Why I Follow Tinubu: A Case for Critical Thinking in Leadership, By KayLord

I have decided to put this out because I’m constantly asked why I support President Bola Ahmed Tinubu and believe he’s the right leader for Nigeria at this critical time, and even as we move towards 2027.

Rather than repeat myself endlessly, I’ll now refer people to this post whenever the question comes up. My support isn’t based on emotion or sentiment but on thoughtful analysis — a habit shaped by the values my father instilled in me when he sent me to school.

Education, while vital, was just one part of it. More importantly, school taught me how to think critically, assess complex situations, and make informed decisions — skills that extend far beyond the classroom.

School also offers early lessons in leadership, communication, teamwork, and empathy, while exposing you to people from diverse backgrounds and perspectives. These experiences build not only character but the ability to engage meaningfully with society.

That’s why, when choosing a leader for a country as complex and fragile as Nigeria, I refuse to be swayed by shallow, emotional, or tribal reasoning. We need a doer and a thinker with real experience and strategic capacity. And for me, Tinubu fits that need. Come, follow me.

By God’s grace, in my little journey in life as a management staff of different organisations over the years, I have sat at the table where people are to be interviewed for employment to fill an important position within the organisation.

At that point in time, what you are looking for — having specified, of course, that the person must be educated — is the ability, experience and track record of applicants. That is the most important factor. That is the reason you ask for a resume to be submitted.

Then, based on the applicant’s resume, you ask them questions on how they achieved what is stated in the resume. This allows you to separate real achievers from talkers and ensure you are bringing in someone who fits, performs, and will add value.

Choosing someone who will lead a nation — and a nation like Nigeria for that matter — is a very important task that must not be subject to primordial sentiments that we often see around us as reason for some people’s choices.

The antecedents, track records and achievements of the past in similar roles, or less similar roles, is a factor that must be looked at in choosing a leader for a nation like Nigeria, especially in its developmental stage.

I will break down in my view what I believe a Nigerian leader must possess before any right-thinking person would consider hiring (voting for) them for the position of Nigeria’s president:

1. Track Record of Governance at Executive level.
2. Political Structure and Talent Scouting Ability.
3. Institutional Reform.
4. Global Exposure Through Partnership & Work Experience.
5. Political Capital & Negotiation Ability.
6. Strategic Thinking Ability.

I lived in Lagos and I knew how Lagos was in 1999 when Tinubu became Governor. The same way people are complaining today about the effects of his reforms is how Lagosians were complaining initially.

I remember how staff of the Lagos State Civil Service were cursing him. That was when they angrily named him “Ojuyobo”. Comrade Akele, the leader of the Lagos State workers’ union, was a constant nuisance who was against the reforms of the Tinubu administration.

He met a highly bloated civil service salary and he believed it’s not possible Lagos State workers were taking such a ridiculous amount of money every month. He was the first in Nigeria to introduce biometric capturing of civil servants in the history of Nigeria, deploying Oracle.

When Bola Tinubu, as Governor of Lagos State, implemented biometric payroll controls, the main goal was to eliminate ghost workers and reduce payroll fraud. Here are the key figures: With biometric capturing in the civil service, Lagos eliminated around ₦700 million of ghost payments from a monthly payroll of ₦451 million.

After extending the system to local government staff, total monthly savings reached approximately ₦600 million from a ₦1.2 billion payroll. That implies about ₦600 million saved each month. Over a year, this equates to roughly ₦7.2 billion annually.

Monthly savings: ₦600 million. Annual savings: ₦7.2 billion. These numbers reflect significant efficiency gains from the biometric system in reducing payroll abuse and ensuring budget integrity.

Now, that is prudence and financial re-engineering and management — not noise-making about saving money. To his credit, those foundational reforms boosted IGR, improved infrastructure, and modernized public systems — that is governance, not noise-making.

Do I need to over flog his brilliant idea of reforming Lagos’ IGR, which he met at about ₦1.2 billion monthly? After the reforms he introduced, Lagos now clocks about ₦80 billion.

The same men he scouted from all over the world that helped him to manage and make sure the reforms embarked upon are enduring are the best brains you can find anywhere in the world, and I am glad he’s still deploying the same men as President and they are helping him to bring about needed reforms in the Nigerian economy.

Wale Edun was his Commissioner for Finance, today he is Minister for Finance. Yemi Cardoso was Commissioner for Budget & Planning, and today he is the CBN Governor. There was also Akabueze who took over from Cardoso as Budget Commissioner.

If there is one thing Cardoso is noted for, it is his unrepentant ability to stick to rules even if heaven will fall. Even Tinubu cannot ask him to bend the rules once an agreement is made on an economic matter.

They called him in the Lagos cabinet then “Headmaster” because other cabinet members knew he is one man that can look Tinubu in the face and say no way are we spending that money. You need such men in your corner as a leader.

