inter alia: “Will Tinubu get (to Eagle Square)? “Will Tinubu ever make it (to be inaugurated as President of Nigeria)? and “Will Tinubu hear the sound of the cock when it crows on the dawn of May 29th 2023?”

Leading up to the 2023 elections, a lot of abrasive and combustible chatter was generated on the internet egged by the “Obi-dients” who made the fatal error of looking at politics from the prism of “black and white, with a sharp edge In-between!” To them, it was simply a matter of “us against them” and “you were either Obi-dient or unpatriotic” (and most likely a corrupt and evil crony of the old guard).

“Obi-dients” did not take heed of the wise counsel of Ikem, the character in Chinua Achebe’s novel ANTHILLS OF THE SAVANNAH, who cautioned that: “revolutions are (often) betrayed just as much by stupidity, incompetence, impatience and precipitate actions!

They were driven by emotion and mob mentality and therefore lacked a sincere sense of political accommodation, mature sobriety and national inclusion.

In sharp contrast, Bola Ahmed Tinubu who had been in the trenches for years and fought to restore democracy in Nigeria; understood the inherent complexity, paradox and contradictions of this country and he had the emotional maturity, broad worldview, capacity, competence and sheer dogged character to deliver the much-needed solution that can fix and bring Nigeria together.

According to The Bishop of the Sokoto Catholic Diocese, Matthew Hassan-Kukah; “No President or Head of State in the history of Nigeria ever came prepared for the job of the number one citizen of the country except the President-elect, Senator Bola Ahmed Tinubu, who has been nursing and preparing for the task decades ago!”

And to crown his foolproof readiness, Bola Ahmed Tinubu is blessed with a dutiful and supportive wife in the person of Oluremi, who has helped him through the storms to push his limits, achieve his dreams, and become successful as a politician extraordinaire.

Oluremi Tinubu, who is the wife to the President-Elect, said that she herself became a born-again Christian while she was living in exile in America with their little children between 1994 to 1999, and in her words; “we were in self-exile for almost five years and when you have a problem, the only person you run to is God”

Earlier in 1992, Bola Tinubu had been elected to the Senate in Nigeria’s short-lived Third Republic, but after the 12 June 1993 Presidential elections were annulled, Tinubu became a founding member of NADECO which mobilized support for the restoration of democracy and recognition of Moshood Abiola as winner of the 12 June election.

In pursuit of this nationalistic mission to restore democracy, Tinubu was jailed, and upon his release, the military placed sanctions on the use of diplomatic passports, so Tinubu had no choice but to escape through neighboring borders and acquire a passport in his desperation to see his wife and children, who were in exile in America.

It took Tinubu 18 months to see Oluremi and his children, after which, he could only come to visit his family us once in every six months, leaving Oluremi to raise their children all alone, while she also went back to school in America.

After the death of General Sani Abacha, Bola Tinubu returned to Nigeria and by the divine providence of God, he entered the Governorship race as a candidate of Alliance for Democracy (AD) and defeated Funsho Williams and Wahab Dosunmu, a former Minister of Works and Housing to become Governor of Lagos State.

By 1999, one would have thought the storm was seemingly over for the Ahmed Tinubu family, but his wife Oluremi returned to Nigeria afflicted with amnesia, and for some time she lost her memory and avoided attending social gatherings because people will walk up to her and she wouldn’t be able to recognize them anymore.

Inspired by his liberal nature, Bola Ahmed Tinubu neither forced his Islamic faith on his wife nor did he object that Oluremi raised his children as Christians, despite that they bear Muslim names.

This encouraged Oluremi Tinubu from being a born-again Christian in 1995 to rising in 23 years and becoming an ordained Pastor of the Redeemed Christian Church of God. Her ordination took place at the Old Arena of Redeemed Christian Church of God, Lagos/Ibadan Expressway where the church held its 66th Annual Convention themed Dominion in the year 2018, almost 5 years ago.

Today therefore, Nigeria is blessed with an incoming President-Elect and first lady, both of whom are God-fearing and blessed with a towering reputation for doing good and raising men from the dust, as inspired by a rare sense of compassion and a keen love for humanity.

On his own part, Bola Tinubu says: “I look for talents that are better than me. I’m not afraid to bring on board people with higher wisdom because the most important thing to me is to get the job done for the betterment of all!”

It’s his rare sense of inclusion that led Tinubu to discover and nurture men of mettle like Vice President Yemi Osinbajo, who was his attorney general and commissioner for justice. Rauf Aregbesola, the immediate past governor of Osun State, was Tinubus commissioner for works. Minister of Works Babatunde Fashola, who succeeded Tinubu as Governor in Lagos State, was his chief of staff., while Lai Mohammed, who served as Tinubu’s first chief of staff, is Nigeria’s current Minister of Information, etc.

In 1999, Lagos was the most insecure city in Africa, where residents woke up to 50 new dead bodies in the streets with no one removing them; yet Tinubu was able to increase the internal revenue generation of the state from a paltry N600 million monthly to N51 billion today, making Lagos the 5th largest economy in Africa, richer than 50 out of the 55 countries in the continent.

Today, President-elect Bola Ahmed Tinubu has come up with an 80-page manifesto to renew Nigeria and in this Action Plan for a Better Nigeria, the Tinubu administration will diversify electricity generation using off-grid sources like coal, solar and adopt technological-based solutions to insecurity by establishing Anti-Terrorist Battalions, Ranger and Forest Guards as well as build on the foundation already laid for pragmatic community policing.

To attune Nigeria’s infrastructure to a fast-emerging new world, The Tinubu-Shettima administration has laid out concrete plans to build metro trains in every state capital, which will be connected to rail lines across the nation; and most fascinating is that Bola Ahmed Tinubu plans to build Nigerias economy by concentrating on the youth, instead of oil.

Tinubu has stated how he intends to create at least one million ICT specialists within 24 months of coming to the office so that these youths will help to fast-track digital economic development in the country, which is why his administration will focus on training the youth in Information Technology and digital economy, agriculture, entertainment, entrepreneurship, and manufacturing, such that Nigeria GDP can average a 10% growth rate per year.

In Islam, it is said that a cock crows when it sees an angel, and long ago, Pope Gregory the Great dubbed the rooster the wisest of all God’s creatures, and in the Bible, Jesus Christ predicted that his disciple Peter would deny any association with him, before the second cockcrow.

According to the Bible, after denying Jesus Christ, Peter emerged from his shame, a repentant, and stronger believer but it took the crowing of a humble rooster, a harbinger of dawn, for Peter to reflect on what he had done, and for him to recognize his denial and weep over it.

The rooster that pricked the conscience of Peter did not signal that the Sun had risen, but that the sun would rise.

It is also the same with Nigeria. As we approach the May 29th, 2023 inauguration of the President-Elect, it is morning yet on creation day for renewed hope in our country; but with Tinubu’s gallant victory at the polls, the cock has already crowed for Bola Ahmed Tinubu, in anticipation of a great celebration to herald the rising of a new and better Nigeria.

Yakubu Lamai is Assistant Secretary to the APC-PCC Special Ops, Special Media Projects & New Media Directorate.

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