When President Bola Tinubu arrived in Lagos recently for the 50th anniversary of the Economic Community of West African States, ECOWAS, of which he is the Council Chairman, he was received at the airport, as usual, by a large crowd of VIPs. As each bowed in obeisance and “loyalty”, Tinubu shook his or her hand with a smile and silent muttering of words. But when he got to Babajide Sanwo-Olu, the Governor of Lagos State, he skipped him for the next person. This was a confirmation that his rumoured feud with the man he installed as governor of the nation’s richest state in 2019 was not a rumour but fact.

Let me make an elaborate digression and return later to Tinubu and his political janitor in Alausa. In April 2008, Osita Chidoka, the Corps Marshall of the Federal Roads Service Corps, FRSC, invited me to Abuja, then asked me to join his convoy to see “someone”. We went to the Transcorp Hilton and came down from the lift at the topmost floor. Before we walked into a presidential suite, we were required to step into an adjoining room for security clearance. It was then that I began to wonder about the “someone” we were here to see.

As we entered the suite, a bespectacled, shabbily dressed elderly man came out of one of the rooms. As each greeted him, they called him “Baba”. Behold, it was my turn to greet him. As I extended my two hands towards him, he gave me a sharp look, dramatically withdrew his hand and walked away! It was then that I realised that the “Baba” was the great General Olusegun Obasanjo, OBJ, Nigeria’s two-time elected President and former military Head of State! I quickly stepped outside the suite to wait for Chidoka.

People do ask: “All these things you write, do they read them?” Obasanjo had just confirmed that he read me! Throughout his presidency, I was very critical of him, not just because of some acts of impunity he committed but more importantly because of his roles in my history. Obasanjo was one of those who waged war against my people and made me lose four academic years. He was also the man that Northern Generals and politicians conspired to use in thwarting the emergence of Dr Alex Ekwueme as president of Nigeria in 1999 after he led the G.34 to end military rule.

I saw 1999 as the prime opportunity to end the civil war through the emergence of an Igbo leader, Ekwueme, as president. Years later (July 2018) a friend took me to the Olusegun Obasanjo Presidential Library, OOPL, in Abeokuta where we “reconciled” as he put it, over lunch. That was when he told me: “In my culture, we have a proverb – before you criticise me first wear my shoe and walk a mile”. It was also then that I told him that I was able to complete my secondary school education because of his Universal Primary Education, UPE, which mandated public secondary schools to educate students like me tuition-free.

Reconciliation should serve as Option A-One for the settlement of whatever feud Tinubu has with Sanwo-Olu. This will enable the governor to complete his remaining two years with equanimity and dignity. Tinubu is known to be very good in readily absorbing those who have hurled the vilest abuses at him over time, into his orbit. Such people include Bayo Onanuga, Femi Fani-Kayode, Daniel Bwala and a host of others. He took care of the wife and family of his slain arch-opponent, Funsho Williams, and accommodated his former Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, foes in Lagos, Musiliu Obanikoro and Adeseye Ogunlewe in his party.

For that matter, Tinubu made former Economic and Financial Crimes Commission, EFCC, Chairman, Nuhu Ribadu, his National Security Adviser, NSA. Ribadu had called him and some governors names, vowing to jail them. Tinubu appears to maintain a policy of “no permanent friend, no permanent enemy”.

The Option A-Two is for Tinubu to quickly get rid of Sanwo-Olu. There are some betrayals that are beyond pardon. For instance, how could President Donald Trump of the United States ever sit easy with world’s richest man, Elon Musk, after the latter falsely called him a sexual predator (Epstein files), advocated for his impeachment, then deleted the tweets? Even if Trump chooses to take it easy with him in the country’s over all interest, broken eggs can never be repaired.

There was a way that Obasanjo dealt with a similar challenge. In 2000, Obasanjo was determined to get Senate President, Dr Chuba Okadigbo, removed from office. He visited Okadigbo in his official residence and ate pounded yam with him. The following day, Okadigbo was brought down. If Tinubu feels that what Sanwo-Olu did to him is unforgiveable, he should get him out of Alausa ASAP. Sanwo-Olu is not like Babatunde Fashola or Akinwunmi Ambode who had independent loyalists in the party and citizenry.

At this point, Sanwo-Olu is in a pathetic shape. He seizes every public outing to sing Tinubu’s praise like a canary on steroids. There are some orders he used to give which he can no longer do because he is now in office, not in power. He lives in fear of every phone call, breaking news or knock on the door. No governor deserves that.

I can imagine the relationship between Sanwo-Olu and his Deputy, Obafemi Hamzat. On Monday June 9, 2025, Tinubu’s newspaper, The Nation, in a 60th birthday piece in Hamzat’s honour, did not fail to hail him as a “prince”. In any case, Hamzat has always been Tinubu’s main man. The president was made to settle for Sanwo-Olu, a pure technocrat, to appease Christians over Ambode’s truncated tenure.

Tinubu must choose now: reconcile or discard.