By Kola Johnson — As Tunji Bello, the veteran journalist,lawyer, political scientist,brilliant writer,ex newspaper columnist,ex chairman, editorial board, This Day Newspapers, former Executive Editor, National Concord,consumate Environmental Czar and immediate ex Commissioner of Environment and Water Resources,and Lagos based APC chieftain, today clocks 63 eventful years of existence on earth,the general mass of his admirers and well wishers spread across the national space, and of course transcendentaly abroad,predominated by the inumerable lots garnered over the years,by dint of his astounding literary spell in his hey days as a fire brand columnist,who dazzled the reading public with his cerebral intellect,are not only celebrating with him,but actually taking the lead,as if the celebrative moment belongs more to them than the celebrating birthday boy.
To be sure,their euphoria of celebrative joyfulness would have nothing to do with a sybaritian Island of luxury garnered somewhere;exotic castles dotting the landscape,or vast financial empire,hugely stocked in the kitty.Certainly no.Rather,they eagerly desire to celebrate an exemplary model of excellence and remarkable achievements of a foremost inspirational icon of our time.
Looking back over the years,one recalls and rightly too,that his activist impulse found a definitive formative expression during his spell as an undergraduate of the University of Ibadan, following his successful foray into the world of student unionism, in which he had an exciting shot as vice-president
By the way,it need be stated;on a curious note of coincidence,whether by sheer happenstance or whimsical magisterial fate,that it was indeed in the heat of the pre-election campaign,for which he visited the Queen’s Hall,populated by the female students that he dramatically stumbled by sheer incidental serendipity,on a beautiful damsel residing in the same hall,who unknowingly hidden in the womb of futurism,was later to be his wife.The person in reference is no other than Professor Ibiyemi Bello, the distinguished scientist and academician who currently holds forte as the incumbent vice- chancellor, Lagos State University(LASU).
Coming on the heels of his graduation, it was not surprising that he immediately opted for the challenging sphere of journalism,queing into the praxis of the likes of Herbert Heelas Macaulay,the Great Zik,Awo,the great sage,Earnest Sesei Ikoli,among a host of others,who were fired by the patriotic impulse to harness the strategic utilitarian import of journalism as a formidable vehicle for social reformation.
In the same vein of comparison,if one may yet add,the fore-going,finds added corroboration in Laban Namme,ex Chairman,Daily Times,who in a newspaper interview,many years ago,reportedly recalled an occasion in 1946,when he saw and heard Zik speak at the famous Lagos City Hall, and was so moved by his electrifying oration,that he bade bye to his earlier chosen career and intended course of study,in embrace of politics and journalism.
As would auspiciously unfold,Tunji’s remarkable literary talent, cerebral endowments,self-confidence, natural charisma,coupled above all,with his divinely ordained destiny,soon stood him up in conspicuously luculent distinction,which eventually catapulted him to the elite-bracket chairmanship of the editorial board of This Day newspapers
Looking back to those glorious moment of his journalistic Odyssey,those who knew him,even only by sheer reputation, would attest in nostalgic flush of spontaneous excitement,to the remarkable eclact with which he acquitted himself,not only for his invaluable input in the collective drive at invigorating the editorial content of The National Concord,and later This Day Newspaper to enviable standard,but the incisive intellectual articulation encapsulating his weekly columns.
His fame spread across the national space,commanding a fanatical cult of followership fired by the romantic embrace of his delectable prose.
When eventually,at the inception of Tinubu’s administration,the then enigmatic Lagos State governor,appointed the versatile journalist as Commissioner of Environment,a “scientific portfolio” incongruously ill at variance with an alien journalistic habbitat to which Tunji belonged,the visionary ex governor,and incumbent Nigeria’s president must have seen what the preponderance of onlooking observers were not seeing
In other words,Tinubu must have been charmed by his charisma,supreme self-assurance, his restive creative temper, his dynamic and adventurous propensity as ostensibly oozing from his impressive literary skill,and of course by discerning close-in appraisal,at moments of interactive interface
Predictably,tongues indeed must have wagged;eye brows raised by cynics wondering how Tinubu would deem no other person,but Tunji Bello,of all people,as most apposite for the pivotal helmsmanship of a particularly critical sector like the ministry of environment.A fellow who all his life had known or done nothing other than journalism, suddenly foisted on a supposedly most unfamiliar turf like environment.
