Tinubu’s Grand Design: How Power Became Personal

By DAVID JOHN-FLUKE

IN Nigeria’s political chessboard, President Bola Ahmed Tinubu is not just a player—he’s the board itself. Every appointment, every alliance, every silence seems part of a calculated design to consolidate power under the guise of democracy.

The appointment of Professor Joash Ojo Amupitan as INEC Chairman isn’t routine. It’s strategic—another move in a long game. From the Chief Justice to the CBN Governor, the Inspector General of Police to key ministers, Tinubu’s circle now controls the levers of justice, finance, security, and policy. Federal character has become federal capture.

Tinubu’s method isn’t force—it’s finesse. He has mastered the art of control through legality, cloaking ethnic dominance and patronage in the language of merit and reform. The North grows uneasy, the Southeast feels excluded, and the South-South finds its influence diluted.

This is no longer governance—it’s consolidation. The opposition is fractured, civil society weary, and institutions pliant. Tinubu has turned democracy into a dynasty, replacing competition with compliance.

Nigeria risks becoming a country where elections still occur—but only one man is built to win.