Have you pondered why presidential offsprings sometimes behave in such bizarre and irascible manner that bring embarrassment to the first family? Mr Seyi Tinubu, a pampered grown adult and son of President Bola Tinubu, has had some run-ins with some people since his father became Nigerian president almost two years ago. The controversies he has attracted have hugged the headlines. If this bizarre behaviour is not normal, you may ask, why? Does the President feel hurt watching his son each time his son’s conduct makes the headlines?
If the President does, why hasn’t he deemed it necessary to rein him in as he did early in his administration when Seyi reportedly barged in, without invitation, at the Federal Executive Council (FEC) in the Presidential Villa? This is what the President said on that day: “I have noticed the undue access of people sneaking in and out of this Council, including my son, Seyi, sitting behind the cubicle. That’s not acceptable”. The president instructed the Secretary to the Government of the Federation, George Akume to take note of his order.
But, whether the SFG did anything to restrict Seyi’s access to crucial meetings in Aso Rock is not certain. All the same, this question continues to be asked: Has Seyi beyond control or is his “unacceptable” behaviour part of the desperate plots for the president’s re-election bid in 2027? As you ponder over these questions, this could be part of the answer you may be looking for. In an opinion published in the New York Times, December 24, 2013, titled, “When a politician’s child goes astray”, the writer, Marc Santora, says that while “politicians strive to control the message, teenagers and young adults are not known for their ability to stay on script”.
Recall that Seyi has come under fire in recent days following allegations by the President of the National Association of Nigerian Students(NANS) comrade Atiku Abubakar Isah, that he was invited to Lagos by the President’s son, and was offered a bribe of N100million to support the President’s reelection in 2027. But he claimed he rejected the offer because, the president has not done well to warrant his support. As a result of his refusal, Isah alleged he was abducted on April 15, severely beaten by thugs allegedly hired by Seyi and forced to endorse a preferred candidate under duress.
Arise News said it has verified a statement purportedly signed by former NANS senate president, Comrade Henry Okunomo, that Seyi Tinubu hired the thugs that invaded an Abuja hotel to prevent the inauguration of NANS new leadership. In his reaction, Seyi washed his hands of any “meeting, discussion or assault” involving the NANS president, including the alleged N100 million bribe to Isah to step down from NANS’ recent election. Seyi said, “I never knowingly met comrade Atiku Abubakar Isah…”
Seyi also dismissed claims that he led thugs to disrupt the venue of the hotel where Isah was reportedly attacked. Watch his words, “never knowingly met” the NANS president. Which is why a thorough investigation may be necessary. But we know it won’t happen. Nonetheless, here’s why the President Tinubu should carefully watch his son, if indeed, he’s not part of the script some people have alleged that his son is executing. In his book titled, “All the Presidents’ children”, Doug Wead, a former adviser to President George H. Bush, noted that many children of presidents have knowingly and unknowingly become subjects of scandals that have raised trouble for their fathers.
Those close Seyi say he is a show off, a histrionic personality, though a “Go-to guy”, very dependable in executing important assignments. Many times, he flies in presidential jets for private trips like the Polo match in Kano, October, 2023. If attitude shows character, Nigerians should brace up to see many sides of Seyi as the next election approaches. Sometime last year, his step- sister, Iyalode Folashade Tinubu-Ojo, bragged before market women in Lagos that “our daddy is now the president and I should be addressed by the title of the First daughter of the Federal Republic of Nigeria”.
To be fair, the Tinubu children are not alone in walking through the informal channels of power, cashing in on their father’s position. In the 1990s, Neil Bush, the oil man son of President H.W. Bush, was accused of violating conflict of interest regulations by serving on the Board of Silverado Banking Savings and Loans Association in Denver, Colorado, which went bankrupt in 1998 and received a billion-dollar bail-out from taxpayers. The scandal blew up during his father’s presidency in 1990, when a Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation lawsuit claimed “gross negligence”, and blamed Neil Bush and several other directors of not stopping the institution’s questionable loans practices. A $49 million settlement was agreed in 1991. The headlines not only embarrassed his father who had earlier described his son as a “perfect child”, but also the ruling Republican Party. But not so with Seyi. As a Board member of Chagoury, owners of Hitech construction company that got N1trn contract for the Lagos/Calabar Highway, ostensibly through the influence of Seyi, the administration saw no conflict of interest in the deal.
This is what Neal Bush told TIME magazine in an interview published on July 23, 1990 for using the office of his father to feather his own nest. “I worried about the impact on my Dad and my role in this thing. I would be naive to sit here and deny that my father’s name didn’t have something to do with it, but I wanted to make it very, very clear I was not asked. I made it clear before joining the board of Silverado that I never would intervene in the regulatory process”. But he did. Like Seyi, many presidents’ children have gotten into this kind of mess just because their Dads were in the commanding heights of power.
The same thing happened during Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s presidency, when his son, Jimmy, made millions of dollars in insurance business by allegedly “twisting” the accounts of the company away from other agents using “political leverage” to ensure that his accounts, in the words of TIME magazine, “flowered like the lilies of paradise”. Nigerians know that “heavens would not fall”, (to paraphrase Nyesom Wike), if Seyi Tinubu makes Nigeria part of his family estate. However, one thing is clear: No matter how long one stays in power, in the words of American presidential historian, Robert A. Caro, the “nature of power, the complexity of ambition, and the role that the greater good can play in the making of a leader,” it will certainly end one day.