Particularly worthy of note in this connection,with regards to the arrant naivety,if not foolhardiness,that such seemingly incongruous square peg preference connote to this class of skeptics could quite be understood,as we journey back in excursion to memory,for a graphic vivification of the looming environmental disaster that earned the industrial and commercial capital of Nigeria and West Africa,the perjorative epithet of one of the dirtiest cities in the world.
To be sure,this was one of the most challenging albatross of which the Tinubu administration had the most grievous misfortune to be a legatee.
While one would ordinarily and of course more sensibly,have expected him,for this all-important purpose,to shop at the germane portals of technocrats – renowned ones for that matter – Tinubu ostensibly impressed by Tunji’s journalistic trajectory among his other remarkable innate qualities – would rather defy the commonsensical box of orthodoxy,in embrace of the renowned media technocrat
But today,all is history.Tunji’s in-born genius that brought him to enviable journalistic pinnacle,rode with invincible ardour on top of the seeming insuperably terrifying odds,to redefine the environmental landscape from the horrifying paradigm of old,to the splendiferous ambience we behold today,in aptly beffiting congruence with the visionary grandeur of an exotic mega city Lagos,seminaly burstling from the creative modernising esctasy of Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,who deservingly earns the honorific epaulette of the father of modern Lagos.
A rare breed with an astounding ability to learn and master the rope with ease,his romance with politics could by no means be rated as dating back for so long,yet in the Mainland Local government,his political constituency,Tunji commands a remarkable ubiquity as a popular grassroot gem,whose name resonates in virtually every household.
The secret to this cryptic myth cannot be too far-fetched,in view of his insatiable passion for the poor and the unbridled penchant to touch lives.It is therefore no wonder,if only for this singular factor,that there is virtually no household in the Mainland Local government which he has literally not affected with his sublime milk of philanthropy,dispensed through the Mainland Independent Group,a socio-political pressure group of which Tunji Bello holds forte not only as the patron but a worthy pillar,catering from time to time for the needs of the teeming mass of members, apart from the regular empowerment program for traders and artisans which he shoulders single handedly
Coupled with the fore-going is his immensely pacifist role as a unifying and integrative force, not only preaching the need for unity amongst the diverse caucauses,but also living truly to the noble precept,in his magnanimous large-heartedness,as expressed in his eager embrace of all, irrespective of class,sex,religion, sectarian creed of any sort or caucauses.
It becomes clearly apparent in view of the fore-going,that the Tunji Bello factor, especially within the context of his passionate humanitarian bent, has contributed in immensely appreciable proportion,as a gravitational pull for influx of new members not only drawn from other groups,but also green horns partaking in politics for the first time – who clearly discerned in him, a father-figure who truly cares.
This little piece will indeed not be complete without reference,no matter how terse, to his inestimable pillar role,often exuded,in the bid to ensure for his darling APC, a landslide victory at every elections.
His frenetic broad based consultations,restive pace and pragmatic workable ideas including the huge financial resources dispensed at this critical period which has gone a long way in keeping the party aloft in dominant leverage in Lagos Mainland politics – for which he had succeeded in etching his name in the hall of fame,is indeed better reserved for another day.
Exemplifying the fore-going,more than anything,was his memorable epic role during the recently concluded general election,particularly the crucial phase of apex presidency,involving his political leader and father,Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu.
The staggering sum dispensed by him in hiring hundreds of independent mobilisers, from diverse local government areas of the state,for a frenetic door-to-door campaign,coupled with his consistent interactive interface with them at the Golden Gate Hotel Sabo Yaba and yet his inspirational words of encouragement while extolling Tinubu’s virtue to high heavens,will for-ever remain a study in loyalty.
In deservingly worthy tribute to his exemplary patriotism and inspiring sense of excellence,ex President Muhammadu Buhari,during his tenure as president,applauded him as an accomplished journalist,political scientist,lawyer and public administrator,who has shown that through dint of hard work,and the grace of God,the door of success remains wide open”.
