The former governor of Lagos State, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu and the Senate President, Dr Bukola Saraki are two politicians with immense followership in the country.
Interestingly, the two frontline politicians worked assiduously for the All Progressives Congress (APC) to unseat the previous administration, under the leadership of President Goodluck Jonathan.
Oftentimes, the discourse of who is the greater between Tinubu and Saraki has continued to dominate political discourse.
Only at the weekend, the argument of who wields more influence between the two politicians in this republic resurfaced on the social media.
With the #PoliticsOfInfluence, a Facebook user generated wide range of reactions with the question; between Bukola Saraki and Bola Tinubu, who is the most influential?
Most of the respondents however pitched their tent with Saraki saying as the sitting Senate President, compared to Tinubu who served as a two-term governor in lagos, there is no basis for comparison.
According to a Facebook user, with the name; Iyen Na Nice, he said, “For Bukola is the most powerful.
For Richard Sodiya, he was indifferent, saying, “This is a thesis topic/question which depends on many variable factors and time under scrutiny. Besides, ‘most influential’ is equally subjective depending on the perspective of researcher or questions under considerations.”
Conversely, Tijani Jamiu Adeniyi, said, “There’s no basis for such comparison…The least person in South west politics trained and groomed by Jagaban can stand head to head with Saraki so find out.”
In his response, Femi Adepoju said since the statement is specific about the present republic, then Saraki will easily shave it. “If the influence of the two under the present government should be taken into consideration, it will be 80/20 per cent in favour of Saraki,” he posited.
Another social media commentator, Ike Amaefula said, there was no doubting the fact that Saraki is the more influential among the two. He added that Jagaban is only flattering to deceive.
In his post, Emmanuel Korieocha said, “Saraki is the number three citizen of Nigeria and Tinubu is just like any citizen with an unconstitutional high sounding nothing title of National Leader of APC who is being toss around by few cabal in the government. Right now Tinubu is being reduced to a butterfly that calls itself a bird.”
Yinka O. Yinka shared similar sentiment asking, “what has Jagaban (Tinubu) influenced successful in this government? Was it the appointment of ministers? The appointments of leadership of NASS? The election of Kogi and Ondo State? The relevance of Jagaban pales into insignificance when compared to Saraki in this government.”
All said, Saraki and Tinubu are two politicians who stood out among the crowd and their names will remain etched in the memories of students of political science beyond the shores of Nigeria for many years to come.