We have Fashola as Chief of Staff. Do I have to introduce him again? We have Prof. Yemi Osinbajo, whom Tinubu put the onerous task of reforming the Lagos judiciary on his shoulders.

That was when the slave money being paid to judges was reviewed and Lagos judges were given real wages that fit their status, state-of-the-art official homes and vehicles, and modernization of the court system. Lagos court was the first to digitize its court systems and judges stopped taking notes in longhand.

Tinubu’s administration granted financial autonomy to the Lagos State Judiciary, ensuring that the judiciary had control over its own budget. These moves reduced executive interference and strengthened judicial independence — a major first among Nigerian states.

Lagos under Tinubu became a model for judicial reform in Nigeria. Many of its innovations were later studied or replicated by other states and even the federal government adopted them.

When the Obasanjo regime seized the LG fund for Lagos State, Tinubu sought out one of his men called Akinwumi Ambode, who was then the Accountant General for Lagos State. He was given the onerous task by Tinubu to come up with how Lagos would survive in spite of the money seized.

This guy came up with a model that re-engineered Lagos finances and the state was able to pay salaries and not a single contractor was owed money as infrastructural development went on unabated. It was a wonder to even Obasanjo who admitted he never knew Lagos was not crippled — because that was actually his intention.

Now, tell me — in this time that we are in, any leader that has demonstrated the capacity to see talents, tap them and deploy them strategically to bring about great results like Tinubu? Are people aware that the present Deputy Governor of Lagos was tapped by Tinubu from Wall Street in New York?

As Governor of Lagos State, Tinubu and his team were at a meeting at Wall Street to attract investors, and guess who was one of the members of the team on the other side of the table? — Femi Hamzat. Immediately after the meeting, Tinubu went to him: “What are you doing here when brains like yours are needed back home…” He gave him his card, and the rest is history.

Tinubu was the first to suggest that our power sector needed to be liberalised and allow the sub-national government to participate in power generation and distribution.

On August 1, 1999, Lagos State Government, with Yinka Folawiyo Power Limited and global power company Enron, signed an agreement for an independent power plant (IPP) to be situated in Lagos Lagoon to generate 90 MW, later scaled to 260–290 MW for Lagos — breaking NEPA’s monopoly.

Obasanjo’s regime fought Tinubu tooth and nail and never allowed Lagos State to enjoy this radical power reform. Obasanjo used NEPA to take over the whole system and never allowed Lagos operate it the way they saw fit.

Is it not an irony that 25 years later, as President, Tinubu finally signed into law the bill that liberalized power generation, and states and private companies can now build power plants, and distribute the same? Why would I not follow a man that has foresight and can see the future?

There is nothing new that President Bola Tinubu is doing now in terms of reforming the nation’s economy that he had not done before. Lagos did not just become the “primus interpares” that it is today. People shouted at that time too, but Lagos is better for it today. There is no gain without pain. Band aid will not help a rotten wound!

At every stage of his work life, even as an auditor in Mobil, he’s known as a disruptor and one who is big on operational efficiency and would always look for ways to do things better for maximum result.

He once carried out an audit in Mobil that led to the recall of his expatriate MD. He stood by his audit, wrote his resignation letter and dared the Mobil headquarters in the US to re-evaluate his audit report, and if he was found wanting about his submissions he was willing to resign.

At the end, his audit was given a thumbs-up, his expatriate MD in Nigeria recalled, and he was promoted to Treasurer to supervise the implementation he recommended in his audit report. They said who better carry out the reforms he recommended better than himself. Why won’t I follow a man who sabi road?

While others went about prostituting around with different political parties, Tinubu sacrificed his intention to go back to the Senate after his tenure as Governor. He had already picked the form but later handed it over to another of his protégés, Ganiyu Solomon, to go in his stead.

He did this, according to him, to allow himself time to grow his political party organically and make it formidable enough to seek power nationally or negotiate for power nationally.

This man spent the next 16 years, while his contemporaries jostling for the same job with him today were jumping around looking for greener pastures, or an “already made” political platform to further their ambition to be president.

Can you imagine that even today, as you read this, they are still resigning from one party and jumping onto another – political party prostitutes I call them.

I dislike desperate and self-centred politicians. Tinubu strategically bided his time while supporting others like our now late President Buhari because he knew you cannot build something on nothing, and the substructure of an enduring democratic culture is to build a political platform that would be strong enough, and big enough to accommodate many from different parts of the country.

Even God rewards the hard worker and the conscientious, and the one who sees more than his own personal ambition.

Now, if you can bring your candidate beside this man, and you tell me with sincerity that in the Nigeria of today and amongst all jostling for the 2027 election, that your candidate is better equipped, I will challenge if indeed your schooling imbibed you with the ability for critical thinking and ability to head-hunt.

Selah!