President Bola Ahmed Tinubu was declared the Man Of The Year 2023 at the weekend by the Editorial Board of the Irohinoodua, the first Pan Yoruba media online.
The media group said Tinubu was chosen after widespread considerations and extensive debate. Making the announcement yesterday, Irohinoodua, which was established in 2003, said the choice of Tinubu was informed by his dominant and overwhelming impact in the politics of Nigeria.
The media group earlier named the Ekiti State Governor, Abiodun Oyebanji, as the Governor of the Year 2023. A statement co-signed by Omolade Adegbuyi and Babatunde Samson Abiola for the Irohinoodua Editorial Board, said Tinubu was picked among an array of leaders across the country that were considered.
“So many names came up for consideration but none compared with the vigour and flame generated by Tinubu across Nigeria throughout the year 2023; a man taken for dead but emerged from bitter condemnation to sweet celebration. The selection of his name by the board members was without any dissenting opinion,” the statement said.
It added: “President Tinubu emerged after considering his grim journey of life through thorns and iron cast cobwebs in Nigeria’s most diverse and separatist election. He was the most vilified and debated personality in the Nigerian political space in the year 2023.
“He encountered the toughest roadblocks mounted by principalities and powers and rulers of darkness in high and low places, yet he emerged to win the bitterly contested presidential election.”
Irohinoodua said Nigerian electoral contest has a primordial historical charter, which content since the 1960s have been determined by a few top military brass, who either rule the country by themselves or through their hand-picked proxies.
“In 2023, a new force that broke half a century grip of the political system by a few military cabal emerged in Tinubu. It was the first time in Nigerian post-independence history that the President was not the candidate of the known and only hegemony that had held the country in firm grip for 50 years.
“Tinubu was the subject of nasty scorn of political enemies who made futile attempts to dump him in a pit and cover him with garbage. He stood and fought every stage of the battle with vigour, energy, both physical and spiritual.”
“Tinubu was caught between apriori enemies, those who wanted him dead without trial and a bullied and subdued population of Nigerians who saw hope in him and worked silently for his victory at the poll. In his birth place, the traditional political forces spat on him and fought with brawl, but their efforts became a fleeting grain in the dust,” the statement added.
The group said 2023 was the first time a presidential candidate rejected by the most powerful forces in his own ruling party, including in the Presidency, managed to win the election at the fullness of time and in the most dramatic manner.
Irohinoodua said it considered the fact that his appearance on the ballot compelled a drastic, sudden change in state economic policy re-designed to muzzle, suppress his ambition and even lay mines along his path if he eventually won.
“The policy had disastrous consequences on the political economy of Nigeria to the delight of his foes but to the peril of millions of Nigerians and people of West Africa.
“He fought through a thick smoke of treachery, betrayal and dagger wielding adversaries within and without to emerge as the candidate of the All Progressive Congress, (APC). He battled an unprecedented race that many thought he would never win.
“The melting of the cake was at the point that other presidential candidates of his party stepped down in the most humble manner to allow him achieve his objective. Many thought his choice of fellow Muslim vice presidential candidate was a blunder, but he turned out to be smarter.
“Tinubu worked against powerful forces at home and within the international community who were used to determining the swing of the political pendulum in Nigeria.
“Since 1959, the imperialist colonial forces have always determined who won presidential elections in Nigeria. In 2023, they had their own candidate supported by an array of integrated media blitz at home and abroad, backed with global propaganda. How President Tinubu managed to defeat the local and international conspiracy remains a mystery to his sworn enemies,” Irohinoodua said.
The Pan Yoruba media said tons of social media debates, about 60 per cent of such political issues, centred on the name Tinubu.
“His name became the most used acronym in the social media across Africa either for good or for bad.
“Ironically, he has been the most continuous phenomenon in Nigerian politics since 1999,” Irohinoodua noted