PROFILES

By Wilfred Eya, Amaechi Ogbonna, Romanus Ugwu and Chukwudi Nweje

 

Ahmed Tinubu is the President and Commander-in-Chief of the armed Forces of the Federal Republic of Nigeria. He is also the National Leader of the ruling All Progressive Congress (APC), a position bestowed on him when the party was formed in 2013 due to the key role he played in the formation and registration of the APC.

He was born on March 29, 1952, into the merchant family of Abibatu Mogaji, the Ìyál’ jà of Lagos.

Tinubu spent his early life in South West Nigeria, attending St. John’s Primary School, Aroloya, Lagos before proceeding to Children Home School in Ibadan. He later travelled to the United States, where he completed his undergraduate studies, first at Richard J. Daley College in Chicago and then at Chicago State University. He graduated in 1979 with a Bachelor of Science degree in Accounting.

As a professional, Tinubu worked as an accountant for the American companies, Arthur Andersen, Deloitte and GTE Services Corporation. On returning to Nigeria in 1983, he joined Mobil Oil Nigeria as an Accountant and later became a company executive.

Tinubu’s political career began in 1991, when he joined the Social Democratic Party (SDP), and in 1992, he was elected to the Senate, representing the Lagos West constituency in the short-lived Nigerian Third Republic.

After the annulment of the June June 12, 1993 presidential elections, Tinubu joined other pro-democracy activists to form the National Democratic Coalition (NADACO) campaigning for the return to democracy.

He went into exile in 1994 but continued his agitations for return to democratic rule from abroad. He returned to the country in 1998 after the death of former military Head of State, Gen Sani Abacha, as the foundations of the Fourth Republic were being laid.

Tinubu contested for the governorship seat of Lagos State on the platform of the Alliance for Democracy (AD). He defeated Funsho Williams and Wahab Dosunmu, a former Minister of Works and Housing, to pick the AD governorship ticket. In January 1999, he was elected Governor of Lagos State and served two terms of four years each from May 29, 1999 to May 29, May 29, 2007.

After leaving office in 2007, Tinubu continued to play key role in the politics of not just Lagos State and the AD, but also the politics of the South West.

In February 2013, Tinubu was among politicians who created a “mega opposition” party with the merger of Nigeria’s three biggest opposition parties – the Action Congress of Nigeria (ACN), the Congress for Progressive Change (CPC), the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), a faction of the All Progressives Grand Alliance (APGA) and a faction of the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), under the banner of and the new PDP (nPDP), to form the APC in 2013.

Tinubu was instrumental to President Muhammadu Buhari’s election, when, after Buhari’s four futile attempts to be president, he supported Buhari to win the Presidential Election in 2015 and 2019.

Tinubu went on to play an important role in the Buhari administration, supporting government policies and holding onto the internal party reins, in lieu of his long-held rumoured presidential aspiration.

On January 10, 2022, Tinubu made formal announcement of his ambition for to contest presidential election on the platform of the APC. He picked the APC presidential ticket, defeating other aspirants, including former Vice President Yemi Osinvajo and ex-Senate President, Ahmad Lawal.

He contested the February 25, 2023 Presidential Election and was returned winner by the Independent National Electoral Commission (INEC) on March 1, 2023, polling 8,794,726 votes to defeat his closest opponents－Atiku Abubakar of the opposition PDP, who polled 6,984,520 votes, and Labour Party’s Peter Obi, who polled 6,101,533 votes to come third.

Tinubu was sworn in as President of Nigeria by the Chief Justice of Nigeria, Olukayode Ariwoola at 10:41 AM (WAT) at an inauguration ceremony held in Eagle Square in Abuja.