When reporters asked Bola Tinubu last month if his health was good enough for him to be Nigeria’s president, he said he wasn’t looking for work as a professional wrestler or a cement mixer.
The response was combative and evasive, typical of the astute former governor of Lagos State, who was chosen as Nigeria’s ruling All Progressives Congress party’s presidential candidate next year on Wednesday.
Tinubu is now the front-runner to be the next leader of Africa’s most populous nation and top oil exporter in a country with a long history of electoral fraud in which the ruling party has a significant advantage.
‘If elected, I will hit the ground running from day one,’ Tinubu said confidently before voting in the primary began.
His supporters portray him as an effective administrator who has a track record of selecting competent technocrats to complete tasks.
Critics accuse him of being a godfather figure who gives lucrative contracts and high-paying jobs to his supporters and is not above sending out street thugs to intimidate opponents if he does not get his way. He disagrees with that description.
The 70-year-old has appeared frail in public at times, raising concerns about his health.
Last month, he stated, ‘I’m not competing to be a WWE wrestling man.’ ‘He’s sick, he’s not well,’ they say. Am I ill? I’m not.’
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