By Dr Lexington Steele
The ’48 Laws of Power’ authored by Robert Greene is the definitive manual for anyone interested in gaining 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’ – if that child was bred to survive Coral Island, then raised by wolves, then fostered by Machiavelli.
Asiwaju Bola Ahmed Tinubu, the President-elect used many of the principles in the book on his ascension to the throne. I would have loved to dissect all 48 Laws contained in the book, but for the sake of brevity, I will choose a few.
Law 1: Never Outshine The Master
Despite the crucial role that Tinubu played in getting Muhammadu 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. 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. Tinubu might have been taught that “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 the Peoples Democratic Party, 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. I have very reliable sources in Aso Rock who said Tinubu intentionally made gaffes like “gazelle garagara” and “bala blu blu bala” 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
Tinubu, through a middle man, instigated Peter Obi into running for the Presidency. Obi went to Atiku Abubakar to beg for a chance to be running mate and was coldly rejected. Atiku told him pointblank that he didn’t associate with failures. While Obi was in a sad state, said to be crying, the middle man approached him and said some big men who wanted to remain anonymous will finance his candidacy as an independent candidate. Obi never knew he was being financed by Tinubu to run against him!!! Very reliable sources close to the All Progressives Congress, APC, and the man himself confided in me.
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 had teamed up with Obi. This will make him lose taste to run for Presidency again. If the APC, which is already weakened by Buhari’s poor performance could still beat the 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 Honor
Tinubu intentionally refused any debates organized. By the time he appeared on Chatham House, the BBC and the Nugerian Economic Summit Group, 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 on how to wrestle control of Lagos State from Tinubu’s hands, they forgot elections were conducted in 36 states plus the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, for the residential election. He appeared like a fool, but he knew that allowing a win in Lagos State will even increase the validity of the election results. When the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, was storming his polling unit; when military tanks were rolling into Lagos, his critics jubilated, not knowing the true purpose of those tanks were to quell any post elections violence.
Law 29: Plan All The Way To The End
Most mortals would rest easy if they had the “advantages” that Tinubu had. “Oh, I am the ticket holder of the ruling party, I helped the President and his Vice to power, I can sleep assured.” But 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 the primaries to the Presidency. Even to petitions at the tribunals, post-election, I wouldn’t explain that further.
Law 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 the PDP primaries before it even started, Tinubu boldly confronted the President, the Vice President, the Senate President and the party Chairman. Few weeks before elections, a cash shortage and fuel scarcity were caused to negatively affect Tinubu’s chance. He very boldly confronted the Presidency till there was a Supreme Court stalemate.
Tinubu’s political genius should be studied in universities.
•This piece was inspired by ‘The 48 Laws of Power’ by Robert Greene, but all the opinions contained therein are that of the author of this thread.
•Dr Steele is a political analyst in the United States of America, USA, and has collaborated with thinktanks like the Brookings Institute and the Chatham House.
