Bola Tinubu
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Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu (b. 29 March 1952) has been governor of Lagos State in Nigeria since 29 May 1999. He is a founding member of the Action Congress (AC) political party founded through the merger of the Alliance for Democracy faction, a faction of the All Nigeria Peoples Party (ANPP), Justice Party (JP) and Advance Congress of Democrats (ACD).
Born in the city of Lagos, Tinubu left Nigeria in 1975 to attend college in the United States. After attending Richard Daley College in Chicago, Illinois, he proceeded to Chicago State University and graduated in 1979 with a Bachelors of Science degree in Business Administration, specializing in Accounting and Management.
Tinubu worked for American companies Arthur Andersen, Deloitte, Haskins, & Sells, and GTE Services Corporation before returning to Nigeria in 1983 to work for Mobil Oil Nigeria. At Mobil, he eventually became treasurer of the company.
His political career began in 1992, when he was elected to the Nigerian Senate representing the Lagos West constituency. After the results of the 12 June 1993 presidential elections were annulled, Tinubu became a founding member of the pro-democracy National Democratic Coalition (NADECO), which mobilized support for the restoration of democracy and recognition of the 12 June results. He went into exile in 1994 and returned to the country in 1998 after the death of military dictator Sani Abacha, which ushered in a transition to civilian rule.
In 1999, he stood for the position of Executive Governor of Lagos State on the Alliance for Democracy (AD) ticket and was elected.
Tinubu's first term in office was characterized by lofty promises (a new power plant to tackle the chronic energy shortages in the highly industrialized state; and transportation projects including the 4th mainland bridge, the reinitiation of the Lagos Metroline Project and rehabilitation of roads; improved welfare of state government workers; improved waste management, a new traffic management agency and rehabilitation of the bar beach waterfront). Moderate success was achieved in areas such as workers' welfare but much was left undone and these again became the promises made in the run up to a second term bid.
Tinubu also faced a major legal battle in his first term as governor when human rights lawyer Gani Fawehinmi accused the governor of perjury and providing false information in his election nomination forms, hiding information that would have disqualified him from the race.
Tinubu, alongside a new deputy governor, Femi Pedro, narrowly won re-election to office as Governor in April 2003 with 48.2% of the vote. He was the only one of 6 incumbent governors in South-West Nigeria to succeed in a reelection bid as the Nigerian ruling party (PDP) made inroads in the region dominated by the regional party (AD).
Tinubu's tenure as Lagos State Governor ends on 29 May 2007. His future political plans are not known. However, he has been linked with groups that fought against constitutional amendments that would have allowed the Nigerian President (Chief Olusegun Obasanjo) to run for a third term. It is also believed that he is linked to political groups seeking to help the Vice President (Atiku Abubakar) win the Presidential race next year.
He is married with six children one of which is deceased.
