Nigeria’s President-Elect, Bola Ahmed Tinubu
In political marketing, The 48 Laws of Power authored by Robert Greene is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining power or defending against ultimate control. It’s the bastard love child of How To Win Friends And Influence People, The Art of War, and The Game of political survival
Dr. Lexington Steele, an American-based political analyst dissects how Bola Ahmed Tinubu, Nigeria’s President-Elect used many of the principles in the popular book on his ascension to the throne
Law 1. Never Outshine the Master
Despite the crucial role that Tinubu played in getting Buhari to Aso Rock, at no point did he attempt to upstage him. He often showed absolute loyalty, humility and respect even in the face of obvious disrespect and marginalisation. He always left trivial insults for the big picture.
Law 4. Always Say Less Than Necessary
For years, Dino Melaye, Bukola Saraki, Afenifere, Bode George have openly disrespected and insulted Tinubu. BAT might have been taught “Silence is the best answer for a fool” in primary school, but the man took it to extreme lengths. He NEVER responded. He only ensured political irrelevance of his foes.
Law 6. Court Attention at All Costs
For years, critics of Tinubu who were envious of his prominent role in uprooting PDP from Aso Rock, spent years mourning the loss and insulting the man. What they didn’t know was that the insults made him a constant on the lips of everyone. There are reliable sources in Aso Rock who said Tinubu intentionally made gaffes like “bala blu bula ba” to keep his name in the news while distracting his opponents from the big picture. It was ALL misdirection.
Law 7. Get Others to Do the Work for You, but Always Take the Credit
So far, different people have built Lagos but Tinubu finds a way to direct all the credit to himself. Secondly, there are reliable sources that revealed that Tinubu, through a middleman, instigated Peter Obi into running for Presidency. Intelligence reveals that Obi went to Atiku to beg for a chance to be his running -mate but was coldly rejected. Atiku told him point-blank not this time. While Obi was in a sad state, the middleman approached him and said some big men who wanted to remain anonymous will finance his candidacy as an independent candidate. Obi Jumped at it. He ever knew he was being financed by Tinubu to run against him!!! Very reliable sources close to APC have confirmed this. Tinubu knew that the South-East and South-South voting as a block for Atiku can make his success at the polls quite difficult so he came up with this trump card.
Law 15. Crush Your Enemy Totally
The high number of votes Obi got was intended to psychologically break Atiku. Atiku will always think of what could have been if he teamed up with Obi. This will make him lose taste to run for Presidency again. If APC, already weakened by Buhari’s poor performance could still beat PDP with such a wide margin… the defeat is psychological which is at times more traumatic and longer lasting than physical defeat.
Law 16. Use Absence to Increase Respect and Honour
Tinubu intentionally refused any debates organized. By the time he appeared on Chatham House, BBC and the NESG… audiences hung on EVERY single word he uttered. This is why he had such a strong showing especially in the NESG. His absence generated a lot of interest when he finally took the stage.
Law 21. Play a Sucker to Catch a Sucker – Appear Dumber Than Your Mark
While some of his rivals were busy fantasizing about how to wrestle control of Lagos State from Tinubu’s hands, they forgot elections were conducted in 36 states plus the FCT. He appeared like a fool but he knew allowing a win in Lagos will even increase the validity of the election results. When EFCC was storming his polling units when military tanks were rolling into Lagos, his critics jubilated not knowing the true purpose of those tanks was to quell any post-election violence if his lieutenants fail to handle the political heat in Lagos. and he had totally washed off his hands from Lagos politics in 2023 to grab the bigger cake,
29. Plan All the Way to the End
Most mortals would rest easy if they had the “advantages” BAT had. “Oh, I am the ticket holder of the ruling party, I helped the President and his Vice to power, I can sleep assured” Bola Tinubu campaigned harder than his rivals. He campaigned like he was in a relatively small party like FRESH or Accord. He NEVER left anything to chance from Primaries to Presidency. Even to petitions at tribunals post-election, I wouldn’t explain that further.
42. Strike the Shepherd, and the Sheep Will Scatter
At a point when it seemed the Cabal wanted to install another candidate during the APC primaries, Tinubu fearlessly struck at the heart of the Cabal. Glory favours the bold, unlike Atiku who deleted a tweet condemning Deborah Samuel’s death or Peter Obi who ran away from PDP primaries before it even started…. Tinubu boldly confronted the President, Vice President, Senate President, and Party Chairman. A few weeks before the elections, a cash shortage and fuel scarcity were caused to negatively affect Tinubu’s chances. He very boldly confronted the Presidency till there was a Supreme Court stalemate.
Dr. Lexington Steele, collaborated with think tanks like Brookings Institute and the Chatham House. They all believe tinubu’s political Ingenuity should be studied by political and brand experts as well as scholars in Universities globally.