The then Vice-President, Professor Yemi Osibajo,who as the Commissioner of Justice and Attorney-General, contemporaneously served with Tunji Bello, holding the Environment portfolio in the Tinubu cabinet during his tenure as governor of Lagos state, described Bello as a knowledgeable and effective journalist with strong conviction and courage to back it up.
He recalled the excruciating environmental challenges that severely buffetted the Tinubu administration who at the inception of his administration,inherited an almost disastrous environmental horror.
“As we experimented on methods and struggled through these challenges during our first four years,it became clear that the environment ministry was one that needed a miracle worker to man successfully.It was against this background that the governor came up with the idea of putting Tunji Bello on this difficult job at the commencement of his second term in office.”deposed the ex Vice-president.
Ex governor of Lagos State,Babatunde Raji Fashola described him as an environmentalist and a first class go-getter,who deserves every credit he gets for his contribution to the Green Revolution Program in Lagos State.
“As Chief of Staff to Tinubu”, he recalled,”I got the opportunity to interact very closely with Tunji Bello as an active kitchen cabinet member whose infectious spirit contributed immensely to resolving several challenges at that period”.
Governor Babajide Sanwo-Olu, in whose administration Tunji Bello served as Commissioner described the remarkable polyvalent personality as “one of the major contributors to the success story of Lagos State, from the start of the current democratic dispensation since 1999,and the brain behind impactful initiatives, especially in relation to the environment,having contributed positively to journalism,the legal profession,politics and development of Lagos State.”
Especially notable in the torrent of eulogium,was the outpour of tributes from Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu,his leader, and mentor,whose administration marked the inception of Tunji’s foray in public office in his official capacity as Commissioner of Environment
He went in an unprecedented length of mileage to hire pages in the newspapers, in which he featured as a guest writer,pouring out his heart in beautiful lyrical prose, lifting his highly cherished lieutenant and alter-ego, Tunji Bello,beyond the Olympian,in poignant indication of the topmost shelve he occupies in his emotional closet.
He described him as” the most accomplished civil servant of his generation and an indispensable factor in the socio-economic progress the state had made,since the return to democratic governance.
He recalled that right from his student days as Vice-president, University of Ibadan Student Union,Bello avowedly resigned into the trenches,and plunged himself full throttle into the struggle for democratic liberty.
“Bello” he recalled “was part of the kitchen cabinet of the Late Bashorun M.K.O.Abiola’s Hope 93 presidential campaign.When Abiola’s victory was annulled by the military,Bello was one of the first to take to the trenches to launch the fighting that would ultimately result in the return to democracy,six long, often hard years later”
Recalling the early years of his gubernatorial administration in Lagos State, Tinubu recalled that “Tunji’s contributions were immense and covered a wide spectrum of issues.I can attest to his interventions, particularly in some highly technical areas where he brilliantly deployed his expertise.His capacity to achieve strategic objectives with speed and precision is remarkable”
“As a member of our team in Lagos State,he is truly the most accomplished”Tinubu stated further,adding that “Tunji contributed immensely to the 24-year Development Plan designed by our administration to accelerate growth,thereby changing the destiny of the state and its people”
“He has set a standard which will be hard for his successors to approach,let alone match or surpass.”
For Alhaji Ibrahim Megida,his “twin brother” and Special Assistant on Politics,earlier mentioned,Tunji Bello comes next after God.”This is a man whom God has used to alter the course of my destiny.I wonder what would have become of people like me,if my path had not crossed with Tunji Bello”Megida is often fond of saying.
His uncommon humanitarian empathy to the mammoth members of this group, through a sustained,and intensified regular empowerment program,and care for the aged,and indeed to all opportuned to have crossed his path,is better reserved for another day.His lieutenant Ibrahim Alao Megida would write series of voluminous books,just on that alone.
On this,no remark would have been more apt than in the emotively inspirational remarks of President Bola Ahmed Tinubu,that “What motivates Tunji is that he has the soul force of a humanitarian.”
He described him further as “the most good-natured and kind-spirited of us all”, adding that “Without hesitation,Tunji is quick to extend a helping hand,providing guidance to the young workers around him,on one hand, while going beyond the call of duty to help the aged and weak among us.”
*Kola Johnson, a writer and journalist writes from Lagos.
